I write this in response to a post in the torp thread where Wupteedo asked about Quad Cannons and energy weapon power drain. Once I had my post about ready to go, I figured it would probably be a threadjack because it's completely about the opposite design philosophy from a torp build, so I decided to create a new thread. So, here we go:
| Wupteedo wrote: |
| Nimmoth wrote: |
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yup running the quantam armanents set with terran munitions and 3pc defiant set- quad dhc/quantum torp/quantum dhc/kelvin quantum torps - it is awesome! all i see when i decloak is a line of phaser cannons and blue quantums - cannon firearms ftw! its like a straight line and all things gone in 2 seconds - im loving it!
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Slight off-top. I have been running quad disruptor/phasers cannons on several of my ship builds. Someone mentioned that the power drain is too much for the ship and I should drop down to dual cannons instead of dual heavy cannons as support. I tend to always have two turrets on the rear along with a torpedo. Thoughts?
Qa'pla
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I'm running quad cannons on my Kor BoP and love it. The additional power drain is -10 engines, which I like because the main problem with running the BoP with the pilot tree as main spec, and with a cannon and torp loadout, is overshooting the target [with the skill tree setup, I must continually run at full throttle to get the max damage bonus from Pedal to the Metal]. So if anything, all that does is slow me down a little, and give me a little more time on target.
On that ship, even if I have the engine power set to the minimum plus the -10 engines quad cannon drain, my defense is still maxxed out as long as I am at full throttle, which I need to be to get the aforementioned Pedal to the Metal bonus. I can also use the Pilot BOFF ability, lock trajectory to do a flyby while unleashing hell, but the BoP still goes fast enough that it's hard to time it right and start the maneuver off at the right angle, so that I don't fly out of range. If done right, it can let you stay pointed at the target for an extended period.
On my ship, I have also equipped the Nausicaan Energy Torp as my sole forward firing torp, which I love because it does disruptor energy damage rather than normal torp damage. With this, I don't have to worry about wasting torp damage as I tear down my victims' shields, and I don't have to waste any consoles, Traits or Skill points on stuff to try to either increase torp damage, or to get torp damage past shields that are still up. I decided that running Torpedo: High Yield with this weapon is lame, because it just creates a slow, ineffective destructible torp. Cool looking, but it can't reach my target before the issue is decided. So I only use Torpedo Spread with this, which throws the things everywhere and combines great with Cannon: Scatter Volley.
As for running DHCs vs HCs after the rebalancing, I researched it and decided that dual heavies are still the way to go. I am running the quad cannons with a couple DHCs [including the Terran Rep ones] and the Nausicaan Energy Torp in the front, and turrets in the back. In addition after the rebalancing they added a Heavy Weapon to the ship and I'm just running the default, free zapper weapon. Initially it was underpowered, but they buffed it in an update after the rebalancing, and it is fine now. Power does not seem to be a problem even with these 7 power draining weapons, because I have spent Skill points and set up consoles to provide enough EPS to compensate.
Although the weapon power level is no longer as important now for how much damage you do, as it was before the space rebalancing, you still should make sure that you have enough EPS percentage to compensate for your weapons drain. Higher is still better, just not as vital for DPS as it used to be. You can add up the drain from all the weapons [used to be all weapons after the first one, but after rebalancing is now all weapons combined] and compare it to the EPS stat when your ship is in orbit to figure it out. When looking at the EPS stat, remember that the total drain listed on each weapon is for a six second firing cycle, and the stat on the ship page for EPS is per second, so you must multiply the EPS recharge rate by 6 to see if it is high enough. Or divide your total weapons drain by 6 to compare apples to apples. Then to check your math, go blow stuff up and watch the power level to see if it stays high. Best to have it higher than you need for dealing with foes that drain power so you can recover faster when emergency power abilities and batteries are on cooldown.
