energy consumption question

D

dan_w

Spaceman
The energy consumption of the various guns (e.g.: 800 for tachion gun, 400 for laser, etc.), is that per second in continuous firing, or per shot?
 
Thanks. Even so, I still come up with a highest score for lasers, oddly enough..
For a score, I multiply all the good parameters and divide by the bad ones, but I take the square root of two parameters that I consider of relative importance. My formula is:

score = ( damage * velociy * sqrt(range) ) / ( consumption * sqrt(delay) )

I use the square root of the range because the further the target, the less likely to hit it anyways, and the square root of the refiring delay because although the amount of damage per second is inversely proportional, the consumption per second goes up as well, which is a semi-dubious consideration, as it depends on power avalilability and usage style. And the winner is...

Laser 83.56 *** gold medal ***
Tachi 61.04
ION 37.51
Plasm 34.56
Partic 33.14
Neutr 27.04

I did not include price in the formula, since it becomes irrelevant later in the game.
So, I sold all 4 tachion guns and particle turret, and went laser across the board, and indeed I seem to slice and dice a lot faster. Good old lasers... who would have thought?

Note: I do consider exit velocity as being "fully" important, in the sense that with a non-linearly moving target, even if using auto-tracking, the hit probability is roughly inversely proportional to the time between aiming adjustment and arrival time.
 
What you're missing here, imho, is that power consumption has a lower bound, below which it is not any better to have the weapon consume less.

Clearly, if your reactor can keep up with continuous firing of the weapon, it doesn't matter how little energy it consumes.

So, basically, what your model is saying, is that if you have a *very* small reactor, the laser would be the best bet.
 
You're sqrt(right) ;-)
If I had divided by refiring delay, the score would mean exactly what you say, but I divided by the square root of refiring delay, which I cannot exactly say what it means, but it's something inbetween limited and unlimited supply of energy. I file no apologies for it, since, in the case of the Centurion, energy IS at a premium. So, I would grant you that for a very skilled player that uses the afterburner by short spurts, and who aims well before firing, the Tachion gun is the best gun. For someone like me, though, laser is best by a far shot.. ;-)
 
Thanks, I'll try that too... in WCU I did give long range lasers to capships and base defenses specifically for this reason (steady stream of damage, not "one lucky shot from a turret nukes off half my armor" because it's no fair to the player)
 
Greetings All,

I saw the above concerning using all lasers and decided to try it.

I am using a Demon, did have 4 Tacyons, replaced them all with lasers then went looking for a *fight*. ;>

Found a biggun! A pirate with 17 escorts, (unfortunetly it froze the first time I got there and had to reboot...a pity too, was worth $365k the first time and only $36k the second...damn! :<), but I figured it would be a good test and I thought I would get my butt wiped for me.....boy was *I* wrong. The lasers (with auto-tracking, I found out that it stays with the ship) seemed to kick the crap out the pirates just as good, if not better than the Tacs did. I think I will stay with these a while longer.....

Thanks for the idea.....

Starblazer
 
My pleasure. For the record, I've taken out 3 of the kilrathi capital ships with my lasers, --no torpedos; just lasers-- so, they seem to work as the math says they should. Against capital ships they are wonderful: I press backspace, then F9 at a distance; then I start firing and tapping the afterburner until I'm close enough to hit the cap ship. Then I put something heavy on the space bar and sit back. (Lasers have the most range of any weapon.)
 
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