Plasma Accelerators v Cannons

[Jellicoe]

Hi all, what are peoples thoughts on PA's or cannon? I've run two C4 cannon on my Corvette quite happily but am Trying PA's at the moment, true PA's do a lot of damage but the amount of power they use both gives them a lower rate of fire than cannons and cuts down on the amount of fire I can sustain from my smaller weapons so I'm not sure they're worth it, especially if they miss!

[TorTorden]

Yeah that's pretty much my thinking as well.

Just not worth it.

In fact I find myself rather using lasers on the large slots and ballistics on the smaller.
Currently running three large bursts and 4 cannons on my vette.
Works oddly enough a lot better than the other way around.

[Orkekum]

My Fer De Lance, i run four pulses and one huge cannon.
I tried a plasma accelerator, but it on one shot eats about half capacitor charge, which means that i can fire two plasmas and no lasers, one plasma and only a few lasers. or much lasers and no plasma.

I opted for fixed cannon because it barely eats capacitor charge, and i only need to keep an eye out for lasers for my caps.
I snipe powerplants with the cannons on everything bigger than a python, much smaller i can hit, but four medium pulses are vicious.

(edit, adding pytnon with plasmas)

My python is running three large pulses and two medium plasmas, it has the capacitor charge to survive, i just chose plasmas for fun, i might opt for cannons, or more lasers.

Vipers i equip with lasers and cannons most of the time

[Phillipus]

I think they're not worth it and I use cannons. But I know some people love their PAs, and they can be a lot of fun.

[Xebeth]

Of course this is all 'up in the air' now with the new huge weapons coming in 1.6/2.1.

[Darwin]

Plasma accelerators weigh less than Cannons, so if squeezing out jump range, they pack punch with less weight than the equivalent cannon.
That said, the Class 4 PA take 50% more power for only 30% more damage than the Class 3 equivalents.

[Phillipus]

Of course this is all 'up in the air' now with the new huge weapons coming in 1.6/2.1.

Yes, indeed. I have my doubts about the new huge weapons, though. For example, take the two huge hardpoints on the Corvette - we could use two large beam lasers doing 8 units of damage for 10 seconds before the capacitor is drained, or two huge beam lasers doing 12 units of damage for 7 seconds before the capacitor is drained. As we say, six of one and half a dozen of the other...

[Jellicoe]

The huge multi cannons might be a real killer though.

[CMDR Abil Midena]

I agree it's tough to decide until 2.1. But I run with 1 huge pa, 2 lg laser and the rest multi cannons. I found the huge cannons miss too often due to the AI 'insta-jink'.

When 2.1 hits, I plan to replace the top lg laser with a huge. I'll have to test to see if a huge multi cannon is better than a pa. We shall see.

[JohnLuke]

The huge multi cannons might be a real killer though.

That's my thinking as well. I'm going to test the huge multis and huge pulse beams before trying any other combinations.