Vulcan : best weapon in the game ?

General discussion about the game.
Lamito
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 11:30 am

Vulcan : best weapon in the game ?

Postby Lamito » Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:51 pm

Hello

Has a low skill player (I can only win medium with the above average ships) I wonder about the vulcan.

Is it the best weapon in the game (because it requires nothing else to eventually kill absolutely any ship) or are some other weapons better (Ion 2, Burst 3, Flak 1 & 2, ...) due to acting faster ?
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stylesrj
Posts: 3644
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:54 am

Re: Vulcan : best weapon in the game ?

Postby stylesrj » Mon Nov 02, 2015 9:27 pm

The Vulcan is a deadly weapon but I wouldn't say it's the best in the game. A Defence Drone Mk.II will shut it down and make you cry.

The best gun in the game would have to be the Burst Laser II. 3 shots for 2 power.
Coming up second is the Advanced Flak the Lanius B has - 3 shots for 1-power and it's reliable enough.

Combine Burst Laser Mk.II's with Flak 1's and you've got a death barrage nothing can withstand. Also, less vulnerable to disruption. Take out one laser? Fine, I have 3 others.
The Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:44 am

Re: Vulcan : best weapon in the game ?

Postby The Captain » Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:14 am

IMO the Vulcan is kind of a trap weapon. It's awesome when it's fully ramped up, but it needs help, because it takes ~30 sec to get going (longer if it gets taken offline, and it has to start all over). So I like to have other weapons - probably with Hacking - that can do some damage in the meantime, and the Vulcan can finish the job.

And your defenses need to be good enough that you can survive a long battle. If you don't have at least L4 Weapons when you get a Vulcan, and you spend scrap to try to get it online (plus you really want L5 or 6 for another weapon - and damage buffer for your Vulcan), then your defenses might not be good enough, and you take a lot of damage before the Vulcan gets going.

If it fits in to what you've already got, great. If you're going to put all your scrap in this one basket, you might be better off selling it. But do try a Vulcan build at some point: when it works, it's a lot of fun.

Advanced Flak might be the best weapon, but you can't buy it. I like the Burst Laser Mk II, because it has better aim than the Flak Gun Mk I. Of course you can find the latter more often. Flak is great for taking down shields, so you can follow up with lasers or beams and hit what you want to hit.