Optimizing Your Weapons - Bigger or Smaller? (part 2)

In the first part of this article, I looked at the efficiency of various weapons across different sizes by comparing their DPS/100tons. I showed that larger weapons are less weight efficient for both Forsaken Research and Draconian Blueprint Weapons. In Part 2, I'll show that the picture is less clear for the Forsaken Mission Prize weapons.  I'll get right to the charts... if you missed part 1 you should go back and read it.  There really isn't a general trend, so I'll do a chart for each weapon.

Shredder Cannon:

I also put a Ripper 4 in for comparison:

Cannons	Fleet DPS/hT	Bld DPS/hT
Shredder 1	17.0	95.5
Shredder 2	19.9	111.6
Shredder 3	21.6	121.7
Ripper 4	39.0	113.7

The Shredders get more efficient as they get heavier.  This means that one Shredder 3 will do more damage and weigh about the same as three Shredder 1. Their low accuracy hurts against fleets, but that doesn't matter against buildings.  Per gun, the Shredder 3 does more damage against buildings than any other weapon besides Siege Rocket S and Infernos.

Negotiator Mortar:

You don't see these too often... they are designed as FvF mortars with a lower arc, but still aren't really fast enough to be effective against a moving target.  They also have a very long build time.

I also compared with an Assault Mortar:

Mortar	Fleet DPS/hT	Bld DPS/hT
Negotiator 1	2.7	2.7
Negotiator 2	3.0	3.0
Negotiator 3	3.1	3.1
Assault Mort C	9.3	3.3

Negotiators get more efficient as they get heavier... but they still suck.

Downpour Missile:

Very useful on Reapers, but they aren't seen too often just because a Downpour Reaper tends to be very specialized as a prep fleet for someone who is willing to lose that fleet.  Still the data here can help if you are looking to build them:

I compared these with Siege Missiles:

Missile	Fleet DPS/hT	Bld DPS/hT
Downpour 1	3.9	12.6
Downpour 2	4.2	14.0
Downpour 3	4.8	15.9
Siege Miss V	3.8	15.0

The Downpour is similar to a Siege Missile in effectiveness, which helps to gauge the fleets effectiveness as you design it - two Downpour 3s work about as well as one Siege Missile.  (don't forget the building damage bonus on a Reaper though).  Downpour Missiles get more efficient as they get heavier.  So don't load up your fleet with Downpour 1s or 2s, use fewer Downpour 3s to fill up your ships weight.  

Torrent Missile & Chainguns:

Their relatively short range for a missile makes the Torrents a little tough to figure out what they are best for.  I think anti-fleet is their best use, and that makes them similar to Chainguns, so I put these comparisons together.  After adding a Range special, these weapons will both have similar ranges (low 70s). 

Reaver Weapons	Fleet DPS/hT	Bld DPS/hT
Torrent 1	30.2	33.6
Torrent 2	25.1	27.9
Torrent 3	25.2	28.1
Chaingun 1	25.0	35.7
Chaingun 2	24.1	34.5
Chaingun 3	23.3	33.3

Those maniacal Reavers buck trends - the Chaingun follows the pattern of the Draconian and Research weapons, where the larger Chainguns are less efficient.  Torrents are sort of all over, The Torrent 1 is the most efficient, and the Torrent 2 is the least efficient of the Torrents.  The most interesting point is the relative efficiency of the weapons compared to each other - the Torrent does more DPS/100ton than the Chaingun.  If you include the weight of the range special, it gets even worse for the Chaingun... SFB3 only adds 12% to weapon weight, but HB3 adds 60% to weapon weight.

Next Week:  It's the FvF throwdown: Stingrays vs... MCX????