Teer Kerensky, on 10 April 2017 - 12:45 PM, said:
Is there any idea about regular PPCs, when you dont' have any PPC quirks?
Im more familiar with clan weapons and my few IS mechs are mostly LRM boats, but I've tried other weapons with Stalker, it can carry 4 energy weapons. It seems PPC has rather poor range, with no advantages. It's not heat efficient, it has small weakness in minium range(no big deal with 4xSRM4).
If I compare it to large pulse lasers, weight is same, large pulse can be fired 3x versus 2x, in large pulses optimal range it's heat efficient by far, it also fires rather fast so it's nearly pinpoint. The biggest thing is, since it's heat efficient, how much it does damage on the PPCs optimal range? My quick estimate would could do about 7 damage on PPCs optimal range, meaning it could have same heat efficiency as PCCs on PPCs optimal range. PPC might be only better on further back where ER-PPC might be even more heat optimal.
(im kinda assuming a sniping situation where you are limited by heat)
So is there a point to take PPCs? I took PPCs and played few games, but I'm starting to think large pulse or ER-PPC are always better than regular PPCs. The minium range is ablsolutely no problem since from SRM range they are superior.
Not really going to be a short answer here... but...
The big difference between PPCs and ERPPCs is range, minimum range and heat. The PPC runs a lot cooler, which means it can sustain fire more often. If you don't care or cover your minimum range with other weapons, than it can work a lot better than ERPPCs do, simply because you don't overheat and then die as quickly.
In comparison to LPLs, ERPPCs and LPLs are rather comparable. LPLs have duration on their attack, so they can spread damage but it's not all risked on a single shot. A PPC though hits one location when it hits, dealing all it's damage to a single spot on the target. So it's a matter of pin point (snap shots) vs beam duration and spread (sweeps).
Each weapon does have it's place. It all depends upon how you intent to use them. Jump sniping? PPCs are better than LPLs. Light hunting? LPLs tend to be better, as you are likely to not only miss the light with PPC fire, but also they may get within your minimum range.
I have a Crab (27SL) that has PPCs. It has quirks for pulse lasers, but I ignored that and instead decided to create a jump sniping medium mech. I originally tried it with ERPPCs, but shutting down every other second wasn't very fun nor effective. For minimum range engagements, I added in 3 ERSLs, and even with the heat sinks that cost me, it still runs cooler and more effective than my ERPPC version I started out with.
It's all in how you use it.
(I wanted to say something else here, but forgot what it was before I could type it out... I hope I got everything though.)
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