PBE how powerfull?

[Star_Raider15]

so i want to know jsut how pwerfull PBE's r and how i should use em,
also are APBE better than the BPBE and just how fast will 4 APBE(or BPBE) kill the shilds of a K

[Etolf]

they are great anti Khaak cluster weapons, but useless against a K, their range is too small... in fact, that is their biggest downfall, their range is too small to be effective against most fighters...
BPBE are more powerful than APBE

[foxy42]

Not very. Not very good range either...think of it as a mass dirver that doesn't require ammo and has to get through the shields first. The BPBE has a bit more bite, but not much. The range is the problem. It's not even much good against khaak, it just doesn't quite seem to reach them as they fly about the ship. I'm sure it has it's uses, but for me, it seems to be another pointless boron weapon, just like the Ion Disruptor (yes, I know IDs have their uses, but I think they're pants, even for missile defense, they are however a good capturing weapon at the start of the game, and can ensure good hulls on your captures ).

[Kymura]

click here to achieve enlightment

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Hi there,

I agree with what's already been said and will add the following.

Technically, they are efficient at removing shields from an energy consumption pre unit shield damage point of view but they do consume a lot of energy for a small ship and as was said, the short range means that larger ships with bigger generators can't effectively use them as the targets are often out of range.

Add to that the fact that pulsed beam emitters are rubbish vs. hull and it means that they're unlikely to damage a ship much once they're in range and won't slow them down much to keep them in range for longer...

Sparky

[K.Mak]

I have 4 Xenon Ls in my Elephant outfitted with 4 BPBEs and they know how to use them pretty well. When I give them HEPTs, they tend to miss all the time, the only time they'd hit is if they went head on with an enemy fighter and in large battles, they'd try to do it on more than one fighter, taking hull damage. With BPBEs, it's accurate even if it does use more energy and I always see my ships landing hits on the enemy no matter where they are. So I definitely like PBEs on fighters. Not TLs or Capital ships or M6s though, just M3s.

They rip through M5s easily too so I don't have to go chase down a harrier. I can just focus on annihilating the stupid falcon vanguard with its beta phase shockwaves trying to crush all my fighters.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Hi kmak263,

Good point. I didn't think of them in tha way - I tend fight with just my player ship to make sure I get the kills rather than with wingmen.

Sparky

[nailz45]

i can understand how some people can think the PBE is a good weapon. i mean if you've never seen one before you might imply by the name that it sounds like a powerful weapon. or if you have played the plot missions, on the mission where you're in the turret shootin pirates the BPBE is way more powerful than the regular version of it.

i have tried the regular version of the PBE and it really sucks. I had an L with PBE's in all the laser bays and it still took forever to take out an M4. and it completely drained my energy halfway throught the sheilds.

[K.Mak]

I think it's a pretty awesome capping weapon to be honest, you punch through their shields like nothing and the really weak hull damage prevents the ship you're capping from taking too much damage.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Hi kmak263,

I can see why they might be good for capping...but once I had enough race rank to buy BPBE, I had so much cash, I couldn't be bothered to cap ships intentionally.

I got firepower and cash in the early game from capped or destroyed ships providing AHEPTs for example.

With extra range or reduced power consumption, I think they would be more useful but at the moment, I think they are less useful that the ubiquitous PACs...although I like the earlier suggestion of giving them to M3 wingmen but that makes them a bit expensive if they get nuked.

Sparky

[K.Mak]

I've got cash too, but you can't buy Pirate Falcons or Pirate Nova Raiders, or Yaki ships. The pirate falcons fly faster than the Teladis and have around 350 cargo or so, which is pretty impressive for an M3, despite their weaker shields. The pirate Nova Raiders aren't impressive in any way but they do have a great paint job.

[Nanook]

...The pirate Nova Raiders aren't impressive in any way but they do have a great paint job.

You know, up until this statement, I had a lot of respect for what you were saying.

The Nova Raider, and the pirate version, is arguably the best M3 in the game. It has a pretty high max speed (faster than any of your Falcons), 3 25MJ shields, a turret that can carry a wide variety of weapons, is quite maneuverable and has a very impressive variety of weapons at its command. Pirate Nova Raiders are awesome machines, which some consider 'unbalanced' compared to other M3's.

[jackhanna88]

What actually justifies the high cost of PBEs?

[fud]

They sound cool at least.

[bob hope]

again its another one of those usefull weapons that has been left a little light, meanwhile psg`s are just too much, give them things a range of 1km and they might be safer but for the fact mass driver and pbe`s do so little damage and use so much energy up they shouls at least have a good range

[A5PECT]

Gives wingmen the ability to actually hit their targets IS. The same can be said of the Mass Driver, however it requires ammunition.

[gunman127]

I slap BPES in every turret on my Titan and cruise up and down the pirate alley...
Best low effort ship capping technique I know.
No point in seling them, so every trader I own has 3 Pirate Falcon Vanguards flying guard duty.

[eladan]

I think you guys are missing out on a good thing here.

PBEs go through shields like they're paper. But they struggle with hull. Ok, that's well known. How about using them to take down a targets shields, and then switch to HEPTS to make the kill? I do that, and it works very well. Especially in XI missions, where laser energy is scarce. I seriously wouldn't consider *not* having PBEs now. And the capping angle is just the icing.

[Cardboard Tube]

hepts on their own take down shields pretty sharpish

[eladan]

hepts on their own take down shields pretty sharpish

They do. You'll get no argument on that. And going up against a pirate group, you probably won't have too much trouble taking them out like that.

But HEPTS use a lot more laser energy to take down shielding, and if you go up against larger numbers/bigger targets, you'll start to get short on laser energy. The best illustration of what I said is to try taking out a decently shielded target - say a TL - with firstly a loadout of HEPTS, then try it using PBEs to take out the shields and then finish with HEPTS. It'll be a *lot* quicker if you use PBEs, I promise you!