Questions about the beta PBE

[Lord Schwarz]

My main attack force(because I dont have the rank for carriers or destroyers) consists of my elephant loaded with xenon L's and my nova. I noticed that the Xenon L's can use both the beta and alpha PBE's. My experience with the alpha PBE has lead me to believe the weapon isnt any good. When I was playing a little bit of the storyline missions I noticed in the mission where you are the gunner for the Goners that the default weapon is the Beta PBE and it killed the Yaki quickly. Were there ships just weak or is the beta PBE really powerful? The Xenon L can hold 6 of them at once, and I have 6 L's which would mean I would need 36 of these weapons, and before I produce them I would like to know if it would be worth it. Would it be?

Also I noticed that both the split and the boron sell the factory needed, but the price difference is around 3 million. Is it truely a savings to buy from the split? I ask because I think it will take rastor oil for the split factory and bofu for the boron and boron food is much cheaper then rastor oil. Is the production time and resource(Energy and ore) requirments the same for both the boron and split Bete PBE factory?

Thanks.

[xalien]

It's a special PBE that exists only in the plot. Regular BPBE's are only a little more powerful and have very slightly longer range than alpha's but consume a lot more energy - not worth the trade IMHO.

Generally PBE's are great shield strippers and M5/M4 killers. APBE/AHEPT combo in the hands of a player is very deadly.

[BillSheil]

My experience with the alpha PBE has lead me to believe the weapon isnt any good.

Actually against shields it's the most powerful weapon in the game (better than the bPBE) in terms of energy use vs damage. Individually a single bPBE will pack a more quick punch, likewise for HEPTs, but multiply them up and you're better off in a fight either against a big (heavily shielded) ship or a big dogfight against multiple enemies when weapon's recharge energy is the thing that really counts.

They don't do much hull damage (which ironically makes them a good choice for capping) but a lot of people use them conjunction with a switch to HEPTs to destroy enemies' hulls when the shields are down.

For equipping wingmen/NPC ships, PBEs (either type) may not be the best choice as you cannot really manage the weapon swithcing or rely on the AI to use them effectively given there close range. Out Of System only really the weapon power counts and I don't think energy use and constant firing is ever an issue so, for you fleet of L's, I would give them HEPTs instead. The PBEs are really best as player weapons.

The plot game PBE I believe was a supercharged type otherwise unavailable in the game.

[Joshua_Dahl]

Boron factories are cheaper than other races for some reason. ALL resource factories are similarly priced though, so there is a savings.