PBE or AHEPT

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rdavila
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PBE or AHEPT

Post by rdavila » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:09

Hi,

I've triedd to use PBEs twiced (a Mamba and a Chimera) and I can't really see the advantage over AHEPTs.

According to the Laser Stats in Rogueys site:

Code: Select all

Laser  | Shield Damage | Energy per second | Shield Damage per second | Refire Rate
AHEPT  |          1,995 |                40 |                    9,410 |     283 r/m
APBE   |            567 |                 6 |                   12,100 |    1277 r/m
According to the numbers above (and assuming every shot hits):
The AHEPT should spend 188 energy per second ((283/60) * 40) to produce 9,409.75 shield damage per second
The APBE should spend 128 energy per second ((1277/60) * 6) to produce 12,067.65 shield damage per second

The thing is, whenever I've tried the APBE it takes a long time to bring down the shields of my enemy and it eats away my energy.
With the AHEPT the shields go down a lot faster and use less energy. :?

So, is there some way to effectively use the PBE which I'm not seeing?

TIA

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fiksal
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Re: PBE or AHEPT

Post by fiksal » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:18

rdavila wrote: The thing is, whenever I've tried the APBE it takes a long time to bring down the shields of my enemy and it eats away my energy.
With the AHEPT the shields go down a lot faster and use less energy. :?
hm, really?

and every APBE shot hit the target (since AHEPT has far greater range)?

rdavila wrote: So, is there some way to effectively use the PBE which I'm not seeing?
not a PBE user, but I imagine: capturing ships, or fighting fast and small ships (M4s, M5s).

AHEPT also does heavy Hull damage - not good for capturing, PBE doesnt.
AHEPT is slow - a lot easier to miss, when PBE is almost instant.

That's all I can think of
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teladianium
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Post by teladianium » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:22

Haven't tried those ships but I have use PBE and HEPT in the LX and Barracuda, I use PBE to whack the shields fast then switch to HEPTs to knock the hull out.

Dunno about the stats but it works fine. Only thing is that you need to be under 1 km to use the PBE efectively and ~500 metres for optimum effect.

In a LX you can fire PBEs for about 30 seconds before you run out of energy, which is enough to knock 70% of the shields off a pirate base let alone some M3's

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Gazz
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Re: PBE or AHEPT

Post by Gazz » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:33

rdavila wrote:The thing is, whenever I've tried the APBE it takes a long time to bring down the shields of my enemy and it eats away my energy.
With the AHEPT the shields go down a lot faster and use less energy. :?

So, is there some way to effectively use the PBE which I'm not seeing?
Is your game lagging even a tiny bit?
PBE are fast projectiles. So fast that they often shoot clear through the target without impacting because your processor was busy with other things.
HEPT are slow projectiles. They always impact.

If your puter can handle it, PBE go through shields like a hot knife through butter.

Personally I modded the PBE and lowered their speed to "only" 2000m/s or so. They are far more effective for me now. =)
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NewtSoup
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Post by NewtSoup » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:37

I use my tried and tested BPBE and AHEPT combination in my LX

4 of each. Guess how they're grouped.

Shield Damage 4BPBE seriously out classes 4xAHEPT
Dont know about APBE though but from the looks of those stats they should still be way faster than the AHEPT.

I also carry, these days, an additional 4 x BPBE so I can switch to 8x BPBE if I wish. Only does the same total damage as 4 x BPBE but does it twice as fast :D and at the range I like to use them it's a coconut every time.

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Post by Vertigo_Edge » Mon, 7. May 07, 22:59

I second the above. I have experience with Chimera and LX and I think PBE's own HEPT.

edit- for shields. Start with PBE to take out hull then use HEPT for the rest if they dont bail. If target is M4 or smaller dont bother with HEPT as PBE will own them too quickly.

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Post by NewtSoup » Mon, 7. May 07, 23:43

8x BPBE vs Pirate Harrier Vanguar = "Split now give you AAAAARRRGGGHHH"

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Post by Geek » Mon, 7. May 07, 23:46

I agree with the previous post - LX with BPBE will cut through TL shields in one pass. It requires more time with AHEPT. And BPBE is slightly less energy efficient than APBE.

It seems however to do only partial damage if i am at the range limit - getting 100m closer makes a large difference.
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Post by Psirus » Tue, 8. May 07, 01:24

I open fire at 1 km with BPBEs in my LX, any opposing LX's shields are toast in 3 seconds, it's rather fun with the cap ship killing combo I like to pull
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Post by Dadamh » Tue, 8. May 07, 03:12

...

8xAIRE and pirate harrier = "Split now give you de-AAAARRGH"

It doesn't take much to off a harrier :/

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halo112358
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Post by halo112358 » Tue, 8. May 07, 05:46

I use A/B PBE to clear shields before opening up on the hull with A/B HEPT :D

A while ago I added another column to the weapon spreadsheet that I call "Capture Efficiency". It's basically (Shield Damage/Hull Damage) / Energy Rate. The metric shows the most efficient Shield to Hull Damage per Energy expendituture.

Want to know which one was most efficient (energy wise, ignoring Ion D's) at cutting shields and leaving the hull intact?

Alpha PBE :)
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Post by pjknibbs » Tue, 8. May 07, 07:55

You should always use PBEs at a reasonable range. If you're, say, within 300m of your target you won't hit anything with them. However, unlike AHEPTs, PBEs are so fast you WILL actually hit your target at their maximum range of 1km! I would also echo that PBEs are superb capping weapons, since they do massive shield damage but not so much hull damage. If you're going to destroy an opponent with lasers you won't find many faster ways than stripping the shields with PBEs then switching to HEPTs for the coup de grace...

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Post by crawlerw » Tue, 8. May 07, 08:40

about your PBE within 1.1km then they will hit no matter what as long you have the target in your sight.
so mount 4 PBE and 4 AHEPT
and watch the targets fry.

the low hull damage of the PBE helps in captureing operation

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Post by humility925 » Tue, 8. May 07, 08:40

Did anyone try to fly TL with APBE for capping enemies? I gotten to try thats, it's would be fun, I think, but problem is TL are larger targets.

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Post by crawlerw » Tue, 8. May 07, 12:02

there range is to small to mount it on anything then a figther

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Post by Psirus » Tue, 8. May 07, 12:53

yep, tried that on a YL, couldn't hit a single N :(
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Post by jlehtone » Tue, 8. May 07, 13:09

Reader81 wrote:Did anyone try to fly TL with APBE for capping enemies?
Problem is on both sides. Put PBE on TL and the fighters turn away before they are in range of PBE. Put PBE on fighter and they turn away from TL before they can fire the PBE.

However, sudden strafe/turn/kickstop may confuse the AI collision avoidance enough to lure a fighter into range of TL PBE. Naturally, player flown fighter has no trouble on getting close to TL.

AI versus AI, neither TL nor fighter will like PBE.

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halo112358
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Post by halo112358 » Tue, 8. May 07, 14:12

Reader81 wrote:Did anyone try to fly TL with APBE for capping enemies? I gotten to try thats, it's would be fun, I think, but problem is TL are larger targets.
I tried them as antifighter on my Elephant and I can safely say that they suck - fighters don't fly close enough to the ship for you to ever be in range.

For anti-fighter on a TL I really like BPAC, good range, good accuracy, good speed, reasonable damage.

APBE is awesome on a fighter for capping, and that's it. I guess it could be useful on a TL for missile defense (fast turn rate, very accurate, no need for ammo) but that's the only use I can see on a big ship.
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surferx
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Post by surferx » Tue, 8. May 07, 14:44

After I take down the shields with BPBEs my LX's turrets with BHEPTs are usually well on the way to finishing off the target when I switch to AHEPTs. Great for assassin missions, not so much for capping. So I mostly have the turrets switched off, or the back turret set for missile D.
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Post by Century Child » Tue, 8. May 07, 15:15

A few questions: is it really easier to hit things from further off with PBEs than from say 200m? seems odd..? And about the lag thing: should i switch to BPBEs, their projectiles are slower, right? since my system lags a bit and i often have problems w/ pbes hitting things. And thirdly, i stilla havent found out whether its better to put the PBEs to the wingtips (eg. Hydra) or near the centre of the hull (like in slots 2-5 of an LX)..
whew. I'd really love to use PBEs but these things really confuse me, so help would be appreciated! :D

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