EVE New Citizens Q&A

So here is what I don't understand......I WAS using small focused pulse lasers. They were Meta four, I forget the exact name. But I switched to Dual pulse laser meta 4's just to test something. Now the dual lasers say they have lower range AND lower DPS. But I swear dude...they tore through the enemy NPC's faster than the small focused lasers. Why is that? Was it just my imagination? As far as I can tell, they have just a little bit more rate of fire.

Am I missing something or am I just crazy?

iirc the Dual ones have a better tracking stat so more damage is applied to the target.

so which are better do yall think? Duals or singles? Because now I am trying out the longer range ones. the BEAMS instead of PULSE. I tried the single ones first, and they killing in like one hit 10 KM away lol.

Do you think it is just the way I fly maybe that the better tracking does more damnage for me? Or is it that way for everyone? I just can't decide which are better.......the duals SEEM better, but I can't ignore the numbers. I wish I could.

Are the differences at least negligible or something?

Well, for pretty much all turrets you have first the choice of size (small, medium, large).
Bigger means more range, more damage, much higher fitting requirements and much worse tracking.
Usually you simply chose the ones that fit your hull.

Then, you have the choice between long range (e.g. Beam weapons) and short range (Pulse weapons).
Long range means more range, slightly less damage, longer cycle times, higher fitting requirements and worse tracking.
While they deal slightly less damage, it's mostly a tradeoff between range and tracking, not damage.

After that, you get different sub-sizes. (e.g. Gatling Pulse, Dual Light Pulse, Small Focused Pulse)
"Bigger" means slightly better range & damage, but worse tracking and higher fitting requirements.

Then, you have meta levels. A meta 4 module is better on all accounts than a meta 0 module, but should costs more.
A tech 2 module ("meta 5") is usually equivalent to a meta 4, but with higher fitting requirements. However, it gets extra bonuses from the tech 2 skill and allows tech 2 ammunition. (And it's often cheaper than meta 4.)

Finally, you can fine-tune your guns with ammunition that changes some properties.

If you combine all this, you can get some results that might seem odd (e.g. a Small Focused BEAM laser deals more damage than a Dual Light Pulse laser), but they are usually balanced. Don't make the mistake to believe that tracking isn't important, just because it doesn't show on the hover text

Pulse: low range with high DPS (Not damage but damage/sec)
Beam: long range with high alpha (so more actual damage. But lower DPS)

Also, try to kite the NPCs.

Those (and rookie PvPers as well) are usually quite dumb and try to approach you in a straight line (little to no angular velocity, close to 0 rad/sec), then, once they reach the set distance, start to orbit you (raising their angular velocity). Kiting prevents the NPCs from reaching this distance, forever trailing behind you like immature girls Justin Bieber.
You can do so by pressing the "Keep at distance"-button, right-clicking that one even allows you to individualize the chosen distance.

If you right click on the weapon icon after installing it in your ship you can view its information including the tracking after being affected by your skills.

High tracking is what you want. High tracking allows you to hit better at any range.

In general when you have low skills, beam lasers are superior because pulse lasers are too short-ranged.

As Degnar wrote: right-click->Show Info. Tracking speed is one of its attributes.

If you do that on a fitted weapon in your ship, the tracking will include modifications by modules and your skils.
If you do that on a weapon that is not fitted (e.g. on the market), the tracking shown will not include these modifications, not even your skills. So be sure to compare apples with apples.

As for how much tracking affects you: it uses the same formula as falloff. A ship that's moving at your (effective) tracking speed is as hard to hit as a ship that's at optimal+1*falloff range: 50%. Ideally, you want to shot things that are moving at half your (effective) tracking speed or less.

Love how people talk about alpha. (The damage done by each shot.)

They are wrong.

High alpha is a property of long range projectile weapons. But only projectile.

Long range energy (i.e. laser) weapons have exactly the same alpha as short range energy weapons.
And short range neutron blaster actually have the highest alpha of all hybrid weapons.
(Always assuming the same ammunition is used.)

You are confusing lasers with Blasters (short range hybrid weapons). Although you are right that lasers don't have a caliber in their name.

Please look it up before posting wrong information and confusing newbies.
If you are not willing to do that, don't post in a laser thread If you only fly Minmatar ships and just have vague memories about energy weapons.

That post was talking about blasters. Lasers have their own naming conventions

it's most likely due to range or tracking issues, most likely the latter

There are 3 flavours of small pulse laser ordered from smallest to largest:

dual light pulse
gatling pulse
small focused pulse

Base optimal ranges for these in order are:

4000
4500
5000

in km

So using multifrequency ammo with no range enhancing modules means you will need to be within 2000, 2250 and 2500km respectively do be dealing full damage.

If we look at beam lasers now:

dual light beam 8750km
small focused beam 10000km

You also have to worry about tracking, the pulses have way better tracking than the beams so for up close and personal business they perform much better.

As for the difference between dual and non-dual laser calibers, I think you're orbiting at 500m on NPCs and the superior tracking of the dual lasers means you're hitting a lot better.