EVE New Citizens Q&A

I think someone forgot to give them the Odyssey 1.1 damage bonus because they do less DPS than Quad Light Beams.

Quad LIght Beams are actually a step up from the dual lights that are (IIRC) the top end small laser platform.

All of the Medium/Large gun platforms (and with Rubicon, the missiles) have their lowest-end weapon being the least damage, but fastest tracking / best sigres for being better being able to hit frigates/cruisers -- kinda like the dual 150mm railguns.

Granted, with most medium/large turrets, it's better to just go for the big ones and blap the target as deep into falloff as possible ;).

Focused Medium Beam Laser I

Damage modifier -> 2.0 x
Optimal -> 17.5km
Falloff -> 6km
Tracking -> 0.042 rad/s
sigres -> 125m
ROF -> 5s

Quad Light ... Laser I

Damage Modifier -> 1.5x
Optimal -> 8km
Falloff -> 1km
Tracking -> 0.081 rad/s
sigres -> 125m
ROF -> 3s

So yes, with Multifreq (base shield damage of 22), you're looking for on-paper DPS of 8.8 with the Focused, and 11 with the quads (before skills, and anything else).

However, once reality of fighting comes into play, you realize that with the severely limited engagement envelope, you're pretty much relegated to killing frigates with the quads.

Target = Thorax
Range = 7500m
Sigrad = 120m
transversal = 0.50 rad/s

The Formula (taken from here) works out that you will be hitting the Thorax for more on-paper DPS with the faster guns by the sheer fact that your tracking speed is able to keep up with it). Rails work out the other way (7.4 vs 6.7 DPS for the dual 150 and 200mm, but their ranges are a little closer 12+6 and 18+10)

Plugging in the numbers:

Quad lights -> 60% chance to hit
Focused -> 15% chance to hit

If we're out at range for the focused beams (17km)

Quad lights -> 0% (because WAY past falloff)
Focused -> 69% chance to hit


Now, stepping that down to a frigate, the only change we're gonna make is the to sigrad (41 meters@7km, transversal stays the same)

Quad -> 0.7%
Focused -> might as well be zero.

if you can drop the transversal to 0.08 or lower (not difficult with webs):

Quad -> 88% chance to hit

So... to wrap this all up in terms that are bit easier to understand:

There is no blanket "x gun hits harder than y gun" in Eve. Everything is highly situational. There are arguments to be made for the current state of either weapon set but they only really shine in the exact situation that they were designed to work in.

Build your ship with a purpose in mind and know your engagement envelope when you undock.

Edit to reflect the difference between what I know and how I fly:

Build your ship with a purpose in mind and know your engagement envelope when you undock. Then light your hair on fire and shout into TS as you engage everything in system regardless of whether you will win or lose.

I am asking precisely because such "blanket" exists and existed for years.

No matter the weapon system, no matter the weapon size, and no matter the weapon version(short/long range) the basic rules are always the same:

1. Low range, low DPS, high tracking, low fitting, low cap use
2. Medium range, medium DPS, medium tracking, medium fitting, medium cap use
3. Long range, high DPS, low tracking, high fitting, high cap use

The only exception to this is when the weapon version simply doesn't have three variations. For example, small beams only have two variations - dual beam and small focused beam. But even so, the overall rules still apply(that is dual beam have shorter range, less DPS, higher tracking, lower fitting and less cap drain than the small focused beams)

Focused Medium Beams are the ONLY exception to this rule in the entire game.