Topic: Point defense vs Plasma

[bca11]

I was playing and came up with a question.

How much does point defence help against plasma. This is a two part question: at what range do the phasers fire and how much power does the plasma lose from a phaser hit?

For example: I am a Fed CA vs a Warbird. I will close on the plasma in the range where it does the full 50 points. My 6 phasers fire on the plasma. How much power does the plasma have left?

[Hexx]

Short answer - less power
Long answer- dunno

I believe plasma loses 1 pt of damage for every 3(?) points inflicted on it by phasers.
But of course distance travelled,ecm/eccm and the random damage of the phasers would all have to be known.

[bca11]

Using the Shipedit 3.0 Manual. Phaser 1 at range 0 does average of 6.5 damage, at range 1 it is 5.3, at range 2 it is 4.8.

I could get my statistics book out and check this, if you insist, but I would prefer not to. 

Doesn't a plasma torp have 2 inherent ECCM points? It is safe to assume a shift of 0 for both sides.

So to clarify:

1) At what range do point defence phasers fire against plasma?
2) How many points of damage does plasma lose for damage taken from the phaser?

[Skaren]

It is 2 points of phaser damage reduce the plasma warhead by one point, that was according to the old SFB rules.  I do not think that has changed in SFC

The plasma torps have 3 ECCM

Fire as close as you can before it hits

[762_XC]

It is 4:1 in OP.

[Dizzy]

It is 4:1 in OP.

2

[Hexx]

See?
Long answer= dunno

Really I put this down in the first reponse, you guys are just embarrassing yourselves.

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

Point defence kicks in at 2.99 I think. The best way to get value if you have to shoot the plasma is to leave PD off until range 0.5 and urn it on for maximum bang for your buck.

[762_XC]

It is 4:1 in OP.

2

Check the patch readme.

[GDA-Agave]

I dunno.   I'll let the SFB gurus and admins haggle over it.

All I know is that phasers seem to be wasted when used as point defense against plasma.  I'd rather use them to hurt my opponent.  Anyway, isn't that what shields are used for.   

[Lieutenant_Q]

Point Defense for Phasers against Plasma fire at range ~.50 a little further out for drones.  As for what damage...well... I'm going with what Hexx said... 

[NuclearWessels]

Anyway, isn't that what shields are used for.   

Shields Pah!  Real captains use hull!  Damn crew units are nothing but trouble anyway!

dave

[Dfly]

The damage done to a Plasma by a phaser in OP is 1/4 of it's original damage for the range.  Therefore say 4 phaser 1s hit a plasma at range .9 .  Normally that total would be around 20ish points of damage, divided by 4 for OP standards, therefore 5 points of actual damage reduce at that point of shooting.  The plasma will still continue to degrade as it travels, if you are going fast enough.

In SFB, it is 1/2 damage.

From keeping a close eye on plasmas closing in on me, it seems the game mechanics make the PD firing at range 1.   If you do hold off on your PD till it gets closer, you may do an extra point or 2 of reduction.

[Dizzy]

welll it was 2 to 1... damned patches! Mustve been a rommie! Was it ever denied?

[762_XC]

It used to be 6:1 or 8:1, can't remember. It was never 2:1 in SFC.

It was changed to 4:1 in 2.5.3.8

[Dfly]

some other info most may want to know but dont:

Cloak changes:  Patch fixes in 2.5.4.12
1-6) While under cloak, Weapons damage is reduced according to the following chart:
   33.3% chance weapon does normal damage.
   33.3% chance weapon does 1/2 damage.
   33.3% chance weapon does 1/4 damage.

2-Cloak changes: Patch fixes in 2.5.4.10
4) If a ship being tractored cloaks, the ship holding the cloaker will maintain lock.
5) Weapons damage is reduced according to the following chart:
   66.7% chance weapon does normal damage.
   33.3% chance weapon does 1/2 damage.

3- in patch 2.5.2.5
51) Phaser damage to Plasma is now 4 points of damage reduces plasma strength by one.

[bca11]

There seems to be no consensus on how far away the PD fires. But it is safe to say that a phaser 1 will do on average 5 damage when on PD.

(Is the damage range rounded up or down? Table indicated average damage of 6.5 at range 0 and 5.3 at range 1, so what is the average at ranges 0.9 and 0.5?)

So the setup up between a Fed National Guard Cruiser and an Eagle. The Eagle fires R torp at range 10 and will 50 damage regardless, while saving four type 1 phasers until the fed loses the front shield. At what range should the GCA use it's TWO overloaded torps and 6 phasers?

Scenario 1
Fire 6 phasers at the plasma. 50 damage - (5 damage* 6)/4 - 30 shield points = 12.5 damage. Not counting shield reinforcement. A pseudo torp will mess up this tactic.

Now the GCA can do 32 points of damage and the Eagle 26 (6.5*4) at range 0. Assuming that a photon was not lost or stunned. Total: Eagle takes 8 internals and the GCA 38.5.

Scenario 2
Keep the 6 phasers at bay. 50 damage - 30 shield points = 20 internals. Maybe a pseudo was used, but that makes no difference with PD off.

Now the GCA can do  32 + 30 points of damage and the Eagle 26 at range 0. Total: Eagle takes 38 internals at best and the GCA 44.

Of course I am going to start a thread on the DAC table soon. 

The GCA should save its phasers, unless I am missing something. Of course some would say that I am a bad for closing  with a Romulan head on. 


 

[Julin Eurthyr]

Some tips:

OP doesn't increment the range until the X.00 point is reached.  Range .99 = 0 on firing tables, 1.99 = 1 on firing tables, etc. etc.  If you're going phasers in PD mode, let 'em rip @ .99...

You're forgetting feedback damage on those torps.  There's another 8 damage to you since you're firing torps @ range 0 with no front shield.  Consider firing the torps at R2 if no ECM shift, still an 83% hit rate (good odds for both to hit...)

While in the consideration mode, you might want to attempt to eat the R on a flank (2 or 6) shield, letting your #1 eat the 4 phasers & feedback damage.

And don't forget, the Rommie's probably going to try to cloak as soon as that R's off.  You might be eating a torp and being unable to return much damage at all anyway...

[Alphageek]

Using phasers on point defense against plasma is a sucker's game.  It's much better to keep that power stored and use it to power your shields and heavy weapons, and to keep your speed up. 

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

Using phasers on point defense against plasma is a sucker's game.  It's much better to keep that power stored and use it to power your shields and heavy weapons, and to keep your speed up. 

Yes the best rule is don't get hit, but if you mess up and depending on how hard it will hit you and what shape you are in, it could make the difference in keeping that shield up or keeping your ship battleworthy, that's why your point defence should be off until you decide you messed up enough to use it.

[Villa64]

Gents

Ran a quick test to check the PD firing ranges.  Observations:

P1 fires at 1.00 at type R and slow drones.
P2 fires at 1.00 at slow drones
P3 fires at 2.00 at slow drones
Pg fires at 2.0 at slow drones.

Firing was defined as the sound effect heard prior to the esc key pressed, and the range read with the display frozen.  Tests were run in game speed one. 

Noted a .01-.05 second (variable) delay between sound effect and phaser graphic and target hit.
Noted that when the phaser graphic touched the slow drone, the drone disappeared.

No conclusions here, just my observations.

Funny, I thought that the P3/Pg thing was fixed 5 years ago.