Mining lasers as weapons

Cmdr Darkstar · Post by **Cmdr Darkstar** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:45 pm

I've just installed Oolite this week, and have been playing it for the past couple of days. (Can I say: "Nice!" - I've been looking for a decent Elite game for a while).

Anyway, back to my question:

Are mining lasers any good as weapons?

I originally played Elite years ago on my Amstrad CPC, and on that version, Mining Lasers were defiantly the best weapon, capable of taking out Thargoids in 6 hits.

(Beam Lasers sucked, as they overheated way too quickly: IMO less useful than standard pulse lasers. Military Lasers were only moderately better - I used them as my port/starboard weapons, as they were easier to hit with when shooting sideways, but I always used Mining Lasers fore and aft).

But back to Oolite.

I've just got enough money for a mining laser, and wanted to try one out to see if it was worth it. But it seems to have a rate of fire about twice as slow as the CPC version, and when I tested it against a passing ship, it didn't even seem that powerful.

So are Oolite mining lasers worth while as weapons, or have they been downgraded so that they are really only useful for mining?

Post by **Disembodied** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:38 pm

Hi, Commander, welcome to the boards! It's a pretty friendly place. Just a few house rules: no space-boots on the rug, don't disturb the Grey-Haired Commander when he's napping, and if you're going to inhale any benzene steam, try to do it near a ventilator. Oh, and a word to the wise: don't buy any furry individuals from any, uh, furry individuals...

On the mining lasers question, I have to say I haven't tried it -- but I can't imagine that, with their very slow rate of fire, that they'd be much good in a dogfight. Which is not to say that they don't have their uses: coupled with the invaluable Ore Processor, mining can be a very lucrative activity.

For combat, I've heard arguments in favour of the beam laser over the military variety, citing its ability to maintain sustained fire for longer. For myself, though, I'd have to go for the military option, for its longer range. Burn them before they can burn you, that's what I say. Just be ready to duck and weave while the damn thing cools down again!

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:36 am

Hi Disembodied!

I'm playing just for a week and tried out the several lasers. The mining laser does not work in dogfight, it regenerates to slow.

My choice are 2 military lasers in front and back.

stay at 20km away from the enemiey, and decrease speed to zero. So you could kill one or two of them until they could fire at you.
when the laser ist hot, turn by 18 degree and use the rear laser. If the enemies are nearby, you could get some distance by the fuel injectors.

In elite, most i used the rear laser (only turn the joystick by 180 degree, and handle like front laser). With keybord, you have to train fighting at front and back side.
Good training objects are asteorids.

An other advantage ist, that if the following you, the would move in the rear view into the hair cross by itselve. Over speed you could control the distance.

Best regards,
Matthias

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:17 am

Hi, Cmdr Darkstar, and welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

Oh, and: Hi, Viper, as well, and the same warm welcome to you!

I wouldn't recommend Mining lasers as weapons in Oolite. You can use them, and you can as well use any of the other lasers for mining. Basically a laser is a laser, so any of them can serve any purpose.

I don't think there is a big difference in energy-delivery per shot, so I think you can kill a thargoid with a full salvo of any laser. However there are a few differences as far as their firing rate as well as mainly their firing range are concerned. A Military Laser is not only faster than a Pulse or Beam Laser (that you notice easily). It also has a much bigger range than those two (and this is not so easily to recognize). In order to kill a thargoid with a full salvo of a Pulse Laser you (a) have to be awfully close to it and (b) need an awful amount of time. The combination of those two tends to be quite lethal for you.

With a Military Laser and a good aiming skill you can kill any enemy before he has even fired a single shot at you (NPC-ships usually only start to fire when they're about 11000 up to 14000 meters away).

I am not sure about the firing range of a Mining Laser, but already its slow firing rate alone doesn't make it a weapon of choice.

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:40 am

Commander McLane wrote:
I wouldn't recommend Mining lasers as weapons in Oolite. You can use them, and you can as well use any of the other lasers for mining.

The mining laser has a greater chance of generating splinters, and ISTR it has enhanced firepower against asteroids (or, equivalently, reduced firepower against non-rocks).

Post by **Disembodied** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:35 pm

Viper wrote:
Hi Disembodied!

[...]

Hi Viper. The front-and-back military laser is, as you say, a pleasing combination. I believe the flying-away-and-firing-backwards technique is known technically as "Monty-Pythoning" (from Monty Python and The Holy Grail, "Run away! Run away!").

Cmdr Darkstar · Post by **Cmdr Darkstar** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:29 pm

Thanks for the tips guys

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:40 pm

IIRC there was a bug in BBC Elite which meant that if you tried to fit two mining lasers to the same mount point, you would gain 200Cr.