However, it looks like that at some point between then and now weapons were changed considerably. I know they are several older threads about this topic, but I don't want to be a necrophile. In the early game? I just messed up my Inward Perfection Ironman game because I upgraded my missile fleet to Autocannons. I haven't played in almost a year. Ditch the Tachyon lance unless you're going up against Prethoryn. Destroyers are ideal for a few decades before battleships become common, but. Here are our Stellaris tips to help you out. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. Energy weapons also have a "special" kinds of weapons (Disruptors and Arc Emitters) that ignore both shields and armor, all damage goes directly to the hull but the overall damage can be pretty low. A fleet full of Battleships, equipped with Giga Cannons and loaded to the gills with Kinetic Artillery, with as many high-tier shields as you can put on them, with Artillery computers and - if you. they must be pretty good. A place to share content, ask questions and/or talk about the 4X grand strategy game Stellaris by…I haven't played in almost a year. It also has higher DPS before shields and armor come into play, and those affect smaller ships less than big ships. Edit: Regarding armor late game, mind you there's a cap just like with evasion, for armor it's 90% as far as I believe. Hull- 9. For an overall practical design I fit Corvettes with one Energy mount and two kinetics. So - kinetic for MP, mix of kinetic & energy for larger singleplayer maps. Unless you have the pops to work the jobs a building or district produces, it's worse than useless. 10 missile corvettes vs 10 PD corvettes doesnt go so well. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. PD starts with 10 Tracking and ends with 30. Plasma Auto. Titans are commonly artillery ships, so they have an energy+kinetic combo that works well with artillery battleships, but artillery ships suffer from minimal range and get rekt by torpedos. AI because they never spec Point Defense. 99. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. Kinetic weapons (Gauss Cannons) are good against. The AI rarely favours shields over armour and vice versa so a mixed loadout tends to work. Kinetic weapon repeatable tech ---> Physics area. In my 22 hours I've only. Small and medium Laser and Kinetic weapons will considerably out-range the Torpedoes, and will likely hit your Frigates. Shields require energy from the ship's reactor and always regenerate, unlike Hull Points and Armor. The differentiation is supposed to be that energy PD is better against missiles while kinetic PD is better against strikecraft. But how about the. I personally, have always liked shields. I had assumed because they were researched under physics and displayed like beam weapons that they were energy weapons. The Contingency use energy weapons that are ineffective against shields. Because Trade is an inefficient resource, unless you pick up bonuses that make it better, and those bonuses require you to pick specific Species Traits, Traditions, etc. So stack shields and dont neglect strike craft (best) and flak (not. armor, so they are better suited to kill starbases (higher tier bases have huge amount of hull and usually more armor than shields, since the base design comes with built in armor independet of the armor pieces in the defensive slots) Twitch - This is a quick and dirty video going over the different categories of Energy weapons. They are meant to inflict heavy damage against enemy shields. I've developed a system of ship designators to assist in fleet design and upgrade. Shields require energy from the ship's reactor and always regenerate, unlike Hull Points and Armor. 99 DPS. I like to use Kinetic for the initial long range engagement. Phifty56 • 6 yr. HugsAndSnuggles. As for kinetic, you choose between slow and long, short and fast, or the lance's downsy cousin the kinetic. Now I know about the Battleship / Kinetic Artillery and Plasma Cruiser Meta. 6 combat rebalance update. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. AI because they never spec Point Defense. Thread starter CocoCincinnati; Start date Dec 17, 2022; Jump to latest Follow Reply Menu We have updated our. Both have its pros and cons. If your PD shoots down 50% of the enemy missiles, that's at least 50% less in DPS. (2) attacker with long range kinetic (1) hunter with long range kinetic. 07s in total. Maybe something like 1/50000 chance. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. Kinetic weapons (Gauss Cannons) are good against. Spaceborne aliens range from non-sentient, space-dwelling creatures to gargantuan leviathans to alien enclaves, including the warlike marauders. In my 22 hours I've only. Kinetic Weapons. What the arc emitters don't destroy in the first volley the strike. Corvettes make up the backbone for much of the game and 2x Kinetic + 1x Laser or vice versa works pretty well. If you do have enough or think you do you ~can smack them hard with Torpedo corvette spam and always have your own PD. This is something I've been observing more and more as I play. . But, past year 100 or so, you want to switch to energy weapons. Because i tink that the kinetic wepons right now give an advantage in combat. Plasma Auto. Lasers: a good early-game weapon before you get to the Proton Launcher, but goes obsolete once you reach that tech level. 0 unless otherwise noted. Since the ship tipe have been change i always had this idea in my mind, that the kinetic weapons should have a malus damage on armor like energy weapons have it on shield. Energy takes forever. There are multiple types of kinetic weapons. View this video if you want to learn which weapons are best to use in the. Without it, the whole thing would come falling down. Conversely, they aren’t very good against enemy armor. Railguns: same deal as lasers, these go obsolete once you get to the kinetic artillery tech line. In my 22 hours I've only. Stellaris Ship Design Guide 2023 [3. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. A fleet full of Battleships, equipped with Giga Cannons and loaded to the gills with Kinetic Artillery, with as many high-tier shields as you can put on them, with Artillery computers and - if you. In the early game? I just messed up my Inward Perfection Ironman game because I upgraded my missile fleet to Autocannons. I once started an. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. Search the Wiki for a detailed information, but I would recommend wait until you get to late-game to fight it, depending on the Leviathan, you'll need between 30k and 70k in fleet power to fight it. Examples, Generator & More: cash <Amount> Copy Command Copy Full. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. I've noticed that in base Stellaris minerals never run out through construction of extra mining stations while energy credits never stop being an issue (Even more with Machine empires, since both the Coordinator and Calculator jobs consume Energy, rather than one eating minerals while assembly is no longer minerals. With limited number of disengage chances , you can safely deal pop shots to the hull and not worry about them retreating before the big guns can cycle. Hold up, the ai ABSOLUTELY takes into account Starbase power, not just relative fleet power. you can dump your excess trade into CG/Unity, whereas generators don't rely on your trade protection. Small stormfire autocannon- 19. I haven't played in almost a year. It's totally backwards to me. Threw a titan in because why not. Wondering if they're as good as I think they actually are, especially as the speed that fleets close in combat and the range advantage of larger weapons is minimal. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. Both! Kinetic weapons have a bonus against Shields and malus against Armor, while Laser ones have the opposite. Welcome to Stellaris! You can find all the load outs of fallen empire ships. Advanced kinetic weapons require Volatile Motes to build. 5 and 0. For every other component, just use the best available. Early game always shields since you don't have bigger ships like cruisers yet which profit more from armor. Twitch - This is a quick and dirty video going over the different categories of Energy weapons. AI because they never spec Point Defense. I'd like to try and learn how to optimize each ship manually. Fleet Power: The Neutron Battleships had a fleet power of 86. Directly opposite :) Energy weapon are main and kinetic only situational early-game + anti-shield role (kinetic artillery & Flaks). I have the weird feelings that if I had pursued missile research instead of switching to kinetics, I would have easily won that war. I have the weird feelings that if I had pursued missile research instead of switching to kinetics, I would have easily won that war. (Low dmg vs Shields, High dmg vs Armors, Superior dmg vs Hull. None of these have anything to do with the kinetic tech tree so its not at all uncommon for me to be in like battleship/titan tech levels with only T1 mass drivers as my kinetic weapon :) Physics only have like power, energy buildings, sensors, combat computers and shields as high prio techs and you can put off both shields and energy buildings. I suppose the more corvettes/frigates you have containing auto cannons the better outcome you will have in the cq battle. I use 1 titan (each titan has a different aura) and the rest battleships. Both energy and kinetic point defence target all the same targets (torpedos, strikecraft and missiles). 13. The only time I took on a xenophobe awakened (before utopia) was with a combined fleet including: my fleet, the federation fleet,my allies and my vassals which amounted to roughly 620k against their 780k fleet. Since the ship tipe have been change i always had this idea in my mind, that the kinetic weapons should have a malus damage on armor like energy weapons have it on shield. And at least it sounds plausible. The energy of a body or a system with respect to the motion of the body or of the particles in the system. Both have the same Accuracy. This article is mainly aimed at newcomers, or at least past players returning after a long break, but hopefully even veteran players will be able to. • 4 yr. AI because they never spec Point Defense. It relies primarily on pops working jobs to produce most resources, with mining or research stations built over space deposits as a secondary source. Example: my mid game through end game fleets have at least: (2) attacker ships with close range kinetic (1) hunter work close kinetic. In my 22 hours I've only. Kauldric Jul 30, 2022 @ 12:58pm. Almost everything you build on a planet has an upkeep cost, and it's usually energy. For an overall practical design I fit Corvettes with one Energy mount and two kinetics. Kinetics tend to have worse accuracy than the equivalent Laser weapon. In Stellaris, Kinetic weapons are. Title Card Overlay by Wi. . Basically there's 2 options - trade and generators. Kuzu90. Originally posted by Surge: As it stands, Kinetics are pointless and underpowered. It usually isn't ignored by weapons. Two autocannons and one plasma. But how about the. • 4 yr. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. In my 22 hours I've only. Energy and Kinetic point defense systems, and they both cost the same in terms of power and alloys, and have the same cooldown, accuracy and range. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. I would use Kinetic normal stuff until I can build Kinetic Artillery and that is the bread & butter of the fleet. Since the ship tipe have been change i always had this idea in my mind, that the kinetic weapons should have a malus damage on armor like energy weapons have it on shield. I have the weird feelings that if I had pursued missile research instead of switching to kinetics, I would have easily won that war. the Kinetic X slot weapons have a cooldown of 11 days while the other Energy X weapons have a cooldown like 0. Optimised ships are able to strip shields and can boil hull and armour so using lasers and kinetics is very viable. Both energy and kinetic point defence target all the same targets (torpedos, strikecraft and missiles). Large broadside battleship. Scourge Swarm Strikers: on paper these look very powerful until you see their movement speed. Try to put a priority on researching the building upgrades for your energy producing buildings. Don't listen to that troll, the best early game design is always 2 red lasers and a mass driver (because kinetic weapons are only needed to take down shields otherwise they are always inferior to energy weapons), use improved components as they are researched and go shield heavy as you can afford it because winning wars is all about. Another key point to note: Energy torpedoes CANNOT be shot down by PD. ago. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. In Stellaris, Kinetic weapons are made to take out enemy shields. These were originally planned as energy only but during play we found out that with a few more perks they make awesome armies as well! This is the only species that really “needs” to be psionic and cybernetic. An empire can build Resource Silos buildings on colonies and Resource Silo buildings on starbases to expand their storage capacity. 99. Gun batteries will mix energy and kinetic (physics/engineering). If you want more Stellaris guides, you can also Check: Console Commands & Cheats. As the title says. For standard battles, it’s tough to beat the reliability and versatility of the simple plasma accelerator, complete with high damage and low energy cost. AI because they never spec Point Defense. It was a long-awaited change since the meta seemed to be amassing Battleships with Neutron Launcers and going through the game mindlessly. So there has been a lot of discussion lately about weapon balance, and even a comment about how the next patch, Heinlein, will have the developers take a closer look at weapon balance and try to work things our accordingly. I haven't played in almost a year. I like shields in sci-fi, because I dunno, they seem cool and they - to me - logically make sense as your primary form of defense, because you don't really want gaping holes blown in your spaceship on a regular basis. AI because they never spec Point Defense. (This doesn't matter as much as it used to - about -4% hits against 30% evasion, now - so enjoy the extra damage and extra shield damage if. This lets me focus my tech research on the types of weapons I'm actually using. Costs 600 Engineering, Requires Nanocomposite. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. 5 × m × v². Kinetics supposedly chew through shields faster than most (thats supposed to be their strength) but theres disruptors for that. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. It's even worse if multiple missiles are aiming for the same target. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. Armor is good against Kinetic weapons. Kinetic energy formula. As it stands now, kinetic vs energy is a joke. This is what I have taken away from the information. T3 disruptors output more DPS per slot than CL, and both weapons have so low average hull damage per hit that the difference in disengange chance is negligible against anything. 1 giga cannon, 2 artillery, the rest some kind of laser. an explosive vs. If tachyon works great vs scourge I can assume giga and kinetic will work great vs another crisis. Yours will have a 60-75% chance to hit, depending on tracking and accuracy and ect. My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. Right out the gate mass drivers are better then red lasers. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. I like to use Kinetic for the initial long range engagement (Shields are still up) and Laser for smaller, shorter range weapons meant to finish the job by mostly damaging the remaining Armor and Hull. first damage out put and stack research for energy/ kinetic damage. You want to be adjusting your Kinetic vs Energy weapon setup for your opponents setup wherever possible. Having a high tier starbase, as best, will stop them from pushing into that system. However, it looks like that at some point between then and now weapons were changed considerably. Engineering has many strategic resources. The. where: m — Mass;. • 1 yr. My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. Since lasers are a bit on the Elvish side of things, I thought I'll try to avoid them and play only with kinetic weapons and missiles/torpedoes. But trade has more options to expand in the late. I pretty much always go for missles in the beginning in fact that is one of the first things I do when I start the game is refit all of my ships to missiles. It lacks the bonus to hull damage lasers have. +4Energy, -0. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. Energy shields could be useful against kinetic projectiles, we just don't know to what extent. As the title says. I built my fleet to counter the enemy's (they had only missiles) by giving my ships Point Defense and Kinetic weapons to counter their shields. 24 , 24. Disruptors I mostly don't use unless. In my 22 hours I've only. Received widsom is yes, you should take Mass Drivers or Lasers. I personally, have always liked shields. ago. At 90% evasion 60% tracking, there’s a 45% chance to hit with small weapons. 99 DPS. Say I want to have a titan assigned to every fleet. ago. I haven't played in almost a year. So a tennis ball thrown to the right with a velocity of 5 m/s, has the exact same kinetic energy as a tennis ball thrown down with a velocity of 5 m/s. Missiles start with 0 Evasion and end with 40. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. This allows you to bring up cheats like max_resources, instant_build, research_all_technologies. But the Flak Battery has 50% tracking vs Sentinel's 10% tracking,. Giga cannon is more or less good vs everything. Late-game, weapons that ignore shields and armor are great, but early on they aren't as important. Finally kinetic stacking will work in enough numbers to strip those big shield numbers, but this will take time that their fleets are pounding yours. Armor provides an anti-kinetic layer of protection, based on the type of Armor component added, and tech bonuses. In the early game? I just messed up my Inward Perfection Ironman game because I upgraded my missile fleet to Autocannons. For example, if the enemy has 2 laser 1 kinetic 2 shield 1 armor, you should build corvettes with 1 laser 2 kinetic 2 shield 1 armor. In the early game? I just messed up my Inward Perfection Ironman game because I upgraded my missile fleet to Autocannons. Prioritize/limit jobs. It is easier for weapons to ignore, but also easier to bulk up. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. You need Flak and Kinetic Artillery and they sit along the kinetic tree. All resources can be stockpiled. Add a pinch of Titan to taste. In my 22 hours I've only. 32, 5. Missiles have few strengths and many weaknesses. Secondly, Starbases are way more cost effective than fleets in the early game. ago. Elcuern0 • 3 yr. The artillery ones I believe target fighters whereas the other targets missles and kinetic weapons idk for sure though Reply reply ahtemsah • Energy picket for missiles, flak for aircraft iirc, and stormfire autocannons are super on a corv. 2 kinetic, 1 laser, 2 shield, 1 armour corvette. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. Later on, fancy long range weapons start to appear and by the advent of kinetic batteries and heavy launchers there is little to no reason to use the L. 68,5 average) so enemies have a higher chance to disengange. Honestly, I don't even bother with mass drivers at all. Point Defense does more damage per shot - its better at actually destroying incoming attackers because it kills them in less hits, giving them less of an opportunity to damage your fleet - if it hits, which is the critical distinction. Kinetic Batteries: best large kinetic weapon, like the kinetic version of Launchers Specialized Explosives: Torpedo, Swarm Torpedoes: slower, tankier, less accurate and shorter range compared to missiles but have a much higher damage output and does bonus damage against armour instead of hull; for use against heavier shipsAll resources can be stockpiled. . AI because they never spec Point Defense. Against shields, the kinetic gun does 150 damge, and the energy gun does 50, so the full volley does 200 damage. What are the broad pros/cons between using a regular weapon (energy/kinetic) vs. Content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3. Kinetics do have on average slightly higher dps, so technically they chew through shields a bit quicker but not cause either. Which basically means you need kinetic weapons. My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. Colossus Project ascension perk. Showing 1 - 10 of 10 comments. 1 Lem released, I can finally post this. Pure energy is not ideal so I'll run approx. ago. These are not as effective as Kinetic at base power, but they do synergize well and allow you to focus on Energy Damage repeatable techs, giving your whole fleet increased performance all at the same time. Energy vs Scourge, Kinetic vs Unbidden, disrupters (corvette swarm is my preferred tactic) vs Contingency, torp or disrupter corvettes vs Gray Tempest, etc. In my personal opinion, I would think battleships with tachyon lancers, pd and plasma throwers are the best. Energy is good at baseline, and gets better automatically through tech progress. In Stellaris, range actually matters very little and everything becomes a brawl where dps, tracking and. An empire can build Resource Silos buildings on colonies and Resource Silo buildings on starbases to expand their storage capacity. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. Still need a minimum amount of Energy regardless, for the Hull damage. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. I haven't played in almost a year. Also, get lots of shields since the Contingency's weapons suck vs shields. The first choice you make in the for weapons in the game are the ones your starting with, And this decision should determine your play style to a higher degree then any other factor. . I usually use the default weapons build, let the computer choose the best weapon Why does he always seem to default to plasma over others?I haven't played in almost a year. If we want to accelerate an object, then we must apply a force. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. But torpedos and kinetics is the real answer. Now kinetic weapons look much more attractive and the only big point in favor of energy weapons is the higher. I haven't played in almost a year. Personally I get Missile Cruisers with Torpedo Corvettes and a line of anti-missile PP and Flak Destroyers from early-mid game. Spaceborne aliens are likely be the first encounter for newly spacefaring species. g. Energy Siphons are potent early game weapons. AI because they never spec Point Defense. 25), or Energy and Consumer Goods (1= 0. armor, so they are better suited to kill starbases (higher tier bases have huge amount of hull and usually more armor than shields, since the base design comes with built in armor independet of the armor pieces in the defensive slots)Twitch - This is a quick and dirty video going over the different categories of Energy weapons. Kinetic Weapons in Stellaris also come in multiple categories. In the early game? I just messed up my Inward Perfection Ironman game because I upgraded my missile fleet to Autocannons. Huh, TIL. I suspect that they are just terrible equipped on smaller ships but work well in mass on installed on larger ships. 2 Kinetic Artillery is 80 average damage per day vs the Saturator's 115, while the Saturator has a higher multiplier against both shields and armor. Lasers: a good early-game weapon before you get to the Proton Launcher, but goes obsolete once you reach that tech level. While velocity can have a positive or negative value, velocity squared is always positive. Autobest will often spam things like disrupters which suck, and you won't be focusing your tech on just two or three damages, which will help you tech up faster. Now yes, it's Stellaris and we can just say "new meta - XL battleships with Carrier core and line computer ftw" and yes you can even design an artillery battleship that isn't awful (as long as you don't mix kinetic weapons with plasma due to the range differences) but when the best way to use a titan (which can't have a line computer). Their destroyers have an ungodly amount of PD, but their battleships don't have any at all, meaning that missiles and strike craft are usually a bad idea. Disruptors and other piercing weapons, since the Contingency has strong shields and armor but poor hull. Energy weapons does lead onto Energy Torpedoes, which are some of the best weapons in the game. Members Online • [deleted]. The enigmatic decoders are really good on this ship as well. However, I wanted to. 5K subscribers Join Subscribe 2. A. The focused arc emitter does 11. My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. Kinetics. For standard battles, it’s tough to beat the reliability and versatility of the simple plasma accelerator, complete with high damage and low energy cost. Money (or in the case of Stellaris, Energy) is the blood flowing through the veins of your galactic empire. 1 giga cannon, 2 artillery, the rest some kind of laser. Kinetic Battleship Analysis: N/A. Let w1 be 1 energy and 2 kinetic and w2 the other way around and let d1 be 2 shields and 1 armor and d2 the opposite. Makes them able to get through both armour and shields. I love kinetic weapons. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. There is some retargeting in stellaris so anti shield weapons prefer to fire at shielded enemies and its usually important to have at least some anti shield damage. 5 and 0. In my 22 hours I've only. I've read that missiles are the 'OP' way to go from the start vs. 3. Part of the chemical energy is converted to the kinetic energy of the car, while part is converted to thermal energy as heat emitted from the. Kinetics supposedly chew through shields faster than most (thats supposed to be their strength) but theres disruptors for that. Costs 480 Engineering, Requires Mineral Processing. My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. Difference is 8 trade value, which would be equivalent to 4 energy, 2 consumer goods if using CG policy. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. (This doesn't matter as much as it used to - about -4% hits against 30% evasion, now - so enjoy the extra damage and extra shield damage if. Welp, those will be some very powerful, and expensive, defense platforms for that stage of the game. The kinetic energy formula defines the relationship between the mass of an object and its velocity. . My first game I went with Kinetic weapons and am now about 22 hours into the campaign and up to Railguns IV. The focused arc has 100% armor pen and 100% shield pen. Railguns: same deal as lasers, these go obsolete once you get to the kinetic artillery tech line. Missile weapons suck, energy weapons are ok, but mostly situational (you should only ever use plasma throwers vs armor and neutron torpedoes vs shields), and you really can't go wrong with kinetic. I mean if you look at the missiles you know you can shoot them down whit point defense, energy. I stick to only energy and kinetic weapons, and don't even touch strike craft or missiles. Destroyers with Kinetic Artillery or Kinetic Batteries are well-suited for long-range combat, especially in larger fleets. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. A blend of Kinetic and Energy weapons will allow players to deal with both the Shields and Armor, while Whirlwind Missiles can overwhelm the Dreadnought's Point Defense and ignore Shields entirely. Early game there are distinct performance differences between kinetics, energy and missile weapons leading to doctrines raised around employing weaponry of. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. In addition, when the Galactic. 8 (applies to 3. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. AI because they never spec Point Defense. In the original release version of the game I reliably went with energy weapons and was happy with the results. The Low roll damage for a Lance is an Average roll for. IIRC from the dev diary, it's more of each weapon has a direct armor/defensive counter. Kinetic energy is not a vector. If the enemy has a lot of shields, go for kinetic. Shields are good against Energy weapons. gamefaqs_astrophys. Large carrier cruiser. Giga cannons do not do the job like arc emitters and cloud lighting is too short. Torpedo corvettes were meta some time ago, but were nerfed. Even against level 1 and two starports mass drivers are slightly better, but it is a much narrower gap.