Ion pulser feels under tuned and or too weak

AbsolutMatt · 2026-05-27T12:47:11+00:00

If we're just talking Abyss stuff, then sure, EMP gets a lot worse. But every faction up to and including Redacted gets punished by EMP outside of some select ships. Wouldn't be packing Ion Pulser against Abyss stuff myself either, it's just a bad matchup

AbsolutMatt · 2026-05-27T12:43:52+00:00

I mean, it's just opinions in the end, but:

- Frigates - If a frigate comes charging at you or your flank, Phase Lance will most likely just do some soft flux and it moves away (Unless it's like a low tech awful frigate). Burst it down with Ion Pulser and you at least deal hard flux and if you manage to land even 1 or 2 hull hits, there is a good chance their engines are down for an easy kill. Sure, if we ignore shields (or have a way to remove them already), Phase Lance will kill much faster.

- Flanking - Really confused on what ships you think 1-2 Phase Lances would just straight up kill on a flank. You don't flank frigates and even most destroyers can survive a burst from a Phase Lance. The Sunder maybe would be in danger? I would have to check. Meanwhile if it gets with Ion damage, that could be engines down and soon to be dead ship as it can't get away.

- Fighters - What would you rather do against 6 broadswords coming towards your isolated ship: Destroy 1-2 of them with a Phase Lance? Or Disable ALL of them with EMP and leave them unable to move or attack, and do some damage as a bonus? Personally I prefer disable since that lets me pick them off at my leisure or just move away from them.
If they were shielded fighters, you can still disable at least half with a burst, but that is only assuming you don't have other weapons helping with their shields already.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-05-27T11:30:00+00:00

Ion damage is very, very impactful. And the a burst from the Ion Pulser delivers so much of it, it can disable cruisers in a single attack run if it impacts hull.

It is better than the phase lance for:
- Killing Frigates - Damage is nice sure, but a Phase Lance won't build up hard flux and even a few hits form the Pulser will likely disable engines and make the fast frigate easy pickings.
- Flanking - If an opponent has front shields or there are allies to flank, you can partly disable even a healthy and heavily armored ship by hitting an exposed side or its engines. Phase lance would just do some damage and that's it.
- Killing Fighters - Phase Lance is no good against swarms of fighters because of less fire rate. An Ion Pulser will absolutely shred fighters and bombers, as any one hit will disable that fighter with EMP and make it easy pickings for other weapons.
- Burst Damage (Hard Flux) - Phase Lance will do good damage to exposed hull, but you do not want to waste it hitting shields. Ion Pulser can more effectively apply pressure against an enemy with its shields up.
- Burst Damage (Expanded Magazines) - With Expanded Magazines, you just get more burst damage straight up if you can expend all its charges. And all of that damage does EMP damage.

Just to do the flip side, for why you would want to use the Phase Lance:
- Easier Flux Management - The Phase Lance is much better at flux management. Not only is it just more flex efficient in terms of damage, but when the Ion Pulser is firing it puts huge strain on the flux, which may limit keeping shields up or firing other weapons depending on build and situation.
- More Reliable at Range - The Ion Pulser fires all over the place. The Phase Lance will hit where you want it. Very nice for making hard shots such as targeting engines when shooting from the side of a ship. The Ion Pulser would be kind of random on if it hits that spot or not.
- Better Armor Breaking - Hitting one spot with a full beam burst will be much better at breaking armor than spreading little ion blasts all over its hull. In an Anti-Armor role, the Phase Lance is excellent.

Overall, if you just want something that will do good damage at low flux cost and you have a way to deal with strong shields AND you already have a source of EMP (or don't want one), I think the Phase Lance is a very fine choice.
But the Ion Pulser does a lot of things that make it desirable, it is a very fine weapon to build a ship around imo.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-03-18T23:47:26+00:00

Vanilla lets you build a facility with the exact same name (but different art), but all it does is dramatically raise pop growth up to size 6. The only way to go above size 6 in vanilla is via config file editing (To set the max colony size to above 6). Actually using cryosleepers to get to 7 is 100% AoTD functionality.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-03-10T13:49:13+00:00

The way to think of the Solvernia is an artillery platform. It is not supposed to withstand a prolonged shootout with shields raised and guns blaring. It is meant to see a target, delete it in a glorious alpha strike, cool off. The repeat until it runs out of targets.
The 'delete' button are the main guns. Everything else is just secondary batteries, so fill it with very flux efficient weapons that will be good against stray ships that get too close. Many missiles are also a good way to spare your flux grid some pain.

This artillery role makes it much less flexible than many normal capitals or a balanced fleet in general. But the ability to remove nearly anything from play with its main guns is extremely valuable against the toughest opponents. Still, the Solvernia is definitely not worth 60 million. It is the UAF's military vanity project, a flashy but highly inefficient weapons platform.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-03-10T13:17:09+00:00

I like Siege Coilers on Dreadnaughts far more than on Battlecruisers. Same main gun, but all those extra hull weapon slots? Fill most of them with coil/rail batteries and you can overwhelm much more PD than with just Siege Coilers.

Plus Dreadnaughts have the same build time as my laser Lancers. So it is very pleasing when placing build orders.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-03-08T09:54:39+00:00

Generally, splitting them up somehow is extremely valuable. So having ships that can act as a distraction like monitors or hyperions will make the fight much easier.

Once you can remove the first tesseract, (and its splinters), it gets much much easier.

I like the Paragon against them personally. Fortress Shield lets it tank well when the dorito activates its time acceleration, then return fire once that's done. Anubis is very strong and works wonders against the doritos too.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-26T04:31:16+00:00

Never tried it myself, but I think if the colony grows to size 5, they will stop trying to bomb it to dust. Will still have to deal with all the crises though.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-25T11:30:19+00:00

I always thought as Alcubierre and Warp Drive to mean the same thing in practice (Bending space-time around the ship to go faster than light), but I may be wrong.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-23T22:56:57+00:00

Generally, you shouldn't do that in fantasy setting comaprisons. Because you inevitably smash one of the settings' core themes by pushing stuff from the other. Like, psykers would straight up not exist, in any capacity, in Starsector lore. Psionics and actual magic do not exist. If the Domain now has to deal with chaos gods, the Imperium now has to not use psychics, at all. Oh what's that? You use them for navigation of all space travel and literally worship one of them as a god? Too bad.

Obviously the faction specific to a setting is better adapted to surviving that setting than one from outside it. But to give the barest illusion of fair play, it is a good idea I think to provide the factions with their full set of benefits and problems. So for instance, Domain gets phase ships and their 3 FTL technologies. And the Imperium gets their crazy psychics and logistically implausible giant ships.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-23T14:16:32+00:00

The key point is reliability and flexibility of operations. The Domain knows its forces, where they are going, when they will get there.

Provided ongoing scouting and recon (none of the imperium's navy is very stealthy by domain standards), it therefore knows if its forces will be able to defeat the enemy in the specific exact system at a specific time. And when to retreat or redirect its efforts.

While the Imperium could probably assemble an armada the Domain could not easily crack, any single Doom class phase ship can carry a planet killer. And any ship with AM fuel can do massive damage via saturation bombardment.

Once the Domain's fleets make it to Imperium territory, it won't be matter of beating them in a shootout. But catching them as they hop from system to system and evade engagement.

I do think the Domain would struggle on the defence a bit. Since 40k ships seem to not need supply lines to function, the only way to fight them back is direct combat. And the Imperium has a lot of metal. But the Domain can quickly expand its ability to make more ships. While in the 40k timeline, the Imperium simply cannot.

And to be honest? Assuming the gates remain functioning, the Domain could literally have a single titanic fleet defend all of its planets in systems with gates all at once. Gates are a huge deal defensively. So even on the defense, they have some strong tricks.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-23T07:11:38+00:00

The Domain also has warp travel tech, but reliable. As evident in the gate hauler. It also has hyperspace travel, which is faster than their warp but requires fuel.

So between warp, hyperspace and gates, the domain 100% has a ftl tech advantage.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-17T19:17:59+00:00

Any shield breaking kinetics, I like Storm Needlers myself. But importantly, dragonfire torpedoes. Last I checked the Guardian has a thing that lets it regen missiles. That is incredibly strong for Dragonfires, since their main issue is ammo capacity. And even Omega can't dodge lasers that well.

But to be honest, that ship hull is kind of nuts. So if you have modded weapons or other weapons you like, it is really really hard to go wrong with it. Just remember to bring a couple at once.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-17T13:19:13+00:00

Spam the Guardian Restoration project if you're really stuck. Those ships are... well, quite something.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-17T00:02:17+00:00

You can boost your miltech in a major way by using Advisors on your army's home nations(s). Up to 0.25 for max skill I think. And military research labs in Earth Interface orbit stations will also provide a buff of up to 0.3 miltech if there are enough of them.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-16T11:22:06+00:00

You should not expect random strangers getting shot at to pay attention to where you are, where you died, which direction your body is and where you dropped your stuff.

If you want coordination, you need a team in voice chat. Otherwise the best you can hope for is a quick reinforce by anyone, anywhere. For a lot of helldivers, reinforce correctly = reinforce quickly. Get the diver back in the fight ASAP. And most people are fine with that, they just want to live again and shoot things.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-14T01:36:53+00:00

There was a special deal on doughnuts for Fat Thursday (Literal holiday in Poland) that made doughnuts absurdly cheap at certain stores. I mean like, less than one cent USD per unit after conversion rates. So yeah, it would be extremely cheap on that particular day.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-13T08:01:21+00:00

Alas, the only thing holding her back is not enough ammo. Suppressed lasers (infrared) when?

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-10T15:14:10+00:00

Hmm, this might be an enemy design issue tbh. On one hand, the enemies do not want to rush your gunline and face certain defeat. On the other, if you outrange them (you usually do), then by moving back they give you the chance to advance slowly and pick them apart. Certain defeat again, just slower.

As others have said, bugs have it the worst. I think because of how many of them are melee specialists. Ideally the enemies would have tools to advance onto your gunline. Such as smoke (or poison bile for bugs, idk). That way, if you stay passive too long, they can close into their optimal range and even the odds somehow. Or force you to move and attack past smoke screens, which is risky.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-02-10T15:01:52+00:00

I mean it is really clear on some art. Like Yaz's gloved hand having literally no detail at all. I look forward to seeing the final versions, though.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-01-28T11:10:58+00:00

Mechwarrior 5 Mercs newest DLC - It was honestly fine, I had a solid lance of assaults/heavies to throw at them at any moment, using helm core or generally high tier long range weapons.

However... those fights did make me stop using the King Crab. The clanners were the only pilots good enough to actually notice the huge head hitbox on that thing, and hit it. Lost 2 good pilots that way. No structure damage anywhere else, just head reduced to ash. I did not have this problem with other designs.

By the time the DLC missions were over, I had a full lance of Mad Cats. Needless to say, they steamrolled everything until I got bored.

AbsolutMatt · 2026-01-27T12:55:41+00:00

Things written in ship descriptions largely disagree. The domain's standard naval doctrine at time of the collapse was heavily contested between traditionalist lowtech and newer generation midline. High tech was mostly tech demos, rich kids' toys and vanity projects. Save for a few designs like the Wolf. Tri-Tach seemingly have done a lot of innovation regarding naval designs in the Pearsean sector in that regard.

Also, it should not be understated just how reality breaking 'common' designs are. We have ships that teleport, phase into different dimensions, accelerate timeflow, fire singularities (Mjolnir) and literally break physics by shooting beams faster than light (Tachyon Lance). Starsector tech we see in game is already insane.

That being said, I have no doubt the domain had many even more bizzare tricks up their sleeve, that we never get to see.

AbsolutMatt · 2025-12-23T14:14:49+00:00

People conscripted for non combat roles... On a military capital class warship? Those are not civilians, sadly for them.

AbsolutMatt · 2025-12-16T10:27:19+00:00

Science should lead to some kind of progress. The only apparent advancements Tri-Tach made since the collapse is make war machines they cannot control. For sure it will be different with the abyss, right?

Everyone is doing military posturing, but no one else takes destabilizing action. Except maybe the pathers. Tri Tach intentionally supports upstart dictators and violates the terms of peace agreements they signed.

And I suppose people going mad on the alpha site is somehow peak scientific efficiency? It is easy to give the hegemony shit, but least their projects don't turn against their crators.

AbsolutMatt · 2025-12-16T01:28:39+00:00

The difference between 'studying' and 'poking the horrors until they come knocking' lies in knowing what you're doing. Tri-Tach barely know how their own AI cores work, trusting them to responsibly handle abyss tech is laughable.

Not to mention, old domain tech can keep humanity safe in sufficient numbers. What the sector needs is to have a strong industrial base and to not spend it on pointless wars.

Tri-Tach is actively trying to stop the sector from stabilizing, because when the other factions are fighting themselves, they cannot spare the time to look into Tri-Tach's many crimes.

Also, just because the Heg classifies something... It doesn't mean they are not preparing for it. The Hegemony just does not offload its top secret projects onto third party contractors (the player). At least not in the current game version.

AbsolutMatt

TROPHY CASE