Ships with both cannons and lasers

[Minor Annoyance]

It is my understanding that ships only ever fire one set of weapons. Lasers if they are out of cannon range and cannons if they're close enough. Can anyone confirm if ships will still fire their lasers if their lasers are powerful enough to be better than cannons even at close range? I don't know the damage comparison but I'd assume 8 lasers to 1 cannon would see lasers good even at close range. Although I remember one moving closer to an enemy and seeing damage go down, possible from switching from lots of lasers to one cannon. I'm not sure though.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Yes, ships can only fire one weapon (lasers or cannons but not both at the same time). My understanding is that the game compares the damage that both weapons would do and automatically picks the one that will do the most damage. So, yes, lasers could theoretically do more damage than cannons at short range under special conditions. But in practice it would be rare.

 

[Tripas]

Although given how much more powerful Cannons are compared to Lasers (seriously, lasers are borderline useless in this game), you'd REALLY have to pump a lot into Lasers over Cannons to make that happen.

 

[Jaii der Herr]

Whats the point of having both cannons and lasers in a single ship, if only one of them can fire? That seems to be wasted points to me.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Whats the point of having both cannons and lasers in a single ship, if only one of them can fire? That seems to be wasted points to me.

The only value is that your ship will have a bit more flexibility, being able to shoot equally well at both short and long ranges, instead of just being good at short range only. In my game last night, playing epic domination, I had battleships with 6 cannons and 6 lasers and 2-3 techs in both. I also had the converging light wonder. My battleships could do considerable damage at any distance, short, medium and even extreme long range. But in most games, I don't think it is necessary to have both. If you focus on cannons, your ships might not be able to hit long range targets but they will still be more than good enough to get the job done.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Whats the point of having both cannons and lasers in a single ship, if only one of them can fire? That seems to be wasted points to me.

If you're too far away to shoot anything with your cannons they're good. Also, consider the pricing structure. For the price of going up from 7 cannons to 8 on one ship you can give 8 ships a laser. Eight cannons is likely overkill and if something is near death and out of range and packed with weapons then being able to knock them over the line with a laser is plenty useful.

I only ever focus on lasers if I got the wonder and a planet with cheep lasers and a free laser upgrade mission.