Phaser Weapons - 2.5% Chance to disable 1 subsystem
Phasers can be good in PvP, but this is about STFs and PvE content. Disabling Engines or Auxiliary in an STF won't do much, and many targets don't even have shields. There are only a few reasons to use Phasers.
You use Phasers if you're in a
Chimera with the
Phaser Lotus, or a
Dreadnought with the
Phaser Spinal Lance. This way, your
Phaser-boosting tactical consoles will boost both your normal weapons your special weapon. Speaking of special weapons, you'd obviously have to stick with Phasers if you're using
Phaser Quad Cannons.
If you're in a
Multi-Mission Explorer, you use Phasers
if and only if you're using the
Quantum Field Focus Phaser. If you're not using that console, don't run Phasers!
The Elite Fleet weapons for Feds are Phasers-only, but are
not a reason to use Phasers, because the Elite proc sucks.
Update!
With the release of the Counter-Command reputation, Phasers finally have a set damage bonus. If you're in a ship that uses DHCs/Torps/Turrets, use the
set's turret with the
set's torpedo launcher. Alternatively, use the
set's console with the turret, but that's not recommended.
Antiproton Weapons- +20% Critical Severity
Unlike other energy types, Antiproton weapons are more reliable and straight forward in their effect - if you can score a Critical Hit, you deal extra damage. Consequently, these are recommended for Tactical captains, because
Attack Pattern Alpha gives signifigant boosts to Critical Chance and Critical Severity. The more you can pump up your Critical Chance, the more mileage you get out of Antiproton weapons.
That unfortunately means everyone else will get less out of Antiproton weapons.
Note that the
Chroniton Dual Beam Array can be freely mixed with Antiproton weapons, as it is also affected by the
Antiproton-boosting tactical console.
Update!
With the release of the
Ancient Obelisk Technology set, there's a new toy for AP users. The beam turret is good for any AP build (since losing a turret doesn't cost a DHC/Torp/Turret build much), and with the warp core you get a +10% Damage Boost. This is a Boost, not a Weapon Strength bonus, so it should be equal or greater to what you would get from an [Amp] core.
Disruptor Weapons - 2.5% Chance to apply a -10% Damage Resistance debuff
For everyone else, Disruptor weapons deal the most damage directly and indirectly. While this will only affect the amount of hull damage your victim takes (See:
Shields and Armor) it is still an effective way of increasing the amount of damage your victim takes.
Note that you can freely mix in
Plasma-Disruptor,
Spiral Wave Disruptor, and
Polarized Disruptor weapons because they are also affected by the
Disruptor-boosting tactical consoles.
Uptime - Math!
The 2.5% proc rate is misleading, because the debuff lasts for 15s. Within that 15s, beam weapons have 3 firing cycles and cannons have 5 firing cycles, potentially refreshing the debuff. Thus the chance that the debuff is active has to be calculated as follows (using an average of 4 firing cycles):
1 weapon: 1 - (1 - 0.025)^(4) = 9.6% chance
6 weapons: 1 - (1 - 0.025)^(4*6) = 45.5% chance
30 weapons: 1 - (1 - 0.025)^(4*30) = 95.2% chance
What this means is that you don't have to worry about other people also using Disruptor weapons. The proc won't be wasted, you'll just help keep it active and increase the damage of the entire team.
Update!
There's something wrong with the above math, but don't worry about it. Disruptors are still awesome. There's also a huge variety of Disruptor weapons (Nanite, Elachi, etc.) and sets (
Silent Enemy,
Counter Command Ordnance) that boost Disruptor damage, so it remains one of the best choices. Note that I've been told by highly respected people that the
Heavy Crescent Wave Cannon sucks, and the set bonus may not make up for its suckiness. So use the torpedo instead? The console is definitely awesome for everybody who has room for it.
Plasma Weapons - 2.5% chance to apply a DoT
Contradicting what I just wrote above, Plasma weapons currently have the highest potential in the game. This is due to two things. First, the new Threat-Scaling Science Consoles in our Embassy give up to +9.6% Plasma damage. This means you will be able to get anywhere from +11.6% to +48.0% more base damage with Plasma than any other energy type on the same ship.
Second, the
Romulan Singularity Harness set gives +7.6% Plasma damage as the 2-item set bonus. Everyone can make use of use the
Zero-Point Energy Conduit, so if you're using beam arrays you should go Plasma and grab an
Experimental Romulan Plasma Beam Array. If you're going to use torpedoes, go Plasma and grab a
Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo Launcher.
Highly recommended, and the
Plasma-boosting tactical console obviously works with
Romulan Plasma weapons as well.
The
Plasma Infuser will also improve the damage from the Plasma DoT ("Damage over Time"), and while the DoT from energy weapons won't stack with each other, they will stack with the DoT from torpedoes for more hull melting fun.
Tetryon Weapons - 2.5% chance to deal extra damage to all shield facings
Tetryon weapons are not recommended for general use. The proc acts as shield strippers, and once shields are down or against unshielded targets they are worse than all other energy types. Can be useful for certain builds, but note that many of the targets in STFs are unshielded.
In any case,
Polarized Tetryon and
Phased Tetryon weapons are also affected by the
Tetrryon-boosting tactical console.
Update!
The
Nukara Appropriated Munitions set isn't bad, but note that normal Refracting Tetryon weapons are considered to be poor, due to how unreliable that proc is.
Piecing Tetryon weapons would be interesting if it wasn't limited to mission rewards, thereby capping how high a quality you can get.
Polaron Weapons - 2.5% chance for -25 power to all subsystems
Polaron weapon are questionable, mainly because nobody is sure how effective they are against things like the Tactical Cubes or Gateways. Most of us think the NPCs cheat and are running 125 power to all systems. Assuming it works fine against our enemies, these are alright.
Dominion Polaron weapons are also affected by the
Polaron-boosting tactical console.
The
Jem'Hadar set has one of the best shields in the game and the set bonus for Mk XIIs give +13.1% Polaron damage. It's very pretty and but nobody really knows if the proc has much of an effect on NPCs. It's an excellent set to put on a shuttle though, due to the limited tactical console slots we have. Either Polaron or Antiproton weapons will do the most damage on a shuttle simply due to having more boosts.
Protonic Polaron weapons are interesting, in that they have a shield-bypassing damage proc. A good choice for PvP, especially since it'll definitely drain enemy player captains.
Proton Weapons - 25% chance on Critical Hit for shield-piercing damage
Currently there are only two Proton weapons in the game. The DHCs that are mounted on the
Dyson Science Destroyers, and the
Experimental Proton Weapon. I can't speak for the former, but the latter is
highly recommended for the set bonus. The +3% Critical Hit is amazing, and the weapon itself functions with all relevant Cannon and Beam abilities. If you're in a broadsiding beamboat, grab it with the Console. If you're in a DHC/torp/turret ship, grab it with the also-amazing Gravimetric Photon Torpedo Launcher. If you're using Phasers or Disruptors, you'll have to pick which torpedo launcher from the sets you want, but only ever carry one (if you're not a torpedo boat). I personally favor this one, because on a Torp Spread you'll spawn multiple rifts, which is just awesome.
Cruisers (4/4)
Most cruisers run beam arrays. Why is that? Let's take a look.
8 Beam Arrays:
1 km: 640 dps
5 km: 544 dps
9 km: 448 dps
You cannot use torpedoes here without bringing the target out of your fore or aft weapon arcs. As such, the only possibilities are the
Wide Angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher or the
Rapid Fire Missile Launcher. I highly recommend the KCB I mentioned in the Kinetic section though.
4 Cannons/4 Turrets:
1 km: 624 dps
5 km: 468 dps
9 km: 272 dps
Only the
Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit has the turn rate (best among cruisers) to try make use of cannons, but note that you actually do worse than with beams if that's all you're doing. The advantage of this layout is that you can fire torpedoes and still bring all your weapons to bear. Note also that the Cannon-related tactical abilities are generally superior to the Beam ones, unless you're trying to piss off everyone in a 10km sphere around you.
4 DBBs/4 Turrets:
1km: 666 dps
5km: 540 dps
9km: 392 dps
The
Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit is clearly much better off using DBBs and Turrets. While it's more difficult to keep targets in a 90 degree cone rather than a 180 degree cone, it's the same firing arc as torpedoes (and you'd want a torpedo in front rather than 4 DBBs in practice, which mitigates energy drain from your firing cycle).
4 DHCs or DCs/4 Turrets:
1 km: 774 dps
5 km: 584 dps
9 km: 340 dps
For the Feds, only the
Dreadnought can mount DHCs and DCs, and it has a poor turn rate, so while it seems to be the ideal layout in theory, in practice you'll have difficulty bringing your DPS to bear. The KDF can blast away with their Battle Cruisers, however.
Escorts/Heavy Destroyer (4/3)
Escorts shouldn't be using beam arrays, because they have the turn rates to use DHCs.
4 DHCs or DCs/3 Turrets:
1 km: 714 dps
5 km: 539 dps
9 km: 314 dps
Even though DHCs do so much more damage, because of their limited firing arc they're forced to pair with turrets. They also have a horrible drop off, and if the escorts stay at just 5km away they'll be outdone by cruisers with 8 beams. This is ignoring abilities like CRF, but if you're in an escort you should getting 2-3km of your target regardless.
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