Fire and Salvo Intervals

Gratuitous Tank Battles General
1

Hello, how exactly does fire speed work for a weapon with both fire and salvo intervals?

My guess was that the weapon would fire the number of shots in the salvo, each one separated by the fire interval, and then wait for the salvo interval to pass before repeating, however that DPS doesn’t seem to make sense.

For example, the Heavy Pulse Laser has the following stats:
Fire Interval: 150
Damage: 8
Salvo Size: 3
Salvo Interval: 900

So if my interpretation was correct it would do
shot + .150 wait + shot + .150 wait + shot + .9 wait -> repeat.
This comes out to 20 DPS.

The Light Pulse Laser doesn’t have any salvo numbers though, it’s stats are:
Fire Interval: 250
Damage: 12

That is a 48 DPS!

So since the lighter and cheaper cannon is doing so much more damage, I can only assume that I am misinterpreting what a salvo actually entails. Does the weapon shoot normally at the fire interval, and then shoot extra shots on the salvo interval? If so the LPL would go:
4 (3?) shots + .15 wait + shot + .15 wait + shot + .15 wait + shot + .15 wait + shot + .15 wait + shot + .15 wait -> repeat
That would give a DPS of 80 (71.1?).

2

No you are correct, if you look at it purely as a DPS, the light pusle laser is better. However, shorter bursts of higher damage can be better than expected because they are useful for taking down units, especially with shields in place, or being repaired by nearby repair units. So in some cases, a lower DPS, but concentrated into rapid bursts, is mroe desirable.
Having said that, I might re-balance them a bit in the next patch.

3

Thank you for the speedy reply!