I don’t have the Parasites DLC, so I can’t comment on their plasma-hurler thing.
I like to explore the options players have in close-range combat… for the most part, the 18-damage ‘Cruiser laser’ module does pretty effective work. It’s capable of penetrating all shields, and most armor.
I don’t have the Parasites DLC, so I can’t comment on their plasma-hurler thing.
However, this is basically the only viable close-range weapon. The pulse laser is fairly useless all-around, the Order radiation gun doesn’t damage the thing you want it to damage, and the Quantum Blaster does not have the penetration or damage to be a true contender - it only does a meager eight.
As a remedy to this sort of bottleneck in variety as far as close-range weapons go, I suggest the Quantum Blaster be buffed to have respectable shield and armor penetration, along with 32-or-so damage (arbitrary number, just feels right - playtesting to find a good one is safer). This may seem like a lot, but remember that the Cruiser Laser module does 18 or so and had a range of 600 – compared to the Quantum Blaster’s 450. It also fires faster, I think.
I guess you could also visit the cruiser pulse laser and make it useful. It does not seem to actually work at killing anything except for ships with no shields, which plenty of other weapons do far better, at longer range…
The main use I find for the cruiser pulse laser is that it makes a fairly effective anti-fighter weapon that can also lash out pretty effectively at frigates (if memory serves, it does have enough SP to cut through at least most, if not all, frigate shields). Definitely a niche weapon though.
And are absolute rubbish at picking off incoming fighters. Like I said, the pulse laser is a bit of a niche weapon. For ships that do not expect to defend against fighters, not the best choice. But I’d rather use a pulse laser than a defence laser for AA defense, since the CDL is worthless against anything with shields.
Quantum blasters combined with tractor beams are a pretty good rushing/anti fighter configuration. If you want a nice rushing fleet a combination of Cruiser Lasers and Quantum Blasters with One Tractor and good moving speed (no matters if you have to put less weapons, speed is important). That guarantees shield penetration and fighter defense and rushing capabilities.
The in-accuracy of most of the cruiser beam lasers and the CL means that fast frigates rarely get hit. My personal rule of thumb is to keep frigates faster than 0.9.
And as of yet I have yet to see a Missile Spam fleet that cannot be outdone by a dedicated rush fleet.