About non-omni primary weapons without WMD

[PM]

Is there any reason to use them if player can use better?

Early in the game, kinetics kind of stink. Most Charon pirates strongly resist them, non-Flensers are slow, and plenty of them have low or no WMD like lasers. Also, NAMI missiles are common and provide easy WMD in a pinch. Even so, there are some kinetics with all-important WMD.

But later, targets that need WMD to hurt seem more common, and player can probably afford what and when he wants more easily. Also, device slots may become a premium, with so many useful devices around. By Outer Realm, it seems like if the ion weapon is not an omni, I do not want it. I find myself gravitating toward thermo or plasma main gun, plus possible omni ion blaster by the end. Even in like Ungoverned Territories, something like Moskva 33/heavy slam cannon/mark # howitzer plus particle turret/omni TeV9 seem like a better idea than relying on dual particle beam/lancer cannon/TeV 9.

Does anyone use energy weapons that are neither omni nor have WMD? Rather, is there a point to them aside from being weapons enemies can use if they do not make their own?

Aside, I have half a mind to remove energy weapons that lack omni and lack WMD in my mod Drake Technologies, because of reasons above. I think the only reason I see to keep such weapons is if capital ships with single-point weapon mounts with wide fire-arcs - or at least another Heigoland that can omni most such weapons - become available, either in a future update, expansion, or other mod.

[NMS]

In theory, they should have slightly more DPS than WMD weapons of the same level, and better shot speed. So if you have good accuracy they might be the fastest non-ammo weapons at damaging things other than compartments and stations. In practice, the omni versions generally have higher effective DPS and also allow you to dodge while shooting. And it's not worth the slot to have a weapon for use against just the shields and armor of capital ships. So I also avoid them unless I'm doing some kind of challenge run.

[Kourtious]

I agree. It's convenient to have omni weapons with WMD to take care of pesky enemies or to kite. However, most of the non-omni primary weapons without WMD seem useless because shields and armor are much easier to deal with than internal hitpoints which require WMD to effectively damage. My thought process is "what weapon would allow me to kill an enemy the fastest?" because the faster I kill, the more likely I will live because there will be less enemies to deal with. The answer almost always lands to a weapon with WMD. The only exception is the Katana Star Cannon because it is pseudo-WMD.

In my opinion, non-omni primary weapons without WMD needs to have either other attributes (pierce, armor penetrate, shield buster, etc.) or internal hitpoints be less relevant compared to shields and armor.