Pulse vs Beam Weapons

[ggf31416]

Which are more effective as a weapon?
IMO pulses should be more effective as they can apply the energy faster, giving less time for a shield/hull to dissipate or transfer the energy to the rest of its surface.
OTOH a beam may have higher total energy than pulses for the duration of the beam and be more effective if the shield/hull cannot regenerate under fire.

[Dragon_Heart]

A beam could theoretically cause the exact damage as a pulse weapon does, but for a longer duration. Take for example, an asgard pulse weapon, very effective, but short and also gives the shield emmiters time to re-emit a new shield layer so to speak. Now take an asgard beam weapon, a sustained beam ( well more so than the pulse) applies more exertion on the shield with the theoretical same amount of power, this would damage the shield leaving no time for reparation, as weve seen the asgard beams can be fired multiple times in succession.

This question really depends on what race built them and the technology, you will need to be more specific if you want an accurate answer.

Overall, i'd prefer to have a set of beam weapons than pulse cannons on my ship, because of what i have stated above.

[Phoenix786]

I agree with Dragon Heart. But then again, pulse weapons can also be fired at a rapid speed. So I'm not rreally sure.

[morrismike]

Apart from the uber beams ruling all others group of beam weapons that work in unison and sweep the sky could be very effective at slicing up ships (e.g. B5 shadow vessel beams). If the beams could be changed from a round beam to a wide thin beam with several beams funnelling targets into a kill zone, it would be deadly against fighters, drones, and lightly armored ships.

[knowles2]

I must say you need to be more specific. In SG universe beam weapons seems to be the most powerful, from the ancient satelite weapon which destroyed a hive in a single shot something even the Asgard uber beams cannot do. Pulse weapons are better at taking out fight ships and or more maneuverable targets, as long as they have a high fire rate.

[Thermi]

Theoretically the beam and pulse weapons are the same thing, they both draw energy in the same way etc etc, they only difference being that one fires most or all of it's energy in one volley and the other sustains a low frequency "Beam" of energy for a sustained amount of time. (correct me if i am wrong ^^)

The beam weapons would do damage by barraging an area of shield/hull for a sustained amount of time and therefore causing damage. But this presents two flaws (that i can think of)
1) The beam would do more damage the longer it is on an area
2) You run the risk (of a looooooooonnnnnnngggggg attack) of the frequency of you weapons being matched and thus rendering them useless

The pulse weapons are small powerful bolts of energy and thus rely on the explosive force of a high energy blast doing damage on an area of shield/hull. This means that on impact the hull/shield will receive a brunt shock (unlike the beam where it is continuous) and "COULD" be described as being more damaging. Some flaws are:
1) They can miss (depending on distance) and cannot be guided
2) The shield/hull has chance to recover between barrages (depending on how good your weapons system is and how much power you can give them(Rate of fire increases with more power))

Summary:
Beams:
1) Sustained (and potentially more damaging) attacks
2) The ability to "Move" the beam whilst firing
3) The ability to look more like star trek

Pulse:
1) Higher rate of fire (depending on power and level of tech etc)
2) Potentially more damaging barrages of fire
3) To ability to multi-target (not saying the beams can't, just more likely with pulse)
4) They look better (Having pulse weapons flying through space just looks better in BIG space battles )

So personally i would go with the pulse weapons because i personally like them better

P.S Any corrections to ANY of this is welcome, as that is the only way we can learn

[Buba uognarf]

A single beam is more powerful than a single pulse due to duration and possibly a more concentrated burst of energy.

It should be fairly easy for any race to create beams, surely a continuous stream of energy/particles or whatever would be easier to make then numerous self contained blobs...

I'd image that for planetary bombardment purposes or fighting of large numbers of smaller weaker ships fast firing pulse weapons would work best. Against something big with tough armor or shields the beams will do far better at penetrating the defences.

[locutes]

pulse weapons are as stated above good in barrages and they are multi target, beam weapons are most likely better and more powerful against large ships like carriers or plain large warships a la Wraith Hive. But against darts, pulses are better.

[Character]

It depends, it was the asgard, ori and ancient beams that were uber, which isnt surprising, knowing how advanced the races are. The unknown ship in enemies, however also used beams but lost (quite badly it seemed), against apophis and his blobs.

IMO, beams would be excelent as precision weapons, hitting specific weak spots, and penetrating defenses localy do to concentration of energy in a smaller area, while pulses seem more of a fast fire weapon for general damage (like depleting enemies shield, if your beams arent particulary shield skipping/bereaking) or planetary bombardment. The multiple targeting thing is rather pointles when you cant destroy the enemy in a single shot (or three).

Also, i'm very annoyed at how beams work in stargate. The ancient satelite fired a beam of no more then a few tens of meters wide, at a angle (not from the side), but for some arcane reason, a km or more width of the hive vaporised, some of the burning parts seemed hundreds of meters away, wtf? The asgard beams are equaly guilty, while they seem less beam-like than the ancient satelite, they make thing explore realy hard. How does that happen from a narrow beam that should just pierce the target, perhaps making minor local explosions from heating matter?

[Rise Of The Phoenix]

Which are more effective as a weapon?
IMO pulses should be more effective as they can apply the energy faster, giving less time for a shield/hull to dissipate or transfer the energy to the rest of its surface.
OTOH a beam may have higher total energy than pulses for the duration of the beam and be more effective if the shield/hull cannot regenerate under fire.

I think it depends on who you're hitting and who's made each type of weapon.
If we're talking about Asgard beams then IMO they pretty much trounce most other weapons including most pulse types we've seen.

Like others have said it depends on what you need each weapon to hit, if it's an orbital strike and you've got equal cannons/arrays then the pulses will fire more times, although the beams may do more damage to the same area due to the duration of each shot.

[Buba uognarf]

Well the Superhives pulse weapons were pretty damn powerful, able to deplete a 304's shields in about 6-7 shots when its not even finished.

[ggf31416]

Also, i'm very annoyed at how beams work in stargate. The ancient satelite fired a beam of no more then a few tens of meters wide, at a angle (not from the side), but for some arcane reason, a km or more width of the hive vaporised, some of the burning parts seemed hundreds of meters away, wtf?

The impact of the beam caused a fracture of the hull that started in the point of impact and reach the other side of the ship in a few frames. The rapid separation of the hull probably cut off everything that was attached to it, causing secondary explosions and spliting the cruiser in two. It's difficult to see unless you see it frame by frame.

[Rise Of The Phoenix]

Well the Superhives pulse weapons were pretty damn powerful, able to deplete a 304's shields in about 6-7 shots when its not even finished.

That's one of the reason why I said most.
Although a Hive needs a ZPM to have weapons that are that powerful, I'm not saying the Wraith couldn't soup up their own tech with added power and absolutely cream a 304 in quick time but a standard Hive shot and standard 304 beam seem to be pretty far removed from each other in terms of power, with the beam being many times stronger than the Hive shot.

[Character]

The impact of the beam caused a fracture of the hull that started in the point of impact and reach the other side of the ship in a few frames. The rapid separation of the hull probably cut off everything that was attached to it, causing secondary explosions and spliting the cruiser in two. It's difficult to see unless you see it frame by frame.

So if i shot a bullet at a person, or a strream of bullets to the same spot, your saying that the tiny hole that the bullets make, would be enough to cause a fracture and break the person in half? because thats what the scene amounts to when you compare the areas and volumes of the beam and the hive.

Rise> actualy, they're not that far removed, the normal hive cannons, while dont kill hives in 3 shots, do make rather huge explosions on the hull. AThe asgard beams are probably more advanced and thus more power efficient and powerfull that wraith weapons. for a accurate comparison, we'd have to compare a beam and a pulse weapon of the same race.

[ggf31416]

So if i shot a bullet at a person, or a strream of bullets to the same spot, your saying that the tiny hole that the bullets make, would be enough to cause a fracture and break the person in half?

No, but a person is not made of wraith armor and the bullets aren't superefficient ancient weapons designed to kill wraith ships.
OTOH now that i saw it again seems more like 3 fractures rather than a big one, so it's posible that internal explosions splited the ship rather than the fracture. Note that the explosion in the left side happened before the beam finished penetrating the right side.
Because of the angle the beam almost didn't touch the left part of the wraith ship but rather passed above it, that's way you don't see fragments of the ship obscuring the beam in the left part.
I'm sure somebody has a higher quality image than I.