Burst Cannon Or Cylic Ion Blaster?, which is better value

[Das Boogie Man]

I crunched some numbers with my Calc teacher and from da statistics da CIB is even more efficient then da PR and Burst but only when not in Rapid range for PR
but unlike da PR and Burst, da CIB has the POTENTIAL to kill 5 marines(u gotta be REAL lucky cause da odds are in da multi hundreds) while Bursts and PR have POTENTIAL to kill only 3 or 2 SM so i reckon its real bargain for 15 pts while u need to get to rapid with TL PR or Burst to even get close to the same effect

[Nevermore]

I assume you were calculating with standard tactical marines as targets, yes?

The benefit, for me, of the plasma rifle is it is just as effective at killing terminators, and although the CIB has the potential for AP1, I prefer the certainty of the PR.

[Das Boogie Man]

oddly enough the CIB still has a chance of only wounding and not killing but this is somehow similar to the odds of hitting+wounding that same marine
possibly due to more shots but crummy str?

[Shas'o To'ri Ta'ka]

i personally love the CIB... simply because of the AP1 possiblity... with 5 shots, you should get at least one 6 per roll. I like to pair it with a missile pod simply to give my Shas'o (who i run it on) more long range capabilities and for the high str.

IMO, CIB is far, far better than the burst cannon simply because of the AP. against most armies that AP5 makes a difference against, the 5 shots from a CIB will usually do about as well. I could do that math but a) i hate math and i'm too lazy

[Magnus]

time for some maths, i guess. i hate maths myself, but spreadsheets help alot!

in the hands of a commander:
Hits TEQ MEQ GEQ
2.5 0.28 0.56 2.08 burst cannon
4.17 0.46 0.69 2.08 CIB

in the hands of a BS3 guy

Hits TEQ MEQ GEQ
1.5 0.17 0.33 1.25 Burst Cannon
2.5 0.28 0.42 1.25 CIB

so, yeah, against guard it is pretty much stalemate, but against termies or marines go for the CIB

the CIB is basically a weapon that can be used reliably against almost any foe to be honest.

my personal favourite loadout for a commander against guard is CIB, BC, MP that way you can not waste his BS5 at range, and then close to really put the hurt on. against marines i will usually swap the BC for a PR

[Aun'O Disse'Us]

Why not have both CIB and BC? this would make him the ultimate troop killer, especially if you typically fight imperial guard or other big unit armies. Also from what i found the more shots you have the better chance you have to kill anything (I used to be a guard player so those flashlights have taken down a termie or two )

Have one of your body guard have some anti vehicle weapons like FB and MP for those close encounters with vehicles and heavy infantry that your broadsides may not have LOS for. The commanders amount of shots will compensate for him only able to shoot at mid to low range at infantry. And the final bodyguard can have the PR and maybe am Airbursting fragmentation projector, a burstcannon, or missile pod.

[Magnus]

i dont like the idea of giving one the bodyguard anti tank weaponry, fire from crisis suits should be focused, if you dont have anti tank guns in LOS of the enemies tanks, then you are a rubbish general.... or you need to take more anti tank squads like FB/ PR battlesuits, piranhas with fusion blasters etc.

railguns are only one weapon we have against tanks, and should be used in combination with close range anti tank support to force the opponent to either move into LOS of your railguns or stay still and get hit by fusiony death

[Aun'O Disse'Us]

ah but the anti tank suit also works against heavy armor opponents like termies. I will admit i completely forgot about the piranhas.

[Das Boogie Man]

Magnus is right, the Pathetic Accuracy of your average Crisis suit means you need things in multiples to be effective, a lone Fusion blaster/Missile Pod may hit the target but will it Penetrate? or even then will it do meaningful damage? thats why you focus on a role with ALL your battlesuits whether its anti Marine/Swarm/tank. this amount of Focussed Specialized weaponry gives you SURETY of dealing with the target instead of doing token damage

[Magnus]

exactly.

and i know the FB is good against heavy infantry, one of my favourite battlesuit loadouts is PR/FB/MT, that way they are versatile between giving hell to vehicles or terminators

[Kauyon Nan]

I'd say you might as well take the one CIB you can, and use Burst Cannons on the rest. Hell, you could try HW Multi-tracking a CIB and a BC with a Targeting Array if you wanted high-volume and high-accuracy anti-infantry firepower. You could even use this config on a Shas'vre team leader if you wanted to.

This post has been edited by Kauyon Nan on Oct 16 2007, 02:56 PM