Well, first off, you'll be disappointed--there is no set list of weapons.

The reason? Well, lets take an example. I might think a heavy rail cannon is an extremely powerful weapon that can cause immense damage to anything it hits, while you might think of a heavy rail cannon as being a weapon that can cause some damage, but you think that lasers cause FAR more damage. You see the problem? What I think a weapon might be is different from what you think a weapon might be.

Generally, the weapons in Brigade are fairly normal--most people design vessels of the sizes in Brigade, and their weapons are fairly standard. I tend to design far heavier weapons, just because of my luck at rolling dice--if Im able to penetrate the enemy shields I know the ship will hurt...:D

Heres a general feeling of what I feel weapons should be like. Please disregard them if you wish--as Dan says, its a free game, and you can tinker around with it as much as you want...:)

Rail Cannon: Long range, fair accuracy, Extra Hull Damage, Re-Rolls PEN.
Plasma Cannon: Shorter range, accuracy better/worse, Range-Based DMG, Extra Hull Damage
Laser: Long range, good accuracy, Re-Rolls TH

And so on and so forth.

Typically, most designers design their weapons witha fairly good range--i.e., 12-15 hexes. Lighter weapons (i.e., those for taking out fighters) have a shorter range (6-9 hexes). 18 hexes are mainly used for extremely long-ranged weapon, while 3 hexes tend to be used either for really pathetic weapons (i.e., those you might expect on a freighter) or if a designer feels that the carronade and the shockwave systems don't fit their view of a particular weapon.

However, I use 18 hexes fairly often as my long-ranged weapons, with 15 and 12 hexes being for slightly weaker weapons, or weapons which I feel are short-range (plasma cannons, for example)

Anti-fighter weapons tend to range 9 hexes for me--because I like them that way. I go for 6 hexes if I feel that I need more AF power at shorter ranges. I don't use 3 hexes much, except, possibly, as weapons on vessels with a HIGH speed

Here's my take on things (being a newb to Starmada as well):

BEAM WEAPONS
Gravity Beams: Long range (15-18 ) Ignores shields, Extra Hull Damage

Ion Cannons: Medium Range.  (9-12) Extra Crew Casulties

Particle Beams: Medium Range (9-12) Halves Shields, Continuous

Laser Cannons: All Ranges, Repeating

Fusion Cannons: Short Range (9 and less) Extra Hull Damage, Halves Shields.

"BALLISTIC" WEAPONS
Rail Guns: Medium to long range (15 or less), Extra Hull Damage (Think big ship sized rifles).  To hit is typically 4+ minimum given the nature of projectile weapons travel time vs. "instantaneous" light/particle based weapons.

Mass Drivers: Short Short Range (6 or less) Doubled Range Modifiers (think big ship sized shotguns) Also 4+ minimum to hit.

That's how things are done in the "universe" that myself and some other guys at the FLGS play in.  I admit, things are fairly regimented as far as what weapons are allowed what modifiers.  It started out as just an idea that was tossed out so that there was some continuity to the "universe" weapons systems and it kind of got out of control from there.    We don't even call Drones "Drones" they are Anti-ship missiles of Hunter-Killer Missiles.
We also don't use hyperdrives, our star to star transit it done via warp points so that frees up a lot of space to boost weapons abilities.

My fiance and I play regularly..... and most of the weapons we use are in the 1/1/1 category, with a few heavy weapons to round it out......

The big question that she and one of our other friends is asking is do weapons that do no hull damage kill crew?

She is creating a slaver race.... basically, they are dying out, and prefer to use other races to fight for them. They implant units into their slaves, to control them, ect. She prefers to take a ship intact, and uses a lot of weapons that do no hull damage.....

The other player is developing the concept of the creatures from the Aliens movies as a space fairing race......
They hunt others for food and host purposes.

Neither of them want to kill an opponents crew, just disable the ships. since the crews are the real prize. I wanted to put this out for the official answer. I don't care, but one of our players feels that since the crew is the prize, that the other players shouldn't get a discount to cost, just because it is standard for the race. Currently, he is stating that all of his crews come with cyanide injectors built into the uniform, and if the ship is being captured, the crew automatically dies....... yadda yadda

I don't see where the problem lies, as once the ships are disabled, the battle is over...... What does it matter if your crew is captured, eaten, or dies of cyanide poisoning..... the next battle sees the ship back with a new crew, so it shouldn't be an issue.

However, in the name of argument avoidance, what is the official answer?

Nahuris

I am pretty sure that the German / ONESS ships in Brigade play with R/P/D some.

In the work I am doing for the Stars Divided VBAM supplement I have found that a DMG of 2 on Extra Hull Damage is particularly nasty.

Which is why the numbers are the way they are.

In actuality, high ROF is worth more than either high PEN or DMG... but you need to look at the overall value, not piece-by-piece.

i.e., in Jim's example, the 3/1/1 weapon is worth more than the 1/1/3 weapon (4 to 3).

Oh, you know, I was looking at space used, rather than points.  I was fiddling with the shipyard sheet and watching numbers, and wasn't thinking about what the numbers were.

OK, then.  2/1/1 has the advantage of taking less space than 1/1/2, right?
18 SU vs 24 SU.  3/1/1 is 24 SU, 1/1/3 is 36 SU.  [Andy goes and looks up SU costs for weapons in the rules.]  Oh, I see, you add 1 to ROF.

Does that have much of an effect on ship designs?  What's the rationale?

Thanks for pointing that out.

andy

I mistyped... actually, the correct numbers are:

(3+1) x 1 x 1 = 4
(1+1) x 1 x 3 = 6

So, in fact the 1/1/3 weapon is more expensive than the 3/1/1.

Hmm.

I know I'm just being a busybody, since I haven't yet played the game and am asking about stuff pretty basic to the point and space system, but I like this kind of thing.    (Note that I like it in point systems and stuff done before the game.  I like playing games to be really simple.)

Maybe the effect you were thinking of for:
(ROF+1) X PEN X DMG
Would be reasonably achieved with something more like:
ROF X PEN X DMG + ROF
?

Here are some sample numbers for this term of the equation.  S1 is current ((R+1)PD), and S2 is (RPD + R).  Done in my head, so maybe wrong. 

R P D S1  S2
1 1 1  2    2
1 2 1  4    3
1 2 2  8    5
2 1 1  3    3
2 1 2  6    5
2 2 2  12   8
1 1 3  6    4
3 1 1  4    6
3 1 3  12  12
3 1 2  8    9
3 2 2  16  15
1 2 3  12  7
2 2 3  18  14
3 3 3  36  30

And I'm not asking anybody to change the point and space systems for me, with all those published ships out there.  But if I'm reading right, it doesn't do what was expected.

Oh, and my son is reasonably interested in trying Starmada this weekend, especially after seeing the shipyard utility.  (It appeals to his tinkering instincts--he's 13 and related to me, so he likes stuff like that.)  I've got a hex mat made from printing out a bunch of hex sheets and taping them together (from when I was experimenting with vector navigation for fighters--I don't really care for vector movement for bigger ships).  All we need is time.

andy