Crystal Guns

[Char;y]

I just got to the Crystal homeworlds, and came across a shop seeling two guns

Crystal Heavy 1 power 1 damage 2 13 sec
Crystal burst 1 power 2 damage 1 15 sec

Not sure why the Heavy gun had a better damage and cool down, yet only had a single power requirement. Does that make it the best weapon in the game, if it causes two damage penetrating the shields?

I bought both to sit alongside both my dual burst mk 2s, and my main Arty Beam. The mothership never stood a chance

Are there any other crystal weapons available, and are they only available in that sector (ie almost impossible to buy)?

[Zaffre]

When you unlock the Crystalline ship you start with the Crystal weapons. I think that ion weapons are very good, however, in terms of usefulness rather than raw damage.

[buzzyrecky]

I think there's supposed to be 2 versions of both the burst and heavy crystal weapons (mark 1 and 2), but thats it.

[Alblaka]

Heavy Laser deals 1x2 damage with power consumtion 1, too.

The remarkable aspect about all Crystal weapons is their ability to penetrate 1 shield.

[GhoXen]

The burst crystal weapon shoots multiple projectiles, even though its description doesn't say so.

The reason why burst weapons often cost more power for the same amount of "normal damage" is because shields always take only 1 damage per hit (e.g. heavy laser hits shields for only 1 damage). The best combination is therefore to use a lot of burst weapons to quickly bring down shields, then while the shields are down hit the hull with heavy hitting weapons.

[tripwire]

I've tried the non-burst ones and I wasn't really impressed. I can handle ships with 2 shields without a problem but 3 is a pain in the ass. Maybe I just need to figure out a better combination of weapons.

[More Dakka]

IIRC, crystals have the unwritten drawback that they can be shot down by even Mk I defense drones as if they were missiles or asteroids, making them somewhat less reliable if you're not spamming other targets for the drones at the same time.

AFAIK, they're pretty much impossible to get other than using Crystal Cruiser A (Crystal B does not start with any weapons...) or reaching the Crystal Homeworld again.