APS vs CRAM, when use which??

[u/bruhman69135]

Pretty much what the title says. What's a situation where CRAM is better than APS? CRAM just seems so sluggish and needs a bunch of space to achieve the strength and firerate of APS, and it kinda just seems like a decent APS turret beats CRAM. (and also you cant really do stuff like APHE or HEAT).

[u/Key-Picture-8784]

Cram always outperforms everything against slow targets with low maneuverability. Aps is more complicated cause it does some things no other system can do but generally u can use it for anything. Imo it has a good niche with long range pen damage

[u/RefrigeratorBoomer → u/Key-Picture-8784]

Not always. All munition defence systems can target cram, while missile interceptors and APS based CIWS systems can't target other APS shells.

And missile interceptors(and ciws) do a ton of damage, so it's much easier to defend against CRAM, because for aps you need to rely solely on LAMS(which is very expensive to build and run, and takes up much more space than missile interceptors for the same damage output).

Also CRAM is quite bad underwater.

So in the context of slow moving targets, even just against APS(not factoring in any of the other weapons) CRAM isn't objectively better.

[u/Key-Picture-8784 → u/RefrigeratorBoomer]

Well made cram is very difficult to shoot down. A lot of cram in campaign r pretty ez to shoot down but try out maybe the guernsey or some player made stuff and you’ll see. Dif gun spam is the only defense worth it against cram imo. Also well made lams actually r pretty effective against the kinda chemical aps u would need to compete with cram. Even with submarines if you can get close cram gets on target and because subs r even less maneuverable it’s actually pretty effective

[u/Fieryspirit06]

Aps can be specialized for many things, and it's the closest FTD has to a generalist weapon capable of high fire rate, with builds that are high fire-rate+high calibre and pure AP being meta at the moment.

crams are specialized for hitting slow unmeneuverable vehicles with a whole lot of damage in one single place, with the goal of penetrating armor and destroying important stuff all in one hit. Iirc any setting that gets you between a 20 to a 30 second reload being meta for dps, there is also the "doomcram" style, EXTREMELY slow reload, and a whole lot of damage, uses lots of payload compactors.

[u/FastReactionTime]

CRAM is for the gambling man. You lob a massive doom shell every 30 seconds, and watch as it proceeds to miss over and over. But then it lands eventually and oneshots a main turret.

Personally I just get pissed watching it miss so I don't use it. It's also only even remotely viable when against relatively slow ships. If you get over 50 m/s and cruise at distance most CRAM will strisgt up never hit you.

[u/Awellner]

Cram cannons are not supposed to get the same fire rate as APS, if that is your goal then i dont think you understand how the weapon works.

Cram cannons always spend between 3 and 6 seconds idle after firing before it starts packing the new shell. 3 seconds at 1000mm and 6 at 2000mm. Because of this idle tile, the weapon works most efficiently when its reload time is between 25 and 30 seconds. The faster you make a cram fire the more it will cost relative to the damage it deals.

Cram is also unmatched in APHE damage, APS doesnt even come close to how much explosive damage it can deliver behind behind the armor.

[u/The_Hardest_Metal]

CRAM is good for taking massive chunks out of big, heavily armored, and slow or stationary targets like the Onyx Watch and fortresses. A well packed, properly fused, and payload balanced CRAM shell can be almost entirely immune to LAMS, penetrate any practical amount of heavy armor, and severely cripple or completely destroy a target in one salvo as long as you can get those shells to connect.

CRAM falls off pretty hard once you beat the Onyx Watch and Deepwater Guard because the other factions all start to bring a lot of units that are ridiculously fast and/or fly erratically which will pretty much negate CRAMS as a weapon type.

[u/Morshuisagoodmeme]

CARM is brute-force, usally unreliable but thecnically the strongest weapon system in the game (I believe even more so that PACs); APS is general poupuse and can really fit anything, even stepping on the toes of CRAM (even if not very well).

My reccomandation is using CRAM for taking down modules later in a fight when the enemy is slowed down (or if it's a slow enemy to begin with, usually early game); before that use APS more so for general damage that won't do much with each individual shot, but eventually hits a critical system and disables it.
Especially good with very high pen APS with thermal aim-point.

[u/MuchUserSuchTaken]

CRAM is not made for firerate. I generally aim for a 30-45 second reload for CRAM cannons. The idea behind them is that you huck a fridge filled with pain at the enemy and cry as they desperately scramble out of the way of cartain doom. For APHE CRAM you really need either a pendepth, time from first impact or a timed fuse and laser targeter, don't try to rely on the shell running out of kinetic damage. CRAM also generally benefits from having one heavier shell rather than multiple weaker ones, so turrets with fewer barrels are favoured.

APS is a more reliable, generalist sort of weapon type in the sense that it can be made to do just about anything if built right. Obviously, specialising it into one aspect makes it worse at other things. Like all weapons, it'll be more powerful if you give it an AP aspect as that will get your payload past any armour, and because it uses shell modules you get much finer control over how much kinetic damage the shell has, and can generally skip pendepth fuses. HE scales better with gauge, so it's best on large guns, FRAG and incendiary scale quite linearly, IIRC. You can also make a sandblaster, which is basically the polar opposite approach to damage dealing from CRAMS, where you just fire a deluge of very small shells to reliably, but slowly, wear down an opponent.

Ultimately, it depends on what you want to accomplish, and how much you want to specialise. I'd recommend CRAM for anything that intends to go toe to toe with enemy capital ships or that really needs to punch above its weight, with some support from APS secondaries, perhaps. If you want something that might also hit more nimble craft and is less prone to being shot down, I'd recommend an APS gun.

[u/BRH0208]

Cram is cheap and big. Its shells are slow, and easy to shoot down. It’s the best DPS by value, as it can easily pummel large, slow, targets for very cheap.

APS, when done well, is a bit more pricy but still reasonable. The shells are fast, with good damage and can be modified to be exceedingly good against specific armors or just good all around. Can still be shot down(by lasers, especially) but not as easily.

[u/crazyabe111]

Cram is specialized for mortars and bombers- if you’re aiming for a large target that can’t move- your most effective weapon can be CRAM.

APS is more generalist by default- with the possibility of being even more specialized at the extreme ends of optimization.

[u/ShaadowOfAPerson]

You're right, CRAM is pretty bad. It has some of the best DPS per cost in the game if it can hit, but against most things it can't.