Chainfire with two weapons and a constant interval reduces DPS iff the weapons have different rates of fire. It has no effect on DPS if the weapons have the same rate of fire.

"Delay is only at the *beginning* when you delay starting firing of one weapon. After that, no wait."

The first shot is the most important one. In a dog fight, you're lucky if your target happens to stray into any additional shots after the first one. How would you feel if both your guns had a delay on them, instead of just one?

It depends how you shoot, you don't have to wait till you are aiming right at your opponent to start firing.
Chainfire is a spamming technique. It relies on constant stream of fire.
Besides, i was not arguing whether it's good or not.

zak, i don't see why it would reduce dps then. When weapons have different rate of fire you don't need to do anything but just fire them normally.

At any rate this is somewhat OT.

Yes, but if you don't wait until you are aiming right at your opponent to start firing, then your first shots will be early. It is *always* easier to come up with a firing solution for one salvo then it is for two of them, because the simplicity of coming up with a firing solution is based on its complexity. I don't know how I can say it any plainer than that; I'm not even sure God could make it simpler than that. Ehyeh asher ehyeh!

I see Mynt is unfamiliar with such paintball concepts as "lanes" and "ropes."

The VO equivalents of those concepts, which are based off shooting where your opponent will be and not where your opponent is, are aided by chainfire that produces a denser "rope" of shots, increasing the chances that a ship flying through the "lane" will be hit on its way through.

moldyman: I only listed small port energy weapons as they form the largest class of weapons and therefore the one requiring the most differentiation. Other weapon types (rails, flares/rockets, missiles) are each unique enough in their use that I didn't think it necessary to include them.

In paintball, only one shot is needed for a kill; in that situation, combining multiple shots is clearly a waste, as it is "overkill". The ideal situation would be a sort of super soaker--a nigh infinite rate of fire, with a minimal coefficient to damage.

In VO, increasing the chance to hit at the proportional price of the effectiveness of your hit is inane. The ineffectiveness of this technique becomes increasingly obvious as the refire rate is increased. Who chainfires rail guns, for example?

Nobody chainfires railguns because the cost of missing with a railgun (in terms of chances of winning the engagement) is very high relative to the cost of missing with, say... a neutron blaster.