Higher damage per shot or shorter cool downs?

Just wanted feedback from some of the more advanced players out there. I'm primarily playing with a MK3 shooter. My strategy so far has been to use weapons with shorter cool downs, so I've been going with Cannon, Sniper Cannon, and a Ballpark Mortar. I'm not one of those players that hides in the back and tries to pick off from long range. I'd rather rotate around near the team, charge after that one hider that's trying to pick us off from behind, and be prepared to take a few shots.

The past couple weeks I've pulled a few epics. I now have an epic Railgun and Triple Torpedo, which both have longer cool downs than what I'm used to playing with. I'd like to give them a try, but not sure that those weapons fit in with my style of play. So which strategy is best in your opinion, shorter cool downs with higher DPS? More damage per shot? Or a combination of the two?

 

keep in mind that having short cooldown is less useful the more weapons your ship can carry. That being said, if with those 3 weapons you can fire with a random one and get it ready RIGHT AFTER you shoot the other 2 then you are not wasting any time, but for example if you get the mk4 shooter you can compensate higher cooldowns with having more weapons

 

When you get mk4, you can add a weapon with a higher cool down. I would add tri-torps because of the high chance of hitting.

 

Damage for sure on rail gun. You don't shoot railgun very much in a game as it's a weapon of opportunity. When that opportunity comes, you want it to count. Make the shot hurt as much as possible!

 

At lower level ships, or the ships which have lesser weapons, you need some weapons with less cooldown time. But at higher levels, sometimes you need to play defensively, and it's no fun to give a damage of 200 and take a damage of 500 with hide and seek play.

With high damage per shot weapons (high cooldown), you need to be accurate, as you can't miss these shots. But with lower cooldown, if you miss some shots, it won't cost you much.

 

This ^
The higher the level, the more you need to seek cover almost immediately during any cooldown period. You simply can't be out in the open to get shot at. With a low cooldown like 5secs, as an analogy, basically using a small chisel to hit rapidly to deal good damage on a 1on1 situation, there's no time to hide and shoot with such a short cooldown. Since this is a team game with 5 other unfriendlies, being so exposed, you're going to be hit by opponents more often as you're more vulnerable.
High damage works better in Nightmare league, as you're able to take precision shots and immediately take cover.

 

I have played a long ranged build, and it can be surprisingly effective. Use the railgun for sure, then sniper and cannon maybe. This really makes the other team annoyed and more likely to rush you, leaving them vulnerable to the rest of your team while to still lay down the damage.