So I am looking at the "L" version of some of the augmented ships. The description of the ship states that it is a slower version of the 'cruiser' but outfitted with augment to bypass or disable shields.
However, the only beam augment that I have found that 'requires' Elerium simply increases the range at a reduction in weapon damage.
Hell the base weapon augment which you get with Disrupters (increases rate of fire by 50%) is BETTER than the one you get without the need for rare resource.
Is there an augment that disables shields that requires Elerium?
Beams are overpowered anyway but I was trying to determine the effectiveness of the various weapon augments against a base ship without them.
So far it appears that the 'rate of fire' increase is pretty awesome. I cannot tell if the Elerium required augment is even worth getting which (in turn) makes even bothering to get Elerium a waste of time.
I'd really really love to use guns or missiles but the end all-be all of weapon design right now is Beams. We need to tweak the dmg of beams so the other weapons seem viable.