Weapons Guide (Page 2 of 4)

Written by wathman00,

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Plasma Burst Generator

The stats on the PBG are deceptive, it's a very powerful weapon when used in the right hands, and very troublesome if you come across a group of enemies using them against you. I'm not clear on how the weapon exactly does massive amounts of damage based on the stats, but it's likely that it impacts multiple points in the "cone of effect" and each point of impact causes damage with each "shot." It's also possible that the weapon may do additional damage over time since it's basically a ship mounted flame thrower, but this is difficult to determine since nearly everything you shoot it at dies quickly. Perhaps someone else has a better answer to this. The main thing to know about this weapon is that it is very limited range. 0.8 km is maximum range, though it is most effective at a range of 500 m or less. This is a favourite weapon of pirates, so it always pays to check the armaments of large pirate groups before engaging them. One or two PBG wielding ships can easily ruin your day. Rate of fire for this weapon is somewhat irrelevant since each shot appears to hit multiple times, and this also has the side effect of conserving energy usage, making it a rather efficient weapon. The PBG isn't typically a good choice for AI controlled fighters if you plan on dog fighting alongside them, unless you want to fall victim of a terrible pun. However when used in wings of AI controlled fighters, they tend to be more successful at flame broiling enemies than each other.

Hull damage	120 (D-)	Range	0.8km (F-)
Shield damage	468 (D+)	Rate of fire	55 r/m (F+)
Speed / accuracy	375 m/s (D+)	Energy Usage	55 (C+)

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Electro-Magnetic Plasma Cannon

The EMPC is easily the most flexible weapon in the game, capable of filling many roles and fits well with the Terrans military strategy. Per shot, it has the power of a HEPT, nearly the projectile velocity of an EBC round, average range for a non-capital weapon, and fairly good energy usage. The main weak point to this weapon is the rate of fire; it is slower than most Commonwealth alternatives. This, however, can be overcome by using them in large numbers. Good examples of this are the M6 Vidar that is capable of mounting x12 of them up front, or equipping a large wing of M5 Rapiers with them and letting them loose on a target. Since nearly every Terran ship is capable of using them, it makes fleet logistics very simple if you plan on building your own Terran fleet. The problem with this strategy is that EMPCs are difficult to acquire in significant numbers until very late in the game when you gain access to the Terran factory shipyard, or you resort to duplicating them. Also worth noting is the existence of the Experimental EMPC variant that is used by the older model Aldrin ships. The EEMPCs have performance characteristics similar to the production EMPCs, just weaker. EEMPCs are not interchangeable with EMPCs.

Hull damage	800 (B-)	Range	2km (D)
Shield damage	2,000 (C+)	Rate of fire	157 r/m (D)
Speed / accuracy	588 m/s (C+)	Energy Usage	31 (B-)

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Concussion Impulse Generator

CIGs are weapons mainly for M6 and M7 ships that perform adequately in most situations, but work best when taking on other M6s and M7s. They pack plenty of power and have good range, though the slow projectile speed and low rate of fire can be frustrating at times. Energy usage is rather high, so prolonged battles will easily deplete the large reactors of ships mounted with CIGs. The special feature of the CIG is the round's explosion on impact that tends to knock around smaller fighters that aren't destroyed outright. This is useful when facing a small number of fighters, but becomes a burden with increasing numbers as it makes the heavily shielded targets more difficult to hit with the next few shots, making you take more time and energy reserves to kill a pesky M3/M3+ while it's wingmen continue to pound you. Other tips for using the CIG, it is best used at range, 3.5 to 2 km from the target. If you are going in closer than that, larger numbers of HEPTs focused on your target will bring it down faster. CIGs on ships participating in OOS combat tend to do well also since the weapon's weaknesses do not matter as much OOS.

Hull damage	2,615 (B+)	Range	3.5km (C)
Shield damage	7,845 (B-)	Rate of fire	75 r/m (D-)
Speed / accuracy	420 m/s (C-)	Energy Usage	246 (C-)

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Ion Pulse Generator

Another M6/M7 weapon, the IPG, like other Boron weapons, is excellent at shield damage, but a bit lacking at hull damage. Range is the other highlight of the IPG, though the rest of its performance characteristics tend to be weaker than other weapons typically found on M6/M7. The IPG's special feature is that targets hit by it take a temporary 20% reduction to their max speed. This is not as useful as it sounds, since any M3's or M4's you'd want to slow down can easily evade the slow IPG projectiles, and the large targets are already plenty slow and not difficult targets to hit. When using against M6/M7's it may be possible to do significant shield damage while staying in the 3.9 to 3.5 km range and remain relatively safe from most of the target's armaments. This tactic would be useless when facing an M2 since the bigger guns could tear you apart in that range interval. I personally haven't used this weapon much on my own ships so any further comments on this weapon would be helpful.

Hull damage	523 (F+)	Range	3.9km (D+)
Shield damage	12,563 (C-)	Rate of fire	75 r/m (A)
Speed / accuracy	347 m/s (A)	Energy Usage	63 (B-)

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Ion Shard Railgun

An M6/M7 weapon, from the Split this time. The ISR has similar specifications to the Terran built EMPC, just a tad slower projectile, better fire rate. Energy usage is more, but less of a burden than the other weapons specifically for these classes of ships. The ISRs special feature is that each shot drains a small amount of weapons energy from the target, resulting in the enemy having less weapon energy to use against you. This is most useful against large ships using energy hungry guns, and if placed in turrets ISRs may be effective in sapping M3s and the like of their energy. This weapon tends to be just as useful close up as it is at a distance, though if all your fighting tends to be up close to the enemy, it may be worthwhile to switch over to smaller guns like HEPTs or EBCs for the energy efficiency.

Hull damage	962 (B-)	Range	3.3km (C)
Shield damage	2,671 (C+)	Rate of fire	231 r/m (C)
Speed / accuracy	498 m/s (C)	Energy Usage	124 (C)

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Matter/Anti-Matter Launcher

The M/AM is the ammo based answer to the Commonwealth CIG, similar characteristics and special effect, though a tad more powerful. There is some energy drain when using this weapon despite being ammo based, but at least the ammo crates last a long time and energy usage is not too demanding on the Terran M6s and up that can use it. There is one exception though, the Spitfyre is capable of mounting the Experimental version of the M/AM making it an interesting fighter when considering it's speed, handling, and shielding. Thankfully, M/AM rounds are compatible between experimental and production versions.

Hull damage	3,095 (A-)	Range	3.6km (C)
Shield damage	8,350 (B)	Rate of fire	72 r/m (D-)
Speed / accuracy	445 m/s (C-)	Energy Usage	Ammo based

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Flak Artillery Array

The FAA is the Commonwealth anti-fighter speciality weapon for some M7's and up. One or two good hits from the FAA is enough to take out nearly every fighter craft in the game with possibly the only exception being the Teladi Falcon Sentinel. Just about anything that comes into range of the FAA is in for a world of hurt, including M6's and up if you can stay close to them long enough. The limitations of the FAA are few. Range is the big one; if the enemy stays more than 2.1 km away, they're safe from FAA. Energy usage is another; constant fire from multiple FAA turrets will wear down the large reactors of M2s if they are worked long enough. The last weak spot is that FAA can only hit one target at a time, and is somewhat slow to re-target. Missile barrages and large fighter wings will always have a better chance of getting by with minimal losses. Also it is worth noting that when used on larger M2/M1s, FAAs are less effective at protecting that much surface area of those ships as compared to the smaller M7s.

Hull damage	2,093 (B)	Range	2.1km (D)
Shield damage	13,860 (A-)	Rate of fire	56 r/m (F-)
Speed / accuracy	7,051 m/s (A+)	Energy Usage	680 (D)

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Cluster Flak Array

The Cluster Flak Array(CFA) is similar to the FAA, but trades power for area of effect. The other major difference with the CFA is that not as many M7 and up ships can mount them like the FAA. When used by the player personally, the CFA rounds can be placed to maximize damage on clusters of fighters, though in the case of AI controlled turrets, you are probably better off using regular FAA. If you know that you are going against more lightly shielded ships, M4/M5 mostly, perhaps a Khaak sector, the lower damage output of the CFA may not be a problem and could be more effective overall in the anti-fighter role. The other slight advantage CFA has is the slightly faster rate of fire over the FAA.

Hull damage	1,758 (B-)	Range	2km (D)
Shield damage	11,781 (A-)	Rate of fire	62 r/m (F+)
Speed / accuracy	2,200 m/s (A)	Energy Usage	675 (D)

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Phased Array Laser Cannon

I have very limited experience with this weapon since it is not guaranteed to be easily available in everyone's game. What I do know about it is that it is a rather powerful beam weapon with very good range, damage, and energy usage. It is somewhat slow to fire. The main problems with this weapon are ultimately finding it and the limited number of ships that can use it. Only the Split Tiger, Split Panther, and Goner Truelight Seeker can mount it. From what I've read, the way most people acquire the PALC is as part of the Final Fury plot, as a random spawn in one of the Xenon sectors. The other place I've heard it might be found is in the hold of random race associated Weapons dealers. If you are adverse to piracy for fun and profit, and don't find the PALCs in the FF mission, you're out of luck for a vanilla game.

Hull damage	2,970 (A-)	Range	6.4km (A+)
Shield damage	3,969 (C-)	Rate of fire	143 r/m (D)
Speed / accuracy	Instant hit	Energy Usage	117 (C)