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Beam Overview
Summary of Beam Weapons and CIWS
This is a short tutorial section that provides a brief overview of the other beam weapons. Any general comparisons of weapons at a given technology level, such as "railguns out-damage lasers" may not reflect the exact designs shown below as the comparison will vary with the exact background technologies used. In effect, the balance between different weapons will vary as they all advance. In any event, Aurora is very situational and often you need the right weapon for the situation. There isn't a 'best' weapon for all circumstances.
Lasers
We covered this weapon in the last tutorial but as a reminder, lasers are a long range beam weapon and their damage drops off with range. As was shown in the tutorial they can be mounted in turrets for point defence use. Here are example of long range and point defence lasers
20cm C5 Ultraviolet Laser Damage Output 10 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4 Max Range 400,000 km Laser Size: 6 HS Laser HTK: 3 Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5 Cost: 63 Crew: 60 Materials Required: 12.6x Duranium 12.6x Boronide 37.8x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 630RP
10cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser Damage Output 3 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 4 Max Range 120,000 km Laser Size: 3 HS Laser HTK: 1 Power Requirement: 3 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 3 Cost: 20 Crew: 30 Materials Required: 4x Duranium 4x Boronide 12x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 200RP
Railguns
Railguns shoot four projectiles at once and their total damage is approximately one third higher than a laser of similar technology. The damage falls off in the same way as lasers and their range can be extended by researching Railgun Launch Velocity. Because each shot does less damage than the total damage of an equivalent laser, the range is shorter and the damage is spread across the armour rather than penetrating in a single area. The range differential may not be an issue though if you don't have the fire control technology to take advantage of the laser's greater range. Although railguns cannot be mounted in turrets, they are still often used for point defence at lower tech levels because their high rate of fire compensates for their inaccuracy against fast moving targets.
20cm Railgun V4/C4 Damage Per Shot (4): 4 Rate of Fire: 15 seconds Range Modifier: 4 Max Range 160,000 km Railgun Size: 7 HS Railgun HTK: 3 Power Requirement: 12 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 4 Cost: 55 Crew: 70 Materials Required: 11x Duranium 11x Boronide 33x Neutronium Development Cost for Project: 1175RP
10cm Railgun V4/C3 Damage Per Shot (4): 1 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 4 Max Range 40,000 km Railgun Size: 3 HS Railgun HTK: 1 Power Requirement: 3 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 3 Cost: 20 Crew: 30 Materials Required: 4x Duranium 4x Boronide 12x Neutronium Development Cost for Project: 650RP
Particle Beams
Particle beams are a fixed damage weapon and therefore cause the same damage across their entire range. The technologies researched for particle beams are Particle Beam Strength, Particle Beam Range and Capacitor Recharge Rate. This is a fairly long range weapon, although not quite a long-ranged as lasers, and will out-damage lasers at its maximum range. A ship armed with particle beams should attempt to engage at longer ranges against other beam armed ships to take advantage of its fixed damage, while enemy damage decreases with range. This is a pure anti-ship weapon and would perform badly if used as a point defence weapon. It cannot be mounted in turrets.
Particle Beam-4 Beam Strenght 4 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Maximum Range: 200,000 km Launcher Size: 7 HS Launcher HTK: 3 Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5 Cost: 70 Crew: 70 Materials Required: 14x Duranium 14x Boronide 42x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 1550RP
Meson Cannon
Meson Cannon inflict only one point of damage over their range, which is approximately half that of an equivalent laser, but that damage ignores shields and armor. Like lasers, the range can be extended, in this case using Meson Focusing Technology. Meson cannon can be mounted in turrets for point defence use and are quite a popular choice, partly because they are ideal against an opponent who uses armoured missiles and partly because they are a very good anti-ship weapon at point blank range.
R20/C5 Meson Cannon Max Range 200,000 km Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Focus Modifier: 4 Meson Cannon Size: 6 HS Meson Cannon HTK: 3 Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5 Cost: 20 Crew: 60 Materials Required: 4x Duranium 4x Boronide 12x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 3100RP
R4.5/C3 Meson Cannon Max Range 45,000 km Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Focus Modifier: 3 Meson Cannon Size: 3 HS Meson Cannon HTK: 1 Power Requirement: 3 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 3 Cost: 5 Crew: 30 Materials Required: 1x Duranium 1x Boronide 3x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 900RP
Gauss Cannon
Gauss Cannon are primarily a point defence weapon and in that role their performance is superior to the other weapons under most circumstances. They inflict only one point of damage but fire several shots per volley. They can be mounted in turrets and on a full size ship it is unusual to see a gauss cannon that isn’t turret mounted. Their background technologies are Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire, Gauss Cannon Launch Velocity and Gauss Cannon Size vs Accuracy. Unlike other beam weapons, there is no 'larger' version with a greater focal size. The max gauss cannon size remains 6 HS. However, you can reduce the size of the gauss cannon, while retaining its rate of fire, at the cost of reduced accuracy. This makes it useful as a weapon for very small spacecraft such as fighters. In a fighter vs fighter engagement the low damage output of the gauss cannon is offset by the fragility of the target. Another advantage of the gauss cannon is that it does not require reactor power in order to fire. It will always fire every 5 seconds.
Gauss Cannon R3-100 Damage Output 1 Rate of Fire: 3 shots every 5 seconds Range Modifier: 3 Max Range 30,000 km Size: 6 HTK: 2 Cost: 36 Crew: 24 Materials Required: 36x Vendarite Development Cost for Project: 360RP
Plasma Carronade
The Plasma Carronade is a high damage, point blank range weapon. It has only two background technologies, Carronade Calibre and Capacitor Recharge Rate, and there is no way to enhance range beyond increasing the damage output. The calibers available are larger than those other beam weapons at a similar tech level so this is usually the weapon with the highest damage at close range. If you are outclassed technologically then build a ship with a few of these and wait for your opponent beyond a jump point. It cannot be turret mounted and is far from ideal as a point defence weapon.
30cm C5 Plasma Carronade Damage Output 24 Rate of Fire: 25 seconds Max Range 240,000 km Carronade Size: 9 HS Carronade HTK: 4 Power Requirement: 24 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5 Cost: 48 Crew: 90 Materials Required: 9.6x Duranium 9.6x Boronide 28.8x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 2300RP
High Power Microwave (HPM)
In terms of design the HPM is similar to the meson cannon, in that it causes only a single point of damage and uses components such as HPM focal size, HPM focusing and capacitor recharge rate. The range of the HPM will be the same as a meson cannon with the same level of technology. However there are two important differences:
- ) The High Power Microwave is not affected by armour but it is affected by shields. However, because of the HPMs effectiveness against shields and electronic systems, the single point of damage from the HPM causes three points of damage to shields.
- ) Once the shields are down, the High Power Microwave only damages systems classed as "Electronic". This currently includes sensors, fire control systems, ECM and ECCM. The HPM is designed to blind an enemy rather than destroy him. Each class has a separate "Electronic Only" Damage Allocation Chart (shown below the normal DAC), which is used by the HPM
The HPM can be a powerful weapon. Although it causes no damage to the majority of a ship's systems, it can damage shields and then blind the enemy, either forcing him to retreat or rendering him vulnerable to more destructive weapons. It is also quite expensive, costing twice as much as a similar size Meson Cannon, and difficult to employ effectively because of its relatively short range.
R20/C5 High Power Microwave Max Range 200,000 km Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Focus Modifier: 4 HPM Size: 6 HS HTK: 3 Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5 Cost: 126 Crew: 60 Materials Required: 25.2x Duranium 25.2x Boronide 75.6x Corundium Development Cost for Project: 3100RP
You may find advanced versions of beam weapon technology when you gain technology from ruins. They as similar to the standard technology but with enhanced capability. For example, Advanced Lasers do more damage for the same size and power requirements. This also translates to better range as the base damage is higher. Advanced Torpedoes inflict also do more damage for a given size and power system. Advanced Railguns get one additional shot (5 shots instead of 4) per cycle time and Advanced Mesons have greater range.
Close in Weapons System (CIWS)
Although it is not strictly a beam weapon in the general sense, this is a good place to introduce the CIWS, or Close-in Weapons System. This is the Aurora equivalent of the Phalanx or Goalkeeper systems that protect modern warships. It's a little complicated as it uses several different existing systems to create a single installation. The restrictions on its use are that it can only protect the mounting ship (other point defence weapons can protect other ships within their range) and it can only be used to engage missiles. The components of the CIWS are calculated as follows:
- ) The basic system is a dual half size gauss cannon. As the range is limited to 10,000 km, I have reduced the size slightly from 6HS to 5HS. As it is a dual mount, the rate of fire for the system with therefore be double the racial gauss cannon rate of fire
- ) The integral fire control system is assumed to be a 4x speed installation. The normal 4HS size is then divided by (maximum racial fire control range / 10,000) as the CIWS requires a max 10,000 km range. Finally the resulting size is halved to account for the fact this system can only defend the mounting ship, which makes things a lot simpler.
- ) Turret gears are added using the normal rules for turrets with a tracking speed equal to that of the above fire control
- ) The integral active sensor uses the size that would be required for a resolution-zero installation with a range of 30,000 km. This is longer than the max range of the system but it needs a little tracking time. Note that this is not an active sensor that will detect anything else. It is purely a point blank range missile tracker.
- ) If ECCM is available, it can be added to the CIWS and will use 0.5HS. As this is a reduced-sized system, it will have half the capability of the regular system
- ) As the gauss cannon are half size, the base chance to hit for the CIWS is 50% (modified by missile speed, crew grade and electronic warfare). This is actually slightly higher than it would be for a half-size gauss cannon with a short-range fire control but I am assuming it fires at even shorter range than other anti-missile systems.
- ) The cost of the system is based on the cost of all the individual components
You don't need to allocate point defence modes to the CIWS, allocate ECCM or allocate weapons to fire control systems. It is a fully integrated, fully automatic system. If a missile is about to hit the ship, it will open fire. Here is an example CIWS using components up to 8000 research points. I'll work through the steps and then show the completed system
- ) Dual half-size gauss cannon with a ROF of 3, which equals 6 shots in total. Size: 5 HS.
- ) Fire control system (tech 4000 km/s). This 4HS system has a tracking speed of 16,000 km/s. As the racial fire control range is 32,000 km/s, the fire control size is divided by (32,000 / 10,000), which is 1.25 HS and then halved to 0.625 HS
- ) Turret gears (tech 5000 km/s). As per the normal rules, the gear modifier = (FC Tracking Speed /Turret Tracking Speed)/10 = 0.32. Multiplying this by the weapon size of 5HS, gives a turret gear size of 1.6 HS.
- ) Active sensor (tech strength 21). A 1 HS active sensor with resolution zero would have a range of 210,000 km/s. Therefore a range of 30,000 km/s requires a sensor size of 0.1429 HS.
- ) Below are examples with and without ECCM. For the second example, I will use ECCM-2
CIWS-160 Rate of Fire: 6 shots every 5 seconds Dual GC: 5HS Turret: 1.6 HS Fire Control: 0.625 HS Sensor 0.1429 HS ECCM: 0 Overall Size: 7.4 HTK: 2 Tracking Speed: 16000 km/s ECCM Level: 0 Cost: 34 Crew: 8 Materials Required: 8x Duranium 0x Corbomite 15x Vendarite 11x Uridium Base Chance to Hit: 50% Development Cost for Project: 340RP
CIWS-160E Rate of Fire: 6 shots every 5 seconds Dual GC: 5HS Turret: 1.6 HS Fire Control: 0.625 HS Sensor 0.1429 HS ECCM: 0.5 Overall Size: 7.9 HTK: 2 Tracking Speed: 16000 km/s ECCM Level: 1 Cost: 39 Crew: 8 Materials Required: 8x Duranium 5x Corbomite 15x Vendarite 11x Uridium Base Chance to Hit: 50% Development Cost for Project: 390RP
The size of the CIWS is rounded to the nearest 0.1 HS, rather than a full HS, so the technology of the smaller components can make a difference. The CIWS is intended to be added to non-escort warships as a last-ditch defensive system. It allows the designer to add a self-contained anti-missile system without having to worry about anti-missile-oriented sensors and fire control systems and the player doesn't have to be concerned with allocating weapons or fire control systems. They are of little use for escorts though as they can only protect the ship that mounts them. CIWS are classed as non-military as they have no offensive capability and therefore you can mount them on commercial vessels.