Missiles - All missile launchers ignore shields (pierce 5 shield levels) and consume 1 missile per shot. The Zoltan's super shield stops missiles but receives the base damage for the missile. (For example, the Hull Missile does 2 damage regardless of where you aimed it.)
Lasers - Lasers do not cost anything to fire except system energy. Each laser bolt that makes contact with a shield removes one level of it.
Beams - Beams do not require anything to fire except system energy. Most Beams can't go through shields. Beams with power greater than 1 have their power reduced by 1 for each shield it must pass through. Beams cannot miss. Beams can hit multiple rooms in a single shot and the total damage dealt per shot depends on how many rooms they hit.
Bombs - Bombs teleport to the enemy ship, bypassing all shields and defense drones; they can still miss the ship by teleporting into empty space where they explode harmlessly. They can't get past the Zoltan Super Shield, but can deal damage to it. They consume 1 missile per shot. Bombs are the only weapon that ignores both shields and Defense Drones. A bomb can be destroyed before detonation by a laser blast or missile that hits the same room it is in, so be careful with timing.
In most cases Missiles, Lasers (Crystal weapons included), and Beams damage the hull, the system and crew of the targeted room unless stated otherwise in the weapons description. Bombs generally don't damage the hull, and most of them have some special effect (like igniting fires, causing hull breaches, doing ion damage to disable systems, or encasing the room in crystals) and bombs are the only weapon type that can target your own ship.
The crew damage depends on the weapontype used, beam weapons only damage the crew if the beam directly hits the crewman, while all the other weapons do damage to everyone in the room they hit. Every 1 point of (crew) damage from a weapon deals 15 damage to a crewman.
Volley Control refers to shooting your weapons in the most effective volley possible. Effective depends on what weapons you have, how strong the enemy defensives are (shields, drones, dodge rates, rock plating, and cloak), and what damage you want to do. In general, you want your volleys to be as tight as possible with as little time possible between when the first shot hits to when the last shot hits (assuming no misses). This lowers the likelihood of a shield regenerating. When you fire 3 weapons or more, your more forward weapons will likely hit first. Ships like the Kestrel (either layout) or the Federation Cruiser (either layout) have a good distance between the forward weapons and the weapons in the wings. In order to have a tight volley, you will want to fire the wing weapons, pause-unpause-pause the game until your first shots are roughly parallel with your forward weapons, when that happens, you can fire your forward weapons.
There are times when you will be better off not having a tight volley. One example would be if you face a manned ship with a level 2 or 3 cockpit, little hull left (2 or 3 points) and the ship is about to jump (screen says 'imminent jump'). Also, the ship only has one shield (you may have partially destroyed the shield already) and you have the Red Tail (Kestrel layout B) with its original weapons (4 x basic lasers). In this case, you are better off firing all your weapons once and targeting the cockpit. With a little luck, your first 2 shots hit. The moment the cockpit is damaged is the moment the enemy pilot begins repairing it. As soon as the repairs begin, the pilot is no longer manning the cockpit, which means the ship's dodge rate takes a nose dive. If the ship has a level 3 cockpit, the ship can still dodge even when reduced to a level 2 (a level 1 cockpit only helps if its being manned; not repaired, and a unmanned level 1 or destroyed cockpit means the ship can't dodge). Your next 2 shots have a much better chance, if not guaranteed, to hit the ship. If you had tried to hit the ship with a tight volley, there wouldn't be enough time between shots for the dodge rate to drop (the game declares a miss before it registers damage).
Another pair of concerns for volley control are projectile speed and weapon type, but that's more connected to weapon order.
These are guidelines; not rules. It is assumed the enemy craft started with a shield. Suggested firing order of your weapons:
1. Missiles/Bombs (Be careful of Defense drones)
2. Ion lasers.
3. Standard lasers
4. Hull Lasers OR Crystal (Depends on your payload, target, and your enemy's shields)
5. Crystal OR Hull Lasers (Depends on your payload, target, and your enemy's shields)
6. Heavy Lasers
7. Beam Weapons (You can fire your beam as soon as shields are reduced to zero)
Why use missiles-bombs first.
Both Missiles and Bombs bypass shields, allowing you to harm the ship's hull and systems directly. They are good weapons to open with because they can soften the enemies’ defenses. A successful hit on their shield can reduce their shields by one while a successful hit on their engines or cockpit will reduce their dodge ability. Even if you aren't targeting those systems with your missiles/bombs, the damage you do has a chance of peeling off enemy crew members from those manned systems, which removes the manned bonus. In that case, the enemy loses 5% in dodge or shields regenerate roughly 0.2 seconds slower.
There will always be a wrinkles and exception to using missiles-bombs first. For missiles, there is the obvious exception involving defense drone. Defense drones have a slight chance of missing an incoming missile, especially in an asteroid field. Also, Defense Drone Mark II tries to stop all incoming projectiles (missiles, lasers, and crystals). You may be able to trick the Mark 2 by shooting another weapon followed by the missile. If you have the Pegasus or multiple missile launchers, you can get a missile by a single drone.
As for bombs, Ion bombs won't weaken the enemy ship defenses' unless you target those 3 systems directly or the enemy has a Zoltan Shield. However, the enemy medbay or drone room (Anti personnel drones are such a pain) might be more important. Healing bombs have no offensive use unless you have an away party. Lockdown bombs are tricky because they can be used in a lot of ways. You can protect your away team, or deny enemy crew a chance to heal. Also, you can lock the enemy crew out of a room (engines, shields, medbay).
Why use Ion lasers second.
Ion lasers take down then enemy shield, letting your other weapons harm the ship. If you want to stun a system, then shoot your other weapons. If the enemy has a Zoltan Shield, shoot your ion weapons first since they do double damage.
Why use hull lasers after regular lasers.
Regular lasers don't do any extra damage and only have a slight chance of causing a fire. Hull lasers can do double damage to systemless rooms. Even when targeting system rooms, it is worth using the hull lasers after regular lasers. Hull laser can still cause fire but also hull breaches. Because of the hull breaches, hull lasers can be particularly useful in fights with AIs especially long fights. The AI's can't repair hull breaches and any system with a hull breach is permanently damaged.
Why use crystals after regular lasers.
Crystals are odd and useful weapons. They bypass one layer of shield. They have a slight chance of causing a hull breach. Both defense drones can stop their shots. This is a great weapon to take out the enemy shield generator. If you have a couple of Crystal Burst (either Mark I or II), consider firing your crystal weapons at the shield room, then use your other laser weapons. If you have a beam weapon, remember it loses power if one shield is up.
Why use heavy laser after regular lasers.
Heavy lasers do 2 points of hull/system damage, but only do 1 point of regular shield damage. For this reason, you really want them to hit the hull and not the shield. They also can cause fire and hull breaches. When you have a Heavy Laser Mark I and face an enemy with Zoltan shields, use the Mark I to take down the Zoltan shield as they do 2 points of damage to the Zoltan shield and have a very short cooldown (9 seconds at most).
Why Beams shot last.
Because shields block them. If during your volley, you knock the shield down to nothing, fire your beam immediately.
Weapons Systems
Every ship except the Rebel Flagship has a standard weapons system, while the Flagship and both Federation Cruisers have special weapon systems.
Standard Weapons System
The standard weapons system is indicated on your ship by an icon that looks like two warheads side by side. Like other primary systems (shields, engines, and drones), it can be upgraded to hold a maximum of 8 reactor power bars. Most NPC ships will also never have more than 8, though a few can sometimes be seen with more.
Each weapon requires power, which you can provide with power bars from your reactor. In the ship equipment screen, you can click and drag a weapon from your cargo to one of your weapon slots. A weapon will automatically go into a weapon slot if one is free when you receive it. To power your weapon, simply exit the ship screen and click on the weapon's icon at the bottom of the main screen. If you have enough available power bars, and your weapon system has enough room for that power, the weapon will switch on and begin charging.
Special Weapon Systems
The Federation cruisers Osprey and Nisos have a special weapon called the Artillery Beam. It has its own system separate from the standard weapons system, which appears with a single warhead icon. This system requires reactor power to function. When it is turned on, it powers itself automatically and will fire all by itself without your input when it finishes charging. You cannot target the Artillery Beam manually. Upgrading it allows you to put more reactor power into it, which in turn causes it to charge more quickly. If you take some of the power out while it is partially charged, it will maintain the same charge percentage and continue from that point at a slower rate. If you remove all of the power bars, it will stop charging and you will lose all of the progress it had made. There is a version of this weapon (Vindicator Beam) that operates like a normal weapon, but it can only be acquired via cheating.
The Rebel Flagship may have a weapon system composed entirely of special weapons; four to be exact. These, like the Artillery Beam, are represented on the ship with a single warhead icon. From left to right, these weapons are:
an ion burst weapon which fires 3 ion shots that each deal 1 ion damage.
a burst heavy laser which fires 3 laser shots that each deal 1 damage.
a burst missile system which fires 3 missiles that each deal 1 damage.
a giant Halberd beam which deals 2 damage per room hit, but has a beam length greater than the normal Halberd beam.
Each of these weapon systems will fire when it finishes charging. The systems each have 3 hit points in stages 1 and 2 and 4 hit points in stage 3. Dealing damage to these systems may cause their corresponding weapon to fire more slowly. If you manage to destroy the weapon system, that weapon will stop firing until the system is repaired to at least one hit point. Unlike the Artillery Beam, these weapons have gunners.
There are normal versions of these weapons in the game but can only be found via an editor. It is possible the Flagship doesn't have special weapons but 4 seperate weapon systems. When playing as the Flagship (via cheating), you do have a special weapon but it is like the Federation Cruiser beam weapon.
Hull damage is doubled when a systemless room is hit.
Ion damage disables systems and does not damage hull. If an ion blast hits a shielded ship, it will apply ion damage to the shield system. Ion damage hits Zoltan shields for twice the listed amount.
Crystal 'lasers' have 1 shield piercing and thus ignore the outermost layer of shielding, but generally have longer cooldown than their non-shieldpiercing regular laser counterparts, and more importantly the projectiles shot are considered to be missiles, thus can be shot down accidentally if crossing opposing laser projectiles path, or by Defence Drone Mark I (Mark II. could take down any projectile anyways).
The Burst Laser Mk I is inferior/equivalent to the dual laser in every respect but two, cost and availability. Dual lasers are neither sold in stores nor found at random drops. The Burst Laser Mk II is superior/equivalent to the Burst Laser Mk I in every respect but two, charge time and availability. The Burst Laser Mk I is one second faster and is more likely found at a store or random drop. Unless you need the Mk I to complete your loadout for some reason, it's definitely worth dropping.
*=Remember, the Anti-Bio Beam only harms targets (life forms and half damage to drones) if the beam hits the square they are in.
Beam Damage: Damage is per room hit, hitting multiple tiles in the same room counts as a single room hit. Fire beam is an exception to that and has a chance of starting a fire in each square that it its. Beams deal no damage to shields. Shields reduce beam damage by 1 point per shield level remaining. Only the Halberd, Glaive, and Artillery Beams are capable of dealing damage when a target is shielded.
Beam Length: 1 tile diagonally = 45 beam length (unit currently unknown). Even a 1 tile long beam can hit 5 tiles if placed carefully.
There are two variants of the Artemis missile. The Kestrel and the Bulwark both start with a special version that has an 11 second cooldown instead of the standard 10 and requires only one power instead of two.
"Standard missile launcher on most Federation ships."Artemis Missiles
Costs 38
Fires 1 missile at 2 damage, with low chance of fire and breach.
Requires 1 power, and takes 11 or 10 seconds to cool down
Shield piercing 5
The two-power variant can be found in-game, and the one-power variant is only a starting weapon..
"Heavy lasers can wreak more havoc than their smaller, burst laser counterparts."
Sell Price 27
Fires 3 shot at 1 damage, with low chance of fire and breach.
Requires 1 power and takes 16 seconds to cool down.
This may be one of the weapons the Rebel Flagship uses. It uses the same graphics as the heavy laser burst on the Flagship and the Boss Laser. Can only be acquired via cheating.
Fires 3 shot at 1 damage, with low chance of fire and breach.
Requires 1 power and takes 20 seconds to cool down.
This may be one of the weapons the Rebel Flagship uses. It uses the same graphics as the heavy laser burst on the Flagship and the other Heavy Laser Mark 1. Can only be acquired via cheating.
This weapon corresponds to the crystal from the Crystal Vengeance augmentation. There is very little chance of finding it as loot from a battle in the Crystal sector.
Costs 20 (Not sold)
Fires 1 shot at 1 damage, with low chance of breach and ignores shields.
Requires 1 power and takes 9 seconds to cool down (if it was obtainable as a stand-alone weapon).
"This terrifying beam does no physical damage, but rips through organic material, dealing heavy damage to crew members."Anti-Bio Beam
Costs 50
May be obtained when giving 4 fuel to a federation Scout with a distress beacon
Obtained during a special event in the Slug Nebula when making pirates surrender. They can offer this as a new weapon, and you get it if you don't ask for information on the Slug Cruiser.
Whilst the tooltip description mentions damage to enemy crew, this beam will also damage your crew if they have boarded the enemy ship and are hit by it.
Does 60 damage to crewmembers of either ship.
Does half (ie 30) damage to drones (Including your boarding drones)
Cannot target your own ship.
Damages each room for 0 damage.
Requires 2 power and takes 16 seconds to cool down.
"Self-teleporting explosive that does no damage but creates a dense wall preventing movement in or out of the Crystal Lockdown Bombroom. Can target your own ship."
Costs 60
Requires 1 power and takes 15 seconds to cool down.
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Added by Sulfuricwolf
Added by Decentgamer
