Weapons and Damage

 

Description
Weapons are special components which can be used to damage enemy ships. They come in a wide assortment with different capabilities.  
   
Weapon Elements
Weapon Types There are four main weapon types: Direct-Fire, Seeking, Point-Defense, and Warhead. Direct-Fire weapons will fire during combat and immediately hit or miss their target. Seeking weapons as like missiles which will seek after their target until they hit, or they run out of fuel. Seeking weapons have the additional property of their speed, how fast they move towards their target. Point-Defense weapons are like direct-fire, but they fire automatically without player control. They will fire when any fighter or seeker moves into range, or when your ship moves into range for the point-defense to hit them. Warheads are weapons which will only damage the enemy if your ship actually rams the target. Warheads are used on mines to cause damage to enemy ships.
Can Target Each weapon has a setting of what kinds of targets it can hit. This list is a selection of Ships, Planets, Fighters, Seekers, and Satellites. If a type of vehicles is not in this list, then this weapon cannot fire on it.
Rate Each weapon is has a certain reload rate. This is the rate at which it can fire in combat. So if it has a value of 1, it can fire every combat turn. If it has a value of 2, it can fire every other combat turn.
Damage At Range Weapons do a certain damage at a certain range. If a Direct-Fire weapon hits its target, then the damage is done is based on the range from the source ship to the target ship. For Seeking weapons, the damage done to the target is based on the distance (range) that the seeker had to move until it hits the target. Seekers will naturally extinguish once their damage reaches zero.
Weapon Mount Different weapons can sometimes be "mounted" which refers to the idea of building a much larger version of a standard weapon. Weapon Mounts are dependent on the size of the vehicle and what mounts its supports. A weapon mount usually increases the damage and size of the weapon proportionately.
Supplies Used Each weapon is rated with a supply amount used. This is the amount of supplies that this weapon will use each time it is fired.
   
Damage Types
Normal This is the standard type of damage in the game. Damage hits shields first, then armor, then the rest of the components.
Shields Only Will only damage your shields. Once your shields are gone, this damage is harmless.
Skips Normal Shields This type of damage is done by phased weapons. These weapons will ignore normal shields as if they were not there. Of course, if you have phased-shields, then this damage type behaves just like normal damage.
Only Engines Will only damage engines. It also has the added benefit that shields and armor will not stop it.
Only Weapons Will only damage weapons. It cannot be stopped by shields, armor, or other components in the way. It is a pulse that burns out your weapons without mercy. Once your weapons are gone, you won’t take any more damage from this type (some consolation).
Plague Level Causes a certain level of plague on a planet. Other than causing a plague on a planet, it does no damage to ships or planets.
Only Planet Population

Biological weapons that kill people, but have no effect otherwise.

Only Planet Conditions Ecosystem destroyers which harm planets conditions only.
Only Resupply Depots Smart bombs which seek and destroy Resupply Depots.
Only Spaceports Smart bombs which seek and destroy Spaceports.
Pushes Target Repulser beams which push enemy ships away but do no real damage.
Pulls Target Tractor beams which pull enemy ships closer but do no real damage.
Random Target Movement Wormhole generators which cause hit ships to randomly appear in another part of the sector.
Only Shield Generators

Will only damage shield generators. It also has the added benefit that shields and armor will not stop it.

Skips Armor Skips any armor that is present on the ship. This damage will still hit shields first, then will skip armor and hit the rest of the components.
Skips Shields And Armor Skips shields and armor. The most dangerous type of weapon!
Quad Damage To Shields Will cause 4 times the damage to shields, and then will cause normal internal damage.
Crew Damage Cause the crew of the ship (or even a master computer) to forget what they are doing and will increase the reload times for the ship's weapons.
Crew Conversion Converts a crew (or even a master computer) to the control of another player.
Skips All Shields Skips all shields regardless of type.
   
Special Notes
None  
   
Related Areas
Component Report Window, Weapons Report Window, Weapons Mounts Window