Beam Emitter
Beam Emitter | |
---|---|
Type | Main Gun |
Available From | ARG ANT PAR HOP TEL MIN ALI TEM TRI RIP VIG |
Fitted To | Small and Medium ships |
Role | Anti-Fighter |
Required License | Military License (+10) |
In-game Description
The Beam Emitter is a highly specialised anti-fighter weapon, notable for its high accuracy. It discharges high-velocity beams which hit their target almost immediately. However, somewhat counterintuitively, it achieves this instantaneous accuracy by restraining the energy that the beam puts out. Since the beam is not as intense as the projectiles fired by many of its contemporaries, it only inflicts damage gradually, which exposes the pilot to a counter-attack. Because of this, and the fact that the weapon inflicts more damage the nearer it is to its target, the Beam Emitter is mainly used on nimble fighters which are able to get up close and out-manoeuvre their target when necessary.
The Mk2 variant tries to rectify the weak damage output somewhat by ramping up the beam's intensity, but this comes at the cost of the weapon overheating more rapidly.
Tactical Overview
The Beam Emitter fires, suprise surprise, a beam! This comes with certain advantages but also some big disadvantages. However, there is quite the potential with this weapon.
This is a weapon of extremes.
The damage output is very, very low, and destroying anything with this weapon will take a long time. It is only effective against fighters with the lightest of protection.
The tracking speed is also somewhat lacking and slow. Fast dogfights will result in your beams wildly swirling around, trying to compensate for the rapid manoeuvre , and won't deliver a lot of damage. The Beam Emitter requires smooth and precise flying to be effective.
Now for the good stuff. This weapon is extremely heat efficient. The only variant that effectively can overheat is the Small Mk1 version, as it fires a constant beam with the reload time being equal to the beam duration. All the other variants never overheat unless used in large numbers. When the beam stops firing to reload, the heat dissipation kicks in and generally manages to get rid of all heat until you use four or more Beam Emitters. Overheating is essentially not an issue with this weapon.
This extreme heat efficiency can result in quite a respectable sustained damage output with which you can keep melting down your targets. Still, anything larger than a Heavy Fighter will take some time.
Of particular note is the Medium Mk2 variant, which actually has a pretty high damage output. Four are enough to destroy Xenon N or M in a single salvo from long range.
But now, for the one thing that turns the Beam Emitter from an okay, niche weapon into quite the powerhouse that has to be feared on the battlefield.
Modifications.
Specifically, Slasher. With Slasher, it is possible to increase the damage of the Beam Emitter to 300%. This can result in the Medium Mk2 achieving a whopping 471 damage per second. The decrease in heat dissipation is not much of a problem due to how heat-efficient the Beam Emitter is. With Slasher applied, just three Medium Mk2 Beam Emitters can already break the shield regeneration of a Xenon K. Not to mention how quickly it melts fighters.
Trivia:
The description mentions that the Beam Emitter deals more damage the closer the target is. This used to be the case when beams still had a slow travel time and didn't hit instantly.
Meanwhile, beams have been changed to be instant hit, and they deal their full damage at any range.
Advantages:
- Perfect accuracy
- Extremely heat efficient
- Instant hit
- Very high damage potential via modifications
- Available from most factions
Disadvantages:
- Relatively Slow tracking makes dogfighting difficult
- Very low damage unless modified
Specifications
Small Mk1 | Small Mk2 | Medium Mk1 | Medium Mk2 | |
Damage Per Second | 50 | 97 | 80 | 157 |
Sustained Damage Per Second | 45 | --- | --- | --- |
Damage Per Shot | 200 | 488 | 480 | 1256 |
Reload Time | 4s | 5s | 6s | 8s |
Beam Damage Per Second | 50 | 122 | 120 | 314 |
Beam Duration | 4s | 4s | 4s | 4s |
Maximum Range | 3000m | 3000m | 4364m | 4364m |
Rotation Speed | 60°/s | 60°/s | 60°/s | 60°/s |
Initial Heat | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 |
Heat Generation Per Second | 110/s | 159/s | 292/s | 234/s |
Heat Generation Per Shot | 440 | 636 | 1168 | 936 |
Heat Dissipation Per Second | 2000/s | 2000/s | 2000/s | 2000/s |
Maximum Damage Until Overheat | 4200 | --- | --- | --- |
Cooldown Delay When Overheating | 1.13s | 1.13s | 1.13s | 1.13s |
Reactivates At After Overheating | 7500 | 7500 | 7500 | 7500 |
Construction Cost
Universal Build Method
Small Mk1 | Small Mk2 | Medium Mk1 | Medium Mk2 | |
Credits | 23.948 - 29.259 | 104.979 - 128.308 | 25.530 - 31.203 | 127.132 - 155.383 |
Energy Cells | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 |
Weapon Components | 9 | 36 | 10 | 50 |
Advanced Electronics | 2 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
Closed Loop Build Method
Small Mk1 | Small Mk2 | Medium Mk1 | Medium Mk2 | |
Credits | 23.948 - 29.259 | 104.979 - 128.308 | 25.530 - 31.203 | 127.132 - 155.383 |
Energy Cells | 73 | 76 | 78 | 106 |
Hull Parts | 7 | 34 | 8 | 41 |
Claytronics | 1 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
Terran Build Method
Small Mk1 | Small Mk2 | Medium Mk1 | Medium Mk2 | |
Credits | 23.948 - 29.259 | 104.979 - 128.308 | 25.530 - 31.203 | 127.132 - 155.383 |
Energy Cells | 50 | 100 | 50 | 100 |
Metallic Microlattice | 44 | 84 | 51 | 108 |
Silicon Carbide | 5 | 14 | 6 | 13 |
Computronic Substrate | 2 | 11 | 2 | 14 |