Beam Emitter

Last modified by Kajar on 2024/07/14 18:38

Beam Emitter

BeamEmitter.jpg
TypeMain Gun
Available FromARG ANT PAR HOP TEL MIN ALI TEM TRI RIP VIG
Fitted ToSmall and Medium ships
RoleAnti-Fighter
Required LicenseMilitary 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 Mk1Small Mk2Medium Mk1Medium Mk2
Damage Per Second509780157
Sustained Damage Per Second45---------
Damage Per Shot2004884801256
Reload Time 4s5s6s8s
     
Beam Damage Per Second50122120314
Beam Duration4s4s4s4s
Maximum Range3000m3000m4364m4364m
Rotation Speed60°/s60°/s60°/s60°/s
     
Initial Heat1000100010001000
Heat Generation Per Second110/s159/s292/s234/s
Heat Generation Per Shot4406361168936
Heat Dissipation Per Second2000/s2000/s2000/s2000/s
Maximum Damage Until Overheat4200---------
Cooldown Delay When Overheating1.13s1.13s1.13s1.13s
Reactivates At After Overheating7500750075007500

Construction Cost

Universal Build Method

 Small Mk1Small Mk2Medium Mk1Medium Mk2
Credits23.948 - 29.259104.979 - 128.30825.530 - 31.203127.132 - 155.383
Energy Cells510510
Weapon Components9361050
Advanced Electronics210210

Closed Loop Build Method

 Small Mk1Small Mk2Medium Mk1Medium Mk2
Credits23.948 - 29.259104.979 - 128.30825.530 - 31.203127.132 - 155.383
Energy Cells737678106
Hull Parts734841
Claytronics1617

Terran Build Method

 Small Mk1Small Mk2Medium Mk1Medium Mk2
Credits23.948 - 29.259104.979 - 128.30825.530 - 31.203127.132 - 155.383
Energy Cells5010050100
Metallic Microlattice448451108
Silicon Carbide514613
Computronic Substrate211214