Main Battery - Ray Ion Projector
Type	Main Gun
Available From	BOR
Fitted To	Ray
Role	Siege, Support
Required License	Capital License (+20)

In-game Description

The Ion Projector is the Ray Destroyer's main battery, and pride of its developer, Eleius Astrosecurity. Once charged, its three barrels ignite in quick succession, releasing an ionised beam which affects the target ship's systems and impairs its mobility. Following the standard Boron weaponry doctrine, the Projector proves more effective in depleting shields than damaging hull, quickly leaving poorly shielded Split combat ships, in particular, unprotected. Just like its wielder, the Ray Destroyer, this weapon projects military might, and earns the Boron their place among the great powers of the Commonwealth.

Tactical Overview

The Boron Ray's Ion Orojector is quite a complex weapon, both good and bad.
It has the longest range of all destroyer weapons, allowing it to besiege any station safely. It is the only destroyer main battery that outranges the Heavy Dumbfire Mk2 missile, 11km vs 10km range.
The high accuracy of the beam also allows it to swat down fighters relatively easily if one can line up the gun. Medium ships will also have a bad day but usually need at least two shots to go down. Being a beam also makes it very easy to snipe surface elements.
The damage per shot is also relatively high, delivering more shield damage in a single beam than the Phoenix or Odysseus main batteries in their entire heat cycle.
Lastly, the slowdown effect on enemy ships is quite significant. It can quickly stop any ship, even capital ships, dead in its tracks and make it unable to move at all, especially if multiple Ray stagger their beams.

However, all this good stuff comes with one significant downside. The damage per second is relatively poor. The Ray only gets a single main gun and has even less DPS than a Phoenix. Just two heavy fighters with 4x Blast Mortar or Muon Charger deliver more sustained damage. A single heavy fighter with Blast Mortar deals more hull DPS than the Ion Projector.
Moreover, unlike other beam weapons, the Ion Projector doesn't hit instantly and has a small travel time, reducing the damage it deals at maximum range even further. 
The Ion Projector will not destroy anything quickly. Xenon Stations, in particular, will take a very long time to dismantle.

Use the Ion Projector to pin down enemy capital ships and make them easy targets for your torpedo bombers to rip apart.
Or very, slowly destroy enemy stations from a safe distance.

Specifications

Construction Cost

Universal Build Method