Overview
| Damage Type | Weapon Type |
|---|
| Thermal | Hitscan |
| Good | Not Good |
|---|
| Very high thermal damage. | Uses up WEP distributor energy in seconds |
| Works well for effects that need many hits over time. | High heat |
| They’re basically Star Trek phasers. | The usual laser falloff, but worse. (500m) |
| They’re impractical when unengineered. |
Size Notes
Huge beams can deal enormous damage to both hull and shield, as long as you can handle their heat and distributor draw.
Powerplay
Retributor
| Causes heat buildup in targeted ship. |
| Less damage, less heat, more distributor draw. |
| The effect is not as strong as the Thermal Shock experimental, and is honestly not worth it by comparison. |
Engineering
| Efficient | Fixes the high distributor draw/ high heat problem which makes them sustainable. Very little downside if you want a general damage weapon. |
| Lightweight | Like efficient but with less mass and without the heat decrease. |
| Long Range | Drop shields from range with no falloff…as long as you can sustain the distributor draw. Full grade 5 is only helpful for fixed beams. Gimbals and turrets can stop anywhere from grades 1-3 to save power. |
| Overcharged | Do godly damage…for about 5 seconds. The penalty to distributor draw is high, so you’ll need a hefty distributor. |
| Short Range | More damage, more heat, less range. Great if you can keep close, but better used for Thermal Vent effectiveness. |
| Sturdy | No. |
Experimental Effects
| Concordant Sequence | A single one can help regenerate wingmates’ shields when not in combat. Doesn’t work under fire. Increased thermal load is bad for beams. |
| Double Braced | Not that useful. Better to use module reinforcements. |
| Flow Control | If you need a small amount of power elsewhere. Doesn’t affect power distributor/WEP draw, so don’t be fooled. |
| Oversized | If you have nothing else better to pick, a little extra damage is fine. |
| Regeneration Sequence | Heal beams! They only work on wingmates and your NPC fighter whose shields are still up…not on other friendly ships. Works when under fire. |
| Stripped Down | If you need a tiny amount of mass, but there are better modules than weapons to save mass unless your ship is very mass sensitive. |
| Thermal Conduit | Up to 30% more damage when you reach 180% heat…but heat damage to your modules is not resistable and adds up quickly. |
| Thermal Shock | You need as many hits as possible, so try at least two Efficient beams. |
| Thermal Vent | Drops your heat as long as you are striking your target, depending on the heat/sec value of the beam itself. |