Weapons Overview

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Weapons Overview

Lasers

• Weapons of the laser class typically fall into one of two categories, Precise, and Beam weapons.
• Lasers primarily have a Red cost, with a secondary cost of G
• Precise (Pulse) Lasers
  • Offer reasonable raw damage per R cost spent
    • Laser Pulse is 3R for 4 damage, Paired Pulse is 4R1G for 3x2 damage, Heavy Pulse is 8 damage for 5R2G, Quick Pulse is 2R for 3 damage. So typically around or somewhat less than 1.5 damage per R spent, with any R reductions typically transferred into extra G cost.
  • Deal excellent targeted systems damage, second only to railguns
    • This makes precise Lasers an excellent defensive tool, as they effectively “block” damage by breaking enemy weapons, typically 3 Laser cards break a 12 HP system
    • Conversely Lasers can also be an offensive enabling tool, as they can break the enemy’s shield generator, allowing you to tee off on the enemy ship with a hull damage type weapon (Missiles, Flak, etc.)
    • Heavy Pulse with the +50% damage power from Arbalest Gunner crew power offers 12 system damage in a single card
  • Has synergies with playing multiple pulse laser cards in the same turn (Catalyst Pulse, Overload augment, Booster Pulse, Streamline)
  • Be careful about trying to hold too many cards or a combo. Holding too many combo pieces will severely affect your ability to draw into additional combo pieces

• Beam Lasers
  • Beam lasers tend to be non-precise, and focus on dealing damage and heat to the enemy ship
  • Many of these cards have a duration and ongoing cost attached to the weapon
    • Example: Cutting Beam has an initial cost of 3R1G to fire the weapon, but will continue to fire at the start of the next 3 turns, with an ongoing cost of 1G per turn fired
    • Because of this, you need to account for the total cost when evaluating the weapon.
  • While Beam lasers seem to deal excellent damage per R spent when compared to their pulse cousins, there are some very real drawbacks
    • Unlike Precise lasers, Beam Lasers deal reduced system damage, 66% of the total damage is split across 2 random subsystems, dealing 33% to deach. Hull damage in general is worth less than system damage, so simply comparing the raw damage is not an accurate evaluation
    • Continuous Beam lasers deal their damage over several turns. This often results in damage being lost due to firing into Enemy shields. Pulse lasers can play around enemy shields by waiting a turn for them to halve before firing, duration based lasers do not have this option. Continuous Beam Lasers trigger their start of round effect before missiles resolve, so unfortunately Ion Missiles impact after the Beam Laser has already wasted it's shot on shields.
    • Enemy debuffs that reduce player damage completely wreck the low damage of duration based lasers. The Elite Buffs Eutetic Armour and Diffraction Field both apply a -2 damage penalty to Lasers, combined with the Blind debuff (-1 damage) from enemy hacking system can result in the Continuous Beam Laser cards dealing zero damage.

Ion Weapons

• Ion weapons are typically good at breaking enemy shields, with a secondary focus on delaying enemy actions through ionize. Ion cards typically often have conditional effect, often related to shields (shield break, having no shields, shield damage dealt)
• Ionize cards primarily cost G, with a secondary light R cost
  • This typically makes them an efficient pairing with high R cost weapons, like Flak and Precise Lasers, as they do not compete for the same resource
  • Example cards: Sling and Ion Javelin cost 1R2G for 6 Ion damage, dealing 12 Ion damage on activating their conditional effect.
• Ion cards offer a very high shield damage per R spent (6 per R, or 12 per for Sling and Ion Javelin)
• By default, Ionize removes 1 pip from a random enemy system per 6 Ionize applied
  • Unlike random equipment damage, Ionize will not attempt to remove pips from an enemy system that has no pips.
  • This means the more Ionize you apply to the enemy ship, the more likely you will delay a priority system as there are less enemy subsystems with pips to choose from
  • Applying 12+ Ionize stacks in the same action that removes 2+ enemy pips can remove those 2 pips from the same enemy equipment. It’s not guaranteed to remove 1 pip from 2 different systems.
  • Ionize can remove pips from broken enemy subsystems that are being repaired. This can be quite useful, as once an enemy system is broken and starts the 3 turn timer, additional weapon damage won’t delay repairs. Great for ensuring a key enemy system never goes off.
• Removing pips from enemy systems is what gives Ion weapons their defensive utility.
  • While the Ionize system targeting effect is randomized, when compared to shield cards, Ion cards can be played proactively as soon as you draw them. Shields on the other hand often have to wait for an enemy incoming attack, which in a worst case scenario would take up an effective card draw for several turns.
  • Thus taking Ion weapons often let’s you draft less shield cards, which reduces the likelihood you draw something you can’t play right away. This improves the consistency of your deck.