9.7 Ship Weapons
There are a variety of ship weapons, each with a different use in space combat.
Basic syntax for the ship weapon system is:
SHIP WEAPONS Shows a list of weapons on your ship.
SHIP WEAPON AMMO <weapon#id> <type> Select the ammo type for a ship.
SHIP WEAPON FIRE <id> [target] Fire a weapon.
SHIP TARGET <noun> Target an enemy.
SHIP WEAPON AUTOFIRE <id> Shoot a weapon automatically if a target
is selected.
SHIP WEAPON STOP <id> Stop automatic shooting.
SHIP WEAPON ACTIVATE <id/ALL> Activate a weapon, or all weapons.
SHIP WEAPON DEACTIVATE <id/ALL> Deactivate a weapon, or all weapons.
SHIP WEAPON RELOAD <id> Reload a weapon.
Below is a list with further information on all things ship weapon related:
Ammunition
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Ammunition, or 'ammo' refers to the consumables you need to have on board your ship and loaded in order to use most of your ship weapons.
You can purchase every type of ammo from any shipforge, but this will be at full price. To find cheaper ammo there may well be some listed on the commodities market, which you can search by using the syntax:
MARKET LIST <keyword>
You will need to fly to the location of the goods to buy them.
Once you have loaded a type of ammo into one of your ship's weapons, the weapon will auto-reload with that kind of ammo from your cargo until there is none left. If you switch the type of ammo in a cannon, you will lose the remaining charges on the discarded battery.
Cannons
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Ammunition: Battery
Target status: In targeting cone
Your basic ship weapons, generally short range and have a higher rate of fire. Target lock is not required for firing on a ship inside your targeting cone (but you will need one for autofiring). Firing on smaller ships with larger cannons will incur accuracy penalties, more if you do not have a target lock on the target.
Missile Launcher
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Ammunition: Missiles
Target status: 360 degrees around ship, requires target lock
Powerful targeted projectiles that will home in on your target and unleash a powerful explosion when they hit. Missiles are generally longer range and have a slower rate of fire than cannons. Upon impact, the explosive damage from missiles is negated by the current speed of the the target, with smaller ships gaining more damage mitigation from current speed than larger ones.
Your ships sensor suite can detect incoming missiles (see HELP SHIP COMPONENTS), allowing some opportunities to fire countermeasures, which, when deployed skillfully, can negate an incoming missile.
Laser Beams
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Ammunition: Lenses
Target status: In narrow targeting cone
Focused beams of energy that deal massive damage, but come at a steep capacitor cost, require plenty of power and cycles to operate, and use a narrower targeting cone than conventional weapons. Firing on smaller targets without a target lock will incur additional accuracy penalties.
Turrets
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Ammunition: Projectiles
Target status: In secondary cone
Projectile-based weapons with a high rate of fire and lower overall damage. A secondary firing cone is used when turret weapons are equipped and can be rotated relative to your ship using SHIP TURRET <dir>, allowing for cunning tactical maneuvers. They perform just as well without the use of a targetlock as with.
Mine Layer
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Ammunition: Mines
Target status: No target, fired 1 to 5 su behind ship.
Subspace mines can be deployed behind your ship, leaving a powerful trap for any enemy that happens to fly into them.
Anti-mine Field Generator
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Ammunition: None
Target status: In specified direction
Anti-mine generators will remotely and safely detonate a subspace mine in the specified direction.
Interdictor Beam
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Ammunition: None
Target status: In targeting cone
Interdictor beams will hamper a target's Skipfield Integrity for a short duration. See HELP INTERDICTION for more details. No effect against organic targets.
Tractor Beam
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Ammunition: None
Target status: In targeting cone
A powerful weapon that will attempt to pull your target closer to your vessel. The effect of this weapon does vary depending on the masses of the target and firing vessels. It is possible to only pull yourself closer if your target has a much higher mass than your own vessel. Usable on asteroids within 5su to allow for easier tethering. Use the commands: SHIP WEAPON FIRE <WEAP#> <THING> followed immediately with SHIP TETHER <THING>.
Capdrainer
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Ammunition: Capdrainer coils
Target status: In narrow targeting cone
Drains a portion of the target's capacitor and transfers it to yours. Some kears are lost in the process. No effect against organic targets.
Interdiction Web Launcher
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Ammunition: Interdiction webs
Target status: No target, fired 6su forward
Deploy a disruptive web which interferes with the Skipfield Integrity and current speed of anyone caught in its radius. When first caught in a web, all skipdrive tricks go on cooldown for a short duration. No effect against organic targets.
Slicekit
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Ammunition: Slicing scripts
Target status: 360 degrees around ship, requires target lock
Install viruses into your target's ship designed to damage ship component's over time. The effect of the slicekit depends on the type of script loaded into it. No effect against organic targets.
Signal Jammer
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Ammunition: None
Target status: 360 degrees around ship, requires target lock
Jams the target's target locking capabilities. Jammed ships can only target other ships currently jamming them. The likelihood and duration of the effect is determined by rolling your ship's sensor strength against the target's sensor strength. No effect against organic targets.
Using ship weapons
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Ship weapon modules require activation before they can be used, which will bring them online and consume some ship resources (usually power and shipsim cycles).
In most cases, you will start by targeting your enemy with SHIP TARGET <target>, which will start your ship locking on to the target. The timing of this depends on the strength of your ships sensor suite, the size of the target compared to your own, as well as some other minor factors that modify how "lockable" the target is.
When a lock is achieved, you can fire your weapon with SHIP WEAPON FIRE <weapon alias or ID> [<any optional details>].
Ammunition and reloading
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Battery and missiles come in different damage "flavors", with each having their own advantages and disadvantages. The most pressing of these is how damaging they are to shields and hulls on enemy vessels. You will likely want to ensure you have a good mix of weapons and ammunition for taking advantage of these strengths.
Ammunition. Hull Bias Shield bias
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Kinetic 50% 50%
Thermal 100% 0%
EM 0% 100%
Gravitic 67% 33%
Additionally some weapon and damage types combinations have a secondary effect that can trigger when the attack hits. Currently this only applies to cannons and missiles. The chance varies from type to type.
Ammunition Weapon type Effect
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Kinetic Cannon None
Kinetic Missile Knocks the target off course
Thermal Cannon Additional component damage
Thermal Missile Destroy additional astromechs
EM Cannon Disrupts sensors
EM Missile Lose target lock
Gravitic Cannon Slows the target down
Gravitic Missile Pulls target in a reverse-course
*Note - these effects only fire against ships (both players and NPCs). Attacks against organics and non-traditional vessels do not have additional effects.
Range and efficacy
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Most damaging weapons have an optimal range (as showing on SHIP DETAILS WEAPONS), this is the "ideal" range (in su) that you'll want to be away from the target to inflict maximum damage. Outside of this range, you'll do diminishing damage for every su you are away from the target (the amount of falloff is also listed in SHIP DETAILS WEAPONS).
For example, if your weapon's optimal range is 6su, and has a 15% falloff, you'll only do 85% damage if you're 5 su or 7su away. Skilled pilots will want to ensure that they're in the sweet spot to do the most damage possible.
Most electronic warfare and interdiction weapons do not have falloff, though they do have maximum ranges.
Attack vectors
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Depending on your angle of attack, your attacks can directly damage the components on your target's ship, allowing for a strategic strike to disable their vessel. See HELP SHIP COMPONENTS for more details on the effects of component damage.
Vector Component
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Head-on Shipsim or sensors
Rear Engine
Left Shield Generator
Right Capacitor