SPACE - GLORY THROUGH CONQUEST

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STARSHIP BEAMS

Description
1. Beams are the cheapest weapon in the game.
2. Beams have 0% bonus to shield penetration, and given equal tech, have to reduce shields to zero strength before doing any hull damage.
3. Beams have 65% accuracy with 0 sensors, and 35% of ship's sensors are used to improve beam accuracy.
4. Beam accuracy is not greatly influenced by enemy starship speed, and can target even very fast ships quite effectively.
5. Beam accuracy is greatly influenced by enemy starship stealth, and targets very stealthy ships with great difficulty.
6. Beams are the most efficient weapon at destroying buildings on enemy planets, destroying twice as many buildings per unit of damage as any other weapon type.
7. 50% of beam slots are used as point-defenses against minefields. This does not affect firepower in battles.
8. For every 2 beam slots on a starship, you gain a 1% bonus to missile evasion, and 0.5% bonus to fighter evasion. (Point-defenses. This does not detract from firepower during battles).

Strategies
1. On small ships which have low sensors, beams are the most accurate weapon.
2. While beams do the least damage, they are most effective at removing enemy shields. Once shields are down, all weapons have 100% of their damage applied to enemy hulls.
3. ALL starships must have engines, and so WILL have some degree of missile evasion. However, not all starships have stealth points, so beams are often the most efficient weapon against such fleets.
4. An effective strategy is to have your larger combat ships supported by swarms of small beam-armed ships. These will quickly kill the shields on the enemy ships, allowing your larger combat ships to get free shots at the enemy hull.

5. Large ships armed with beams and sufficient sensors make excellent minesweepers.
6. Capital ships with lots of beam slots have a significant point-defense bonus against missiles and fighters. On small ships which may only have a handful (or 1 or 2) beam slots this is not all that significant.

Beams