Weapon Bay

Module

Weapon Unit

Weapon bays hold high power, long range integrated weapon systems.

They can be placed in multiple places throughout the spacecraft, with each weapon bay being controlled by the fire control station that placed it.

Weapon bays are controlled by fire control stations. An NPC crewman will only operate one bay at a time. Therefore when a spacecraft has multiple weapon bays, it is recommended to have all fire control stations close to each other, to allow the AI to operate them properly.

For most purposes, weapon bays essentially replace turrets, although it can still be wise to place turrets in key positions, because weapon bays cannot target individual creatures or vehicles, only spacecraft or cities.

The weapon must have a clear line of fire to the target. It cannot shoot through buildings, terrain or friendly spacecraft. Attempting to shoot through the latter will result in friendly fire. The spacecraft cannot however hit itself.

Weapon Bay Types

The type of weapon bay can be selected in the design, when placing a Fire Control Station.

Weapon bay type can also be changed using weapon bay modules and harvester bay modules after it has been constructed.

Ballistic Weapon Bay

Can be constructed from TL 2 and beyond.

Ballistic Weapon Bay has (Round(Weapon System units/10)+1) cannons. One heavy arms ammunition is used per cannon each shot. Damage depends on the ammo used, higher quality and high TL ammo will do more damage.

Projectile Stats

Cannon Shells:

• Muzzle velocity: 500m/s
• Lifespan: 5 seconds
• Affected by gravity inside atmosphere

Energy Weapon Bay

Can be constructed from TL 5 and beyond.

Energy Weapon Bay has (Round(Weapon System units/25)+1) beam projectors. Each beam projector requires an energy weapon lens in the cargo hold to fire at full power. Each shot uses some electricity per beam projector from the spacecraft's capacitor.

Each weapon system unit requires one full capacitor to fire. A good rule of thumb for powering these weapon bays is one power plant unit can fully power a unit or power 2 units at half power. However as power plant units grant more capacitors at higher TLs, you would require less.

To maintain a continuous firing cycle, you need (more than) 6 points of capacitor per weapon system unit installed. This number is not dependent on TL.

Weapon Launcher Bay

Can be constructed from TL 2 and beyond.

Weapon Launcher Bay has (Round(Weapon System units/90)+1) launchers. One large missile or large rocket is used per launcher each shot.

Missiles are guided and rockets are unguided, both can be shot down by enemy turrets or dodged. Damage depends on the ammo used, higher quality and high TL ammo will do more damage.

Projectile Stats

Small Missiles:

• Initial speed: 1/10th of acceleration
• Acceleration: 1000m/s/s
• Lifespan: 5 seconds

Large Missiles:

• Initial speed: 1/10th of acceleration
• Acceleration: 500m/s/s
• Lifespan: 5 seconds

Small Rockets:

• Initial speed: 1/5th of acceleration
• Acceleration: 1000m/s/s
• Lifespan: 5 seconds
• Affected by gravity inside atmosphere

Large Rockets:

• Initial speed: 1/5th of acceleration
• Acceleration: 500m/s/s
• Lifespan: 5 seconds
• Affected by gravity inside atmosphere

Weapon Deployment Bay

Can be constructed from TL 2 and beyond.

Weapon Deployment Bay has (Round(Weapon System units/100)+1) ejector racks. One bomb is used per ejector rack each shot. Damage depends on the ammo used, higher quality and high TL ammo will do more damage.

Bombs are dropped from the ship and are affected by gravity. Mostly only useful while in orbit over an enemy city.

AI crew will not use the Weapon Deployment Bay.

Projectile Stats

Bombs:

• Initial speed: 0
• Acceleration: by gravity
• Lifespan: 15 seconds
• Affected by gravity anywhere.

Tractor Beam Bay

This section is in need of revision. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. The reason given is: Recently implemented. See: Update 2016-09-15 Tractor Beam They are kind of complicated and could maybe benefit from having their own page.

Related patch notes

Update 2016-09-15: Tractor Beam Tractor Beam Tractor beam bay module now works. Here are the details. Target must be a spacecraft. Nothing else can be towed with a tractor beam. Target must not be moored. Target must have shields down. If any shield side is down to 2 or less energy, the target can be grabbed with a tractor beam. (Same test for blocked transporter.) Raising shields on target disconnects the tractor beam. Tractor beam is operated at fire control console. Select a target. Attach and detach the tractor beam by pressing the yellow T button. Tractor beam has a range at which it can attach to targets. Once attached, the target is held at a safe distance from the towing vessel. It can be pulled or pushed with the beam, so I suppose it is both a presser and an attractor beam, a.k.a. tractor. It seemed wrong to separate the two. Tractor beam uses a burst of power to fire, to attach to the target. A light blue bar under the capacitor level bar shows amount of capacitor consumed when fired. Tractor beam always fires at maximum power setting. Tractor beam consumes power steadily while on, roughly equivalent to running the same number of gravity drive units as tractor bay units. Target's maneuver acceleration is reduced by the amount of acceleration that would be achieved by attaching maneuver drive units to the target, equal to the number of tractor bay units, at the tech level of the tractor beam. The resulting acceleration is affected by the mass of the target. Design analysis shows this value for a target of your equal mass. If tractor power exceeds maneuver acceleration of the target, they can barely move. This has not been tested. Target can be towed through a wormhole. Target does not have to have a wormhole drive. Target can be towed at light speed or warp speed to deadhead to other systems. AI no longer shoots tractor beam at enemy as if it were a weapon. The ability to scrap ships for parts and technology is on my short list. I didn't have time to do it in this update.

Harvester Bay

Harvester bays use the same system as weapon bays. They are essentially the same thing, but separated here on the wiki for convenience.

This means that any weapon bay can be turned into a harvester bay as easily as the changing of weapon types.

Harvester bays are selected the same way weapon bays are, in the design or using harvester bay modules