Ordnance
Some weapons in Shores of Hazeron cause damage by firing ammunition at a target. The ammunition describes many properties of the damage inflicted by the weapon. For example, regular bullets might cause piercing damage but radioactive incendiary bullets might cause radiation and fire damage. In each case, the same weapon is used to fire different kinds of ammunition. The ammunition determines the kind of damage that is inflicted.
Personal Weapons
Personal weapons may have multiple firing modes, each of which can require ammunition. For example, a rifle with a grenade launcher. For ammunition purposes, each mode is considered to be a different weapon.
One single unit of ammunition loads a weapon to full. The ammunition unit is consumed to load the weapon, even if it only needs one bullet. Partial packages of ammunition are lost.
Ammunition is loaded into personal weapons using the Inventory Window or by using the Reload Weapon command.
The default key binding for the Reload Weapon command is R
. Your currently selected weapon is loaded with the appropriate ammo from your inventory.
To reload a weapon using the Inventory Window, drag the ammo to the weapon.
In either case, the weapon is not loaded if it is already fully loaded. Ammo is not wasted by attempting to load a weapon that is already full of ammo.
Personal energy weapons use gigacells for ammunition. In this case, the damage type is determined by the weapon.
Heavy Weapons
Heavy weapons are found on vehicles, spacecraft and buildings in the form of turrets and weapon bays, and weapons mounted on vehicles. Ammunition for heavy weapons is managed using the Ordnance user interface, which is a tab on the Cargo Window.
Heavy energy weapons require ammunition. The ammunition module for energy weapons is not consumed like conventional ammunition. It acts as an interface to the ship's or city's capacitor, converting that energy into the type of damage appropriate to the energy beam.
Heavy weapons display on-screen icons to indicate damage types and rounds count.
Turrets
Turrets are loaded with ammunition. The rounds count indicates the number of shots remaining in the turret gun, before more ammunition is needed. Reloading a turret uses one unit of ammunition from the ship's hold or city's inventory. *Energy weapons are an exception; they reload automatically when empty, consuming one unit of power from the capacitor to fully reload.
Turret Module | Ammo Type | Turret Rounds Count |
---|---|---|
Ballistic Weapon Turret | Heavy Arms Ammunition | 300 |
Energy Weapon Turret | Energy Weapon Unit | 100* |
Weapon Launcher Turret | Small Rocket | 50 |
Weapon Launcher Turret | Small Missile | 30 |
Weapon Launcher Turret | Large Rocket | 25 |
Weapon Launcher Turret | Large Missile | 15 |
The Reload Weapon command can be used in a turret, R
for short. The turret is reloaded with the same kind of ammunition it was previously using, if it is available. Otherwise, any appropriate ammunition is selected.
When the Ordnance Window is used to load ammo into a turret, the ammo in the turret is replaced. If the ammo removed from the turret is an Energy Weapon Unit or if the rounds count was full, the ammo is returned to the inventory of the ship or city.
Vehicles
Some vehicles have built-in weapons that use ammunition. Vehicles that have weapons often have more than one, similar to the firing modes of a personal weapon. For example, a space fighter has a gun and two ordnance racks. The gun can be loaded with Heavy Arms Ammunition or an Energy Weapon Unit. The ordnance racks can be loaded with bombs, rockets and missiles.
Vehicle weapons are loaded with ammunition. The rounds count indicates the number of shots remaining in the vehicle weapon, before more ammunition is needed. Reloading a vehicle weapon uses one unit of ammunition. *Energy weapons are an exception; they reload automatically when empty, consuming one unit of fuel to fully reload.
This table shows the rounds count for vehicles when a gun or rack is fully loaded, for each kind of ammunition. The same kind of ammo can be loaded on multiple racks, increasing the total possible load of a particular munition.
Vehicle Type | Heavy Arms Ammunition | Energy Weapon Unit | Small Rocket | Small Missile | Large Rocket | Large Missile | Bomb |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Space Fighter F1 | 600 | 100* | 40 | 60 | 20 | 40 | 10 |
Space Fighter F2 | 400 | 100* | 80 | 40 | 40 | 20 | 30 |
Space Transport | 200 | 100* | 60 | 20 | 30 | 10 | 50 |
APC | 800 | 100* | 90 | 70 | 50 | 40 | 0 |
Vehicle weapons can be reloaded using the Ordnance window. The vehicle must be in the vehicle bay of a spacecraft, on a road slab in a city, or inside the trade range of a station. In all cases, the vehicle must be stationary to be rearmed.
Vehicle weapons can be reloaded using ammunition in your inventory. Select ammunition as your current item, look at the vehicle and click on it with the mouse to install the ammo. It will be loaded into an empty weapon, if one is available. Otherwise it will reload an already loaded weapon.
A weapon that is already full of ammunition is not reloaded. The ammunition you try to install is not lost if it is not needed.
Weapon Bays
Weapon bays do not consume ammunition until fired, due to options that can be selected at the fire control console. Instead of loading ammo into the bay weapon, the Ordnance window is used to select the ammo that will be fired by the weapon, when it does fire.
Weapon bays are filled with weapon units when they are designed. The number of weapon units is aggregated into a number of cannon barrels, ejector racks, weapon launchers, and weapon projectors, depending on what weapon bay module is installed. That determines the maximum amount of ammunition that can be fired simultaneously. Fractional results of the calculation are rounded up. For example a weapon bay with 99 weapon units would have 10 cannon barrels, 4 projectors, 1 ejector rack, or 2 launchers, depending on the bay module installed.
Bay Module | Weapon | Bay Units per Weapon | Ammunition Type | Ammunition amount needed |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ballistic Weapon Bay | Cannon Barrel | 10 Units per Barrel | Heavy Arms Ammunition | 1 unit per Barrel |
Energy Weapon Bay | Projector | 25 Units per Projector | Energy Weapon Unit | 1 unit per Projector |
Weapon Deployment Bay | Ejector Rack | 100 Units per Rack | Bombs and Mines | 1 unit per Rack |
Weapon Launcher Bay | Launcher | 90 Units per Launcher | Small Rocket, Small Missile, Large Rockets and Large Missiles | 1 unit per Launcher |
When multiple rounds are fired, one single projectile emerges from the bay weapon; it's size and damage are increased according to the amount fired. This helps to limit the number of objects that must be managed in a scene.
When a bay weapon fires multiple rounds, each round consumes one unit of the associated ammunition. For example, firing six heavy arms rounds consumes six units of the heavy arms ammunition that is selected for that weapon bay. The exception is energy weapons; they consume one unit of power from the ship's or city's capacitor for each projector fired.