Changes: Ion (Weapons)

Revision as of 21:38, 8 August 2018

Ion Damage

To understand Ion Weapons, think of them as of Stun Weapons. They behave completely differently from normal weapons, like lasers, beams, bombs, and rockets.

Ion damage is merely a lock-down rather than actual structural damage, leading to temporarily degrading or disabling affected systems for a certain amount of time. Three systems in the game "stun themselves" for a certain amount of time as part of normal cool-down operation: Teleporter, Backup battery, and Cloak. On hit, all Ion Weapons cast the very same "stun damage" and cool-down timer on their target.

If the hit target had more health than the amount of "stun damage" it received, stun merely degrades the target until the cool-down ends. If the target had less or equal health, then it's made completely inoperational, until its cool-down timer runs out: its state can't be changed, power can't be diverted from it, and it can't be manned or piloted. Once the timer ends, the stun effect is removed.

The stun effect is cumulative: a continuously stunned target will degrade further and for a longer period. This includes hitting Teleporter and Cloak device during their normal cool-down phase. On successful hit, one Ion Damage unit typically lasts for 5 seconds, and re-hitting the target progresses and maintains the lock-down. The maximum lock-down countdown time of any target-able element is 27.5 seconds.

Note that most Ion Weapons have longer wait period between landed shots compared to the lock-down time they produce. Combining several of them and timing them to fire on the same target asynchronously, using skilled crew and/or the Auto-Loader Augmentation, can help overcome this caveat. Continuous firing on shields will lead to their disablement. Stunned crew won't be able to use FTL engines or evade.

Zoltan Shields' initial energy barrier receives double damage from Ion Weapons. However, Zoltan themselves are immune to Ion Damage and will continue to provide energy. That means that any facility operated by a Zoltan (shields - two Zoltans) will be immune to Ion Weapons.

A good strategy with ion weapons is to set them to auto-fire on same target, usually enemy shields. Most ion weapons recharge very fast, so it may be difficult to keep track of their fire readiness and lose the cumulative momentum. This could lead to your ship losing an advantage.

Ion charges travel slower than laser shots and can be shot down by Mark II Defense Drones. Ion projectiles use room-based targeting, and have the chance to stun crew in the affected room.

Example calculation

Ion Blast II (re-)fires every 4 seconds. If it hits the target, it applies 1 Ion Damage with 5 second count-down - effectively degrading the system for 1 point/power bar for 5 seconds. In case it re-hits the very same target, the remaining 1 second (difference between fire delay and applied count down) is increased by 5 seconds to 6 seconds. The 1 point of stun is increased to 2 points. Continuously firing Ion Blast II on same target will hence lead to its complete lock down for up to 27.5 seconds, except its operated by one or two(for shields) Zoltans.

See the available Ion weapons.

Ions

Ion Blast

"Ion weapons can disable systems without causing hull damage."

Costs 30
Fires 1 shot with 1 Ion damage.
Has a low chance to stun crew (Advanced Edition).
Requires 1 power and takes 8 seconds to cool down.
Two of them come equipped on Noether.

Hint: better combined with same or similar Ion weapon firing asynchronously, otherwise stun effect will not be accumulated.

Heavy Ion

"Ion weapons can disable systems without causing hull damage."

Costs 45
Fires 1 shot with 2 Ion damage.
Has a low chance to stun crew (Advanced Edition).
Requires 2 power and takes 13 seconds to cool down.
Comes equipped on The Vortex.

Hint: better combined with same or similar Ion weapon firing asynchronously, otherwise stun effect will not be accumulated.

Ion Blast Mark II

"Ion weapons can disable systems without causing hull damage."

Costs 70
Fires 1 shot with 1 Ion damage.
Has a low chance to stun crew (Advanced Edition).
Requires 3 power and takes 4 seconds to cool down.
Comes equipped on The Torus.

Hint: fires faster than the stun count-down, thus can be used stand-alone, provided it does not miss.

Boss Ion

"1 damage ion 3 shots."

Costs 40 (cannot be bought or found)
Fires 3 shots with 1 ion damage each.
Requires 1 power and takes 28 seconds to cool down.
This is one of the weapons the Rebel Flagship uses. Can only be acquired via modding.

Advanced Edition Ions

Ion Stunner

"Ion weapons can cause system damage without causing hull damage. This ion weapon stuns crew inside the room for 5 seconds."

Costs 35
Fires 1 shot with 1 ion damage
Requires 1 power and takes 10 seconds to recharge.
Stuns all crew in affected room for 5 seconds, this includes crew in the shields room if the shields themselves were hit.
Comes equipped on The Swallow, and Kruos.

Ion Charger

"This ion weapon can charge multiple times, giving it additional projectiles."

Costs 50
Fires 1-3 (based upon charges) dealing 1 ion damage.
Requires 2 power, gains a charge every 6 seconds, can hold 3.
Comes equipped on Cerenkov.
If the autofire setting is on, it will fire a charge as soon as it is gained.
Can bring down shields if manned by skill 2 crew and does not miss.

Chain Ion

"This weapon's Ion damage increases each time it fires to a max of 4."

Costs 55
Fires 1 shot, with each subsequent shot dealing 1 additional ion damage, up to a maximum of 4.
Requires 3 power and takes 14 seconds to cool down.
This weapon does enough ion damage per second (ion stun duration is dependent on damage) to bring down any shields, unmanned (if it does not miss).

@@ Line 89: / Line 89: @@
 ''"This weapon's Ion damage increases each time it fires to a max of 4."''
 * Costs 55 [[File:Ftlgame-scrap.png]]
-* Fires 1 shot, with each subsequent shot dealing 1 additional ion damage up to a maximum of 4.
+* Fires 1 shot, with each subsequent shot dealing 1 additional ion damage, up to a maximum of 4.
 * Requires 3 power and takes 14 seconds to cool down.
-* This weapon fires does enough ion damage per seconds (ion stun duration is dependent on damage) to bring down any shields, unmanned (if it does not miss).
+* This weapon does enough ion damage per second (ion stun duration is dependent on damage) to bring down any shields, unmanned (if it does not miss).
 </div>
 [[Category:Weapons]]