Laser (Weapons)

Lasers are energy based general purpose anti-ship weapons capable of overwhelming shields and dealing hull, crew, and system damage. Lasers cost system power to fire. Each laser bolt that makes contact with a shield depletes one level of it (and Heavy Laser Pierce - ignores one additional layer) thus laser weapons can overwhelm shields before those can recharge with correct strategy. All lasers have small chance to start fire and some have additional chance to breach hull and stun crew. All lasers use room-based targeting and can be shot down only by Mark II Defense Drones.

Classes

• One shot - generates one shot and fires it with little delay. Usually best fired in auto-fire mode.
• Burst - generates several shots, but stores and then releases them in quick succession at once. Its not possible to fire a partial charge. If other weapons have different timing, its usually better to fire these manually; otherwise auto-mode is good.
• Charge - like burst, but its possible to fire a partial charge at any time. This is usually offset by slower charge time or higher energy cost. Usually best fired manually.
• Chain - like one shot, but the delay between shots decreases. Cooldown is only reset if weapon loses power; setting weapon on hold by turning the auto-fire mode off or switching the target does not reset the cooldown back. Usually best fired in auto-fire mode.
• Burst chain - burst and chain combined, generates few shots and fires them automatically with decreasing delay. Usually best fired in auto-fire mode, but there can be nuances.

Derived statistics

"1 damage in" - reflects destructive ability of the weapon in auto-shot mode. Less is better. Amount of seconds the weapon needs to deliver 1 damage in auto-fire mode. Hit/miss factors, defense drones and crew or augmentation effects not counted.

1 damage in (seconds) = cooldown_time / ( shots_per_autoburst * damage_per_shot )

"burst rating / .. " - a byproduct of weapon burst size and charge speed for such burst, to determine weapon efficiency in manual fire mode. The burst size is not continuous, but discrete: either manually delayed full magazine valley, or automatically fired projectile group. Valley is fired with 0.5 seconds or less between individual shots - its less than time required to recharge a maximum buffed shields or Mk II Defense Drone cooldown delay, thus guaranteed to punch through. burst rating does not account for shield/defense thickness, rather than its generation efficiency!

".. / pwr eff" - stands for power efficiency and shows how good the energy is utilized to create such burst.

burst rating = shots_per_accumulated_burst / full_cooldown_time

power efficiency = shots_per_accumulated_burst / weapon_power_cost

See the available Lasers.

Lasers

In this case, Obtainable refers to the item being buyable or accessible from an event or through some other means.

Name	Cost	Required Power	Charge Time (s)	Damage/Shot	Volley	Obtainable?	Fire	Breach	Stun
Basic Laser	20	1	10 s	1	1	No	10%	0%	0%
Dual Lasers	25	1	10 s	1	2	No	10%	0%	0%
Burst Laser I	50	2	11 s	1	2	Yes	10%	0%	0%
Burst Laser II	80	2	12 s	1	3	Yes	10%	0%	0%
Burst Laser III	95	3	19 s	1	5	Yes	10%	0%	0%

Basic Laser

Basic Laser

"Very weak laser."

• Costs 20 (cannot be bought or found)
• Fires 1 shot with 10s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 1 power
• 1 damage in: 10s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.1 / 1
• Note: Four of them come equipped on Red-Tail, and one comes equipped on The Gila Monster.
• Note: Called "Defense Laser Mark 1" in the description.

Dual Lasers

Dual Lasers

"Basic weak dual lasers. Often used by transport ships that can't afford better."

• Costs 25 (cannot be bought or found)
• Fires 2 shots with 10s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 1 power
• 1 damage in: 5s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.2 / 2
• Note: Best burst power efficiency among lasers available to player.
• Note: Comes equipped on The Swallow, Tetragon, Nisos, Man of War, and The Nesasio.

Burst Laser Mark I

Burst Laser Mark I

"This simple burst laser isn't flashy but it gets the job done."

• Costs 50
• Fires 2 shots with 11s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 5.5s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.18 / 1
• Note: While this weapon isn't nearly as efficient as the Dual Lasers, it can be found in stores and events.

Burst Laser Mark II

Burst Laser Mark II

"Slightly improved version of the burst laser that fires more shots per charge.

• Costs 80
• Fires 3 shots with 12s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 4s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.25 / 1.5
• Note: Comes equipped on The Kestrel and The Osprey.
• Note: Favorite weapon of many.
• Note: Best average stats among all laser weapons.

Burst Laser Mark III

Burst Laser Mark III

"Powerful burst laser that fires off an impressive barrage."

• Costs 95
• Fires 5 shots with 19s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 4 power
• 1 damage in: 3.8s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.263 / 1.25
• Note: Best burst ratio among lasers available to player (together with Chain Burst)
• Note: Compared to Mk II, the continuous damage rate and energy efficiency are worse, but burst ratio is slightly higher.

Heavy Pierce Mark I

Heavy Pierce Mark I

"Heavy lasers can wreak more havoc than their smaller, burst laser counterparts. This modified version pierces 1 shield."

• Costs 55 (cannot be bought or found)
• Fires 1 shot with 10s cooldown
• Damage: 2 (hull) + 1(shield bypass) per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach. Advanced Edition: low chance to stun crew
• Ignores 1 shield level
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 5s (hull), 2.5s (shields)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.1 / 0.5
• Note: Comes equipped on Shivan.

Heavy Laser Mark I

Heavy Laser Mark I

"Heavy lasers can wreak more havoc than their smaller, burst laser counterparts."

• Costs 50
• Fires 1 shot with 9s cooldown
• Damage: 2 per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach. Advanced Edition: low chance to stun crew
• Requires 1 power
• 1 damage in: 4.5s (hull), 9s (shields)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.11 @ 9s / 1
• Note: Comes equipped on The Vortex.

Heavy Laser Mark II

Heavy Laser Mark II

"This heavy laser fires two shots in quick succession, each dealing 2 damage"

• Costs 65
• Fires 2 shots with 13s cooldown
• Damage: 2 per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach. Advanced Edition: low chance to stun crew
• Requires 3 power
• 1 damage in: 3.25s (hull), 6.5s (shields)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.154 / 0.7

Hull Smasher Laser

Hull Smasher Laser

"A powerful laser designed to maximize hull damage."

• Costs 55
• Fires 2 shots with 14s cooldown
• Damage: 1 (system bays) / 2 (systemless) per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 7s (system bays), 3.5s (systemless)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.143 / 1

Hull Smasher Laser Mark II

Hull Smasher Laser Mark II

"This powerful counterpart to the Hull Smasher Mark I fires more projectiles per shot."

• Costs 75
• Fires 3 shots with 15s cooldown
• Damage: 1 (system bays) / 2 (systemless) per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach
• Requires 3 power
• 1 damage in: 5s (system bays), 2.5s (systemless)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.2 / 1
• Note: pretty solid gun, if targeting systemless rooms.

Boss Laser

Boss Laser

"ssss" [sic]

• Costs 55 (cannot be bought or found)
• Fires 3 shot with 20s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire and breach
• Requires 1 power
• 1 damage in: 6.7s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.15 / 3
• Note: This is one of the weapons the Rebel Flagship uses. Can only be acquired via cheating.
• Note: Best burst power efficiency among all lasers.

Advanced Edition Lasers

Chain Burst Laser

Chain Laser I

"This dual shot laser decreases in cooldown the more it fires. After 3 volleys it only takes 7 seconds to charge."

• Costs 65
• Cooldown delay profile: 16s/13s/10s/7s, -3s per step, 3 steps total
• Fires 2 shots with 16s..7s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 3.5s (at peak ROF)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.285 / 1
• Note: Cooldown timer resets to initial only if Weapon goes offline.
• Note: Surprisingly, good burst stats, but only 2 shots per burst mean a difficulty piercing the shields when used standalone. In addition, power efficiency is average.
• Note: Comes equipped on Ariolimax, and Kruos.

Chain Vulcan

Chain Vulcan

"This laser weapon takes a long time to warm up. Each time it fires it decreases the cooldown, eventually able to take down any amount of shields."

• Costs 95
• Cooldown delay profile: 11.1s/9.1s/7.1s/5.1s/3.1s/1.1s, -2s per step, 5 steps total
• Fires 1 shot with 11.1s..1.1s cooldown
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 4 power
• 1 damage in: 1.1s (at peak ROF)
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.9 / 0.25
• Note: Cooldown timer resets to initial only if Weapon goes offline.
• Note: Highest continuous damage rate and burst rating among lasers, but the delay between shots is still too high to make through buffed shields or Defense Drone Mk II.

Laser Charger (S)

Laser Charger (S)

"This laser weapon can charge two times, giving it an additional projectile. This improved version only requires 1 power."

• Costs 30 (cannot be bought or found)
• Fires 1 shot with 5.5s cooldown, up to 2 shots
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 1 power
• 1 damage in: 5.5s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.18 / 1
• Note: "Autofire" causes continuous fire, disables charging
• Note: Weapon Pre-Igniter will only charge one shot.
• Note: Comes equipped on Simo-H.

Laser Charger (S)

Laser Charger (S)

"This laser weapon can charge two times, giving it an extra projectile."

• Costs 55
• Fires or charges 1 shot with 6s cooldown, up to 2 shots
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 2 power
• 1 damage in: 6s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.166 / 1
• Note: "autofire" causes continuous fire, disables charging
• Note: Weapon Pre-Igniter will only charge one shot.
• Note: Continuous damage rate not influenced by burst ability, since delays are also summed up.

Laser Charger (L)

Laser Charger (L)

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

• Costs 70
• Fires or charges 1 shot with 5s cooldown, up to 4 shots
• Damage: 1 per shot
• Low chance of fire
• Requires 3 power
• 1 damage in: 5s
• burst rating / pwr eff: 0.2 / 1.3
• Note: "Autofire" causes continuous fire, disables charging
• Note: Weapon Pre-Igniter will only charge one shot.
• Note: Continuous rate not influenced by burst ability, since delays are also summed up.
• Note: Mediocre burst stats for being called "Large charger".