How to identify Weapons Fire?

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How to identify Weapons Fire?

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How to identify Weapons Fire? - 7/11/2014 1:33:40 PM

AntoneT

Posts: 23
Joined: 5/29/2014
Status: offline

Is there a list somewhere that explains what the visual effect of the various weapons are? I am trying to figure out what types of weapons are creating the various graphics I see on the screen during the battle.

Things like: Orange beams vs green beams? How to recognize torpedoes vs missile? How to recognize Ion Weapons? What are the hazy concentric circles around some ships. How to recognize a tractor beam? Etc.

I apologize if this has been answered before. I've searched and come up empty.

Post #: 1

RE: How to identify Weapons Fire? - 7/11/2014 1:54:04 PM

Keston

Posts: 300
Joined: 5/7/2010
Status: offline

Good question.

(in reply to AntoneT)

Post #: 2

RE: How to identify Weapons Fire? - 7/11/2014 5:32:42 PM

Aeson

Posts: 784
Joined: 8/30/2013
Status: offline

Torpedoes are small circular projectiles that come in several colors which fade and get smaller the further they are from the ship that fired them. Torpedoes will also track their targets. Shaktur FireStorm torpedoes are green, and have relatively short range. Plasma Thunderbolt torpedoes are cyan (light silvery blue color). Post 30 in the Weapons Balancing thread shows an image with both torpedoes being fired, while post 29 shows an image with Plasma Thunderbolts being fired. Shockwave Torpedoes are light yellow, Velocity Shards are green (similar to Shaktur FireStorms, but longer-ranged and smaller). Epsilon Torpedoes are a reddish color.

Blasters are a short pulse weapon. Pulse and Maxos Blasters are red in color, and are displayed as a short, thin red line. Shatterforce Lasers are green in color and slightly larger than the Maxos Blasters, while Impact Assault Blasters are yellow in color and about twice as long and much thicker than the Shatterforce. Titan Beams are silver-blue (cyan) in color, have a distinctive teardrop shape, and are about the same size as the Impact Assault Blaster. Death Rays are unmistakable, being an enormously long green pulse.

Phasers (both lances and cannons) are reddish in color, and are represented as a continuous beam from the attacker to its target. Phaser Lance beams are somewhat thicker than Phaser Cannon beams, and can fire from much greater range.

Missiles show a projectile with an engine glow at the rear. Concussion Missiles are slightly larger than Seeker Missiles, but otherwise both weapons are visually similar with an orange-yellow engine glow. Assault Missiles are much larger than either of the other two missiles and have a blue engine glow.

Railguns are short-range weapons that fire a sort of diamond-shaped projectile. Long-range guns fire the smallest projectile, Massive Railguns fire the largest, and projectile sizes for heavy and standard railguns are in between, with heavy railguns firing larger projectiles than standard railguns.

Pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9nhq2eur34vrc75/AADjkALzaaYpHoc6am1DDHXma

You can also see pictures of some of the weapon effects in the Weapons Balancing thread. Post 26 shows the Impact Assault Blaster and Phaser Lance (Cannon?), Post 28 shows the Shatterforce Laser and Impact Assault Blaster, Post 29 shows the Plasma Thunderbolt, Post 30 shows the Plasma Thunderbolt and Shaktur FireStorm, Post 38 shows the Titan Beam and fighters, and Post 60 shows a Death Ray and Plasma Thunderbolts.

(in reply to Keston)

Post #: 3

RE: How to identify Weapons Fire? - 7/12/2014 10:01:53 AM

Aeson

Posts: 784
Joined: 8/30/2013
Status: offline

quote:

What are the hazy concentric circles around some ships

This is the graphical indication of the area affected by an active hyperjump denial system (the components in the Energy and Construction tree that branch off of hyperdrives). Any ship within the area of effect is unable to make the jump to lightspeed. The final version of it will additionally pull ships out of a hyperjump if their flight path intersects the area of effect.

Be warned that these components affect your own ships as well as those of your enemies. You can trap your own damaged warships if you have one of these components active during a fleet engagement.

quote:

How to recognize a tractor beam?

Tractor beams are represented as a continuous light green-blue beam which lasts for a couple of seconds and either pulls a ship towards the vessel from which the beam originated or pushes it away. You'll also see a sort of circular pattern show up behind the ship being tractored. Graviton beams look similar but shake the affected vessel around rather than pushing or pulling it towards the vessel that fired the beam. Tractor beams do not cause damage to the ship being tractored, while graviton beams do (and additionally bypass shields and armor; as long as you aren't suffering from a bug, only graviton beams can start damaging components before your ships completely lose their armor).

quote:

How to recognize Ion Weapons?

Silvery bolt which causes an arcing effect to play over a ship's hull when it hits (the arcing effect might only show up when a component is disabled); kind of looks like a smaller version of the Titan Beam graphic. Ion weapons also do not do any real damage to a ship's hull.

(in reply to Aeson)

Post #: 4