Space Weapons Guide

Welcome to the AOTR weapons’ guide. Here will be explained all the weapons and variants of them that you will find in the new 2.9 version.

Before jumping into weapon types, note that most ships' armament is divided into two sections. You will notice that some weapons appear inside parentheses () or square brackets [].

Weapons in square brackets are targetable hardpoints that can be destroyed by the enemy, while weapons inside parentheses are untargetable and will continue firing until the ship is destroyed.

With this explained, we can now proceed with the guide.

## Laser Weaponry

Lasers and Laser cannons are weapons mostly meant to fight fighters and smaller craft such as corvettes and frigates. Fighters mostly use Lasers, while corvettes and up mostly use some form of laser cannon. Generally, these weapons do well against fast and small targets due to their high accuracy, but only cause little damage and can't damage heavier armors such as medium or heavy armor.

### Starfighter Laser Weaponry

Lasers are the usual weapon employed by starfighters, meant to be used to disable enemy aircraft or lightly armored vessels. The main criteria are their energy output:

* **Light** **Lasers (Lt Laser)** - Lightest weapon, mostly found on lightly armed fighters. Very accurate, but very low damage. Can chip away at targets consistently. Only useful to fight fighters and bombers.
* **Medium Lasers (Med Laser)** - Heavier than the Light Laser, the Medium Laser has a longer range and causes more damage but reloads longer. It is the heaviest laser found on fighters effective at taking out other fighters. Can also be used to take out smaller targets over time.
* **Heavy Lasers (Hvy Laser)** - Heaviest Laser found on fighters, dealing twice the damage of a Medium Laser but having a longer reload time which reduces the rate of fire, and less accurate against starfighters than Medium Lasers which makes them less than useful. Meant to attack ships from transports, corvettes and up. Heavy Lasers have a greater armor penetration than other laser weapons, making them very useful for damaging heavily armored ships.

### Ship-based Laser Weaponry

Ship-based lasers are meant to fend off starfighters and other small craft. There are various laser weapons with different characteristics:

* **Point Defense (PD)** - Lightest anti-fighter weapon found on ships. Comparable to medium lasers in their damage. Point defense lasers are very accurate but cause little damage and have limited range. Best used against lighter targets. Will almost be useless against ships bigger than transports.
* **Light Laser Cannon(Lt LC)** - Light anti-fighter weapons. Not as accurate as Point Defense lasers, but have greater range, damage and penetrate armor more. Most effective to shoot down bigger fighters such as Bombers. Excellent at taking out gunships or corvettes but does not threaten bigger ships.
* **Laser Cannon (LC)** - Most common anti-fighter weapon found on ships. Longer range, damage, and penetration than PD weapons but has a higher reload time and less accuracy against starfighters. Most effective to shoot down gunships or corvettes. Armor penetration is good enough to damage ships up to light armor.
* **Heavy Laser Cannon (Hvy LC)** - Heavier variant of the Laser cannon. Has greater range and damage, but longer recharge and is a lot less accurate against fighters. Heavy Laser cannons excel at taking out small ships like corvettes and frigates, but can also take out slower, bigger fighters with some luck.
* **Flak Laser Cannon (Flak LC)** - Flak Laser cannons cause small damage but deals an AoE(area of effect) damage when hit, making them very effective against nimble and small targets like interceptors. They will debuff the defense of hit fighters by 25% for 5 seconds, opening them up for other weapons to take them out. They are practically useless against targets that are not fighters.
* **Heavy Flak Laser Cannon (Hvy Flak LC)** - Heavy Flak Laser cannons have greater AoE and causes more damage. Their debuff lowers the defense of fighters, bombers, transports and corvettes by 35% for 5 seconds. They are best used against small targets, but can help take out corvettes.
* **Repeating** - All Laser Weapons (Light, Medium and Heavy) as well as Point Defense have a Repeating variant, which fire a volley of projectiles in quick succession before reloading for a longer time. If a fighter gets hit, their fire rate and that of nearby fighters will be lowered by 50% for 5 seconds.

## Turbolaser Weaponry

Turbolasers are anti-ship weapons. They won't shoot at fighters or bombers at all. Turbolasers come with a lot of variants, different calibers, that change range, damage, and armor penetration, long-range and close-range versions, and dual and quad variants. The heavier the Turbolaser is, the bigger and brighter is the look of the projectile. The effects of long-range, close-range, dual and quad are explained in the Variants section of the guide.

In Awakening of The Rebellion, they are classified by their energy output.

* **Light Turbolasers (Lt TL)** - They do their full damage against light armor but lose damage against medium and heavy armor. They are the most accurate turbolaser, being able to shoot at frigates and everything bigger.
* **Medium Turbolasers (Med TL)** - They do their full damage against medium armor but gets reduced by heavy armor. Less accurate than lights, making them only effective against cruisers and bigger.
* **Heavy Turbolasers (Hvy TL)** - Massive damage and range, but limited accuracy, making it the weapon to shoot at capital ships. Their damage is reduced by no armor, allowing them to crack even heavily armored targets.

## Ion Weaponry

Ion Cannons in AOTR are split into two types: One type (Ion Blasters and Turbo Ion Cannons) only cause damage, making them the preferred anti-shield weapon. The other type (Ion Stunner and Stun Ion Cannon) only does limited damage but stun the movement speed and fire rate of hit targets, making hit targets a lot less effective in combat. Stun Ion Cannons also have a distinct drop shaped look, making them easy to identify. Ion Blasters and Turbo Ion Cannons are blue projectiles with small lightings across them.

### Starfighter Ion Weaponry

Starfighters can have four kinds of ion weapons:

* **Ion Blaster (Ion Blaster)** - Light anti-shield weapon used on fighters. Accurate against fighters, can be used to take out heavily shielded fighters or take out shields of bigger ships.
* **Heavy Ion Blaster (Hvy Ion Blaster)** - Anti-ship ion weapon used by fighters. Most powerful fighter weapons to take out shields of bigger ships such as corvettes up.
* **Ion Stunner (Ion Stunner)** - Light stun weapon used by fighters. Can only be shot at other fighters, debuffing their fire rate and slow them down to gain the advantage in combat. They lower the fire rate and movement speed of hit targets by 75% for 5 seconds. Meant to be used against bigger targets like bombers or gunships.
* **Heavy Ion Stunner (Hvy Ion Stunner)** - Anti-ship stun weapon used by fighters. Can not be shot at other fighters and bombers. They lower the fire rate and movement speed of hit targets by 25% for 3.75 seconds.

### Ship Ion Weaponry

Ion technology used by ships varies by their purpose.

* **Turbo Ion Cannons** damage both hull and shields but reload slower than Turbolasers.
	+ **Light Turbo Ion Cannon (LT Turbo IC)** - Lightest ship based ion weapon. Can't be shot at fighters and bombers. Has close-range, long-range variants. Decently accurate against frigates.
	+ **Medium Turbo Ion Cannon (Med Turbo IC)** - Most useful against cruisers and capital ships.
	+ **Heavy Turbo Ion Cannon (Hvy Turbo IC)** - Very inaccurate against any target smaller than capital ships.

* **Stun Ion Cannons** are close range weapons that will deplete shields while also affecting power systems, applying a fire rate and speed debuff to the target. Disables Hyperdrive and certain abilities like power to shields.
	+ **Light Stun Ion Cannon (LT Stun IC)** - Only has a short range. There are long range variants of Stun Ion Cannons. Cannot be shot at fighters. Lowers movement speed and fire rate of hit targets by 30% for 5 seconds and disables retreat when shields of the target are down. Decently accurate against frigates, best used against bigger targets.
	+ **Medium Stun Ion Cannon (Med Stun IC)** - Has heavier stun and longer stun duration than the light variant, reducing fire rate and movement speed by 40% for 7.5 seconds, but is more inaccurate. Best used against cruisers and capital ships.
	+ **Heavy Stun Ion Cannon (Hvy Stun IC)** - Longest and heaviest stun duration of all energy base weapons. They reduce the fire rate movement speed of hit targets by 50% for 10 seconds. Long recharge and highly inaccurate. only viable against capital ships and space structures.

## Massdrivers

Massdrivers are solid projectiles and not energy based, allowing them to bypass shields. There are massdrivers shot in salvos, called repeating, and as powerful single projectiles.

### Repeating Massdrivers

Repeating massdrivers spray their target with projectiles, so some of them will end up hitting their target.

* **Light Repeating Massdrivers (LT Repeating MD)** - Lightest massdriver weapons. Sometimes used by fighters. Only viable to shoot down fighters and bombers like Point Defense.
* **Medium Repeating Massdrivers (Med Repeating MD)** - Greater penetration than the light variant allows the Medium Repeating Massdriver to be somewhat effective against corvettes and frigates. Can't be shot at fighters and bombers.
* **Heavy repeating Massdrivers (Hvy Repeating MD)** - Can severly damage even more heavily armored ships. best used to snipe certain hardpoints. Good against starbases.

### Basic Massdrivers

Opposite to their repeating variants, Basic Massdrivers rely on accuracy and speed, using a supercharged slug to penetrate and damage ships from far away

* **Light Massdrivers (Lt MD)** - Single shot massdriver. Great at taking out corvettes or frigates over long distances. Damage is too low to damage heavily armored ships. Fairly accurate against smaller ships, can't be shot at fighters and bombers. Single shot MD's are easy to identify by their blue color and long tail.
* **Medium Massdrivers (Med MD)** - Powerful single fired massdriver. Best used to snipe certain hardpoints. Highly accurate against even corvettes, long range.
* **Heavy Massdrivers (Hvy MD)** - Fairly long range and powerful. Less accurate than the medium variant, making it best used against cruisers and capital ships. A threat to heavy armored ships overall.

## Exotic Weapons

There are also some exotic weapons that the player can find used by ships:

* **Composite beam** - Anti-armor weapons. They only do reduced damage to shields but can cut right through every level of armor. Composite beams are perfectly accurate but can't target fighters, bombers, transports and corvettes.
* **Carbonite slugs** - Carbonite ammunition stuns their targets fire rate and movement speed. Can't be shot at fighters and bombers. Behaves similar to repeating massdrivers.
* **Cutting Laser** - Cutting Laser are anti-armor weapons. They only do reduced damage to shields but can cut right through every level of armor. Their effective range is very low requiring the user to fly very close to the target. Cutting lasers are perfectly accurate but can't target fighters and bombers.

## Ordnance (Missiles, Rockets, and Torpedoes)

These weapons on paper are the same thing: Self-propelled ordnance with some form of targeting that will follow their objective until they explode or reach the maximum distance allowed by their fuel. \***Note:** In this mod, ordnance bypasses shields. Which means Ion Torpedoes can damage ships hull, shields, *and* apply the stun effect on units.

However, there is a wide variety of warheads with specific uses that need to be understood to utilize their full potential:

### Missiles

Missiles are guided ordinance, meaning they will follow their targets until they hit or run out of fuel. Missiles are generally very specialized and often have additional effects that can decide the outcome of combat. Missiles have a short smoke trail and always fly straight.

* **Concussion Missiles (Concussion MSL)** - Anti-fighter missiles, most effectively used against lightly armored fighters and bombers. Can't be shot at anything besides fighters and bombers. Hit targets receive a 50% defense debuff for 10 seconds, making them more vulnerable to other weapons. They do optimal damage against fighter armor and do less damage against heavier armor types. Concussion missiles are blue and have a short smoke trail.
* **Heavy Concussion Missile (Hvy Concussion MSL)** - Causes more damage than the regular Concussion missile, and can also be shot at transports, gunships, and corvettes. Their ideal targets are such as. Debuffs the defense of hit fighters, bombers, transports and corvettes by 40% for 15 seconds. They do optimal damage against light armor and do less against heavier or lighter armor types. Heavy concussion missiles are dark blue and have a short smoke trail.
* **Assault Missile (Assault MSL)** - Assault missiles are the premier anti-corvette and anti-frigate missiles. They cause good damage and lower the defense of hit corvettes and frigates by 30% for 20 seconds. Assault missiles can't be shot at fighters and bombers. They do optimal damage against medium armor and do less damage against heavier or lighter armor types. Assault missiles are yellow and have a short smoke trail.
* **Heavy Assault Missile (Hvy Assault MSL)** - Heavy Assault Missiles are best used against frigates and cruisers. They cause more damage than the regular Assault missiles and lower the defense of hit frigates and cruisers by 25% for 25 seconds. Heavy Assault missiles can't be shot at fighters and bombers. They do optimal damage against heavy armor and do less damage against lighter armor types. Heavy Assault missiles are orange and have a short smoke trail.
* **Ion Missile (Ion MSL)** - Ion Missiles are anti-fighter missiles used to take out shields and reduce the fire rate of hit fighters. They debuff the fire rate by 80% for 10 seconds. Ion Missiles can't be shot at anything besides fighters and bombers. Ion missiles are white and have a short smoke trail.
* **Sonic Missile (Sonic MSL)** - Sonic Missiles are anti-fighter weapons designed to lower the targets damage potential with a sonic explosion, which interferes with weaponry. They can't be shot at anything besides fighters and bombers. Sonic Missiles are green and have a short smoke trail.
* **Discord Missiles (Discord MSL)** - Discord missiles carry buzz droids, which are deployed on explosion of the missile. They are pure anti-fighter weapons and are not shot at anything other than fighters or bombers. Discord Missiles are yellow and have a short smoke trail.
* **Plasma Missile (Plasma MSL)** - Plasma missiles are anti-ship missiles used to take out shields. Plasma missiles cause massive shield damage and are fairly accurate, even against frigates. They can't be shot at fighters and bombers. Plasma missiles are green and have a short smoke trail.
* **Mag-pulse Missile (Mag-Pulse MSL)** - Mag-Pulse missiles are anti-ship missiles used to reduce the fire rate of hit targets, neither speed nor hyperdrive will be affected. They can't be shot at fighters and bombers. Mag-Pulse Missiles are purple and have a short smoke trail.

### Rockets

Rocket projectiles are unguided ordinance. They bypass shields, but can be intercepted by missile jammers, laser defense or other counter measures. Visually, rockets have a long smoke trail behind them and fly in a curved path, whereas missiles don't have a long smoke trail and always fly straight. Rockets generally have longer range than torpedoes and do more damage than missiles or have A0E (area of effect) damage.

* **Cluster Rocket (Cluster RKT)** - Anti-fighter rocket, has small area damage. Cluster rockets are all fired at the same time, creating a big damage area used to destroy lightly armored craft instantly such as interceptors, but has a long reload time and short range. Cluster rockets are blue and have a long smoke trail.
* **Barrage Rocket (Barrage RKT)** - Anti-ship rocket mostly carried by fighters. Barrage rockets are fired in a constant barrage before needing to reload. Most effectively used against lightly armored ships such as corvettes and frigates but can take out critical subsystems on cruisers up. Barrage rockets are pink and have a long smoke trail.
* **Heavy Barrage Rocket (Hvy Barrage RKT)** - Anti-ship rocket mostly used by ships. Heavy Barrage rockets behave similar to their lighter counterpart but are constantly fired without any reload and cause more damage. Heavy Barrage rockets are purple and have a long smoke trail.
* **Artillery Rocket (Artillery RKT)** - Anti-ship rocket with AOE damage. Most effectively used against areas of ships with multiple hardpoints close. They are decently accurate and can be used against frigates and bigger effectively. Artillery rockets are orange and have a long smoke trail.
* **Heavy Artillery Rocket (Hvy Artillery RKT)** - Long range anti-ship rockets only used by ships. They cause greater damage and have a bigger AOE range, but are inaccurate against targets smaller than a cruiser. Heavy Artillery rockets are red and have a long smoke trail.
* **Diamond-Boron Rocket (Diamond-Boron RKT)** - Rare long-range rocket meant to kill capital ships and space structures from a far. Diamond Boron rockets cause massive damage but have no area of effect. The are very inaccurate against smaller targets. Diamond Boron rockets are white and have a long smoke trail.

### Torpedoes

Torpedoes are guided ordinance but are a lot slower and less maneuverable than missiles, making them not as effective to hit maneuverable targets. Torpedoes are rather short range but cause massive damage. The damage of Proton Torpedoes and Proton Bombs gets higher the heavier the armor of the target is, making them more effective against heavily armored targets. Torpedoes also have dual variants that do double damage but have a longer recharge. There are fighter-based torpedoes that look like cones, and ship-based torpedoes (Large Variant), which look like bombs. Torpeodes can be identified by their slow movement speed and colors.

* **Light Proton Torpedo (Lt Proton TRP)** - Mostly used by fighters to combat them and bigger targets. Light Torpedoes are accurate enough to hit fighters, but are best used against slow/bigger fighters such as bombers, gunships, corvettes or frigates. Light Proton Torpedoes have a pink color.
* **Medium Proton Torpedo (Med Proton TRP)** - Anti-ship weapons. Best used against bigger targets such as cruisers and capital ships. They miss corvettes and frigates frequently and cannot be shot at fighters or bombers. Medium Proton Torpedoes have an orange color.
* **Heavy Torpedo (Hvy Proton TRP)** - Best ordinance to damage heavily armored ships. They are best used against capital ships but can hit cruisers decently well. Cannot be shot at fighters. Heavy Proton Torpedoes have a red color.
* **Ion Torpedo (Ion TRP)** - Anti-ship weapons used to cause shield damage and stun their target. They are most accurate against cruisers and capital ships and cannot be shot at fighters. They lower the fire rate and movement speed of hit targets by 60% for 10 seconds. Ion Torpedoes have a purple color.
* **Proton Bombs (Proton BMB)** - Proton Bombs are carried by a few bomber types. Proton Bombs have a very short range, requiring the bomber to get very close to their target. They are not guided and very inaccurate, making them most useful against capital ships. Proton Bombs also have an AOE damage, allowing them to hit multiple hardpoints at once. They can't be shot at fighters or bombers. Proton Bombs have a red color and shaped like bombs instead of cones.
* **Large Variants (Lrg)** - Torpedoes used by ships are called Large. They also come in the same three variants (Light, Medium, Heavy, Ion) and have the same color coding. They look like bombs and do more damage than the fighter variant and have a longer range.

## Weapon Variants

Most weapons have variants that change a few properties of the weapon. Especially Turbolasers and Ion Cannons have a lot of variants, making them more effective in certain situations.

* **Dual/Quad** - Dual weapons deal twice the damage of single weapons, but have an increased recharge rate. Similarly, quad weapons do 4 times the damage but have an even higher recharge rate. On weapons with effects, the duration is doubled for dual weapons, and four times for quad weapons.
* **Burst (X-Burst, like 2-burst)** - Bursts describe how many projectiles are shot, before the weapon is reloaded. For energy-based weapons the delay between shots inside a burst and be quite long but is still a lot shorter than a full reload, making burst weapons do more damage over time.
* **Long Range (LR)** - Long Range variants exist for Turbolaser, Turbo Ion Cannon, and Stun Ion Cannons. Long range weapons have a longer range, are more accurate and cause more damage at the cost of an increased recharge time. This makes them less effective if used up close, as other weapon variants cause more damage per seconds. Long range Turbolasers have a yellow tint and are long, making them easy to identify.
* **Close Range (CR)** - Close range exist for Turbolasers and Turbo Ion Cannons. Close range weapons have a lot less range, and do less damage per projectile, but are shot in volleys of three. Close range weapons have the higher damage per second than regular variants, making them the most damaging weapons if they get in range. Close range Turbolasers have a blue tint and are short, making them look distinct from regular Turbolasers.