Beam

Stats are based off a 1 meter block

**Beams** are high energy weapons that fire a constant stream of plasma. They are hit-scan weapons as oppose to a projectile weapons like its counterpart the Laser.

## Overview

Beams are the premier anti-shield weapon in Starship EVO. They will fire out a constant stream of heat damage onto any target unlucky enough to be in its path. While they can take down shields very easily they lack the punch that a Laser system has.

### Setup

Beams can be placed on any entity. They can be scaled but only expanded in one dimension namely its barrel length. In order for players to fire the beam they must configure a firing method. The most common method is by using an Event Gate linked to a Yoke. The other method is using Logic signals. Pressing **[F]** will bring up a statistical breakdown of that array.

If configured to be the **"Primary Fire"** or **"Secondary Fire"** then the Beam will have a gimble effect. This means that the beam can be aimed with the mouse cursor. If it is fired through the use of Logic then it will only fire straight ahead. Manually controlled Turrets will have a combination of both the gimble effect along with the synchronized movements to the player's mouse cursor.

Every block length that the beam is extended will add a notch on its back. These notches are for Weapon Attachments. They are augmentation blocks designed to increase the power of a weapon. A fully extended Beam can have up to 9 attachments. Unfortunately the Beam can not make use of Barrel attachments like the Laser.

### Usage

Upon activation the beam will fire an intense stream of energy directly ahead. This stream does not have any travel time and will instantly hit whatever is in front of it. The stream will extend the length of the beam's **Range** stat and stop dead in space. Beams must have a clear shot in order to fire. Blocks from the same entity that are directly in front the beam's line of sight will prevent it from firing. AI Turrets can make use of beams if they are linked directly to them however manual turrets still require that an event gate is used.

The beam will deal damage in ticks so keeping the beam trained on a target will allow for the maximum damage possible. The primary damage output is **Heat** meaning that it is more effective against shields. When damage is dealt to blocks the beam will melt them one block at a time. However the point of impact will have an area of effect to it proportional to the scale of the beam array. The larger the beam is the more blocks that it can destroy at once. This stream will not last forever and will end after a short period of time (1.5 seconds by default). From there the beam must recharge itself before firing again. Beams only require energy to fire, no other type of ammunition is necessary.

## Logic

Weapons fired via logic will not have the gimble effect and will fire straight ahead.
   Button(Pulse)

## Weapon Attachments

*Main Article: Weapon Attachments*

General attachments can be added to beams by placing them on the notches on the back of every array. Each block length added to the barrel increased the amount of notches by one. The maximum amount of general attachments that can be applied to a beam array is 9. The effects of each attachment stacks with all others.

 **Charge Addon** | Increases the charge capacity to fire longer or larger shots.
 **Overheat Addon** | Increases Heat damage and damage made to shields.
 **Damage Addon** | Increases Hull Damage.
 **Supercharge Addon** | Increases both Heat and Hull damage equally.

## Tips

* While beam weapons operate similarly to Mining Beams they will not produce ore chunks. They will however deform the terrain.
* Connecting a Beam to a Turret with an event gate will allow players to create controllable turrets that they can use for purposes other than combat.
* It is possible to stack two fully stretched Beam arrays on top of each other and both will function. However if anything else is placed on top of the stack then only the top most Beam will fire. Installing general attachments will not disrupt either array.
* When using Timer gates, it is possible to set up sequentially firing Beam arrays. However, unless specifically setup, they will only bore fire and will not have the gimble effect.