DEW

## Directed Energy Weapons

Directed Energy Weapons channel a tight beam of highly excited particles to a target surface, where upon they chemically react with the target to deal damage. They move at the speed of light, bridging extreme distances without warning, and tend to hammer away at a target several times in succession.

DEWs generally funnel gamma ray bursts from the ship’s Nuclear Furnace. They may also be a stream of Protons or Neutrons accelerated by a Matter-Stream. Finally, they can be a specialized Slipstream Directed Energy Weapon, which uses the same technology behind interstellar travel to tag and direct energy to a point.

Ship’s hulls are universally designed to ablate like an onion, each outer layer vaporizing on contact and sending a cloud of plasma up and away from the hull. This helps to prevent subsequent impacts or sustained bombardment by refracting the beam through this charged cloud. For beams to be effective they have to wait up to a quarter second to strike the same spot twice, waiting for the cloud of charged plasma to dissipate.

* Gamma – Gamma Beams are Standard DEWs, and require the Furnace utterly annihilate a single unit of Matter and conduct the special light through the Matter-Steam and out the lens of the DEW turret. This takes 1 M, 75E, and generates 600H. It will deal Thermal and Kinetic damage to the target, delivering 1200H and 200 Damage.

* Particle – Proton-Neutron Beams cause a thermonuclear reaction at the target location by enriching whatever elements are present on the hull until they reach a critical mass beyond the island of stability, instigating a fission reaction. This requires 1M, 125E, 400H, and deals 500H and 800 Damage.

* Ion – Despite most hulls being ion shielded, a beam of charged particles can still cause havoc on single modules if hit rapidly by multiple beams. They require only 125E and generate just 50H, but deal no damage and deliver 64E. If two or more beams hit the same module, then they can blow out a fuse.

* Slipstream – sDEWs can project a single entangled particle to a target ship, ensuring the subsequent shots unambiguously reach their target. They require another 25E on top of their base requirements, plus another 1M.

## Stats

DEW weapons come in four power modes that cost more at each stage.

**Small DEW**

**A Sm DEW can use 60-120 Units of E, causing 200~550 points of Damage**

* 0 Units of M to fire, 60 Units of E, and generates 64 Heat – 200 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire, 80 Units of E, and generates 128 Heat – 350 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire, 100 Units of E, and generates 256 Heat – 400 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire, 120 Units of E, and generates 512 Heat – 550 Damage

**Medium DEW**

**A Md DEW can use 220-300 Units of E, causing 1512~1950 points of Damage**

* 0 Units of M to fire, 220 Units of E, and generates 512 Heat – 1550 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire,  240 of E, and generates 1024 Heat – 1650 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire, 260 Units of E, and generates 1048 Heat – 1800 Damage

* 0 Units of M to fire, 300 Units of E, and generates 2096 Heat – 1950 Damage

*'***Large DEW****An Lg DEW can use 400-600 Units of E, causing 2950 ~3200 points of Damage.**

* 0 Units of M to fire, 400 Units of E, and generates 2096 Heat – 2950 Damage
* 0 Units of M to fire, 450 Units of E, and generates 4192 Heat – 2100 Damage
* 0 Units of M to fire, 500 Units of E, and generates 6384 Heat – 2600 Damage
* 0 Units of M to fire, 600 Units of E, and generates 9764 Heat – 3200 Damage
## Upgrades

Every DEW Turret Room has 4 capacitors, one on each corner. Replacing a capacitor modulates weapon performance and applies upgrades.

**Assault Beam** – does +10% Kinetic Damage

* Cost: +1M per power level, +5% Heat
**Ion Stream** – does +25% Damage as Energy

* Cost: -25% Kinetic Damage
**Fire Lance** – Does +25% Damage as Heat

* Cost: -25% Kinetic Damage
**Slipstream Dew** – Subsequent DEW shots hit with 100% accuracy for 10sec

* Cost: +10 Energy per power level, +10% Heat per power level
**Fast Tracking** – Turrets gain more accuracy and tracking rate

* Cost: -1 Capacitor Slot
**Focus Optics** – Allows the beam deeper penetration of target’s defences

* Cost: -1 Capacitor Slot