Editing Point Defense (section)

===Area Defense===
Area defense occurs during the normal weapons fire segment of a 5-second increment. If a missile crosses the engagement range of a weapon set to Area Defense during a single movement then it will not be engaged.

Use this when you want a beam weapon to fire at maximum range. For example, a combination of laser and fire control that has a range of 400,000 km might be able to fire several times at a missile salvo. Or you might split off defensive ships and order them to fly ahead of the main task group, where they can engage incoming missiles before they reach the high-value units.