Editing Mesons

{{bothversions}}
==Description==
Mesons are a type of energy weapon. They only deal '''1''' damage over their entire range, but compensate by bypassing enemy shields and, sometimes, armor. They have a maximum range of

  Base Range * Range Modifier

Their rate of fire is

  Power Requirement / Capacitor Recharge Rate * 5s

While the theoretical maximum range far exceeds 1.5m km, no [[Beam Fire Control]] is able to handle ranges beyond this limit. Higher ranges offer no advantage for meson cannons.
Mesons can be mounted in turrets.

==Usage==
Despite their outstanding penetration capability, their performance, and usage, is defined by their exceptionally low damage. Close-range fights are strongly discouraged as an equivalent volume of laser cannons, railguns or carronades will likely dismantle the meson combatant before they can do appreciable damage. Having only 1 point of damage across the entire range band also means that there is no drop-off whatsoever; a meson cannon will deal 1 damage at max range just like it does point-blank.

Mesons synergize poorly with other weapons: barring lucky internal damage to the shield generator they don't help other weapons breach enemy defenses at all. While armor damage from other weapons can help mesons do more internal damage, the effect is usually minimal in practice, and the mesons deal much too little damage to enemy armor compared to other weapons.

In PD role mesons perform same as lasers in final defense mode and worse than lasers in area defense mode, due to a meson having half as much range as a laser of equivalent caliber and focusing technology. 

Mesons are sometimes used as [[fighter]] weapons, since fighters are too small to mount high-damage beam weapons in any case. 

==Damage Profile==
Mesons bypass shields completely, and have a chance of ignoring armor, based on the Meson Armour Retardation technology. It determines the chance of a meson shot to be stopped by each layer of armor. If the meson is stopped by the armor, it applies damage to it; if not, it deals damage [[Internal Damage|directly to internal systems]].

==Components==
===Meson Focal Size===

Unlike lasers and railguns, the focal size, or caliber, has no bearing on the damage of a meson cannon. Focal size only increases the range, size and power consumption.

{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Meson Focal Size
! Focal Size !! 10cm !! 12cm !! 15cm !! 20cm !! 25cm !! 30cm !! 35cm !! 40cm !! 50cm !! 60cm !! 70cm !! 80cm
|-
! Size (HS)
| 3 || 4|| 4 || 6 || 8 || 9 || 11 || 12 || 16 || 19 || 22 || 25
|-
! Power requirement
| 3 || 4 || 6 || 10 || 16 || 24 || 32 || 40 || 64 || 96 || 128 || 168
|-
! Base Range (kkm)
| 15 || 20 || 30 || 50 || 80 || 120 || 160 || 200 || 320 || 480 || 640 || 840
|-
! RP cost
|1,000||2,000||4,000||8,000||15,000||30,000||60,000||125,000||250,000||500,000||1,000,000||2,000,000
|}
===Meson Focusing===
{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Focusing Tech
! Range Modifier !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12
|-
! RP cost
|1,000||2,000||4,000||8,000||15,000||30,000||60,000||125,000||250,000||500,000||1,000,000||2,000,000
|}

===Meson Armour Retardation===
Determines the chance for a meson shot to be stopped by each layer of armor. Lower is better. 

{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Meson Armour Retardation
! Armor Hit Chance (per layer) !! 50 !! 40 !! 32 !! 28 !! 24 !! 20 !! 16 !! 14 !! 12 !! 10 !! 8.5 !! 7
|-
! Average Penetration (layers)
|2||2.5||3.125||3.57||4.17||5||6.25||7.14||8.33||10||11.76||14.29
|-
! RP cost
|500||1,000||2,000||4,000||8,000||16,000||32,000||64,000||125,000||250,000||500,000||1,000,000
|}

===Capacitor Recharge Rate===
{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Capacitor Recharge Rate
! Recharge Rate !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 8 !! 10 !! 12 !! 16 !! 20 !! 25
|-
! RP cost
|1,000||2,000||4,000||8,000||15,000||30,000||60,000||125,000||250,000||500,000||1,000,000||2,000,000
|}


==Changes from VB6 version==

In VB6 Aurora, mesons were an extremely potent weapon due to the fact that they ignored both shields '''and''' armor, as well as were one of the few weapons that were not stopped by a planetary atmosphere.


{{Components}}

[[Category:Components]]
[[Category:Designed Systems]]
[[Category:Beam Weapons]]