Editing Particle Beams

{{bothversions}}
==Description==
Particle Beams is an energy weapon, that, unlike [[Lasers]] and [[Plasma Carronade]]s, does not have damage drop-off across the entire range band. As a drawback, it has shorter range than lasers and higher power demand.

Their rate of fire is

  Power Requirement / Capacitor Recharge Rate * 5s

Particle beams cannot be mounted in turrets.

==Usage==
Particle Beams are a mid-range anti-ship weapon, and start to suffer when taken outside of that niche. At close ranges, [[Lasers|lasers]], [[Railguns|railguns]] and [[Plasma Carronade|carronades]] will deal much more damage over time, and at long range, lasers and (past a certain point) [[Mesons|mesons]] can handily outrange the particle warship. Within their niche, however, they're second to none, and lack of damage drop-off allows them to deal serious damage in mid-range combat while only receiving minimal damage themselves.

Lances take the one thing they're good at and take it to extreme: against unshielded or poorly shielded targets a single lance volley can cripple or destroy enemy ships with very little problem owing to their supreme armor penetration, but if it doesn't work or the target has strong shielding, the lance warships will be sitting ducks, waiting ages for their weapons to reload for a second salvo. 

Particle Beams are terrible PD weapons: with only one shot, inability to be turreted and long reloads, they're ill-suited for anti-missile fighting.

==Damage Profile==

{{Template:Damage Profiles}}

Particle beams use the gradient 2 damage profile, making them identical in profile to railguns and middle of the road in terms of penetration.

Particle Lances meanwhile deal damage in a straight line, penetrating a layer of armor with each point of damage. This makes them very difficult (but not impossible) to stop with just armor. [[Shields]] are massively more effective against them - an improved [[Damage Profile|damage profile]] does nothing against shields.

==Components==
===Particle Beam Strength===
{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Particle Beam Strength
! Particle Beam Strength !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 6 !! 9 !! 12 !! 16 !! 20 !! 25 !! 36 !! 50 
|-
! Size (HS)
| 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6
|-
! Power Requirement
| 5 || 7 || 10 || 15 || 22 || 30 || 40 || 48 || 64 || 90 || 125
|-
! RP cost
|2,000||4,000||8,000||15,000||30,000||60,000||125,000||250,000||500,000||1,000,000||2,000,000
|}

===Particle Beam Range===
{| border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Particle Beam Range
! Beam range (kkm) !! 60 || 100 || 150 || 200 || 240 || 320 || 400 || 500 || 640 || 800 || 1,000 || 1,200
|-
! 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
|}

===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
|}

===Particle Lance===
Particle Lance is a special beam modification that takes '''30,000''' RP to research and requires to have Particle Beam Strength 6 and Particle Beam Range 200,000 km to be researched beforehand. This modification affects the Particle Beam in following ways:

*2x Damage
*2x Size
*2x HTK
*2x Crew
*2.5x Power Requirement
*3x Cost
*2x Development Cost

The armor penetration also changes from a gradient-2 to a straight line, making the lance the best anti-armor weapon in the game.

{{Components}}

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