Spaceship Weapons

Starship Weapons
Space is dangerous, and full of ways to die. Some of them you can't fight back against - not much good to be had from, say, shooting a black hole. But some problems can be solved by the age-old method of shooting big holes in them, until they aren't problems anymore. Usually, these kinds of problems take the form of things that try to shoot big holes in you, which makes the need for a way to do it back that much greater.

Fortunately, the megacorps are more than happy to provide their hard-researched, mass-produced instruments of spaceship destruction to Prospector captains with a grudge to settle, or just a cargo to keep secure. All, of course, for a nominal fee...

Weapon Statistics
(more detail when it is had)

Range Effective firing range of the weapon.

Ammo Count How many maximum shots this weapon carries. Energy weapons have no ammunition.

Damage How much damage this weapon does per shot. Projectile launchers have no native damage and depend upon loadout.

Heat Limit The heat capacity of the weapon.

Heatsinks The heat-dispersing potential of the weapon itself. This can be aided by non-weapon modules.

Cost Module's cost in Credits (Cr).

Projectile Launchers
Dating back to the hand-portable bow and arrow, the idea of launching projectiles designed to either punch holes or explode is nothing new. The scale on which we do it, though, is much more remarkable than those weapons of old - starships slinging fusion warheads at each other, powered by chemical propellant or by high-speed magnetics.

Projectile Launchers differ from Energy Weapons in that their damage is not directly tied to the device, but rather to the ammunition loaded into it. These projectiles are changeable at any space station's Ship Weapons store, by selecting the 'Change Loadout' menu option. Notably, starting captains can immediately move up to the top-end projectile, assuming they can afford to keep the magazine loaded, and greatly step up their damage with much less expense than Energy Weapons.

Launchers have dominant range on the space battlefield, and can hit enemies who may even be outside your visual range. They also don't generate a lot of heat when used, though this is offset by the low number of heatsinks on models lacking the Intercooling modification. However, they do not quite match the damage output of the highest-end Energy Weapons. However, an Interreloading Projectile Launcher can put out more shots than an equivalently priced Energy Weapon before overheating becomes an issue.

Energy Weapons
Energy Weapons, by contrast to Projectile Launchers, take no ammo and have much larger heat tolerance, but generate much more heat and require strategic use to avoid various problems: That said, they also have the highest damage numbers in the game for ship weapons; Launchers stop at 4, while the 50GJ series of Energy Weapons do 5 damage per hit.
 * Energy Weapons have recharge time, during which your engines are slowed by the power drain.
 * Energy Weapons really do generate a lot of heat, which can seriously limit their use in the short-term.
 * Energy Weapons have nowhere near the range of Launchers, with the best EWs matching the range of only 2nd tier Launchers.

Weapon Modifiers
Some weapons have modifying properties that change the cost and parameters of the weapon.