Beam weapon

Following the aftermath of the first Shivan Incursion and the Hades Rebellion, the Terrans and Vasudans were mesmerized at the technological capability of the Shivan command ship's main guns, which they termed as "Flux Cannons", the two species attempted to adopt such a technology. The result was the invention of the deadliest, and most advanced weapons of war created, called "Beam weapons". Beam weapons were invented in 2355, after the Hades Rebellion. The first class of ship which was fully designed with beam weapons in mind may have been the GVCv Sobek, which is said to have entered service "after the destruction of Vasuda Prime." These weapons opened a door for advanced technology to flow into the GTVA's arsenal.

However, even these highly effective arms of the GTVA are no match for the ferocity of their Shivan counterparts. Shivan beam cannons have demonstrated far more lethal potentials than that of both their Terran and Vasudan cousins; Shivan beam weapons have a much faster rate of fire, and are much less costly to use, as ultimately symoblized by the sheer advantage of the SJ Sathanas over the most powerful GTVA warship, the GTVA Colossus, in terms of beam weaponry.

Beam weapons are generally developed against ships larger than a bomber craft, which are big enough to be targeted with these guns. Modern capital ships engage each other with beam weapons rather than turrets of any other kind. In minutes, one of the duelists will be floating in vast space, torn apart by beam hits from the vanquisher's guns.

A central generator has enough energy in reserve to continue operating beam weapons with standard settings. The GTVA Colossus once made the mistake of overloading her beam turrets against the SJ Sathanas. The reactor later malfunctioned and caused the ship to fire less intensively than before.

Beam types

Four beam types are possible:

• Anti-capital ship turret, which targets a subsystem and shoots the beam in the center of the subsystem. Shivan and a few GTVA beams have this property.
• Anti-capital ship turret, which targets a whole ship and randomly shoots at any of the parts of the target. This type of beam shot is moving, which means it often does not take its 100% damage on a target. Almost all GTVA beams are of this type.
• Anti-capital ship turrets, capable only of firing directly ahead. (These beams are only encountered on Mjolnir beam platforms in the FreeSpace 2 main campaign.)
• Anti-fighter beam, mentioned previously, it shoots a beam at the center of the targeted ship and does not move. Multiple shots can be used in a row.

Notes for mission designers

In Retail FreeSpace 2, you have to use a SEXP to make ships fire. The simplest and most straightforward way is to use the beam-free-all operator on all ships which you want to fire beams. For more details, see the SEXP Reference site.