Stardrive 2 plasma cannons vs shields driver#
Stardrive 2 plasma cannons vs shields upgrade#

The best rifle you'll get for a long time.īest choice for non-Creatives: Fusion Beam, for the reasons given above and despite the fact that you won't get a better rifle before you want to start invading.Ģ50 RP: Tachyon Physics Tachyon CommunicationsĪchievement that allows you to tell a ship within 3 parsecs of a colony or outpost to change course in mid-transit, and adds 1 Command Point for each Star Base, Battlestation, and Star Fortress. Modifications: (0) HV, PD (1) CO (2) ENV.Īchievement that increases ground units' effectiveness by +10%.In terms of ability to do damage fully-modified PD Fusion Beams are the most powerful PD weapons until Phasors (below) but their twice-the-normal dissipation has the tactical disadvantage that it's difficult for one ship to help defend another that's attacked by a swarm of missiles or fighters. Even so, Class 3 Shields generally make them ineffective. reduction in power per combat square between the weapon and its target - that's one reason why Augmented Engines are usually the best choice at the 3rd level of the Power tech tree. The lowest-tech beam weapon that's useful, especially with all the modifications but it has twice the normal rate of dissipation, i.e. Ship beam weapon that does 2-6 damage, minus whatever is blocked by the target's shields.

Stardrive 2 plasma cannons vs shields upgrade#

The upgrade is immediate and free.ġ50 RP: Fusion Physics Fusion Beam The maximum detection range depends on the enemy ships' size and is 1 parsec + 1 per size class, so it ranges from 2 parsecs for Frigates to 5 for Battleships (and 6 for Titans, 7 for Doom Stars if you don't get better scanners before someone builds these larger ships). Not cumulative with other rifles.Īchievement that extends warships' and Star Bases' ability to detect enemy ships. This large set of modifications is mainly for the benefit of Uncreatives, who might not get a better 'beam' weapon for a very long time.Īchievement that increases ground units' effectiveness by +5%.

Modifications: (0) HV, PD (1) AP, CO, NR (2) AF.

Miniaturization: Reduces size and cost.

Not useful until you get all of the modifications even then Class 3 Shields generally make them ineffective. Ship beam weapon that does 1-4 damage, minus whatever is blocked by the target's shields. This is a ' general' tech level - even Uncreatives get all the techs. You have to research all the Physics techs if the game starts at Pre-Warp.

Kill before you get killed - play offensively.

Displace on battle screen and run out from combat before it reaches you.

Destroy by beams, Anti-Missile Rockets, other fighters, Lightning Field, explode or some other special gear.

Reduce damage by shields (take Class I Shield and thus miss out on Mass Driver) or Damper Field.

Get immune through a low chance to hit with jamming techs (you have to take ECM Jammer and thus miss Mass Driver).

It's a perfectly reasonable approach that many players adopt. In early stages of the game, an opponent could decide to make missiles his main space combat weapon. Thus the best choice at low level of Physics is to take decent weapons until you reach Plasma Cannon in the upper half of this tech tree. The problem is that Force Fields tech tree have in some case better weapons, but if you take it you become vulnerable for some kind of attack: beam (with fighters) or missles (with torpedos and bombers). The Physics and Force Fields tech tree between them force non-Creatives to make some really difficult choices. You forgo ECM Jammer, and and have to hope either that no opponent ever uses torpedoes or that you get one of the much later jamming techs before enemy torpedoes cause you heavy losses.

Stardrive 2 plasma cannons vs shields driver#

In the first Force Fields tech level, take Mass Driver as your first decent 'beam' weapons.Take Fusion Beam rather than Fusion Rifle, which means your Marines have to make do with the unimpressive Laser Rifle for a long time.

There are two solutions, both with down-sides: You could decide to make missiles your main space combat weapons, a perfectly reasonable approach that many players adopt but this leaves you without a useful PD weapon to deal with enemy missiles and fighters ( Anti-Missile Rockets can't target fighters). The problem is that, if you take the best choice at each individual level of Physics, you get no better beam weapon than the pathetic Laser Cannon until you reach Phasor in the upper half of this tech tree. Getting the best weapon isn't always the best solution. The Physics techs appear in the bottom left box in the Research Menu and are responsible for acquiring most of the beam weapons in the game. The highlighted tech area (Power) is being researched. The Research Menu at the start of a game.