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In my current game, I found plans for a Devastator Pulse area weapon, but Distant Worlds: Universe isn't clear about how area weapons even work. (I did check the wiki (nothing) and did a search here, but the posts I found are pretty old, so I'm not sure if it's still the same with Universe.)

Could someone help me out with these questions?

1. Area weapons apparently spread out in a circle (sphere, presumably), but where is the center of the radius of damage? Is the center on the ship that shoots the Devastator Pulse, or does the ship fire at another ship, causing the center to be at the target ship?

2. Do area weapons damage friendly and/or neutral ships, too? If so, I couldn't use this on a ship in a fleet. Even on a lone ship, would I accidentally start wars because of collateral damage to neutral ships? Heck, I wouldn't even be able to put an area weapon on a space station, if I'd wipe out all friendly and neutral traders near the station, too.

3. Do area weapons damage space ports? Friendly space ports, too? I can't turn them off, can I? If so, I'd have to be careful about even refueling my ship somewhere, if there were potential enemy around.

4. Do area weapons affect fighters? (Again, friendly fighters, too?)


Hmm,... I hope that the answers to #2 through #4 aren't all 'yes,' because that would make this Devastator Pulse almost completely useless, wouldn't it? I couldn't even use it on a lone raider, deep behind enemy lines, because of the chance I'd accidentally start wars with neutral empires.

But it would seem odd to have a weapon in the game - a whole line of weapons, in fact - which would be that useless, so... well, that's why I'm asking. [:)]

Thanks,

Bill

1. Area weapons apparently spread out in a circle (sphere, presumably), but where is the center of the radius of damage? Is the center on the ship that shoots the Devastator Pulse, or does the ship fire at another ship, causing the center to be at the target ship?

In older versions of the game, the pulse is centered on the ship mounting the weapon. In the current version and several of the recent versions of the game, the pulse is centered on the target vessel. I've seen it said that the pulse does not happen if the target ship is destroyed in a single hit, though I cannot say from personal experience whether or not this is true.

2. Do area weapons damage friendly and/or neutral ships, too? If so, I couldn't use this on a ship in a fleet. Even on a lone ship, would I accidentally start wars because of collateral damage to neutral ships? Heck, I wouldn't even be able to put an area weapon on a space station, if I'd wipe out all friendly and neutral traders near the station, too.

Yes, friendly and neutral targets can be damaged by area weapons, and yes, it's one of the flaws of the weapon. The computer is supposed to make some attempt to avoid causing friendly fire incidents, though, so area weapons may be somewhat usable in a fleet. I have not used area weapons for a long time, but they used to be fairly good for lone, heavily armored and shielded raiders you sent in ahead of the main fleet to cause damage at enemy spaceports or into the center of big enemy fleets. They should remain good in this role, especially against spaceports where the area damage lets them damage large numbers of enemy freighters at once, and with something like the Devastator Pulse you can probably kill or cripple a good number of freighters around a spaceport with each shot.

3. Do area weapons damage space ports? Friendly space ports, too? I can't turn them off, can I? If so, I'd have to be careful about even refueling my ship somewhere, if there were potential enemy around.

When area weapons created a pulse centered on the ship which carried them, they damaged any target within the area of effect regardless of type or friend status, but did not harm the vessel which produced the pulse. I do not know whether or not it remains true that the ship or station which fired the weapon is unharmed by it now that the pulse is centered on the target, but since all other friendly and neutral targets are affected, I do not see why the ship or station mounting the weapon should be immune.

And no, you cannot 'turn off' area weapons. At least, not unless you want to have two separate designs for your stations which have as the only difference the presence or absence of area weapons (and be warned that that can be expensive and will greatly degrade the deterrence value of the weapon). For ships, you cannot even do that much.

4. Do area weapons affect fighters? (Again, friendly fighters, too?)

Given that every standard weapon in the game can affect fighters, and given that area weapons affect every standard vessel type within the area of effect, I see no reason why area weapons would not affect fighters, friendly or not.

Hmm,... I hope that the answers to #2 through #4 aren't all 'yes,' because that would make this Devastator Pulse almost completely useless, wouldn't it? I couldn't even use it on a lone raider, deep behind enemy lines, because of the chance I'd accidentally start wars with neutral empires.

The best use for area weapons always was on lone, heavily armored and shielded raiders. As long as you have decent relations with the neutral empires, killing the occasional freighter isn't going to cause too much of an issue. Just keep an eye on the relations status, and maybe send them a gift or three every now and then when it looks like they're starting to get seriously annoyed by the collateral damage.

One way you can try to avoid hitting neutral freighters is by going after mines rather than space ports, as mines tend to have less foreign traffic than space ports do, and will often still provoke a fleet response that you can use to let your raider weaken an enemy fleet before a major engagement. It's less effective for destroying your opponent's economy, however, as mines don't normally have the concentration of freighters that space ports have, and you lose out on the damage to major defensive structures that you could perhaps have accomplished had your raider hit a colony instead.

But it would seem odd to have a weapon in the game - a whole line of weapons, in fact - which would be that useless, so... well, that's why I'm asking

For what it's worth, I consider railguns to be about as useless due to their abysmal range and poor damage efficiency. Not all weapons are created equal. Missiles are only good for long-range standoff, and torpedoes really start cutting into that as technology advances. Railguns are only really good against well-shielded but poorly armored slow vessels, though they get a second use as the only generic weapon that combines bombardment and anti-ship capability once you get Massive Railguns (which makes it a decent choice for a raider intended to go after colonies, as it can arguably fight better than a vessel that sacrificed some of its standard armament for bombardment missiles instead of massive railguns, and still has some bombardment capability, and "well-shielded but poorly armored" is not an entirely inaccurate description of most freighter designs, which you'd also prefer to start damaging before they can run away, though granted "well-shielded" is not terribly accurate in most cases, freighters just typically rely more on their shields than their armor to survive long enough to flee). Area weapons are basically weapons which were specialized for lone raiders, as they're excellent for allowing a lone ship to cause a lot of damage quickly. They aren't as good for fleets or defensive installations because they can cause a lot of friendly fire, but on the other hand a defensive installation with some of these can cause quite a bit of harm to an assaulting fleet that tries to swarm it, and in that situation you probably would have lost most of the stuff over the planet anyways.

ORIGINAL: Aeson
In the current version and several of the recent versions of the game, the pulse is centered on the target vessel. I've seen it said that the pulse does not happen if the target ship is destroyed in a single hit, though I cannot say from personal experience whether or not this is true.

Hmm,... given how slow the weapon fires, that would be disastrous against a fleet of ships, if so.

I do not know whether or not it remains true that the ship or station which fired the weapon is unharmed by it now that the pulse is centered on the target, but since all other friendly and neutral targets are affected, I do not see why the ship or station mounting the weapon should be immune.

Tthat sounds less and less useful as a weapon, then, if it shoots itself as well as the enemy!

The computer is supposed to make some attempt to avoid causing friendly fire incidents ... ... As long as you have decent relations with the neutral empires, killing the occasional freighter isn't going to cause too much of an issue.

OK, it might work as a raider, then. Thanks for the info. I'd have to to construct bigger ships before I could use this weapon anyway, and given all the drawbacks, I probably won't make a priority of it.

For what it's worth, I consider railguns to be about as useless due to their abysmal range and poor damage efficiency.

That's funny, because I love railguns, at least in the early game. Railguns let me damage pirate ships - even cruisers and capital ships - without eliminating the shields, so I can drive them off. With several in a fleet, I can kill most pirate ships, but the main benefit is driving them away.

I've got a much larger military than any of the other empires, but pirate fleets are just gigantic (and there are tons of pirate factions). In the very early game, I wouldn't be able to kill pirate ships anyway, so driving them off is the best I could hope for. Now, the railguns still seem to do better than anything else for me. I give them a tractor beam and lots of armor and shields, then give them orders to fire at point-blank range and never flee.

Of course, I haven't played the game that much, and I usually get bored before I get too far (then I start over when I pick it up again later). So I've never gotten past the pirate threat.

Thanks again for the info!

Area Weapons need to be reverted to the original spec in Shadows [8|]

Darkspire