Build:Firing Modes

9.5 Firing Modes (Beam Weapons)

Cost: +1 per addition to Standard mode, per weapon
Power Requirement: none

Beam weapons have firing modes which describe different ways of using them. The various Modes are:

Standard: the one typically used. It does the weapon’s basic damage for the basic Power cost.

Pulse: this mode involves increasing the damage the weapon does by firing a series of rapid pulses of energy. You can simulate this by increasing the weapon’s damage with extra Power, or as a form of single-weapon Multifire. Pulse phaser cannons cannot use this rule; they are already optimized for this type of fire only (which is why they do much more damage than normal phasers of the same type).

Continuous: the fire mode involves maintaining a beam for longer than normal, making it easier to hit the target. This costs an extra 3 Power, and provides +1 die to roll when making a Shipboard Systems (Tactical) Test to hit the target. Pulse phaser cannons cannot fire in Continuous mode.

Wide Beam: This allows a beam to affect a much broader area. Instead of a narrow beam, the beam widens by 1 meter for every point of damage sacrificed. In combat, for every 30 points of damage sacrificed to widen the beam, the ship receives a +1 Test Result bonus to Shipboard Systems (Tactical) Tests to hit the target. Out of combat, a sufficiently wide beam on low power settings has many uses as a tool. Pulse phaser cannons can fire in Wide Beam mode, but it requires three hours’ time and a Moderate (7) Systems Engineering (Weapons Systems) Test to modify them for it (if the roll fails, the character may try again after another three hours; if it Dramatically Fails, he’s damaged the phasers and must spend 2+1d6 hours bringing them back online).

All beam weapons can fire in Standard mode for free. Each additional mode costs 1 SU per beam weapon. Typically, a phaser can fire in all four modes (except for pulse phasers, which cannot fire in Continuous or Pulse mode); disruptors and polaron beams fire in Standard and Pulse only; isolytic weapons and lasers fire in only Standard mode.

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