Technological Developments

Technological Developments are discovered and manufacured by your Tech Centers. The more tech centers you have, the better your chances of developing a new technology to install in your fighter. When a new upgrade is available, you will be notified audibly and the tech centers on your planets will activate their beacons. By landing your fighter at a base or starbase with a tech center, the upgrade will automatically be installed on your fighter. If another development is ready before you have a chance to acquire the previous one, the prior upgrade will be installed on another ship or facility in your empire. Freighters, Starbases, and Bases can receive upgrades but will only recieve weapons upgrades. The technologies that can be discovered are listed below.

Energy Weapons

Cannon - While not a new development this has been included here to preserve continuity. The Standard Type I Energy Cannon is mounted on all fighters, freighters and both planetary and orbital defense garrisons. The energy cannon is charged by your fighters gravity drive so has an unlimited capacity for firing. A hit by a cannon's energy bolt does one point of damage.

Heavy Cannon - Able to pack a punch, the Type II Heavy Energy Cannon is twice as destructive as the Type I Energy Cannon. Crippling opponents is easy with a weapon that does two points of damage per hit. This versatile weapon is excellent against targets on the ground as well as in space. Heavy Energy Cannons can be installed on fighters, freighters or planetary and orbital defense facilities.

Pulse Laser - Pulse lasers fire intense pulses of highly concentrated photons. Its beams of energy will inflict one point of damage. These yellow bolts are fast so lead time is low. Good against all types of enemy units.

Beam Laser - A firey red finger of death, the beam laser punches right through everything it touches. Though it only does one point of damage, its ability to inflict damage on multiple targets per shot makes this a weapon any jockey would love to have at his fingertips. Though good in a dog fight, the beam laser excels at inflicting massive damage to planetary facilities. A well executed low-orbit attack run blazing fire from the skies can efficiently erase a planetary population.

Plasma Bolt - Also called the shield penetrator, these intense bolts of concentrated heated gas have been designed to penetrate shields and damage the ship inside. Your shields will be useless against an enemy equipped with one of these. A bolt of plasma will inflict one point of damage on an opponent.

Projectile Weapons

Rockets - A warhead with an engine. Standard issue dumfire torpedos are patriotically painted the empirical color of your ship. Use your ships velocity and heading to lay a line of these across a planet. Extra skill is required to take out a moving target with these, but they can make an effective ship-to-ship weapon in the right hands.

Missiles - The guided missile is the latest in rocket technology. Equipped with computer controlled identification systems, the guided missile will attempt to track and destroy the nearest enemy indicated on your Status Indicators. A proper attack angle is vital to compensate for the missiles poor maneuverability. The guiding system is able to target either ground or space targets.

Planet Buster Bombs - Planet Buster Bombs, or PBBs, were developed by the Asteroid Conglomeration of Fomelhaut II during the Fomelhaut Ring Wars of 2099. The PBB is an unpropelled cluster bomb used to destroy planetary facilities. When launched, a PBB canister activates a delay timer in the device. Proper timing is critical. When the bomb explodes, a cluster of bombs bursts out doing damage to ships and structures alike. Due to the timing involved, this device is difficult to use against moving opponents. Reports have come in from Gamma Quadrant, however, of a couple of hot shot pilots who have achieved remarkable success using bombs to enforce a freighter blockade.

Performance

Rapid-Fire - Advances in computer assisted gunnery enable your guns to fire repeatedly. Just hold your trigger finger down and go for glory! Woe is the planet faced with a fighter equipped with rapid-fire beam lasers.

Fast Turn Indicator - New fast response side thrusters enable your fighter to turn on a dime and out-maneuver your enemy...or even dodge his missiles! When Fast Turn is installed, a green indicator light will glow on your Status Indicators.

Shields

Ion Shield - A bright white circle around your fighter indicates that Ion shields have been installed on your ship. The Ion Sphere creates a powerful field of energy around your ship which will absorb up to 8 points of damage before overloading.

Singularity Shields - The Livingston Singularity Shell was developed by Bingham Livingston Laboratories on Chronos III while working researching new mining technique. Although Dr. Livingston missed in his attempt at matter annihilation, what he created made him a wealthy man. When a Singularity Shield is installed on your fighter, a bright cyan shell appears around your ship. This powerful shield can withstand 12 points of damage and has the added ability of "turning" the enemy bullets in space and time. This gives the appearance of the enemy bullets "bouncing" off your shields. When a munition "bounces", it returns to a point in time when it had full momentum, thus, a cannon shell or rocket could travel twice its maximum distance by "bouncing" off a Singularity shield. Guided missiles will bounce off but lose there guiding and become rockets (an unguided missile). Beam lasers are simply absorbed and do not "bounce".

When shields become low, friendly starbases and planetary facilities are equipped with standard recharge units which will quckly restore your shields to factory original. If your shields are completely gone however, the control module burns out and you have to wait for your Tech Centers to build you a new one. It's been rumored that a new shield penetrating weapon is being developed which is unaffected by either Ion or Singularity shields.