Effects

Effects are modifications to a ship that can be used either offensively or defensively. When linked (slaved) to a weapon, the projectile produced from the weapon will have an added effect that modifies how that weapon behaves. When used independently, the ship will either perform a defensive action or it will create a defensive effect for the ship, so long as the computer producing the effect remains activated in the hotbar.

Offensive Use

Effects linked to weapon systems provide tertiary modifications to the linked weapon, primarily altering the effect a weapons' damage has on targets. Secondary modifications are detailed in the Secondary Systems section of Weapon Systems. A weapon system can only support one effect system and one secondary system at a time.

The strength (also referred to as efficiency) of a given effect is defined by the proportion of primary and tertiary systems. If the module count for an effect is the same as the module count of the primary weapon, that effect is applied at 100% strength. If the effect system's module count is less than that of the primary weapon, the strength of the effect is (EffectSize/PrimaryWeaponSize*100%). An effect cannot have greater than 100% strength, and any blocks added above the primary weapon's own module count will have no effect.

Example:

• A 40-block missile is linked to a Stop Effect.
  • When the Stop Effect system has 10 modules, its strength is 25%. This converts 25% of the missile's damage to "stopping power".
  • When the Stop Effect system has 40 modules as well, its strength is 100%, and all of the missile's damage is converted to "stopping power".
  • When the Stop Effect system has more than 40 modules, its strength is still 100%. The excess modules have no effect on the weapon.

Offensive Effects

Name	Description
EMP Effect	Reduces block damage in exchange for damage that affects the target's power supply instead.
Explosive Effect	For damage beams and cannons, spreads the weapon's damage to also affect the six blocks adjacent to the hit block. For missiles and pulses, increases the blast radius.
Ion Effect	Increases damage done to shields, but reduces damage done to blocks.
Overdrive Effect	Increases block damage, but dramatically increases the amount of power required to fire the weapon. Also increases the blast radius for missiles and pulses.
Piercing Effect	For damage beams and cannons, slightly increases block damage, but decreases shield damage. For missiles and pulses, increases blast radius. For all weapons, ignores part of target's armor value.
Pull Effect	Reduces block damage in exchange for an effect that pulls the target towards the damage source.
Punch-Through Effect	For damage beams and cannons, increases block and AHP damage. For missiles and pulses, slightly increases the blast radius and increases AHP damage.
Push Effect	Reduces block damage in exchange for an effect that pushes the target away from the damage source.
Stop Effect	Reduces block damage in exchange for an effect that decreases the target's current velocity.

Defensive Use

Effect computers that are placed directly on the hotbar instead of being linked (slaved) to a weapon will grant a defensive benefit when active. Some effects are termed "passives", and remain active until turned off again, while others are "burst" effects which apply their effect in a single pulse (and will continue to pulse if Left Click is held down).

The strength of the effect produced is proportional to the mass of the ship using it, with some effects having higher "multipliers", allowing them to reach their maximum efficiency with fewer blocks in comparison to others. Defensive effects have limits in place on their strength, varying from effect to effect.

With the exception of Push and Pull, effects do not take the mass of any docked entities into consideration when calculating efficiency. Push and Pull are affected because they try to move an entity, and are therefore required to generate enough force for the total mass (their "efficiency" value is still listed as though they were unaffected, but the behavior of these effects is not precisely known).

Summary Table

This table briefly explains the details of each defensive effect.

Notes/Definitions:

• Notification: The name for this effect which is used on its effect pop-up in game. These notifications appear on the right edge of the screen, stating the effect which is affecting the entity, as well as its efficiency.
  • These names are copied verbatim from the game, including typos.
• e/sec/block: The cost, in power per second, for each block of this effect which is active.
• % Of mass for max. effect: This value, when multiplied by a given mass value, produces an integer (rounded up) which is the block count required for maximum effect, not the total mass of effect modules required.
• Multiplier: This value is used in some formulas in the next section, as it changes the "weighting" of effects (how easily they reach a given %).

Defensive Effects Summary

Name	Notification	Effect	Type	Max. effect (%)	e/sec/block	% Of mass for max. effect	Multiplier
EMP Effect	Power Damage Protection	Reduces power damage taken by EMP weapons.	Passive	50%	10 e/s	50%	10
Explosive Effect	Moment Effect Protection	Reduces the effect of weapons which try to change a ship's velocity (Push, Pull, Stop). This effect is currently bugged, see Bugs for details.	Passive	100%	15 e/s	25%	40
Ion Effect	Shield Protection Bonus	Decreases damage dealt to a ship's shields. Functions like an armor value for shields.	Passive	60%	20 e/s	50%	12
Overdrive Effect	Top Speed Bonus	Increases the maximum speed of a ship.	Passive	50%	10 e/s	25%	20
Piercing Effect	Armor HP Absorbtion Bonus	Increases the absorption rate of an entity's AHP pool.	Passive	25%	10 e/s	5.56%	45
Pull Effect	Evade Burst	Propels the ship backwards.	Burst	inf*	15 e/s	50%	20
Punch-Through Effect	Armor HP Deduction Bonus	Reduces the damage taken by an entity's AHP.	Passive	25%	10 e/s	5.56%	45
Push Effect	Take off Burst	Propels the ship forwards.	Burst	inf*	15 e/s	50%	20
Stop Effect	Anti Gravity	Reduces the effect of gravity (from planets and black holes) on a ship. This effect is currently bugged, see Bugs for details.	Passive	100%	10 e/s	25%	40

Defensive Effect Rules

In addition to the formula stated above, slightly more complex formulas can be used for non-standard situations, such as finding the block count necessary for an effect efficiency less than the maximum, or finding what the resulting efficiency of a given block count will be (both of these operations requiring ship mass to be known). Both formulas use the "EffectMult" value, which is the Multiplier value stated in the table above (use the one for the effect in question).

Firstly, for calculating the block count necessary for a given efficiency (in %) on a known mass:
*Note: "Target%" is to be expressed as a decimal (50% = 0.5, etc.).

BlockCount = ShipMass * Target% / Multiplier * 10

Secondly, the formula for the efficiency (as a %) of an effect system (when block count of the effect, as well as total mass, are known) is:

Efficiency = BlockCount / ShipMass * Multiplier * 10

Bugs

• Stop Effect is intended to prevent black hole gravity from effecting a ship, but does not currently do so.
• Explosive Effect is intended to prevent velocity-affecting weapons (Pull, Push and Stop) from having any effect, when at 100%. Currently, it does not do so.
• Defensive effects do not currently take the mass of docked entities into account for their effect:mass ratio. This is thought to be a bug.