Effects

NOTE: This article covers the old, obsolete effect system. All effects are now handled through the reactor chambers system.

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.

Tables

The tables below detail how each effect, at 100% efficiency, will affect the different primary weapon categories. For the purposes of calculations, remember to factor in effect multipliers last, after calculating a weapon's total effective block count (Primary+Secondary+Effect, excluding any blocks which would add greater than 100% secondary or tertiary effect), and using this to calculate the base stats (see the tables on the Weapon Systems page for more info).

EMP Effect Statistics

All values are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.

EMP Effect

Weapon	Power Damage	Block Damage	Shield Damage
Cannon	20	0	0
Missile	20	0	0
Damage Beam	20	0	0
Damage Pulse	20	0	0

Explosive Effect Statistics

For both beams and cannons, Explosive effect is currently bugged and cannot increase a projectile's impact radius to more than 1. Therefore, this table notes that the maximum useful percentage for this effect on those weapons is 10%. Because of this bug, values for this effect are listed as they are at the maximum useful efficiency for that weapon.

Damage dealt to surrounding blocks by a 100% Explosive Effect weapon is 1/6 of total damage (to each block adjacent to the point of impact). If a weapon penetrates, explosive damage is applied again, using the remaining damage.

+Blast Radius (m) is expressed as a linear increase, measured in metres.
Block Damage is expressed as a multiplier of original weapon damage.
Max Effect % is the maximum useful efficiency for this effect.

Explosive Effect

Weapon	+Blast Radius(m)	Block Damage	Max Effect %
Cannon	1	0.95	10%
Missile	10	-	100%
Damage Beam	1	0.95	10%
Damage Pulse	10	-	100%

Ion Effect Statistics

All values are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.

It is not certain how 100% Ion Effect affects missile and pulse damage, as the value listed in the "blockBehaviorConfig.xml" file, which governs such details, is 0.5. However, the same line also has the following comment:
<!-- shield damage is doubled, the explosion system scales differently-->

This does suggest that the resulting shield damage would be the same as cannons and beams, but it is not certain. Players should bear in mind that explosion damage can often be unreliable anyway, since as much as 50% of it radiates into empty space when striking a perfectly flat surface.

Ion Effect

Weapon	Shield Damage	Block Damage
Cannon	2	0
Missile	2	0
Damage Beam	2	0
Damage Pulse	2	0

Overdrive Effect Statistics

+Blast Radius (m) is expressed as a linear increase, measured in metres.
Block Damage and Shield Damage are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.
Total Damage is a value unique to missiles and pulses, and is expressed as a multiplier of original weapon damage. It is assumed that this refers to the total damage radiated from an explosion (50% of which is lost on empty space, when striking a completely flat surface)
Power Consumption is expressed as a multiplier of original power consumption.

Overdrive Effect

Weapon	+Blast Radius (m)	Block Damage	Shield Damage	Total Damage	Power Consumption
Cannon	-	3	3	-	6
Missile	10	-	-	3	6
Damage Beam	-	3	3	-	6
Damage Pulse	10	-	-	3	6

Piercing Effect Statistics

+Blast Radius (m) is expressed as a linear increase, measured in metres.
Block Damage and Shield Damage are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.
Armor Ignore is the percentage of a given block's armor value which is ignored by a 100% Piercing Effect projectile from this weapon.
AHP Damage is a percentage increase in damage done by this weapon to a ship's Armor HP pool.

Piercing Effect

Weapon	+Blast Radius (m)	Block Damage	Shield Damage	Armor Ignore (%)	AHP Damage
Cannon	-	1.25	0	50%	50%
Missile	5	-	-	50%	-
Damage Beam	-	1.25	0	50%	50%
Damage Pulse	5	-	-	50%	-

Pull Effect Statistics

Pulling Force is a multiplier of original weapon damage. "Pull" damage pulls the target in the direction of the source of the damage.
Block Damage and Shield Damage are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.

Pull Effect

Weapon	Pulling Force	Block Damage	Shield Damage
Cannon	3	0	0
Missile	3	0	0
Damage Beam	3	0	0
Damage Pulse	3	0	0

Punch-Through Effect Statistics

+Blast Radius (m) is expressed as a linear increase, measured in metres.
Block Damage is expressed as a multiplier of original weapon damage.
AHP Damage is a percentage increase in damage done by this weapon to a ship's Armor HP pool.

Punch-Through Effect

Weapon	+Blast Radius (m)	Block Damage	AHP Damage
Cannon	-	1.5	50%
Missile	5	-	50%
Damage Beam	-	1.5	50%
Damage Pulse	5	-	50%

Push Effect Statistics

Pushing Force is a multiplier of original weapon damage. "Push" damage pushes the target in the direction of the source of the damage.
Block Damage and Shield Damage are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.

Push Effect

Weapon	Pushing Force	Block Damage	Shield Damage
Cannon	3	0	0
Missile	3	0	0
Damage Beam	3	0	0
Damage Pulse	3	0	0

Stop Effect Statistics

Stopping Force is a multiplier of original weapon damage. "Stop" damage decreases the target's velocity.
Block Damage and Shield Damage are expressed as multipliers of original weapon damage.

Stop Effect

Weapon	Stopping Force	Block Damage	Shield Damage
Cannon	3	0	0
Missile	3	0	0
Damage Beam	3	0	0
Damage Pulse	3	0	0

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. This effect is currently partially bugged, see Bugs for details.	Burst	100%	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. This effect is currently partially bugged, see Bugs for details.	Burst	100%	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 partially 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

• Offensive Explosive Effect on cannon and beam is intended to produce a blast radius of up to 10, but instead only achieves a radius of 1.
• Defensive Stop Effect is intended to prevent black hole gravity from effecting a ship, but does not currently do so.
• Defensive 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 Push and Pull Effects misbehave if their acceleration would cause the ship to go faster than its maximum speed.
• 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.