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# ShipCalc Weapon Tips data file.
# Last modified: 4/1/02
#
# You can edit this file on your own risk
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#intro:
Tips available for Large Weapons only. Text is saved in the file tips.txt in shipcalc directory. These original tips are imported from diplomat with help from Paul Honigman.
This file was made on 4/1/02 and is included in ShipCalc for default. Everyone is allowed to create a better one or to translate it and post it in mailing lists. If somebody 
makes a german file, please tell me. (Andreas Benne / vgaphost@saarlandoutpost.com))
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(1)
Heavy Laser: tech 1: Decent range: 570; dirt cheap, uses little power and no ordance, but is slow and doesn't do much damage to anything. Primary Use: You haven't discovered anything better this ship can use." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: The heavy laser can fire through Evil Empire shields, 10% of the damage gets through the armor. The laser can not hit the critical hit area of the ship.
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#var:lwTIP(2)
Merculite Rockets: tech 1: Only use these if you have an Ord shortage or cannot mount a size 60 weapon - otherwise 500mm gun is better at same tech. Strong Anti-Shield and Good Blast to Kill ratio makes this a good base line weapon at low tech. Drawbacks are low Anti-Armour and high point defense odds. Captures most enemy ships every time if the battle is won.
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#var:lwTIP(3)
500 MM Gun: tech 1: Strong Vrs Shield and Armour. Very inaccurate, so best on ships with a significant attack bonus." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "NEW: 1000 point blast bonus against ground bases.
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(4)
Sandcaster: tech 2: Essential anti-fighter weapon somewhere in your fleet, but must be mounted on a ship with lots of Ord. The only non-PD weapon that can shoot down fighters. (And range is many times that of all PD weapons except the M.M. Launcher, which costs 830mc!) Eats shields rapidly, but also your Ord. Extremely accurate and PD's tend to miss it. Short range (280), once shields are down does little damage. Set to 'Turn off after shields are down' to avoid wasting ammo. Primary use: Knocking out shields so other weapons get through." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: Sandcasters on Evil Empire ships are very poor against enemy fighters. SC's can be shot down by Concussion Rocket PD's." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: SC's are very effective at destroying Holo Decoys.
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#var:lwTIP(5)
Fusion Cannon: tech 2: No Ord and fair to good anti-armor rating provides this weapon with limited use. Due to very low Point Defense odds, this weapon is slightly better than it seems. Especially on ships with >100% Attack Bonuses to both offset its poor accuracy and make it even more difficult for PD to shoot down.
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#var:lwTIP(6)
Force beam: tech 2: Opinions vary on its usefulness. Longer range than a fusion beam, reasonable accuracy; drains less than a Fusion Beam but arcs through more: 150 shields and armour each; very expensive. NEW: destroys 200 to 400 ord units if it penetrates shields and armour.
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#var:lwTIP(7)
Disruptor Cannon: tech 3: Use these! They're fast. They have a moderate effect versus Shields and Armour and an 8 to 1 kill to blast ratio; combined with NO Ord usage and low Point Defense odds. It's an excellent Stormer weapon, especially in the early game, due to low Ord requirement.
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#var:lwTIP(8)
Mass Driver: tech 3: No good for normal combat. Low Accuracy, High Ord Drain, and High Point Defense keep this weapon from being of much use. Primary Use: Your ship only has a size 30 mount, and so you need something to eat armour. Requires another weapon to distract point defenses. Would work better on ships with high attack bonuses. A 22 to 1 kill ratio may be useful for capturing ships.
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#var:lwTIP(9)
Anti-Matter Gun: tech 4: only useful for ships with a high attack bonus due to low accuracy and high point defense odds. However, it is excellent at destroying armour plating (70 points / hit); excellent blast and kill factors, cheap, uses little energy and ordance, but little good against shields." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: 700 point blast bonus against ground bases.
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#var:lwTIP(10)
Blaster Cannon: tech 4: excellent all rounder. Good accuracy, hard to shoot down, uses little ord, does very heavy damage of various sorts to the target. Blows away 80 units of armour and drains 180 units from shields, allowing other weapons to break through. Arcs through 140 units of shield. Downsides: very, very slow; requires a size 60 mount; needs plenty of Moly. Possibly the fastest weapon at eating shields until you reach Large Weapon Tech 12. Good at killing Stormers. NEW: 3000 point plast bonus against ground bases.
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(11)
Ion Cannon: tech 5: although these seem worthless for their intended function (capturing ships), I have found that 3-6 are useful but only on large ships with lots of weapon mounts. They knock out enemy weapons, so your own ship lasts longer. In effect - they are like extra point defense weapons! Arcs through 3000 armour(!) once the shields are down, damages the Systems while leaving the rest of the ship intact. Hard for PD's to shoot down. But: slow, poor at draining shields and eats no armour at all. Requires Sandcasters to bring down the shields. Can even be used versus T-Rex's if your own ship can take a bit of damage first while it wears the armour down to <3000.
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#var:lwTIP(12)
Energy Mines: tech 6: Not a good choice for normal combat. Does the best damage to parts so far, has good blast and systems damage factors, cheap, but is short range, uses tons of energy and is easy for point defenses to shoot down." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: destroys 100 to 200 repair units if it penetrates shield and armour." & vbCrLf & "  NEW: Passes through the shields of Coalition ships.
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#var:lwTIP(13)
Photon Torpedo Tube: tech 7: only use these on ships with high attack bonus at extreme range, or en masse (eg a volley of 20) when they are brilliant - otherwise they are easily intercepted by Point Defenses. Only other negative factor is that they use a fair bit of Ord. Huge range. Stat wise it is actually better than everything but the Turbo Laser Array, when it hits. NOTE: Stormer Shields are very light, but only take 5 shield drain from a PTT hit, so Stormers should use these a lot... and sit back at extreme range where only other PTT's can reach them." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "NEW: particularly susceptible to Holo Decoys, if there are enough HD's.
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#var:lwTIP(14)
Plasma Bolt Cannon: tech 8: I've changed my mind on this one. It's a pretty good all rounder EXCEPT it has low accuracy (30%) so needs to be on a ship with a decent attack bonus. Expensive. Pulsed Phasor Cannons (2 tech levels higher) are better on paper, mainly because it fires 2.5 x faster, but the PBC has a much better Kill factor if you're interested in that. Unlike the PPC, this weapon uses a bit of Ord so is good versus Crystals. Reasonable all-rounder, draining plenty of Shield and Armour each time it hits.
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#var:lwTIP(15)
Particle Cannon: tech 9: No particular reason to use this. Does good damage to systems and life support, but is a little short range, uses a lot of energy, somewhat slow, and doesn't excel at anything at this size. Primary Use: You only have a size 40 mount, have tons of energy, but very few large weapon slots, and not much room for ammo?"
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(16)
Pulsed Phasor Cannon: tech 10: With good all-round stats, this is likely to be a standard of the low mass large weapons until a race can build Gatling Phasors which out perform it slightly. Much more difficult to shoot down than Photon Torpedos for most defenses." & vbCrLf & "  NOTE: for some races like Stormers there is no point progressing beyond PPC's. Particularly if you have >10 Large Weapon mounts (so you can guarantee shots get past Point Defense) or if your ships are easily killed (so it's better to build 2 'cheap' ones than one with Gatling Phasors).
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(17)
Ionic Gun Array: tech 11: 17, Basically an Ion Cannon on steroids. Particularly nice for Enforcers, and even more so with added Exotic Techs. Expensive and requires a size 700 mount. Primary use: Capturing ships intact. Requires Sandcasters to bring down the shields. Requires 610 Tritanium."
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#var:lwTIP(18)
Turbo Laser Array: tech 12: Nice. All purpose ship destroyer, fires every 2 seconds. Expensive, needs a bunch of energy and requires a size 800 mount. Primary use: blowing ships up with no help. However in late game, cash may not be a problem but 750 Duranium per weapon could be, so most folk went for PPC's instead of these to build 2 ships instead of 1. NEW: Duranium requirement reduced to 250.
#end-data

#var:lwTIP(19)
Large Turbo Laser Array: tech 13: The Turbo Array's big brother, the most powerful large weapon available, but so massive it won't fit on many ships. Until recently, most people agree that its mineral cost (400 Dur - previously 1900 Dur!!!) ruled it out and it was usually more sensible to build more ships with lighter weapons, unless you can afford LOTS of Exotic Tech when its fast rate of fire amplifies their effect. (Following the Duranium requirement reduction, this requires re-evaluation.) Fires each and every second if you can keep it fed with throbbing generators. Requires a monster size 2000 mount and very expensive. Primary use: blowing up ships even quicker without help. No ship can supply enough power to feed 20 LTLA's!
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#var:lwTIP(20)
Gatling Phasor: tech 14: For ships with >10 large Weapon mounts, it's not much better than a Pulsed Phasor Cannon unless you have LOTS of Exotic Tech (whereupon its high fire rate really counts), because in general you can build two ships armed with PPC's for the money (+ in some games the 120 moly) required for one with these! However if you have 10 or less Large Weapon mounts the GP is best, because PPC's fire slow enough for enemy point defense to recharge. The GP's rapid rate of fire also gives it an edge over the PPC against high evasion targets. Slightly lower armour drain and significantly less power required than the Pulsed Phasor Cannon but all other stats are comparable or better. Primary use: Blowing up ships with no help.
#end-data

here are the variables for the rest of the parts:

Public EngTIP(20) As String
Public ShieldTIP(10) As String
Public swTIP(10) As String
Public supwTIP(5) As String
Public pdTIP(10) As String
Public genTIP(10) As String
Public hypTIP(10) As String

###end###