Particle Cannons
Particle cannons, also known as PACs or Particle Accelerator Cannons, are highly customizable weapons that launch light speed projectiles that can be finely-tuned for a desirable combination of range, accuracy, damage, firing rate, and energy draw, as well as whether you want to have the particles explode on impact, punch through armour, deliver an EMP-payload, or deal thump-damage similar to hollow-point shells.
All formulas need reviewed, assumed accurate as of v3.2.9.7
Overview
Each arm of a PAC will fire one particle (potentially more for the scatter lens) from its lens and all of the arms attached to a lens will have the same settings and time of firing. The number of arms that can be attached to a lens varies from one for the short range lens up to five for the standard long range lens. Each one of these arms can be up to 1000 meters long for a maximum arm length per lens of 5000 meters.
A particle cannon can be turned into a close-range weapon by use of the Particle melee lens.
Particle cannons are very expensive for the damage output they can put out and require a considerable amount of energy to feed them. In addition, most of the itme, destroying a single block in PAC's arm will render that arm useless. However, they offer several advantages.
- Defensive systems are useless against particle cannons.
- High charge time PACs deal crippling alpha strike damage.
- PACs have zero travel time, meaning vehicles cannot dodge them unless the shot deviates from its desired path or the shooter has poor detection.
Lenses
- Long Range Lens - Unweildly lens with a narrow field of fire, but low damage loss at longer ranges. Comes in four variations.
- Vertical Lens - Lens with average damage and long-range performance. Has a high vertical field of fire and a flat beam spread pattern.
- Scatter Lens - Average damage and long-range performance. Higher charge times add additional beams from the attached arms.
- Short Range Lens - Compact lens with a damage boost and wide field of fire, but quickly loses damage at medium-long ranges.
- Melee PAC Lens - Forms a constant beam between itself and other melee lenses on the same turret. Creates a deadly arc.
Other parts
- Particle Tube Terminator - End part of a particle arm. Required (unless using input port).
- Particle Input Port - Can be used in place of a terminator to create a full loop between particle arms. Reduces damage loss at range, at the cost of base damage.
Energy Use
Formula verified for v4.1.2.0
When a PAC fires it will instantly draw energy from the craft's battery reserves. If there is not enough energy stored in the battery to meet the demand for the total energy per shot, the damage dealt will be reduced to an amount proportional to how much of the total demanded energy per shot was available.
The total energy used per shot by a PAC, assuming that there is enough energy available, depends on the total arm length L, overclocking value C, and charge time T. Thus, the energy use per shot is:
E = 80 x L x T x C2
Damage
Damage formulas outdated for v4.1.2.0
The damage potential for any PAC arm is the amount of impact damage it would be capable of doing at a range of zero meters and with sufficient energy to meet its energy demand. If there is not enough energy to meet the energy demand per shot the damage will be reduced to an amount proportional to how much of the total demanded energy per shot was available. The damage potential depends on the energy use per shot E, charge time T, focus F, overclocking value C, lens damage modifier MD, and whether the arm is using a particle tube terminator or a particle input port (only one formula value changes based on this condition, which is in bold).
The damage potential with the use of a particle tube terminator is:
DSubscript text = E x Md x 0.169496049122185 x F-0.3 x ln(7257.65539077636 x T) / C
The damage potential with the use of a particle input port is:
DSubscript text = E x Md x 0.135596839297748 x F-0.3 x ln(7257.65539077636 x T) / C
This data is further modified by the type of lens being used, which is outlined in the table below:
| Lens Type | Lens Damage Modifier (Md) |
|---|---|
| Long Range Lens (all variants) | 0.8 |
| Verticle Lens | 1 |
| Scatter Lens | 1 |
| Short Range Lens | 1.2 |
The damage potential for the different damage types varies depending on the damage type. Their potential can be found by multiplying the damage potential of that PAC arm by the damage type factors in the table below:
| Damage Type | Damage Type Factor |
|---|---|
| Impact | 1 |
| EMP | 9/32 |
| Piercing | 0.3 |
| Explosive Shock | DtEs |
The damage type modifier for explosive shock damage depends on the charge time T, focus F, overclocking value C, lens damage modifier MD, and whether the arm is using a particle tube terminator or a particle input port(only one formula value changes based on this condition, which is in bold).
When a particle tube terminator is used the explosive shock damage type factor is:
DtEs = 0.3355 x D-0.1 x F0.03 x C-0.1 x T-0.1082736
When a particle input port is used the explosive shock damage type factor is:
DtEs = 0.2684 x D-0.1 x F0.03 x C-0.1 x T-0.1082736
Attenuation
As the particles fired from a PAC travel their damage will decrease with increasing range, regardless of the damage type. This attenuation factor depends on the lenses damage loss modifier ML, range in meters R, and whether the arm is using a particle tube terminator or a particle input port.
When a particle tube terminator is used the attenuation factor is:
A = (1 - D)R/100
When a particle input port is used the attenuation factor is:
A = (1 - 0.5 x D)R/100
The damage loss modifiers are given in the table below for the various lenses.
| Lens type | Damage loss modifier (ML) |
|---|---|
| Long range lens (all variants) | 2 |
| Vertical lens | 4 |
| Scatter lens | 4 |
| Short range lens | 6 |
To find the damage potential at a given range the damage potential Dp needs to be multiplied by the attenuation factor A. When this is done for a generic arm length and PAC settings the following relative damage potentials can be graphed.
Taking into account the net values of inputed and non inputed arms one can see a clearer arm/distance picture, giving clear winners for which type of lense to use depending on the expected ranges:
0-870 m - short-range lense
870-1080 m - vertical or scatter lense
1080 - 2100 m vertical or scatter lense with an input port OR a long-range lense
2100 - 2400 m long-range lense with two input ports and one additional arm without one (arms/ports 3/2)
2400 m long-range lense with 1/1 arms/ports ratio
Beam Path
The bending of the beam is proportional to the fraction of maximum range travelled, so a smaller attenuation factor does improve accuracy.
The beams do not go in a straight line. Rather, they curve around in a neat pattern that can resemble a tree or a tuft of hair with a high rate of fire and a low accuracy.