2. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. 18 days - but if you allow for an M. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. Core components. I tend to rush for autocannon/plasma thrower vets early game which do really really well but I could be having an easier time with missiles. As I said earlier, it doesn't even synergize well with the anti-shield options. Ship self repair is either from space borne aliens, admirals, or living metal (and ok, there’s a shroud reward too). Those beats all anti-armor weapon in damage, and dps. ; About Stellaris Wiki; Mobile view Carrier cruiser spam is exceptionally powerful mid-game if the enemy doesn’t have any screeners, I find. Weapon components. As it says. duelchaos. 9] This mod aims to increase the individuality of empires while maintaining the highest possible level of compatibility with other mods and without changing how weapons work. Probably kill off Launchers because they're just Better Plasma, and that's boring, turn them back into G slot weapons that trade off lower damage for immunity to PD (once a PD balance has been settled on). Early-to-mid-game, cruisers with medium slot plasma and a hangar are OP. 0 (Actual), Amazing Space Battles, UI Overhaul Dynamic, UI Overhaul Dynamic + Tiny Outliner V2, Tiny Outliner V2 (note need last two for Tiny Outliner to function). 3. If you are lazy you can make an anti missle laser driver ship. But their lower tracking makes them pretty weak against anything smaller. Core components. Ship. Is null void beam good? General. All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries. The back slot is also a neutron launcher. 4 Lance 2. Make sure you have Gamma Lasers and Gauss, also research the lower tier weapons as they access some of the others. Core components. Plasma is good, but it should also be paired with kinetic weapons. The Plasma thrower line is analogous to the Autocannon line. Early-to-mid-game, cruisers with medium slot plasma and a hangar are OP. 75 ② Disruptors 75. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to. Core components. Fighters get shot down, missle get intercepted, plasma and disrupters. Can fit into Small slots. How soon you can start shooting. Armored Torpedoes and Plasma Thrusters as valid tier 3 options, which usually means only one needs to be researched before Star Fortress will show up. They were approximately at the same range as the Particle Lances. 18 less) and 5. 1. Their fleet composition is 8/8/8/8 and mine was 0/2/8/81, does this. Core components. Too bad. Ship designer. 1125 less vs hull. The only time plasma wins out over lasers is in specialization. 3 Penetrating 2. Ship designer. 2. What I'm seeing is a technology that unlocks S-, M-, and L-slot Plasma weapons versus a technology that unlocks only S- and M-slot Disruptor weapons versus a technology that unlocks only S-slot Autocannons. Damage per shot is important, because of the disengage mechanics. Thread starter Lucius Confucius; Start date Apr 3, 2022; Jump to latest Follow Reply. This is the easiest way to use the guide in game, especially if you don't really plan ahead. Well, Null Void Beam alone is a terrible idea. Makes them able to get through both armour and shields. 4 Lance 2. 2. Ships. increases chance of technologies from given category. Otherwise, chokepoints. If your shields and armor can take it, good. . A properly kitted equals size fleet (Kinetic artilley to start combat, and something like plasma for closer ranges), will output 4-5x more damage with all the extra modifiers. Lasers tend to have slightly better neutral damage, accuracy and tracking than plasma with -50% to shields and +50% to. 1. So i only have a few hours and i know nuke misslies arnt good and coil guns and lasers are okay but what is better? i have the chance to get plasma thrower but i dont know if it is really good?Yes, absolutely. #14. Ship designer. 1. This means that, on things where you can stack a bunch of bonuses, the marginal positive or negative modifier doesn't do as much as it implies. A place to share content, ask questions and/or talk about the 4X grand strategy game Stellaris by Paradox Development Studio. a Tier 3 technology cannot be "drawn" until the country owns at least six Tier 2 technologies. My fleet is getting totally destroyed, i have 29k and he has about 24K power rating, sorry if there's too much info but i guess, better safe than sorry. A friend and I started playing a multiplayer game of vanilla Stellaris, no DLC or mods, and everything was going fine until we went to war against an…Plasma throwers and Tachyon lances both pierce armor, but putting them both on the same ship largely negates the benefits of one over the other. You have two options. Recent Reviews:As it says. Weapon components. And costs the same amount of energy to equip. Core components. 6. When setting your defence stations up to deal with long range (hangar, missiles / torps, L-slot weapon), medium range (M-slot weapons like plasma thrower, auto-gun / rail gun - no wait, not those as you didn't want more guns - laster) and short range (point-defence / flak, all the other weapons including missiles) you will be able to fight your. I use plasma on my corvette swarms. The green one is highest tier of plasma throwers. Core components. (In addition to torpedos and. If you're instead going the distruptor route for those, I'd recommend putting on 3 kinetic batteries and 2-3 plasma throwers. 0 (Actual), Amazing Space Battles, UI Overhaul Dynamic, UI Overhaul Dynamic + Tiny Outliner V2, Tiny Outliner V2 (note need last two for Tiny Outliner to function). When it comes to AI you need plasma only until you get proton, and neutron launchers. 2 Null Void Beam 3 Kinetic weapons 3. #2. Today I took a look at the auto generated Patton design for the cruiser. Weapon components. Weapon components. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. Half of the swarm has an autocanon while the rest has a plasma thrower. (Also that is why shields rarely survive more than the first day of combat and shield. Imperium – Bolters (custom early-ish tech), Plasma Throwers, Level 3 and 4 Armor, Level 2 and 3 Missiles, Gene Seed Purification, Exoskeletons, Level 3 and 4 Shields, – Adding to a save game The factions are all traits, so you can add them as any other trait. It is a simple one, corvette swarm with torpedoes. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. Ship designer. . 3. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. For some reason it has 45-80 range, which is weird. 该页面为自动生成页面，如有修改的需求请添加至下面的攻略或者相关页面中，否则将会因版本更新而覆盖掉。. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. Yeah seriously, speaking as someone who’s tweaked every Paradox game from CKII on up to Stellaris, cracking open the code on these games you’ll see how many numbers are easily accessible under their hood. When it comes to AI you need plasma only until you get proton, and neutron launchers. Nice. Genetically manipulated ultra warrior ( who is probably also a gene modded nerve stapled battle thrall ) so incapable. Creating ships. g. You should still need to refer to the complete description of the research in the objective based sections to get a full overview of the other bonus and penalties of this research. Weapon components. If your weapon can oneshot the enemy from 50% HEALTH, then they have 0 chance to disengage. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. 0 unless otherwise noted. Ship. 415K subscribers in the Stellaris community. Ships. 组件分类：武器组件. Torpedoes are good for ignoring Shields, but creatures doesnt have any. Weapon components. 1 Disruptor 2. 3 Adjustable Power Levels of Melting Destruction while using this Combined Mode. Weapon components. I cannot afford this right now, and I don't know how to change it. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. Only looking at shield dmg, the Null Void is comparable with lvl 5 kinetics, but you can potentially get it way earlier. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. 类型：能量. Still learning combat and I thought I had decent missile defense. © Valve Corporation. 这个攻略不够好？点击进入 Item:Component templates/MEDIUM PLASMA 1/doc 页面来编辑这个攻略。 修改完毕后，请刷新上面的文本。As we all know, Plasma is a direct upgrade for Lasers. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. Stellaris Dev Diary #312 - 3. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. Two autocannos and a plasma makes them quite good. Stellaris. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. So, looking over the weapon chart on the wiki, I'm under the assumption that the plasma weapons are a straight upgrade over the laser weapons. The Plasma then starts doing its work when your fleet may have. Zorro Nov 15, 2017 @ 6:06pm. Any tips on what situation/role which weapon class wins out?One factor being that Plasma is now the only energy weapon choice for L-slots which is as good as firing blanks. Content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3. Negated and weakened outright by Pulsars and basically every enemy system with a starbase as AI loves to build the anti shield module. But combined with plasma, neutron or lances it is a really useful weapon. 2 Particle Launcher 2. Ship designs are all plasma throwers and neutron bombs. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. Plasma weapons are good if you want to specialize a ship for a type of enemy, like something with no shields and heavy armor. Plasma. CryptoIt takes longer because all those pops keep pestering your scientists for the new PiePhone970 when all they want to do is invent a better plasma thrower. Doctrine: Fluid Fleet Templates. Tier 1 – 3 are typically unlocked near the earlygame to the midgame Tier 4 – 5 typically near to after endgame. Business, Economics, and Finance. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. ' （' ）是《 群星 》中一项可供研究的科技，本页面是一个分支页面，关于科技详情，请参考主干页面： 科技 。. 6. A place to share content, ask questions and/or talk about the 4X grand strategy game Stellaris by Paradox Development Studio. small plasma cannon + neutron torpedo destroyer 1:3 guardia PD + 1 plasma cannon + 1 phased distuptor cruiser 1:3 large plasma thrower + 1 phased distuptor BS 1: 1 arc emitter + 2 plasma cannons+1 phased distruptor +2 PD < > Showing 1-10 of 10 comments416K subscribers in the Stellaris community. 在《 群星 》中，一般情况下可以在 殖民 星球表面建造工程实验室或者. But combined with plasma, neutron or lances it is a really useful weapon. Store Mods Forum Launcher Mods Forum LauncherStellaris Wiki Active Wikis. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. ago. vs FM: win, 104. A searchable list of all technology codes from Stellaris. the Unbidden. that's the first one. Or press both at the same time for Maximum Incineration Mode. Plasma Throwers: The anti-armor counterpart to the energy syphone, plasma weapons due increased damage to both armor and hulls, meaning the enemy will have fewer chances for ships to retreat. plasma cannon is better but costs more power. Particle Lances: tech_energy_lance_1. Any tips on what situation/role which weapon class wins out?you want to kill it in a star system that is the same color as the wraith, and talk to the trade enclave to pick up an extra 25% damage. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. Against shields only and armor only. You won't have time to get missiles because you need the engineering tech to get corvette build speed and +100 corvette hull. In Stellaris, at least you get a battle report, but I agree that it's clunky and nowhere near as detailed enough. Missile Defense. That way, you have significant bonuses against all three 'health bars' of a fleet. I sworn to personally dismantle every damn bolt of the fucking rusters with my plasma thrower that day. The tracking bonus of Lasers also disappears once you get to the Large slot. 1125 less vs hull. Generally plasma is better in most cases. Try plasma/null beam, easy early techs that will scale great the longer the game lasts. my default fleet in the middle game was: 3 battleships. N. bigger and bigger mass throwers and making it less of a Rock Paper Scissors would enhance the game I feel. Ship designer. A secondary question is whether I should replace the disruptors on my. 例如：“异种保护区”（建筑）的特殊说明请在. Plasma, rail and laser weapons can be combined, but don't go for a 33-33-33 or 50-50 split. Neutron sweep. What matters is numbers and timing. Jump to latest Follow Reply. 1225 points of average damage, but much worse vs shields (9. Welcome to the Stellaris Tech Id Full List, where we will provide you the full list of ids you can use in console commands, cheats and mods. < 科技 | SerGawen 于1年前 修改了 此页面。. Like the human factions in some universes having nearly all ballistic weapons missiles and strike fighters and the aliens having plasma throwers. Stellaris. Ship. All of hte alien ships I have seen so far use both armor and shields, so if I understand right, what I should be doing is putting both plasma throwers and disrupters on the same ship, so that the. Shields is brutal), AND it has a shorter Range AND worse Tracking (and an extra 1000 in tech for Plasma Thrower vs. Ship. The AI and ship auto-generator even mix and match the new weapons with vanilla weapons on their own. R5: I made a simple overview of the flow of resources in the new economy. Yeah the S- or M plasma on Line Cruisers are fine. But the autocannons and plasma throwers are a dead end branch of tech, and really only have use on smaller ships-. DragonOrion Galactic Contender • 7 yr. 1 Laser 2. Weapon components. It is a simple one, corvette swarm with torpedoes. As it says. However, the multiplicative bonus against larger ships is only 50% and they have -20% Armor damage compared to the devastator torps 100% multiplicative bonus and +50% Armor damage. I love mixed fleets because 1, the battles are much more interesting to watch and 2, if Stellaris was real, the smaller ship sizes would be used. Holy F***!!! Nebula systems look amazing now! It doesn't appear just to be an image, it does have a 3D quality to it in-game. However, disruptors remain utter garbage against high-hull Starbases and Defense Platforms which means you need a mixed fleet, or dedicated artillery/torpedo fleets, to assault defended systems. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. Any tips on what situation/role which weapon class wins out?A tag already exists with the provided branch name. Ive found lasers are good on their own, however plasma is best paired with kinetic shield strippers. Dec 16, 2016. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. Just combine the anchorages with spaceport buildings that improve defense or sensor range and defense platforms. Plasma seems to miss alot for my taste. All codes for the game: The main list. Best all purpose weapons are arguably kinetics. 6 What version do you use? Steam What expansions do you have installed? All of the above Do you have mods enabled? Yes Please. So just get blue lasers and go. Ships now get a limited number of. Plasma however gets a 75% damage reduction vs shields whereas lasers only get 50% reduction. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews. Point defense Destroyers. Al has major fetish for point defence. Ship. You need the Science! Perk to improve this Weapon, and the higher your rank in it, the better Mods you can add to it. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. They're using 1. Ship. Still learning combat and I thought I had decent missile defense. Core components. Stellaris uses technology card system - that means that each time a technology is researched, a player is given a choice to research one of the N available technologies. Like the human factions in some universes having nearly all ballistic weapons missiles and strike fighters and the aliens having plasma throwers. full evasion and quick damage ("assault ships") I was far beyond the limit if I could afford to lose resources for a while. Lasers on the other hand are required to unlock Proton/Neutron Launchers and Particle/Tachyon Lances. I was getting lost why i was losing large quantities of consumer goods or minerals in my new games, and this helps explain what things drain on your resource flows. Ship designer. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. As it says. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. Ships. Weapon components. At that point, my fleet consisted of a whopping 5 destroyers and 10 corvettes. Lasers have lightspeed propagation and theoretically infinite range but are limited to direct fire only and require excessive energy levels. Use the interceptor section and equip it with 3 plasma throwers, 2 armor, and 1 afterburner for increased evasion unless Enigmatic Encoders are available, which give a +20% boost in evasion. Content Update 3. my amount of ships goes like this 15 corvettes,7 destroyers and 5 cruisers for every battle ship, i have 5 BS. Stellaris. With all that said, Plasma is actually usable since it really is the only option in its niche. FE/AE and the Contingency are the best examples for this. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. Cheats. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. So, I researched plasma throwers and disrupters. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. The green one is highest tier of plasma throwers. 2 Ancient Cavitation Collapser 2. Only issue with this is range but just planning your engagement based around a slightly shorter range engagement and it works decently. Try plasma/null beam, easy early techs that will scale great the longer the game lasts. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. increases chance of technologies from given category. The last time I used anything other than what you described* was when I got the Null Void on my first colony. ; About Stellaris Wiki; Mobile viewAt the same time you can devellop a new medium ranged station using the rail guns, another one using the plasma thrower and so on. Getting traditions. Design doesn't matter early on. Shields and anti-hull weapons. These are also easily moddable via its file, see #Tiers . Cooperative PvE can be initiated from the main menu - all players that hotjoin the hosted game will join the primary player’s empire. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Imperator: Rome Prison Architect Stellaris Surviving Mars Surviving the Aftermath Vampire:. I exchanged some plasma throwers for point defence and strike crafts, which seemed to increase the longevity of my fleet. Has this replaced Giga Cannon and the rest half Kinetic Artillery and half Plasma Throwers? Must say, combat. Ship designer. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. Ship. 28. The blue weapon is a tachyon lance, at the end of the laser tech tree. All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews. It was a nice change of pace from the usual torpedo+autocannon corvettes until I unlocked battleships. Weapon components. • 1 yr. Members Online •. Military Theory (Tier 4) Cost: 6000, Weight: 45This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. because otherwise while it is fun and cool to get weapons like Cloud Lightning Conduits and Blue Crystalline Shard Throwers, its seems like its just better to get things like Plasma Throwers and Space Torpedoes and not bother with the weird. Ships. 9! Should still be compat with 3. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. The three key techs are blue lasers, corvette build cost reduction and extra corvette hull. Core components. If you only have lasers at least get something that is good vs shields. 1. Ship. Description: Separate Plasma Cutter Mode (Left Click) and Flame Thrower Mode (Right Click). The reason I started this project was because I found lots of Stellaris content creators on YT giving the same advice: neutron launchers are king. This guide will be updated with every major stellaris patch being released. Cost: 12000, Weight: 35. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. Not as effective but still effective. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to. A secondary question is whether I should replace the disruptors on my. I've only faced the unbidden, and they were easy compared to this. The Stellar Devourer's weapons are mostly energy and torpedoes, so shields and point defense are an effective counter. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. #2. Ships. As Stellaris has taken so many forms, there are a lot of guides for various things which can vary wildly based on the game version, so for someone looking info up, having something recent is great :)Lances and Focused Arc are the best XL. At 40 repetitions you have increased the damage by 200%. But their lower tracking makes them pretty weak against anything smaller. Uplifting them will give you +0. Mega Cannon is the go to choice because it reaches the enemy before other weapons due to X-weapons larger range and kinetic is good against the shields. Particles - Tier 4. [which obviously isn't easy in most cases]Every guide recommends plasma weapons, but mass disintegrators are higher dps than plasma weapons, do bonus damage to both armor and shields, and… Coins 0 coinsSame thing applies to Plasma throwers, their pretty good at damaging heavily armored targets such as battleships. Weapon components. Paradox. ago. ParasiteX May 21, 2017 @ 2:55am. Some people skip laser research to get plasma weapons early on but this is hard to pull off. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. I lost 9 corvettes. 96 days; Vanilla Autocannons (4x S only) are even worse, taking 112. This guide is based on Stellaris 1. Still the Overlord superior advance overwhelming resource. Any tips on what situation/role which weapon class wins out?Community Hub. Best tech against monsters is Missiles, Plasma, Thrusters and Shields, in order of impact. Ship self repair is either from space borne aliens, admirals, or living metal (and ok, there’s a shroud reward too). This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. Ship designer. Stellaris. An ongoing Stellaris AAR about battleships. T2 plasma throwers. 伤害：72-150. I cannot afford this right now, and I don't know how to change it. Weapon components. It's easier to to get high end shields (Dark matter) than Drake Armor and you can get Psionic shields in certain play throughs. 9, where plasma is slightly OP due to all weapons and armor working differently back then. 3. Core components. This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only. As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other. Plasma thrower is better against armour by tiny 0. Weapon components. I found myself dropping laser weapons completely because I feel they confuse the battlefield a lot. This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast Related Topics Stellaris Real. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. Ships. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. Age of Wonders 4 Empire of Sin Cities: Skylines 2 Crusader Kings 3 Europa Universalis 4 Hearts of Iron 4 Hunter: The Reckoning Imperator:. 花费：68. But combined with plasma, neutron or lances it is a really useful weapon. Any tips on what situation/role which weapon class wins out?Description version 2. Ship designer. If you know you're fighting things with few/no shields, plasma will be stronger than lasers. For M, S and L slots separately. . 能源消耗：-34. Against shields only and armor only. Stellaris Real-time strategy Strategy video game Gaming comments. Ships. I equipped my corvettes with a null void beam, plasma thrower, and mining drone laser. In terms of just increasing ship survivability, id do low hp shields with high regeneration and a lot of armor. Granting a lot chance for disengage. [deleted]Ultimately went Kinetic on Battleships and Plasma on cruisers. I have 50 destroyers fitted with flak turrets and that is my fleet’s. Carrier ai can increase that and thus can increase engagement range. Less dps than plasma and coils, but coils can be intercepted, and both coils and plasma can be blocked entirely by armor -- while lasers ignore armor at certain range. All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews. 花1分钟创建用户后就能进行编辑 :) 登录 注册. Your goal is to bring peace to the galaxy through a misguided lense of superior galactic benevolence. Half of the swarm has an autocanon while the rest has a plasma thrower. it's pretty easy to unlock their final tier by early midgame, since i don't waste engineering on researching new ship types). As an alternative to Plasma Throwers guaranteed by debris, they provide an early-game advantage by allowing you to invest early Physics research into ship components other than the Laser line while still having an energy. It seems as though Plasma Cannons are intended to be the energy weapon complement to the Stormfire Autocannon: both weapons do additional hull damage (+50% for plasma, +25% for stormfire); both weapons do considerable damage damage to one kind of defense (+100% to armor for plasma and +50% to shields for stormfire) but only. Core components. Ships.