Thermal Beam

"The Thermal Beam is a fearsome ship Energy weapon developed by VEGA to suppress the miner rebellion. Beam weapons are not easily escaped."

General
The Thermal Beam is the most basic Beam weapon obtainable by players. Beam weapons charge up a hit-scan beam that continuously damages targets, interrupted only when out of range.

It fires a golden beam at its target after charging up for several seconds. The charge up phase emits a loud power up noise, warning enemies of its powerful beam.

Advantages
Thermal Beams are very powerful short-range weapons, they are fairly lightweight allowing ships to pack a punch without sacrificing other aspects. Ion Modulators allow them to tear through shields as if they were made of paper.

Thermal Beams cannot be dodged and are therefore very reliable. Use Focused Optics to extend their range and open fire sooner.

Disadvantages
Thermal Beams, like most beam weapons, are horrible against squadrons due to their charge up time and the fact that they can only hit one target, allowing squadrons to open fire long before you destroy them.

Their charge up time also means that you are forced to keep enemy ships in your firing arc all the time to deal consistent damage. If the enemy strafes beyond your firing arc even for a split second, you will have to go through the charging process all over again. Hence, agile ships like frigates can make the most use out of this weapon.

Thermal Beams also have limited range, allowing your ships to be kited by others.

Trivia

 * The Thermal Beam originally displayed its projectile speed as 299,792,458 m/s (the speed of light), because of the fact that it is a heated energy beam.