Impulse Beam

"The Impulse Beam is a short range Energy weapon that builds up an extraordinary amount of energy for bursts of high damage."

General
The Impulse Beam is a powerful Energy beam weapon that is popular in medium-level combat.

It charges up a bright yellow beam that fires for a brief moment before having to cool down. The beam passes through any obstacles in the way.

Advantages
Impulse Beams are considered a direct upgrade over the Thermal Beam, with more firepower and range. When boosted by Focused Optics V, they can even fight back against long-range weapons such as ECHO Rays.

Impulse Beams are optimized for focus-firing enemy ships. The beam cannot be blocked in any way, enabling your ships to target and destroy one ship at a time without resistance.

Disadvantages
Impulse Beams have to charge up for a long time before being able to fire; similar-ranged ships could get a hit in and then fly out of your range, taking no damage in the process. This also makes the weapon particularly weak against squadrons, since they will already be firing on your ships before you could even start destroying them.

The long firing cycle of this weapon often causes your ships to overkill targets, wasting much of the beam's power.