Spectral Warheads

"The Spectral Warheads improve the detonation radius of Explosive weapons as well as disrupting shield technology."

General
"Spectral Warheads increase the detonation radius of explosive weapons, as well as disrupting enemy shields."

- Sybil

Spectral Warheads boost Explosive weapons by increasing their area of effect, shield damage and shield bypass, at the cost of decreased health damage.

Advantages
Spectral Warheads are optimized against shields, increasing the shield damage on one hand, while also enhancing shield penetration. Combined with the extra explosive radius, weapons equipped with this special can absolutely decimate groups of heavily-shielded enemies.

They are very effective in battleship fights, which often involve regenerating shields and tight line formations.

Disadvantages
Spectral Warheads use up a lot of mass, but the extra shield damage and shield bypass are mostly useless against opponents that are well-armored, especially modules and Xeno Division Hulls. In this case, AM Warheads perform just as well at a much lower cost.

Trivia

 * Unlike Ionized Optics and Phased Magnets which combine the two researchable specials with respect to their damage type, the spread bonus from Sweep Launcher is replaced by shield damage and bypass in Spectral Warheads, making this weapon boost rather unique. It combines Ion Modulator, AM Warheads and Phased Projectiles which each come from one of the three basic weapon types.