Phasers:
Phaser, or Phased Energy Ratification, is the standard Starfleet direct particle energy weapon deployed to its ships. Created in the mid-23rd century and based off the Phased Particle Lasers of the 22nd and early 23rd century Starfleet, Phasers revolutionized intra-ship combat with the combination of range and versatility lacking in PPL weaponry of the previous centuries. The use of the rapid nadion effect to release and transfer energy with the use of super conducting crystals known as fushi-go-ni-umi. Ships can use these beams of energy as tools (say, to remove obstacles, excavate large holes, or reshape planetary terrain) or as weapons.
Ship mounted phasers are organized into types, rated from I (one) to X (ten). Generally, type X is the most powerful phaser that Starfleet can mount on a ship. Advances in technology as of 2372 have allowed them to mount type XI and type XII phasers on large ships, and most recently type XIII and XIV for the largest and most heavily armed vessels in the fleet.
Phasers consist of multiple emitters organized into series of arrays. An emitter has three main parts: an EPS sub-master flow regulator (which controls phaser power levels), a plasma distribution manifold (PDM), which channels power through the pre-firing chambers, and the actual phaser emitter crystal. A large array, such as those found on the dorsal or ventral saucers of many Starfleet vessels, may have as many as 200 emitters (the minimum number is 40). The type of emitter dictates how powerful a beam the array can emit: the size of the array indicates how many beams the said array can emit at one time (single or in multi-fire bursts). The EPS subsystem that provides power to the phaser array is called the phaser generator.
Pulse phasers are a relatively new Starfleet development. They combine large, nearly flawless emitter crystals with rapid-discharge EPS capacitance banks and high-speed beam focusing coils to store phaser discharge for a few nano-seconds, and then release it in layered pulses. Shields and other materials have a harder time dispersing the layered pulse energy than a standard phaser beam, resulting in more damage to the target.
Pulse phaser cannons are usually built in linked pairs. They have the same range as standard phasers, but are slightly less accurate albeit more powerful. They also have a smaller arc of fire (usually just straight forward) and cannot fire in continuous mode or wide beam mode without extensive modifications. Their main purpose is for combat.
The Phaser G is the latest innovation on an old technology long unused since the 23rd and early 24th century. Essentially, a Type IX pulse phaser emitter extensively modified with isomagnetic current manifolds and coolant coils to allow for a tripled rate of firepower. They are typically used for projectile and fighter dispersion and have a range lower than that of a normal phaser. Whereas they are capable of firing three shots to every standard phaser arrays one which allows for enormous cumulative shots to an unsuspecting enemy or advancing wing of fighters. In rare cases, phalanx phasers can be reconfigured to fire in long-range dispersion fire to act as a sort of makeshift disruptor but this often leads to overheating of the emitter coils.
Phaser beams or ordinarily useless at warp speeds; they dissipate too quickly in the presence of moving warp fields to be effective weapons. To provide a potential tactical advantage in warp speed combat situations, Starfleet recently invented technology, which jackets a phaser beam inside an annular confinement beam (ACB), similar to the materialization/dematerialization device used in transporter technology. The advantage is that ships can fire at warp speeds, regardless to the relative speed or angle of fire.
Long theorized and only recently put into practice in a workable model on the USS Ascendant, Tetryon plasma, used in many of new breeds of Starfleet vessels through Tetryon Plasma Conduits and manifolds instead of standard electro-warp plasma, is channeled directly into the new T-EPS sub master flow regulators and into redesigned Tetryon Plasma Distribution Manifolds and into multi-faceted isolated emitters to increase the rapid nadion effect by at least 20-40%, with only .5 the cost in power to normal phaser systems. Added to the increased power efficiency and destructive force, this broad energy spectrum tetryon warp plasma’s natural high-energy gamma flux disrupts subspace along the beam in conjunction within a Verteron pulse compression wave. This allows the weapon to penetrate and ‘shred’ nearly any type of subspace based shielding systems, and the extra gamma flux energy wavelengths make it a perfect tool against fighting Borg adaptive capabilities. The ‘T-Channeled’ Phasers also increases the range of the standard Federation Phaser array, up to 400,000 km to equal Borg high-energy disruptor beams.
Although the only examples of such technology have been implemented on the Rogue class of gunship) proto-type) and Ascendant class Starships, Operations is creating refit software and equipment packages to upgrade ships already using Tetryon Warp Plasma drives with the improved phasers.
(Counts as Isolated Emitters, Broad Spectrum Energy Beam, Phaser Jacketed Phaser Beam and Pulse Compression Wave rules; 125% of normal base damage + 50 damage + 20% thereof, +30 power cost and increases all weapons ranges by 25% )
A ship can configure a phaser beam to carry physical agents, such as chemical weapons, biogenic weapons, Borg nanoprobes or advanced nanites. If a phaser acting as a carrier impacts a planet, it spreads the carried agent into the planets atmosphere. If it hits a ship and penetrates its hull, it releases the agent into the ship. The effects depend on the agents carried.