Plasma weapons are tools that dump propellant (and reactor heat) out the front of the ship to create a plume that causes extreme thermal damage and pushes against whatever is in front of it.
Kzinti Lesson MkII
A short-range magnetoplasma thrower utilizes thruster technology to rapidly deliver over 18GW of heat directly in front of the ship. Plasma is drawn directly from the ship's reactor. For obvious reasons, installation is limited to spinal hardpoints only. -In-Game Description
The Kzinti Lesson MkII is a short-range plasma thrower intended to dump a large amount of reactor heat 100 metres directly in front of the ship. The roughly 18 and a half gigawatts of thermal power required pushes the captain to use at least 20 SO6 "sunshards" in their reactor, or consider upgrading to ND's Yama series of reactor cores. Thermal draw is around 98% efficient, so an extra 400 megawatts of thermal draw is required to output the full 18 gigawatt rating.
| Effective range | Power consumption | Thermal consumption | Output power | Mass | Cost |
| 100 m | 200 MW | 18.4 GW | 18 GW | 2,750 kg | 100 000 E$ |
NANI
The long-range Nanoparticle Activated Nuclear Incinerator uses continuous nuclear detonation from internal uranium-salt tanks to provide unparalleled thermal output. Internal uranium tanks provide almost a minute of continuous burn and require replacement upon depletion. For obvious reasons, installation is limited to high-stress hardpoints only. -In-Game Description
Unlike the Kzinti Lesson, the NANI uses a nuclear detonation to aide in the production of a thermal dump. Boasting an impressive 230 gigawatt output for a tiny 2 gigawatt input and a range tenfold of the Kzinti Lesson, it folds under the limitation of having to rely on a uranium-salt fuel. It is best used in moderation for this reason, however you will likely need very little use to get the desired outcome.
| Effective range | Power consumption | Thermal consumption | Output power | Mass | Cost |
| 1,000 m | 200 MW | 2 GW | 230 GW | 10,000 kg | 300 000 E$ |
Notes
- The Kzinti Lesson is a reference to the Man-Kzin Wars books, where the only weapon the first contact ship had was their main drive
- Although the NANI is stated to have a limited fuel capacity, this can be recharged by using maintenance drones. This is unintended behaviour and is an artifact of the usage of the current damage model
- In the game's code, the reuse of thruster code led to an Easter Egg of the parent class being ironically named
not-a-thruster.tcsn - The NANI is closest to the (lore-wise) nuclear salt-water main thrusters of the BBW