Anticipating two, even three, moves ahead in the strike and riposte of combat system design, the Dragonfire was created to anticipate increasingly sophisticated anti-missile solutions. The concept is simple: use an enriched AM-catalyzed nuclear warhead to pump a focused plasma beam, delivering destructive energy without worry of point defense interception. The results were spectacular.
–-In-Game Description
True to its name, the Dragonfire DEM Torpedo is the low capacity, hard hitting version of the DEM family.
The torpedo fires from 1100 units away and its beam has base 8000 DPS applied for half a second, making it particularly devastating against armor, but is of limited use against shields as it inflicts soft flux; however, the large burst of 100% shield-efficient energy damage can push a partially-fluxed ship into an overload or force them to eat the torpedo on the armor, this is especially effective against low tech designs with weak shield emitters.
Like most DEM missiles, the Dragonfire is capable of unleashing its payload safely from beyond the range of most PD weapons. However, its slow flight speed makes it rather vulnerable to being intercepted while en route to the target or simply crash into debris and other obstacles. Much like the Atropos, the Dragonfire has homing capabilities. But like other DEMs, it has a brief delay during which it takes aim and charges up the laser, this allows faster ships to evade the energy beam at the last second and precludes firing the torpedo at close range where other torpedo weapons excel while having increased effectiveness when used at range.
The biggest drawback of the Dragonfire, however, is its incredibly low ammo reserve of just 2 rounds while costing 12 ordnance points to mount, compared to the Typhoon Reaper Launcher which costs 2 fewer OP and has thrice the ammunition, the Dragonfire comes off as an extremely impractical weapon in most cases. It's often more viable to invest in the aforementioned Typhoon or even the Jackhammer. However when this drawback is compensated for with hullmods such as Expanded Missile Racks, the Missile Specialization Officer Skill, and (when available) the Missile Autoforge ship system, Dragonfire mounts can have sufficient combat endurance to be useful in extended engagements.
