An efficient long-range weapon with high burst damage. Extremely effective against fighters and, in the right circumstances, against exposed hull. Almost entirely ineffective against shields and features an interlock to prevent anti-shield use unless fully charged. Low sustained damage output due to needing to regenerate charges.
The IR Autolance is a support fragmentation burst-damage weapon. It stores enough charges to fire for little over four seconds dealing about 2200 damage in the process (ammo regeneration included). True to the description, the AI will try not to waste charges on shields, only firing at them if the charges are already at full capacity; the beam will flicker on the instant shields are dropped, making this weapon effective at punishing vessels attempting to 'shield flicker' (rapidly turn shields on and off) to allow some projectiles (kinetics, typically) through while blocking others (high-explosive or energy). If an enemy has compromised armor, the IR Autolance can provide consistent long-ranged punishment for dropping shields, maintaining pressure at a minuscule flux cost, and is extremely effective against most strikecraft (AKA fighters) - but there are exceptions (see below).
Against Armor[]
The IR Autolance can be deceptively powerful; it should absolutely not be written off as another weak beam weapon like the Tactical Laser or Ion Beam when considering armor/hull damage, as the Autolance is fully capable of shredding even capital ships when their defenses are down.
Due to being a beam weapon, the calculation for its effect against armor uses half of its listed DPS (500/2 = 250) – and as a frag weapon, it uses 1/4 of that, meaning its effective striking power against armor is 62.5 (and its weapon damage vs armor would be 125). While this is higher than an IR pulse laser, tactical laser, or many kinetic weapons, it's still low enough that this weapon can be effectively blocked (momentarily) by even very light armor; the default 150 armor rating of a Wolf frigate would apply (62.5/(62.5+150))=.294 as its armorDamage.Reduction level, meaning the first second of damage to the armor would deal .294 x 125 = 36.75 damage to the armor. The next second would deal 44.45, then 59, at which point the armor would be almost completely removed and most of the remaining charges would go into hull, dealing around 90% of its original damage (due to residual armor) for a little over a second (meaning 500 x .9 = 450 hull damage). A subsequent (or simultaneous) hit from a full magazine of IR Autolance shots would destroy the frigate.
This is a best-case scenario for the IR Autolance when used against opposing ships with armor, as residual armor can greatly reduce its damage against heavier targets (the Wolf being one of the lightest in the game). For instance, even the residual armor of an Onslaught (5% of 1750, meaning 87.5) will reduce the nominal 2200 damage to 41.66%, or 916.6 hull damage from a full magazine (and it would take many full magazines to strip the armor from the Onslaught). 916 hull damage is still a solid hit (almost a 20th of the Onslaught's total hull), but this clearly demonstrates that armor can have a huge impact on the Autolance's damage output. That being said, note that this damage against an armor-stripped Onslaught will come at a flux cost of .475 flux/damage, which still makes the weapon very highly efficient at dealing hull damage – the most direct comparison for a 1000-range hullbuster weapon would be the Heavy Mauler, which costs 1 flux/damage even if armor is ignored entirely (meaning its real hull damage will always be at least a tiny bit less efficient than that), while offering 120 DPS compared to the IR Autolance's 100 sustained DPS. In other words, the Autolance has much stronger spike-damage potential than the Heavy Mauler against armor-stripped targets, and much better efficiency in dealing hull damage, but slightly lower DPS. Given that the Mauler is often used as a finishing weapon, this puts the IR Autolance in good standing, especially when its perfect accuracy, instant hits against shield-dropped targets, Very Fast turret traversal, and anti-fighter capabilities are taken into consideration.
Against Strikecraft[]
Due to the aforementioned difficulties with armor, the Autolance's effectiveness against strikecraft varies wildly depending on what it's put up against. An entire magazine can only barely take down a single Broadsword fighter (Armor 100, Hull 750), but can easily melt through an entire wing of Talon Interceptors (4 strikecraft, Armor 25, Hull 200) with enough left over to potentially pick off another one before any of the craft reach the defending vessel. This can give the impression that the IR Autolance is overpowered against strikecraft (if it is first observed hitting light strikecraft) or mediocre (if observed fighting heavily-armored or shielded strikecraft). One notable aspect of the IR Autolance is that it is not a point-defense weapon; while it will generally prioritize strikecraft over enemy vessels (depending on the situation, but especially if the enemy ships have shields up), it will not target missiles or flares, instead picking off the strikecraft themselves. Whether this is a benefit or a detriment will depend on the situation and whether the ship has traditional point-defense for such threats.
Against Phase-Ships[]
Continuous-fire weapons are always a major threat to phase ships, with beams being especially problematic due to their instant-hit and perfect-accuracy nature. The IR Autolance, being a magazine-fed spike-damage weapon, can potentially kill a phase ship before it has a chance to do anything upon unphasing, and should be considered as part of a strong anti-phase loadout (and watched out for by players utilizing phase ships).
Loadout Tips[]
(Note that the following will discuss how the AI uses the IR Autolance. Players can use it to even greater effect.) Like its fellow medium-slot Energy weapon, the Ion Beam, the IR Autolance offers great utility to both its ship and the fleet as a whole, but does so at the expense of weapons which could help in winning direct flux exchanges (like the Pulse Laser or Graviton Beam). It is possible to create an Eagle loadout with two IR Autolances which can bully the Onslaught 1v1 in the simulator (thanks to user CapnHector on the Fractalsoftworks forums for showing off this build), and testing will show it can be a vital pressure tool for punishing shield flickering. This can indirectly contribute to winning flux exchanges by forcing a ship to keep its shields up at 1000su base engagement range or risk being punished with massive hull damage; it can make for an especially potent addition to a ship that otherwise brawls at closer ranges (for instance, with pulse lasers) by allowing them to back off and drop shields to remove hard flux, while denying this opportunity to the enemy (and with much more raw damage at stake than something like a tactical laser).
The IR Autolance can also add modest finishing-power to a vessel; while the AI will tend to over-fire it into armored opponents and waste charges, once armor is stripped the damage can be devastating, so ships that tend to force down enemy shields and strip armor at the same time (for instance, with a Tachyon Lance) will often see huge damage returns from this weapon.
In addition to its role as a long-range pressure/punisher tool, it serves as a potent anti-strikecraft addition to the loadout, and having a few of them in a squad of ships (that is, on ships assigned to escort another) can help keep the void clear of enemy wings while adding a brutal coup de grace to any enemies disabled by the squad. These myriad utility roles are why this weapon makes perfect sense for the Persean League, who tend to use it as their primary anti-strikecraft weapon; the IR Autolance gives its best showing when used in a combined-arms context with other ships, and the Cruiser School doctrine practiced by the Persean League is entirely focused on such specialist combined-arms tactics. It can be used effectively on almost all Midline ships, as these are the cruiser-school/Persean League ships it's intended for. To see it at its best, try two on a Sunder alongside a Tachyon Lance in a squad with ships that can assist in shield pressure, or try two on a Champion with Squall missiles and a Plasma Cannon or Tachyon Lance. While the damage output won't be outrageous, its efficiency is hard to argue with, and it makes strikecraft disappear. It can also make for an excellent addition to the Pegasus or Executor capital ships, as these two have many medium energy slots but tend to struggle with flux efficiency, as well as finishing-power outside of their large missile mounts.
Efficacy on high-tech/Tri-Tachyon loadouts can be substantially less impressive, depending on the fleet composition. High-Tech design patterns tend to favor assassin or hit-and-run tactics; while the IR Autolance lends itself to hit-and-run where the enemy is overfluxed and wants to lower shields (and likely has compromised armor), these ships are often desperate to get their DPS as high as possible to overwhelm the enemy in the first place, and may not have a slot to spare for a high-efficiency option like the Autolance. On ships which are already at their limit in flux expenditure for DPS, the Autolance can absolutely shine as a brutal 1000-range pressure tool, allowing ships like the Aurora to back off and drop shields to remove hard flux safely while preventing most enemies from doing likewise, and adding notable finishing power - especially when used with Expanded Magazines (even moreso when S-modded). It's not as splashable or as obvious a choice on these ships, but it does form a vital component of some strong loadouts for them – and it can help address enemy strikecraft, which can otherwise be a tremendous weakness of some loadouts on ships such as the Fury and Aurora, which tend to forego point defense in favor of simply dodging missiles, but can't shake off fighters.
Only up to date for version 0.96a. It is likely still broadly correct but not verified for the most up to date data yet. Please double check the Version History.
