Beam graser

The beam graser is a ranged weapon added by the Biotech DLC that fires a beam that attacks pawns as it travels through multiple different tiles, potentially lighting them on fire. It is the main armament of the tesseron.

Acquisition[edit]

In the Biotech DLC alone, beam grasers cannot be crafted. Instead they can be found ??.

Beam grasers also spawn on all tesserons, including those gestated by a colony. However, it is not possible to obtain one from them as they will not drop it on death, downing, or complete loss of manipulation like other weapons.

With the Odyssey DLC, Beam grasers can be crafted at a fabrication bench once the Beam weapons research project has been completed. Each requires 30 Plasteel, 30 Steel, 4 Advanced components, 47,000 ticks (13.06 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 8.

Summary[edit]

This weapon has a minimum range of 3.9. It has special damage rules and an instant projectile.
Creates a physical beam that sweeps from one end to another in a line. It hits everything that remains in its way, except for the intended target.
The intended target is immune to the physical beam, but is hit directly, using regular accuracy mechanics.
Checks heat armor. Has a 50% to light enemies on fire.
Bypasses area shields. Personal shields block projectile, but not ignite chance.
Can be fired while wearing a shield belt.

Analysis[edit]

Beam grasers are a very unconventional weapon, and dangerous in enemy hands, though poor for general colony use. Like the beam repeater, the graser checks heat armor with enough AP to ignore most non-mech armor, lights enemies on fire, and can ignore shields. The beam graser specifically will also bypass cover when lighting pawns on fire, and can be fired while wearing a shield belt. However, beam grasers have poor DPS and middling range. In addition, the equippable weapon cannot be enhanced by quality, further limiting its DPS. Also, this weapon is ineffective against mechanoids, as mechs have 200% heat armor and are immune to fire.

This weapon lights pawns on fire, which can be a good thing in an open engagement for getting enemies out of cover, but is an active detriment for melee block strategies. This is because pawns lit on fire will ignore collision and run past the melee block, and will end up flanking your own pawns. In fortified positions like killboxes, the fire can be detrimental for a similar reason.

Overall, the beam graser is great for dealing with enemies in cover. However, because a well-designed base should not give enemies cover, the utility is limited. It can help when actively attacking enemies, e.g., when raiding an enemy tile. Compared to grenades, the beam graser has much better range and is compatible with a shield belt, but is much worse at destroying structures, and relies on the shooter's accuracy.

Note that while beam grasers can bypass shields, they are poor at actually destroying low-shield packs and mech low-shields.

Comparisons[edit]

Beam repeater: Although sharing similar beam mechanics, they fulfill different roles. The beam graser is designed to keep enemies out of cover and has some AOE. The beam repeater deals high single-target damage, but has a massive warmup and cooldown period.

Incinerator: The incinerator is the only other ranged weapon that can be fired with a shield belt. Despite its shorter range, the incinerator is better at fulfilling a support role, as it more reliably ignites pawns and the burner ability gives it extra flexibility. The beam graser does have more AP and a shorter firing cycle, but if DPS is desired, then a different weapon should be used.

Melee attacks table[edit]

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Beam graser		Barrel (Blunt)					Barrel (Poke)					Human: Left & right fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
4.4	13.13%	9	2s	13.5%	4.5	37.5%	9	2s	13.5%	4.5	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	144

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history[edit]

Biotech DLC Release - Added.
1.4.3555 - Armor Penetration of Beam increased to 50% from 1%
1.6.4518 - No longer an unobtainable nor a mechanoid exclusive weapon. Can now be found in play. Crafting recipe added. Tech level changed from Ultra to Spacer. Description changed from "A high-energy gamma ray laser which fires a sweeping beam that burns and ignites targets. Because of the health risks, grasers are usually only used by mechanoids, and this one was made to interface directly with a mechanoid wielder and draw from its power source. changed to "A gamma ray laser which fires a sweeping beam. The narrow, high-energy beam can pierce thick armor and ignite targets."

Weapons