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Type I Phaser
The type I phaser is a small hand-held Phaser,
approximately the size of a pack of cards, that can
be easily concealed. They can fire up to Setting 8,
which causes total vaporization of humanoids as 50%
of affected matter transitions out of the continuum.
Type II Phaser
This is a larger hand unit. Early models of the type
II phaser used a type I phaser clipped into a pistol
grip, but modern weapons seem to have little in
common with the smaller model. The modern type II
phaser can fire up to setting 16, which causes the
destruction of some 3,900 metric tons of rock per
0.28 second discharge.
Type III Phaser
The type III is a rifle version of the type II
phaser. It uses a nearly identical "business end" as
the type II, and is also capable of firing to setting
16. The advantages of the type III are a 50% greater
energy reserve, a multiple target acquisition system
and a gyrostabilizer system. Recently the standard
type III phaser rifle has apparently received the
same advanced targeting system as the Heavy phaser
rifle.
Type IV Phaser
The type IV phaser, also known as the Compressed
Phaser Rifle, is similar to the Type III phaser but
is capable of creating a concentrated burst of phaser
energy. The power release for each setting is the
same but the effect is much more destructive in
nature. Up to 50% more damage is capable.
To aid in the compression of the beam, the design
team built a small isolinear artificial intelligence
unit into the rifle which has complete control of the
energy discharge. This approach met with considerable
success in a testing program that was surprisingly
free of difficulties. The use of a computer control
system also allows the beam characteristics to be
modified much more easily than in previous phaser
rifles, a measure clearly important when dealing with
the Borg.
The type IV rifle also includes a much more effective
and elaborate targeting system, a more powerful
gyrostabilizer, and a larger energy reserve. The
targeting unit is now being retro-fitted into earlier
models of phaser rifle.
Disruptors
Romulan Disruptors are essentially identical to a
Phaser II except that they are slightly heavier,
around 1.75 pounds. Romulans also have a Phaser III
like weapon with similar stats to the Federation
Phaser III. Romulan disruptor fire can be identified
by a high residue of antiprotons that can linger for
several hours after the weapon has been used.
Also know as Phase Disruptors, Klingon Disruptors are
similar to Phaser II's with only power levels 8 and 9
available. Also, weight is around 2.5 pounds, since
they have a larger power cell. However, they only
have 200 charges due to the fact that the Klingon
power cell is less sophisticated than the ones the
Federation or the Romulans use.
Other Disruptors, such as the ones used by the
Ferengi and other races, are similar to Phaser I's in
effectiveness, charges, range, etc., but are like
Phaser II's in size.
Phase Disruptors follow the same basic principle as
the Federation Phaser in that they cause the target
to transition violently out of this continuum. But
the Disruptor uses slow nadions rather than rapid
nadions in generating the energy beam. This gives the
disruptor a considerably lower energy conversion
efficiency than the Starfleet phaser. This is
partially offset by a moderate reduction in the size
of the hardware required for the weapon itself - the
space freed up by this allows a higher power weapon
to be installed in the same space. The Federation
phaser is therefore considered to be more
sophisticated and generally more effective than the
disruptor, which relies on brute power to overcome
its efficiency failings.
Like phasers, disruptor weapons can fire sustained
beams or pulses depending on the exact configuration
of the hardware. One major drawback to this type of
weapon is that no user has been able to develop the
efficiency of the system to a point where individual
emitters can be linked via force coupling. This makes
it virtually impossible to construct a linear
disruptor array along the pattern of Starfleets
phaser arrays. Since these weapons entered Federation
service on board the Ambassador class there has been
massive investment by the Klingons and Romulans to
overcome this deficiency, but neither power has been
able to field such a weapon. Recent warship designs
by these two powers have instead concentrated on
building ever larger and more powerful single emitter
weapons, and the linear array remains one of
Starfleets significant advantages.
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