Fire Beam

[Epicuro Kishore]

Beam detection has always been seen as the most economical way to protect large areas, but in the past this was seen as unreliable. Building movement and accessibility made beam detection unreliable, difficult, time consuming to commission and hard to maintain. Only now, with the introduction of The Fire Beam's advanced technology, is reliability no longer a problem and beam detection be used with complete confidence.

The Fire Beam will self-align itself to the centre of the reflector when commissioning and will automatically keep alignment when building movement occurs. This intelligent motorisation will mean less false alarms therefore saving time, resources, reputations and ultimately money.

Two main attributes make our Fire Beams stand out from the crowd. A motorised beam head that continually self-aligns, and low level control from which all major functions can be performed.

Up until now, aligning an optical beam could well have been a nightmare, often giving uncertain results that can lead to false alarms. By utilising motors within the beam head The Fire Beam can make commissioning a safer and more accurate procedure. Our unique method of using high quality stepper motors allows us to make micro adjustments of just 1/40 of 1 degree to the beam head. This is automatically controlled by software which finds and continually monitors its position in relation to the reflector. A simple commissioning procedure ensures that you achieve perfect alignment every time and that your beam will keep that alignment.

Building movement is the enemy of beam detection, as the smallest movement of a building through heat changes or settlement will move a beam off its target (imagine a couple of degrees of movement in a 100m building). The Fire Beam will continually monitor any movement and re-align itself automatically. How many times have you had to return to a site and re-align beams at high level, and at what expense?

The Fire Beam Range now offers two different options for low level control. Choose either the wired low level controller with the XTRA, or take advantage of new wireless Bluetooth control via an App with the Fire Beam BLUE.

Low level control means just that. Once you have the head in place and set up, you can make any changes and adjustments you want from ground level using either the app (wireless BLUE model) or the Low Level Controller (wired XTRA model). You can:

IP65: means no ingress whatsoever making The Fire Beam ideal for environments, such as food processing halls, as it can be hosed down. IP65 also means nasty little creatures can't set up home inside and jeopardise the effectiveness of the detector.

Easy Clean: Both the BLUE and the XTRA feature easy to clean faces, due to their flat surfaces. Unlike other beams, all the moving optics are safely encased inside the waterproof enclosure so you won't accidentally knock the beam out of alignment. This means The Fire Beam models can easily be cleaned from ground level using something like a no-climb pole and suitable attachment.

Great cost savings can be made over spot and air sampling systems. For example, just one beam can be used instead of 16 spot detectors so cost savings can be considerable. Furthermore, wiring to a single head is more cost effective than fitting yards of air sampling tubing.

Our advanced technology will greatly reduce commissioning time. It is commonplace for us to see 25 beams fully commissioned in less than one day. You simply start with one beam and move onto the next, then the next, all from ground level. Spending hours working at height trying to align beams is a thing of the past. Furthermore, self-alignment in normal service means not having to go back and re-align the beam after building movement - again saving time and the expense of lifting equipment, not to mention the disruption this causes your customers.

Reflected Beam Smoke Detectors are designed for spacious rooms, open areas, and high ceilings. With only one device to install and align, these single-ended optical beam solutions saves you time and money on large area applications.

Beams are the only weapons that never miss. They hit the first room instantly, then rapidly track along their path. As they are not projectiles, beams cannot collide with anything; for example, they cannot be intercepted by a stray laser or asteroid.

Unlike other weapons, beams allow players to target any part of a room. The first click sets the starting point and displays a line indicating the beam length, which can be rotated to set the end point. The second click fires the beam.

Even catching a room with the tiniest edge of a beam will deal full hull and system damage. The damage is applied at the first moment that a beam enters a room. Enemies target beams inefficiently, starting the beam in the centre of a room.

The damage of a beam is reduced by one for every shield layer, giving the most powerful beams some ability to pierce shields. For example, a 2-damage Halberd Beam can deal 1 damage (per room) through 1 shield layer.

Crew damage works differently: it's applied when a beam first enters the tile that a crew member occupies. Similarly, the Fire Beam starts fires on a per-tile basis, so hitting more tiles can start more fires. Damage to crew drones is halved.

Regular damage beams can be used as Anti-Bio Beam analogs, e.g.: Pike-bio Beam. Similarly, Mini Beam can be used as Fire Beam, albeit weaker, analog: a beam swipe must be started just before shield depletion - fire occurs even on the initial swipe tile (without dealing hull damage).

The Firebeam's primary purpose is harassment and removal of enemy weapons. While the beam fired by the weapon deals significantly lower direct damage than the Plasma Laser, its strength lies in its alarming piercing capability, being easily capable of punching through multiple layers of armor and dense woodspam, damaging weapons and devices behind it. The beam will set the structure it hits on fire. Quite often, if the direct blast won't destroy the targeted weapon, the lingering fire will finish it off.

Because even double-dooring will not protect against the Firebeam, it is extremely effective at killing low-HP weapons, such as Mortars or the Flak. Multiple Firebeams shot in tandem are even capable of easily destroying heavy weapons (like the Cannon), often forcing the opponent to defend his weapons with Energy Shields or extreme amounts of Doors and Armor.

The weapon synergizes well with the Plasma Laser. If the Firebeam is fired at the enemy fort before hitting the same weakened spot with the Plasma Laser, it will dramatically increase the penetrative power of the latter. If successfully executed and targeted at a vulnerable spot, this popular move is easily capable of collapsing a fort in a single salvo.

Firebeam is the cheapest heavy weapon in the game to build, costing just 400 metal and 3000 energy to build. Like other laser weapons, it requires no metal to fire. At 2000 energy, it is one of the two cheapest heavy weapons to fire (the other one being 20mm Cannon). Like other laser weapons, it can still be fired without the required 2000 energy, but the beam will cut off the moment energy reserve hits 0.

The main weakness of the Firebeam is its fragility, having the least amount of hitpoints out of all heavy weapons. At 180 hitpoints, theoretically it should be able to survive 1 sniper shot without being destroyed. In reality, most of the time the Firebeam is likely to be hit by a sniper while firing. If the sniper bullet touches the beam mid-fire, the impact is going to set the Firebeam ablaze. Combined damage from a direct sniper hit and the lingering flames are guaranteed to finish the weapon off before it can be extinguished in time. This vulnerability is aggravated by the weapon's long volley, exposing the weapon for an extended period of time, much like with the 20mm Cannon and the Magnabeam.

FirebeamDescription"Penetrates and ignites structure, projectiles"StatsCost400 metal, 3000 energyFiring cost2000 energyBuild time75 secondsDamage125 over duration of the beam + fire damage over timeFiring duration2.5 secondsReload time17 secondsHP180Mass90CharacteristicsTech requiredFactoryProsVery effective at destroying low-hp weapons and devices. Can easily pierce even multiple layers of armor and damage objects behind it. Multiple Firebeams can destroy full health heavy weapons. Can weaken wooden structure for Plasma Laser, tremendously boosting its piercing ability.ConsDeals low direct damage against fort structure. Completely reflected by energy shields. Unless used in groups of more than 1, largely ineffective against heavy weapons. Gives off a cloud of visible steam while reloading.

The Firebeam is a laser-type heavy weapon, unlocked by the Factory. It fires a long-lasting, perfectly accurate laser that phases through wood and armor, and sets everything along its path on fire.

The Firebeam's primary purpose is harassment and removal of enemy weapons. While the beam fired by the weapon deals significantly lower direct damage than the Plasma Laser, its strength lies in its alarming piercing capability. The beam damages and ignites everything within a distance of 160 units, or 90 units when penetrating doors or armor. This makes it capable of punching through infinite layers of armor and dense woodspam within that distance while damaging weapons and devices behind it. The beam will set the structure it hits on fire. Quite often, if the direct blast won't destroy the targeted weapon, the lingering fire will finish it off.

It is extremely effective at killing low-HP weapons, such as Mortars or the Flak. Multiple Firebeams shot in tandem are even capable of easily destroying heavy weapons (like the Cannon), often forcing the opponent to defend their weapons with Energy Shields, spaced Doors or Armor, or sandbags.

One of the less obvious disadvantages of the Firebeam is its reload animation. It includes the weapon emitting a puff of steam (showing the weapon cooling off after the discharge) continuously throughout the reload process. This effect is highly visible even with the weapon well concealed behind foreground bracing, and it easily gives away the exact position of the weapon, making it even more vulnerable to sniping, especially since it also informs the opponent when the weapon has finished reloading.

c80f0f1006