The ship's reactor automatically extends an energy shield around the ship. When attacked by Energy Weapons, these shields will absorb an amount of damage based on the reactor's efficiency, and apply it to the reactors instead. Consequently, if energy weapons are used exclusively in combat, a ship can be disabled without any hull damage, by destroying its reactors and leaving it disabled. Frequently used by pirates, this is not a perfect technique, as reactors melting down often create plasma fires that can burn up the ship from within.

Long range, low damage. A stream of plasma-accelerated charged particles, or ions, traveling at close to the speed of light (warp 1), particle beams are the longest-range weapon available. When it strikes its target, the kinetic energy is transferred, causing minor damage.

Medium range, medium damage, can destroy torpedoes. A focused beam of light that's fast and accurate at short- to medium-range, at long ranges blooming causes a loss of energy due to dispersal and lasers quickly become harmless. While mediocre as weaponry, lasers are still considered standard equipment because of their ability to intercept torpedoes.

Kinetic weapons are unaffected by shields, and can be used to tear apart a ship's hull. Once the hull has been breached, further fire can be directed into exposed rooms to disable the ship. Kinetic damage hitting the ship's reactors has a chance of exploding and destroying everything around it, and a torpedo strike on the reactors is a common tactic for destroying a ship outright. For this reason, many ships are designed with the reactors on pylons to minimize the risk, or deep within the center of the ship behind additional hull plating.

Short range, high damage. Railguns launch an array of solid projectiles with high density that can tear apart a ship's hull. Since they are traveling a subluminal speeds however, evasion or laser interception is trivial unless at close range.

Long range, very high damage, expensive. The ultimate weapon, a torpedo contains a small warp reactor that allows it to travel at warp towards its target, at which point it drops out of warp and transfers a massive amount of energy right at the point of impact. Additionally, the warp reactor itself will explode, causing even further damage. The only defense against a torpedo strike is laser interception to disrupt its warp field, but this is extremely difficult to do since the torpedo is traveling faster than the laser itself.