Damage

Damage to objects in Begin can be caused by an antimatter explosion or the use of phaser banks. Either method causes a similar type of damage. Some objects in Begin can be damaged without exploding. Other objects will explode if they are damaged in any way. Ships, for example, can sustain much damage without exploding. They also have shields that will prevent damage as long as they can. Torpedoes, on the other hand, will explode if any energy reaches them from phasers or other explosions.

Phasers

Phaser energy can only be generated by "phaser banks". Phaser banks take in energy units and emit them in a form that can damage other objects. In Begin, only ships can carry phaser banks. The energy put out by the phaser is determined when the phaser is designed. The same number of eu that are needed to change the phaser are emitted when the phaser is fired. Thus the phaser (like all weapons in Begin) is 100% efficient. The spread of the phaser beam can be determined when the phaser is fired. As the spread is made wider, more objects can be hit by the phaser beam, but less energy reaches the objects. Phaser energy decreases linearly with the distance from the phaser bank to the target. At the extreme limit of the phaser range, almost no energy reaches the intended target.

Antimatter

Antimatter explosions have a strength that depends on the amount of energy units that caused the explosion. If 10 energy units in a torpedo explode, all 10 units are converted into damaging energy. Unlike phasers, the reduction in strength of an antimatter explosion is reduced by the square of the distance from the explosion. The effect of damaging energy on an object depends on the amount of energy and the object that is being damaged. Regular (non-plasma) torpedoes and probes will instantly explode if any energy reaches them. Plasma torpedoes will not necessarily explode. The amount of energy reaching them causes a corresponding amount of damage to the plasma torpedo. If the energy contained inside the plasma torpedo is reduced to zero, the torpedo will be removed from the game.

Shields

If a ship is hit by damaging energy, the amount of energy reaching the ship controls what happens to the ship. First, the damaging energy is reduced by any shields that are facing the explosion or phaser beam. Then, the amount of energy the make it through the shields is used to kill the crew of the ship and damage sub-systems on the ship. Different sub-systems on the ship are harder to damage than others. Also, damage to a sub-system may render it instantly inoperable (like torpedo tubes) or may simply reduce its efficiency (like warp drives or some reactor damage). A piece of damaged equipment may be further damaged by additional hits. Damage to shields can come from absorbing energy or by damage to the shied generator in the ship. Shields will recover the temporary damage caused by absorbing energy on their own. Damage to the shield generators must be repaired by the crew. The maximum absorbing strength of the shield is determined by the state of the shield generator.