Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Exotic technologies

If you conquer Orion's Guardian you will receive a random set of 4 space ship technologies that you can't research. You may also gain a few by capturing and scrapping 1 or 2 Antaran ships, but this is very difficult and in any case you can conquer the Guardian quite a long time before the Antarans first attack you.

In many multi-player games you can't gain any exotic technologies, because they are played with the game setting "Antarans attack" switched off, and attacking Orion is forbidden.

The components that these techs provide are powerful but mostly bulky and expensive. Because you can do no further research on these techs, the exotic components never miniaturize.

Death Ray
Ship beam weapon that does 50-100 points damage, minus whatever is blocked by the target's shields, and has normal dissipation; also 1 Marine per 5 points of damage that penetrate the target's shields. For a long time this is the best way to penetrate very high-tech shields, as Death Rays are less bulky than Mauler Devices are initially (when you eventually research Mauler Devices), but miniaturization rapidly makes Mauler Devices more useful. Death Rays are easily the most expensive way to arm a ship. Miniaturization: none.Modifications: (0) HV but not PD; (1) none; (2) none.

Note: in the MS-DOS and Windows versions of MOO II you always get Death Ray plus 3 other techs from Orion (the Antarans' tiny raiding fleets never use Death Rays, so you can't get the tech from them). In the Mac version Death Ray is just another exotic tech that you may get from Orion.

Getting Death Rays is a mixed blessing:
 * It actually reduces the capabilities of Star Bases and Ground Batteries, because a few Death Rays will replace a larger number of non-exotic weapons that were doing their job well.
 * Death Rays are never the best "beam" weapon to use against Antarans, because Death Rays' greatest strength is their ability to burn holes in shields but the Antarans never use shields (they use Damper Fields, see below).

Particle Beam
Ship beam weapon that does 10-30 points of damage and is naturally shield-piercing. Unfortunately it's not clear whether Hard Shields block Particle Beams' shield-piercing effect. If they do, Particle Beams are too bulky to be great ship weapons, because miniaturized versions of high-tech weapons that you can research offer a higher ratio of damage done per unit of ship space used and also burn holes in high-tech shields. PD Particle Beams are the ultimate weapons for Fighters, as no weapon more powerful than Particle Beams has a PD version; but Fighters are a poor weapon beyond the early game, as they are slow to reach their targets and can be wiped out by a drive explosion; "beams" plus a good computer are usually the quickest way to destroy enemy ships and bases. Miniaturization: none.

Black Hole Generator
Ship special weapon that creates a black hole which immobilizes the target and will destroy it in 2 combat turns, unless the Generator is destroyed. The target ship can also be fired on while in the black hole, and this may destroy it in 1 turn. Bulky and has rather short range. Any ship that has a Black Hole Generator will be a priority target, and any ship that's tough enough to survive being a priority target can destroy enemy ships more quickly with conventional weapons. Miniaturization: none.

Spatial Compressor
Ship special weapon that damages all objects in a 2-square radius (friend or foe), bypassing armor and shields and affecting only the victims' structure; but a Damper Field reduces the damage in its normal way. The Spatial Compressor does 4-32 points of damage times the target's size class (e.g. 4-32 against a Frigate, 16-128 against a Battleship) and is also fairly effective against missiles and fighters. It is a very superior version of Pulsar and therefore not a very impressive offensive weapon: it can damage it's own side's ships, missiles and fighters; and its short range reduces its effectiveness; later in the game enemy ships have a choice of ways to destroy ships that are armed with Spatial Compressors before they get into range, and good "beam" or torpedo weapons are the most effective because the Spatial Compressor offers no protection against these. May be better than PD "beams" for players with poor computers; but a Spatial Compressor "fires" only once per combat turn and therefore may be overcome by multiple groups of missiles or fighters that strike in the same turn. Very late in the game Subspace Teleporter may make the Spatial Compressor a usable weapon, and in fact if you defeat Orion's Guaridan you get a free Battleship that has Spatial Compressor + Subspace Teleporter. But there other ways to use the Subspace Teleporter. Miniaturization: none.

Damper Field
Ship defense that does not block damage but reduces it to 25% of its normal level. The field also has a 50% chance of killing boarding troops that attempt to transport into the ship (via Transporters); Assault Shuttles and ship-to-ship boarding are not affected in this way, but are dangerous because they require something to move right next to the target ship, which will usually destroy them. A ship cannot have both shields and a Damper Field. A Damper Field requires less space than Class 7 or Class 10 shields unless the shields are their 4th or 5th level of miniaturization. Miniaturization: none.

Damper Fields are a more effective defense than shields against the powerful high-tech weapons, because these weapons burn holes in even Class 10 Shields on Doom Stars and the shields cease to protect, but a Damper Field goes on protecting until its generator is destroyed.

But Damper Fields leave ships vulnerable to 2 quite low-tech types of weapon:
 * EMG missiles work well against such ships because they hit the engines, and there's no shield to block them. The Damper Field's damage-reducing effect is often insufficient to prevent a drive explosion.
 * Ion Pulse Cannnons don't work against Space Monsters or Antarans, but work normally against non-Antaran ships, often causing drive explosions. There are several ways to defend ships against missiles (PD weapons, Lightning Fields, Polaris) but there's no sure defense against beam weapons such as Ion Pulse Cannnons.

Despite these weaknesses, the Damper Field is the best protection when going into action against:
 * a Stellar Converter, which laughs at even Class 10 shields.
 * the Antarans. Their raiding fleets use Particle Beams. When you attack Antares, their Star fortress and defense fleet are very heavily armed with a mixture of Particle Beams that bypass shields and HV Death Rays that quickly burn through even Class 10 shields.

Xentronium Armor
This is 25% tougher than Adamantium Armor (the best you can research), and blocks the AP effects of some weapons without the use of  Heavy Armor. Xentronium Armor is an excellent tech with no disadvantages.

Quantum Detonator
Ship special system that triples the power of the drive explosion when the ship is destroyed or self-destructs, and has a 50% chance of causing a self-destruct if the ship is captured by a boarding raid. A depressing, defeatist component. Miniaturization: none.