STO Guidelines

Firing Arcs Animation showing the firing arcs of various forward weaponsA weapon’s firing arc is the angle of view, measured in degrees (°), inside which an enemy ship must be located. Targets outside of this arc cannot be fired upon by the weapon; you must turn so that the target is within the firing arc in order to fire. (Note that the firing arc for aft-mounted weapons is measured from the rear center, as opposed to the front center for fore weapons.)

You can preview a weapon’s firing arc by holding the mouse cursor over that weapon’s icon on your action bar. The firing arc only represents the angle at which the weapon can fire; it does not represent its range.

The following table shows the firing arcs of each weapon type in Star Trek Online:

Weapon firing arcs 45° 90° 180° 250° 360° No Arc
Dual Cannons
Dual Heavy Cannons
Torpedo Launcher
Mobile Device Launcher
Dual Beam Bank
Cannon
Beam Array
Turret
Device Launcher
Mine Launcher

Damage types & bonusesSee the damage types article for more information.
Energy weapons
Phaser: 2.5% chance to disable a random subsystem
Disruptor: 2.5% chance to lower the targets damage resistance by 10% for 15 sec
Plasma: 2.5% chance to apply a non-stacking damage-over-time debuff
Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce all enemy subsystem power levels by 25
Tetryon: 2.5% chance to deal additional shield damage
Antiproton: Shield Penetration
Kinetic weapons
Photon: 50% chance -20 Able crew
Quantum:10% chance -10 Alive crew
Plasma: Chance to apply Fire damage to hull for 10 sec
Transphasic: Increased shield penetration
Chroniton: -100% Flight Speed and Turn Rate for 10 sec
Tricobalt: Disables targets for 2 sec