History VideoGame / EndlessSky

* RedSkyTakeWarning: [[spoiler:The [[ApocalypseHow Ember Wastes]] have a red background haze colour, as opposed to the usual blue. The haze even carries over to the main menu.]]

* ButThouMust: At the end of the Kestrel sidequest, you are given the option to name the ship, but Atinoda will reject all your suggestions until you choose The Right One. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a proper homage to ''Escape Velocity''[='=]s iconic ship.
--> When you say the word 'Kestrel' he jerks as if he's just been electrocuted. "Yes," he says, "that's it! That's the name we'll go with."

* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The Particle cannon, [[spoiler:Ion cannon, Korath Detainer, Ka'het Nullifier, and Dragonflame Cannon]] all lack a turreted version.

* FloweryInsults: Pilots have a dizzying array of creative invectives that they will hurl at you if you try to talk to them after disabling their ship.

* SlowLaser: {{Averted}}. Laser and Heavy Laser weapons are considered beam weapons that [[{{hitscan}} hit instantly]] so long as the target is in range, compared to "blaster" and particle weapons which are sublight projectiles.

* BoringButPractical: Commodity Trading is one of the most absolutely basic things you will be doing in the game, but gives credits that will add up. Even if you aren't using it as your main revenue stream, you can increase your profits from doing jobs by using any leftover cargo space for trading.

** Marauder ships have a relatively small chance of self-destructing when boarded and when attempting to capture, but unlike [[Kor Automata]], they have an actual crew you have to defeat to take the ship.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: [[spoiler:The Pug in the Free Worlds campaign. Whether [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope you]] or [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Syndicate]] are about to use the NuclearOption on Earth, they [[GenghisGambit show up in the nick of time]] to invade humanity and force force humanity to unite.]]

* GrayGoo: [[spoiler:Deep in space and outside of any hyperspace network is a system full of self-replicating nanomachines made by the Korath before their exile. If the system is visited, an Archon will explain the danger to you and that they are preserving the swarm rather than wiping it out because it will outlast its makers and any of their other automata, and, as their greatest creation, will be their memorial should the they go extinct.]]

* HealingFactor: [[spoiler:Pug ships]] have generally weak shields and hulls, but to make up for this, their ships have substantially higher regeneration than other ships. This also has the side effect of their ships being exponentially weaker against larger amounts of damage, befitting their characterisation of their ships being [[spoiler:tailored to the power level each species they fight.]]

* HitAndRunTactics: The "Monty Python Maneuver"[[labelnote:*]](turning your ship to face an attacker while drifting away from them at high speed)[[/labelnote]] from ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' also works in this game due to the lack of SpaceFriction. It's slightly less effective because, unlike ''[=EV=]'', projectiles share velocity with their parent ship, so you can't simply stay at the edge your opponent's firing range while your own weapons of the same kind can still hit them.

* HumansAreAverage: While humanity is on the whole on the bottom of the technological food chain, their technology is diverse where most other species have specialized their technology, such that even though alien outfits are more advanced, human outfits may be superior in ways outside of a particular other species' specialization. For example, most [[spoiler: Wanderer]] tech is spectacularly heat efficient, but because of their general heat efficiency and traditional pacifism, their passive cooling systems are awful, while the best human cooling systems are only surpassed by the [[spoiler: Korath]] whose outfits run incredibly hot and thus demand incredibly powerful heat management equipment.

** [[spoiler:When the Builders were afraid of an attack through the [[OurWormholesAreDifferent wormholes]] in their region, they decided to create the Ka'het, which are ships controlled by an artifical organism. They quickly became rogue and began attacking the Builders. In response to the Ka'het attacks, the Builders decided to [[TooDumbToLive create more Ka'het]], which also turned on them, resulting in their demise.]]

** [[spoiler:It is ''technically'' possible to capture a Korath World-Ship, but their huge crew and powerful hand-to-hand weapons (only outmatched by the extremely-illegal nerve gas) make it excedingly difficult. Even should you somehow succeed, their huge crew requirement would cost tens of thousands of credits per day, and they can only be captured under certain circumstances. If taken from the Korath Exiles, there are no friendly spaceports in their space, and taking them from the Kor Efreti would anger the only people in their space who can install a jump drive into the World-Ship, unless the Eye is open.]]
** [[spoiler: Nuclear Missiles, the reward for the Checkmate storyline.]] They have some of the highest single shot damage in the game, but they take up one gun slot ''per missile'' and can't be reloaded without landing, leaving you stuck with turrets once you've used them. Compared to the much more practical [[spoiler: Cloaking Device from the Reconciliation branch, nukes]] are fairly underwhelming.
** The Sparrow start. Asteroid mining is one of the fastest methods of revenue generation per ingame day in the early game, but it's also one of the most intensive to manage. Furthermore, attempting to use the Sparrow in it's intended role is likely to get you killed.

* {{BFG}}: The [[spoiler: Dragonflame Cannon]] is the biggest single weapon in the game, with it requiring a specially designed gun port to mount it. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in regards to the [[spoiler:Korath Detainer and the Ka'het Nullifier]], which, while some of the largest weapons, primarily disrupt enemy systems rather than dealing damage themselves.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Tomek in Free Worlds Reconciliation. [[spoiler:After he gets arrested for leading the attack on either Greenrock or Bloodsea, there are plenty of references to him and how the dynamic has changed in the Council since, which leads to you joining the Council yourself. After you chose to protect the defector however, Tomek is only mentioned once more by Katya when she catches up on events. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] during Checkmate, where the Senate decides that Tomek's military prowess is too important to pass up.]]
* ColonyDrop: a rare benign example[[spoiler:, where two [[DeathWorld barely-habitable]] worlds are terraformed by precision-guided asteroids with thrusters mounted on them: on one planet, an asteroid is guided to impact its polar ice caps to to release more water into the atmosphere, and on the other, an asteroid is guided to impact (and detonate) a supervolcano to release enough greenhouse gases so that the planet could be less frozen.]]
* ColorCodedArmies: The game has a shader-like system that changes a ships' colors to match the faction they belong to, even if it's not typically one of theirs. The Republic use [[RedIsHeroic orange]] ships. The Free Worlds use green. The Syndicate are blue on the map, and use [[PurpleIsPowerful purple ships]]. Merchants use blue ships. Test targets and Author ships use lime green. Pirates use [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black]].\\\
When you start out, your ships are the same blue that merchants use (since you are one), but once you join a faction, all of your ships are repainted in your faction's colors. In the Free Worlds story, you're told that this is [[JustifiedTrope necessary in case you're captured by the Republic;]] a captain openly flying under the Free Worlds' colors [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar has to be considered a POW]], while pretending to still be a civilian would be a war crime.

** [[spoiler:You are all but forced[[note]]It is ''technically'' possible to disregard orders and outright defeat the Sestor at Alnitak instead, leading to a different mission without the planetary devastation, but the battle is the hardest battle in the game by far, and no-where is it indicated [[GuideDangIt you can do this]] and the game will recognise it[[/note]] to cause a potential Class 2 against Zenith to kill the Alphas there [[GodzillaThreshold before the Navy is overwhelmed by the Sestor]] at Alnitak.]]

* PunyEarthlings: Once jump drives are acquired, it becomes apparent that humanity is by far the least advanced spacefaring species in the galaxy, with only [[spoiler:the Hai, the Remnant (if you consider them to be a different species from humans) and the deliberately-restrained Pug]] not significantly outmatching them.

* HolyGround: [[spoiler:Far'en Lai is the only place that the otherwise AlwaysChaoticEvil Korath Exiles will not fight upon. It's rumored that its destruction will result in the Exiles being exterminated by the Archons.]]

* PlotParallel: There Might Be Riot's finishing song, "Sad Archie", is about a man named Archie being sad that he outlives all his friends. One of his friends was a pet dragon, who he builds a beautiful house for, but the dragon dies young. Archie is so sad at seeing the dragon's house empty that he rents it to some other friends, but the friends fight each other and trash the place. [[spoiler:Later in the game, this description becomes strikingly similar to the plight of the [[{{Precursors}} Archons]], who cultivated what is now the Rim and the South for the Sheragi, a race of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragonfolk]] who wiped themselves out. Then, like Archie, the Archons let another race, humans, use the space, but humanity ended up fighting within that space due to pirates and the Free Worlds.]]

** [[spoiler: The Korath Exiles are the remnants of the once-great Korath. In the past, a brutal war waged between the Kor Mereti and the Kor Sestor, with each side producing increasingly deadlier weapons until they reached destruction levels on the scale of [[ApocolypseHow planets and stars.]] After this point, the Archons stepped in and offered an ultimatum: give up the secret of jump drives and join the relatively peaceful Kor Efreti, or be banished to the core. The ones who chose to be banished became the Exiles.]]

** [[spoiler:The Archons]] are Tier 4.

* EasyLevelTrick: Non-escort ships are unable to spawn outside the system that the player is in. This means that escort jobs can be beaten by rushing to their destination, with the abandonment of your escort counterintuitively making them safern

** [[spoiler:The Kor Automata]] don't have any crew on them, so to make them harder to capture, they have a high chance of self destructing on boarding.

** [[spoiler:The largest Remnant ships, the Herons will have the "Ember Tear", which fires a massive purple beam. It can destroy a Bactrian in seconds.]]

* HumanityIsYoung: Most species are from 40,000 years older than humanity to 10,000 years older, but [[spoiler: the Hai are 120,000 years old, and the Wanderers, Quarg, Pug, and Drak are all implied to be older than that.]]
* HyperspaceLanes: Much like ''Escape Velocity'' before it, systems are connected by a network of hyperspace lanes that can make astronomically nearby systems several jumps of travel away. Unlike ''Escape Velocity'', there are actually several mostly-separate networks (broadly one per species/faction), but the only ways to get from one network to another are wormholes or jump drives, and only some are connected to the human network by wormholes.

* ILetYouWin: [[spoiler:The Quarg say that the Pug do this on a regular basis, which is why you are even able to repel their invasion in the main storyline.]]

** [[spoiler:The Remnant flagship, the Heron has the "Ember Tear", a one-of-a-kind weapon that fires a massive purple beam. It can destroy a Bactrian in seconds.]]

* WaveMotionGun: The [[spoiler:Dragonflame Cannon]] converts the power of a thermonuclear explosion into a single beam.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The game has a shader-like system that changes a ships' colors to match the faction they belong to, even if it's not typically one of theirs. The Republic use [[RedIsHeroic orange]] ships. The Free Worlds use green. The Syndicate are blue on the map, and use [[PurpleIsPowerful purple ships]]. Merchants use blue ships. Test targets and Author ships use lime green. Pirates use [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black]].\\\

* SlowLaser: Laser and Heavy Laser weapons are considered beam weapons that [[{{hitscan}} hit instantly]] so long as the target is in range, compared to "blaster" and particle weapons which are sublight projectiles.

** {{Subverted}} by the [[spoiler:Kor Sestor and Kor Mereti]], who still only follow what their creators wanted them to do, which is defeat the opposing side. [[spoiler:Most of the devastation present on the ruined Korath planets are due to weapons developed and deployed by the Korath themselves]].
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: Played with. Most aliens are unable to even interact with each other due to [[spoiler:the lack of connecting hyperlanes between the races,]] and most of the ones who aren't blocked by this generally do very little beyond surveillance. [[spoiler:The Pug]] are much more willing to interfere with other species, though only on their own terms.

** It is ''technically'' possible to capture a [[spoiler:Korath World-Ship]], but their huge crew and powerful hand-to-hand weapons (only outmatched by the extremely-illegal nerve gas) make it excedingly difficult. Even should you somehow succeed, their huge crew requirement would cost tens of thousands of credits per day, and they can only be captured under certain circumstances, alongside the cost of reducing reputation with the Quarg. [[spoiler: If taken from the Korath Exiles, there are no friendly spaceports in their space, and taking them from the Kor Efreti would anger the only people in their space who can install a jump drive into the World-Ship, unless the Eye is open.]]
** [[spoiler: Nuclear Missiles]], the reward for the [[spoiler: Checkmate]] storyline. They have some of the highest single shot damage in the game, but they take up one gun slot ''per missile'' and can't be reloaded without landing, leaving you stuck with turrets once you've used them. Compared to the much more practical [[spoiler: Cloaking Device from the Reconciliation branch]], [[spoiler: nukes]] are fairly underwhelming.

* BeefGate: The usual way to acquire a jump drive is through the main questline, which gives a nice steady difficulty curve. However, [[spoiler:there is an area of human space where Korath Raiders occasionally drop in. A player may at any point take a shot at stealing one of their jump drives, bypassing the storygate on galactic exploration,]] though some of the further story strings are locked behind completion of a human storyline.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Most of the alien races can be related to, particularly those who take the time to explain their way of thinking, but [[spoiler:the Pug]] are particularly inscrutable. Though they say at one point that [[spoiler:they meddle in human affairs for humanity's own benefit]], accounts from other races suggest more complex motivations.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: [[spoiler: Tomek]] in Free Worlds Reconciliation. [[spoiler:After he gets arrested for leading the attack on either Greenrock or Bloodsea, there are plenty of references to him and how the dynamic has changed in the Council since, which leads to you joining the Council yourself. After you chose to protect the defector however, Tomek is only mentioned once more by Katya when she catches up on events. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] during Checkmate, where the Senate decides that Tomek's military prowess is too important to pass up.]]

* CrapsackWorld: Played to varying degrees in different sectors of human space. The Deep is the most prosperous, but bar outsiders from probing too [[StealthPun deep]] into [[AncientConspiracy their society and culture]]. The [[DecadentCourt Paradise Worlds]] and the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Syndicate]] have major income inequality problems, but most people can at least afford basic necessities. The parochial [[AgriWorld Dirt Belt]] is comparatively poor, but the absence of wage slavery means hard work can pay off. The South and the Rim are generally decent places to live, but are under constant threat by pirates. The [[WretchedHive pirate worlds]] have generally poor living conditions, and many of them are under a dictatorship or similar, but the ones not subject to this generally live in freedom. The biggest non-pirate crapsack world is probably [[MegaCity Earth itself]], where everyone except the social elite agrees that the best place to live is anywhere else.

** During the [[spoiler:Wanderer]] storyline, there's a minor story branch if you somehow manage to defeat [[spoiler:the Alpha-controlled Kor Sestor without resorting to escaping to use Danforth's bomb on Zenith,]] which is a nigh-impossible task, to the point that the [[spoiler:four Quarg Wardragons]] you are provided with don't even make a dent in the assailant's fleet.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The assault by [[spoiler:Tomek (and you, if you choose to join him) on the pirate worlds during Free Worlds. Freya and JJ]] point out all the flaws in the occupation: The Free Worlds can't afford to station a fleet to keep the peace on the planet, and they don't have any form of ground army, unlike the Republic. The only feasible option is to [[KillEmAll bombard the planet into submission]], which would cripple the Free Worlds' reputation.

** You can [[spoiler:[[SequenceBreaking steal a Jump Drive]] from Korath Raiders either in Syndicate systems near the Galactic Core or in Remnant space (the latter is preferable because the Remnant are more capable of disabling the Raider for you)]], long before you can acquire one as part of the [=Free Worlds/Republic=] story. After that, you can explore the galaxy and pick up much more advanced technologies to make the rest of the main story a piece of cake.

* EasyLevelTrick: Non-escort ships are unable to spawn outside the system that the player is in. This means that escort jobs can be beaten by rushing to their destination, with the abandonment of your escort counterintuitively making them safer.
* EldritchStarship: The [[spoiler:Archons]] are heavily implied to be this, and look the part as well.

** The jump drive is an alien technology that becomes available late in the story. It allows you to jump to ANY system within a certain radius, even if it is not connected via hyperspace. Though it has the highest fuel consumption, in practice it is usually more efficient since it allows for shortcuts that would otherwise be unavailable. It is also required to visit parts of the galaxy that are not linked to human space. Only the [[spoiler:Pug, Korath Exiles]], and Quarg possess the ability to build jump drives, but most other factions have captured a few jump drives from those who can make them.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The [[spoiler:Pug in the Free Worlds campaign. Whether [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope you]] or [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Syndicate]] are about to use the NuclearOption on Earth, they [[GenghisGambit show up in the nick of time]] to invade humanity and force force humanity to unite.]]

** In order to stand up to the full force of the Republic Navy during [[spoiler: Free Worlds Checkmate, you have to side with [[TheUnfettered a group of pirates]] that use [[NuclearOption nukes]], who in turn get said nukes from a Pirate warlord.]]
** During the [[spoiler: Sestor assault on Farpoint, Danforth orders you to use a device [[EarthShatteringKaboom even more powerful than a nuke]] to destroy the [[BigBad Alpha]] enclave that controls the fleet.]]
* GrayGoo: Deep in space and outside of any hyperspace network is [[spoiler: a system full of self-replicating nanomachines made by the Korath before their exile. If the system is visited, an Archon will explain the danger to you and that they are preserving the swarm rather than wiping it out because it will outlast its makers and any of their other automata, and, as their greatest creation, will be their memorial should the they go extinct.]]

** [[spoiler:They indirectly convinced the Syndicate to start the war between the Republic and the Free Worlds.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: The [[spoiler:Heliarchs]] claim that the Quarg are [[spoiler:keeping each species isolated to prevent the creation of a combined, stronger union, alongside other, more subtle limitations.]] Meanwhile, the [[spoiler:Heliarchs themselves restrict their own species' technologies.]]

** The [[spoiler:Pug Arfecta]], which has [[HealingFactor absurd regeneration]], [[spoiler:[[{{Invisibility}} cloaking]],]] and sweltering damage output [[ArmorPiercingAttack that also pierces]]. However, the only way to get one is to capture it, which means you're going to have to [[BonusBoss survive its ridiculous firepower yourself.]] [[spoiler: Specifically it means taking one of the ships that protect the Wanderers, or to [[BullyingADragon anger the Pug at Pug Iyik so that they send one after you]].]]

** The [[spoiler: [[MagneticWeapons Hai Railgun]] is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, shooting out an [[StaticStunGun electrically-charged]] slug while also [[RecoilBoost kicking back the shooter]].]]

* LethalJokeItem: A non-offensive example in the form of the [[spoiler:Quantum Keystone, which is sold in Hai space as a good luck charm, but actually lets ships use the red wormholes of the Ember Wastes.]]

* LightningGun: The [[spoiler: Pug Zapper]] shoots out a beam of lightning.
* LivingShip: [[spoiler:Remnant ships, the Ka'het, and Archons]] are these.

* MeaningfulName: The Checkmate path of the Free Worlds campaign involves [[spoiler:cornering the 'King' of the Republic, Earth, in order to force a peace treaty.]]

* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: The [[spoiler:Saryds are implied to have landed on Earth in the distant past, inspiring the myth of centaurs.]]

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The [[spoiler:Saryds are described as being exactly like the centaurs of ancient Earth. They are a nature-loving species that managed to reach their moon in the steam age, and are the oldest member of the Coalition.]]

* OurWormholesAreDifferent: Wormholes are a natural (at least, from the human perspective, it is implied that [[spoiler: the Pug]] have the knowledge and technology to be able to manipulate and even create them) phenomenon that allows faster-than-light travel between linked wormholes (either in simple pairs, or in more complicated networks). Some wormholes can be entered simply as is, while others require special items to be usable. [[spoiler: Specifically, Quantum Keystones, which the Hai sell as good luck charms.]]

* {{Planetville}}: Planetary interactions are abstracted down to just a select few functionalities.
* PlotParallel: There Might Be Riot's finishing song, "Sad Archie", is about a man named Archie being sad that he outlives all his friends. One of his friends was a pet dragon, who he builds a beautiful house for, but the dragon dies young. Archie is so sad at seeing the dragon's house empty that he rents it to some other friends, but the friends fight each other and trash the place. Later in the game, this description becomes strikingly similar to [[spoiler:the plight of the [[{{Precursors}} Archons]], who cultivated what is now the Rim and the South for the Sheragi, a race of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragonfolk]] who wiped themselves out. Then, like Archie, the Archons let another race, humans, use the space, but humanity ended up fighting within that space due to pirates and the Free Worlds.]]

* RedSkyTakeWarning: The [[spoiler: [[ApocalypseHow Ember Wastes]] have a red background haze colour, as opposed to the usual blue. The haze even carries over to the main menu.]]

** The faction actually ''called'' the Remnant... [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope is not this]], but believed themselves to be it early in their history, hence the name. [[spoiler: They are descended from a group of humans that fled human space at the height of the Alpha War, believing, not unreasonably, that the Alphas were headed for victory. By the time they found out the Alphas lost the War and they weren't actually the last remnant of free humanity, they were already established as a separate, militarised (in an odd scientifically focused way) culture with no interest in risking Alpha infiltration by revealing themselves to the rest of humanity.]] Their modern-day ideology is partly based on them wanting to be ready to be this [[spoiler: if something devastates main human space]], hence their inclination to secrecy and survival.

* ShowWithinAShow: There's a mission in [[spoiler:Hai]] space that involves going to a convention for a game called 'Boundless Frontiers'.
* SilentTreatment: [[spoiler:Even after the Pug depart after the war, there is a lone planet far to the North that they still inhabit. You can land, but the inhabitants will completely ignore you.]] The right mission lets you bug an answer out of them. [[spoiler: They're on the 'team' handling the Wanderers rather than the ones handling humans, so they don't particularly care for you.]]

* StaticStunGun: The [[spoiler: Ion cannon, Railgun, Ion Hail, EMP Torpedo, and Ka'het Nullifier]] apply ionization to whatever they hit, crippling the target's energy generation.

** The [[spoiler:Korath Exiles, the Kor Efreti, the Coalition and the Remnant]] are all Tier 1.5. Of most notability are the [[spoiler:Exiles, who created the Automata, and thus used to be of a higher tier, and the Remnant, whose tier is more variable due to the gap between their strongest equipment and their weakest.]]

** [[spoiler: Korath Raiders are large ships, more powerful than any single human ship and easily able to escape larger human fleets with their jump drives.]] As they only ever raid alone and have a relatively low spawn rate, it would seem that they're rare and powerful units, but once you can actually visit [[spoiler: Korath Space]], they in fact have tons of them. On top of this, they also have large numbers of much more powerful [[spoiler: world-ships that, fortunately for humanity, don't take part in raids due to them also being {{Colony Ship}}s.]]

** The Checkmate path of the Free Worlds campaign is namedropped half-way through the route. It refers to [[spoiler:the plan of an all-out assault on Earth.]]

** During Free Worlds Reconciliation, [[spoiler: you are introduced to [[NuclearOption ship-to-ship nuclear missiles]] this way.]]

** Tomek receives one when [[spoiler: he [[KillEmAll attacks Greenrock]] against the Senate's wishes, leading to him getting PutOnABus. Should you join in on his attacks, you'll receive some of the blame as well.]]
** The Governor of Poisonwood is not amused to [[spoiler: have the Free Worlds bombard her planet, [[ShootTheHostage killing many civilians]], even if it [[IDidWhatIHadToDo defeated the Alpha presence]].]]

** When Katya is freed during Free Worlds Checkmate, [[spoiler: she chastises the other members of the Council for JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.]]

** Should you destroy [[spoiler: the two Pug Arfectas protecting the Wanderers from the Unfettered Hai, the Wanderers will respond in this way.]]

* YouAreTooLate: No matter how long it takes you to track down [[spoiler: the Kor Sestor's control facility]], you ''always'' arrive a month after [[spoiler: the Alphas broke in, hijacked control of the Kor Sestor and fled with the control equipment and a massive Kor Sestor fleet.]]
* YouAreWhatYouHate: During Free Worlds Checkmate, [[spoiler: you end up fielding nuclear weaponry, the very technology the Free Worlds was [[FrameUp incorrectly]] accused of using, and which lead to the civil war.]]

* {{BFG}}: The [[the Dragonflame Cannon]] is the biggest single weapon in the game, with it requiring a specially designed gun port to mount it. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in regards to the [[spoiler:Korath Detainer and the Ka'het Nullifier]], which, while some of the largest weapons, primarily disrupt enemy systems rather than dealing damage themselves.