Welcome to my weapons guide.

Weapons in Holy Potatoes, We're In Space! are always crafted by the player. Whether purchased at a store or received as loot from an enemy ship, the player will only receive a weapon part that needs to be crafted. Crafted weapons have a rank from C (terrible) > B (includes base stats "Average") > A > S > SS (best - "Perfect"). If you happen to craft a weapon with the Average trait it will have 0 adjustment to any of its stats and it will be the base weapon which all the other traits are modifiers of. You can also see the base stat for any weapon by mousing over an enemy ship with that weapon equipped, as all enemies use the Average version of every weapon.

Weapons also have a level; a level 2 weapons has a 25% increase to damage and HP over a level 1 weapon, and other stats remain the same. Normally weapons will be at the same level as the planet which you are exploring. Planets can have a level plus or minus one compared to the galaxy you are in, so be cognizant of the planet level which you are exploring. Occasionally a ship will be equipped with all weapons of the planet with one exception; the only time I have seen this is when a ship is equipped with level 5 weapons with a level 6 unique weapon. I am presuming that that particular unique weapon is not available at level 5 and only starts to become available at level 6. The other exception to weapon level is if you are in combat with "Ship A." It does not use the planet's level but rather the galaxy's level to determine the level of its weapons; I assume this is the result of the combat being initiated as a result of an exploration event rather than an exploration combat. This also holds true for boss fights or other scripted events, which use galaxy level as opposed to planetary level.

If you've just crafted a weapon and want to find out the adjustment to the adjustment to the base stats you can look up the trait in the alphabetically sorted table below.

If you'd like to see all the available traits and how they compare, look at the Ranked table instead. For better formatting, I suggest copy and pasting it into your own spreadsheet software.

There are five types of weapons plus Unique weapons. If you click on the help icon during the tutorial combat, you'll see the following graphic:



This graphic isn't quite as helpful as it could be; in decreasing order of accuracy:


When constructing a particular weapon, it will definitely require the resource listed in the table above. For each weapon type, there is a weapon that requires only that resource, or a combination of that resource and 1 of each other resource. None of the resources are exceptionally rare and scarcity should not affect your crafting ability.

At the end of a successful combat, regardless of whether the enemy surrendered or was destroyed, one of their destroyed weapons will be received as a part. If you destroy all the enemy weapons and they surrender, the weapon part you receive will be randomly selected. If you design a weapon loadout that allows you specifically destroy only one weapon from the enemy ship before destroying the hull, then you've successful cherry-picked that weapon part.

Unique Weapons

Each weapon type will be discussed in its own section; special mentions needs to be made about how crew skills interact with Unique weapons. A Combat Specialist will not give as large a benefit to a Laser as a Laser Specialist would, with the trade-off that the Combat Specialist can give their benefit to any weapon type, including Unique Weapons. A Combat Specialist or a Survival Specialist is the only crew member that can provide bonuses to Unique weapons. For this reason a non-Unique weapon of a specific type combined with a Specialist of that type is almost always more powerful than a Combat Specialist with any weapon, including Unique weapons. A few exceptions exist involving SS weapons and event-specific (non-Hub) crew members.

Acquiring Unique weapons can be guaranteed by the event where you are offered the chance to purchase a Martial Arts Manual. You will always receive a Unique weapon part equal to the planet level.

Acquiring Unique weapons can also be guaranteed by the event where you encounter the Potato Dog. You will always receive a Unique weapon part equal to the planet level if you use your headlights.

You can also acquire unique weapons when you encounter the Ship A event. It will always be equipped with 3 Unique weapons with the same level as the Galaxy. You can cherry-pick one or have one drop randomly. I've only seen Ship A attempt to use the Self-Repair tactic, which brings back all weapons at partial health. If you want to finesse this fight you can attempt to wait out the self repair and cherry-pick afterwards.

Wave weapons are more useful at the end of the game (where enemies have a hull and 4 weapons, for a total of 5 targets) and least useful at the beginning (where enemies have a hull and as few as 1 weapon). However, that's not to say that they're useful at the end of the game either.

Wave weapons are most useful at the start of a battle and least useful at the end of a battle; as the battle progresses and weapons are destroyed from the enemy ship, the Wave weapon will do less damage as it is hitting less targets. When only the hull is left, and if there is any shield left, the Wave weapon will do no hull damage at all. On a positive note, the Eggernaut Dreadnought and the Green Devil Dreadnought have no shields at all.

Wave weapons have a low chance to crit and therefore don't get any damage bonus in this area. They also start with a default 100% accuracy; since many crew members will get an accuracy bonus if they are either a Wave Specialist or Combat Specialist then this skill is wasted on Wave weapons except in unusual weather for a negligible benefit.

When combining Wave weapons with other weapon types, make sure the Wave weapon is the first one to attack in order to maximize the number of targets when it hits. Firing other weapons first and destroying parts will reduce the damage contribution of your Wave and prevent those weapons from retargeting (Shrapnel in particular).

Wave weapons also make it virtually impossible to cherry-pick a weapon from the enemy ship, as they will continue to damage existing weapons as you attempt to destroy the hull.

Wave-Like Unique Weapons

Wave-Like Unique weapons are useful when they apply a debuff as they will attempt to debuff every unshielded part of the enemy ship every time they fire. This helpfully takes advantage of the Wave weapon 100% base accuracy. [Note that Unique weapons don't necessarily share this stat, so double check.] The Terrorspit (90%), Pandy's Box (100%), and the Moo-thane Emitter (95%) are the best examples.

The Terrorspit is an exceptionally strong wave-like unique in that it hits shields, unlike Waves, and does double damage to the Hull (regardless of whether the shield is over a weapon or whether the hull is the only thing left).

Laser weapons are very much a default type of weapon. Lasers shoot exactly one target. They have a high default accuracy and therefore don't benefit much from Accuracy crew skills. Lasers are ideal for guaranteeing that your damage is focused on a particular weapon if you wish to destroy it entirely. Any overkill, however, is wasted. Therefore it is advisable to have weapons with some sort of spread damage in order to finish off very low enemy weapons and focus your hard hitting single target lasers on higher health targets.

Similarly to Wave weapons, Lasers have a 95% accuracy by default and won't benefit much from Accuracy increasing crew skills outside of Fog or other Accuracy affecting weather. Furthermore there are much more punishing types of weather than Fog.

Laser weapons are ideal for cherry picking a weapon from the enemy hull, as your damage is focused solely on that weapon, then re-directed only solely the hull of the enemy ship.

Laser-Like Unique Weapons (and the Jean Beam)

The Jean Beam (a Laser and therefore benefitting from Laser crew skills) deserves special mention because it has the Quickdraw special ability which provides a 50% chance to fire twice. As a result the Jean Beam always does 150% base damage. If the normal shot crits the damage will appear in red for the normal shot, and the double damage will appear directly beneath it for the crit amount in white. This weapon needs some re-balancing because it's overpowered.

The Jean Beam has a big brother which is a Unique weapon - the Laser Pointer. It's not actually a Laser and therefore does not benefit from Laser specific crew skills. If you want to augment it with crew skills you'll need a Combat Specialist like all other Unique weapons. The Laser Pointer has a special ability similar to the Jean Beam that allows it to hit up to 5 times. The first hit must not miss; if the first hit is a crit each subsequent hit is for the exact same amount. Each of these hits must be on the initial target, if it is destroyed, extra attacks appear as text but are not redistributed to other targets. It is like actual lasers in that it excels at focusing damage on one target and any overkill damage is wasted.

There are many other Unique weapons that are similar to a Laser in that they hit only one target. However most of these Uniques do low damage but apply special effects, and therefore don't function much like Lasers. Examples are the Ionic Buster, Clearcaster, Sneaky Siphon, and Thunder Clap. Some Unique weapons do almost reasonable damage such as The Robbing Hood and The Loose Cannon.

Missile weapons are a great compromise between Laser and Wave weapons. Missile weapon Accuracy is down to 85% so they start to benefit from Accuracy crew skills. Missiles do Splash damage, which allows them to do lesser (perhaps 50%, I'm uncertain) damage to targets surrounding the primary target. Having not used Missiles much I'm uncertain if a miss from the initial shot precludes Splash damage, but I believe that it does, which implies Accuracy is relevant to the overall damage of Missiles. Obviously as targets are destroyed from the enemy ship Missiles will do proportionally less damage; however, the Splash damage is helpful in softening up your next target.

Missiles have a low (5%) default chance to Crit and therefore this won't contribute a significant amount of damage. When attempting to cherry-pick a weapon off an enemy hull, Splash damage can end up destroying other weapons. If you see other weapons on the hull getting low, it's possible to stop using your Missile weapons and rely only on your other weapons to finish off the enemy, or to take your chances.

Missile-Like Unique Weapons

I can't recall any Unique weapons that are specifically Missile-like, although the Hopscorcher comes close. The Hopscorcher has an ability called Chain that allows it to hit up to 3 extra times for 10% less damage each time. This is an awful ability because the extra hits cannot hit the same target twice. When only the hull is left this weapon will hit only once for a large charge cost.

Shrapnel weapons are a personal favourite of mine. Shrapnel weapons hit for up to 5x the damage listed as they fire five times. (For comparison purposes, keep this in mind when comparing to other weapons.) The first shot will be directed at your initial target and the following 4 shots will each select random targets. The downside to this attack pattern is that Shrapnel damage is spread over every target on the enemy ship and cannot be focused. There are two specific bonuses, however. Shrapnel damage is minimally wasted because overkill damage is redirected to other targets - all 5 shots are guaranteed to hit an existing target. The other benefit is that Shrapnel weapons do increasingly focused damage as the fight progresses, and are for this reason the best weapon to eliminate the enemy's hull after all weapons have been destroyed. Not only has the damage not been diminished, but it has additionally been focused onto one target.

Other weapons redirect onto the hull when their intended target is destroyed before they fire. Hits from shrapnel weapons can be redirected onto targets other than the hull.

Shrapnel weapons have a 70% default Accuracy, so benefit from Accuracy crew skills. They also have a 0% crit chance by default, so a Crit Chance increasing crew skill is very beneficial as is any Trait which gives it a positive crit chance. The low Accuracy and Crit rates are not that punishing because each of the 5 shots gets an individual roll, so often 4 of 5 shots hit, and 1 of 5 shots crit, for very even and consistent damage.

Some of the higher level Shrapnel weapons aren't very good for damage, although Boom Barrage is good until the charge cost increases. At lower levels it has a base cost of 3 charge (2 with a good trait). At higher levels the Boom Barrage will be consistently out-damaged by other weapons. If you've invested in a Shrapnel Specialist you'll still be able to make use of them with the low damage Mr Mysterious which looks awful at first glance. Instead of using a Combat Specialist with mediocre benefits on a Unique to provide debuffs (i.e Pandy's Box, Terrorspit) you can use Mr Mysterious as your fourth weapon. Any debuffs from last round will still be applied while your first 3 weapons are firing; your fourth firing weapon will be Mr Mysterious, delivering 5 debuffs each which last 3 turns to any remaining weapons. It can also debuff the hull with burn (4% dmg per turn, up to 5 stacks) or by making it take 20% extra damage or giving attackers an extra 20% Accuracy. If you're including a buff/debuff slot in your weapon loadout it's a suprisingly effective weapon delivering 12-15 rounds of debuffs every time it fires.

Shrapnel-Like Unique Weapons

There don't appear to be any Shrapnel-like Unique weapons, although The Loose Cannon is similar in that you have no control over where the damage is targeted. Unlike Shrapnel weapons, however, The Loose Cannon does all its damage in one hit on one target, with only one attack roll and any overkill being wasted.

Buffing and Debuffing Unique weapons like Pandy's Box and Terrorspit are similar to using the Shrapnel weapons to apply debuffs as mentioned.

Railgun weapons are the gambler's favourite. They are a high-risk, high-reward weapon. They hit one target only and have the lowest Accuracy with a default of 65% - without the mitigating 5 hits of the Shrapnel weapon a Railgun is all or nothing. It also has the highest base chance to crit at 25%.

In it's own way, a Railgun is even more single target focused than a Laser with its huge chance to crit and potentially waste a lot of overkill. However the Railgun ignores shields and deals damage to the target behind the shield, making it an ideal hull destroyer and an even better cherry-picking weapon than a Laser.

Railguns will benefit dramatically from Accuracy crew skills, and if you happen to be so lucky to get Accuracy, Might, and Luck crew skills all together on a Railgun Specialist you will be able to one-shot many weapons and cherry-pick at will.

Railgun-Like Unique Weapons

I can't recally any Unique weapons ignoring shields or having exceptionally low Accuracy, but if I find any I'll add them here.

Healing Crew Members

A <weapon> Specialist can gain a skill:
<Weapon> Repairs % of Max HP Healed every turn for <weapon> 5% 7% 9% 12% 15%

A Combat Specialist can gain a skill:
Damage Control % of Max HP healed every turn 4% 5% 6% 8% 10%

For this reason, a Specialist assigned to the appropriate weapon type will give your ship a huge amount of sustained healing compared to Combat Specialists.

Healing Weapons

There are three weapons that heal:

Succubus, a laser available from very early on, which heals for 150% of the damage it does, applied to the Hull or Weapon with the lowest % of health. It is very straightforward and potentially acquired in the first galaxy.

Feeding Frenzy, a shrapnel available from level 4 (level 4 planet in level 3 galaxy) which has weird properties. When activated, it takes the average weapon damage and applies it as healing to 5 randomly selected parts of the same ship (potentially the same part 5 times), regardless of what damage is actually done to the enemy ship. This means that it provides a high level of overall healing, with no regard to whether the healing is even applied to damaged parts or not.

Phoenix Fire, a Wave that heals every part of your ship for 100% of its ATK. It is only available starting around level 7. Good for consistent healing if you prefer using a Wave weapon to heal over a Shrapnel weapon.

The Robbing Hood is a unique weapon which does not heal, but provides 1 $tarch for each point of damage it does, including to the enemy shield.

Sneaky Siphon is a unique weapon which does not heal, but provides 1 fuel for each 50 points of damage which it does.

Note that due to rounding errors I was unable to be exact on a couple traits. All stats are within a couple % points.

For damage, the best Trait Is Perfect, followed by Cataclysmic, followed by Deadly/Ferocious.

For accuracy, such as when you're using a weapon to apply debuffs, the best trait is Perfect, followed by Deadly/Mastercrafted, followed by Ferocious/Superior.