What is Surprise

All faster-than-light weapons were based on warp. This was the standard measure of a Level 4 Civilization's military strength.

Of course, warp was not the only thing. There was also Full Optical Stealth Technology, but it was generally useless when the opponent was also a Level 4 Civilization.

Antimatter missiles differed from Antimatter Bombs in their guidance systems. Their device structures were similar: both used matter to construct Grand Unified Force Field equipment that contained antimatter, then relied on the immense energy generated by matter-antimatter annihilation to destroy targets upon impact. The difference was that the former had an additional guidance system, allowing it to continuously send and receive tachyons during warp, feeding back the target's real-time position. It could then adjust its course through its own Warp Engine and keep heading straight for the target.

However, such weapons were not the hardest to evade, because their real-time tachyon transmissions made them easy to detect. Warships could adjust the parameters of their Force Field Shields according to their trajectory and guide them elsewhere.

They could also be intercepted with interceptor Warp Speed Missile systems, though this required powerful computer systems and the assistance of strong artificial intelligence.

In truth, these weapon types were not all that different from those of the gunpowder age. Only their speed and energy scale had increased. Of course, there were also differences, such as the various effects brought about by Beyond the Light Cone.

Many of those effects were counterintuitive. It would definitely be too late to think them through only when they occurred, so sentient life needed to preset every possible contingency in advance.

In the wars of Level 4 Civilizations, sub-light-speed weapons were also used, though they too bore the antimatter label, such as Anti-Particle Energy Cannons and Particle Energy Cannons.

Typical examples