Beam Dispersers protecting the Big Catch
Beam Dispersers, alternatively Chaff, are pieces of reflective material which, as their name suggests, are meant to disperse and reflect beams, reducing the chance of a ship being hit by them.
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During combat situations, ships can release and spread beam dispersers to protect themselves from enemy beam weapons. When a beam hits a beam disperser, the material reflects and disperses the beam, which is meant to minimize the chance of a direct strike at full power on the ship. The more dispersers are spread out over an area, the more likely it is an incoming beam will hit the disperser and be dispersed instead of directly striking the ship, though there still remains a chance of one getting through [1][2][3].
They can also be used to disrupt communications [4].