All "Particle Generators" are based on the same idea:
Weaponizing massless blocks.

This is possible because the lower a block's mass is, the more flexible the connection to other blocks gets, and applying forces leads to much stronger interaction.
You can change both the connecting forces and the applied forces.

A common issue particle generators run into is their instability against bombs:
When the massless ballast block hits a bomb and detonates it, it may cause the weapon to explode.

Another aspect which you need to keep in mind when designing a Particle Generator is the danger of damaging your own creations with massless blocks.

Depending on the planned range of the vehicle, there are four main weapon designs you can choose from:
(Whenever connections are mentioned in this guide without any context,
they're referring to the connections from the massless ballast block to other blocks.)

1. Multiple connections conflicting with each other;
   
2. Multiple connections conflicting with applied force;
   
3. Multiple connections without conflict with applied force;
   
4. Single connection with applied force;

While the first option is best suited for short distance attacks, the second one is more well suited for giving an already existing close-combat vehicle some long-range weaponry - it isn't the most accurate weapon, though.
The last two weapon designs are well suited for precise attacks across large distances.
While multiple connections without conflict are easy to weaponize and deliver good results,
a weapon with a single connection is hard to design and needs a lot of tweaking.
A single-connection-based weapon is also the one with the weirdest behaviour and the one where it is most common.

In this weapon design, there are two or more connections which change, so that not every connection is fully taken up.
Because of that conflict, the massless block will move around very quickly.
Depending on the kind of connection, the design can be used in close-combat very reliably, or can be turned into a long-range weapon with very low precision, which will strike anywhere near the device.
Because the long-range-attack takes place everywhere near your weapon, it is very likely to damage something.

But wait, there is another way of using the design:
You can seperate the two connecting blocks across larger distances. The ballast block will move in between, inflicting damage when something comes across.
This technique is optimal for delivering airstrikes.

With this technique, you are able inflict damage over much longer distances.
The weapon's properties are infuenced by the way the connecting blocks affect the massless ballast block.
Generally speaking, the block will move the same way it would without force, but it will be thrown away in the direction of the force and return again. Sometimes it will stay in a particular spot for a longer period of time and will be pushed away like a normal block would, and return.
When the ballast block returns after being shot away, it usually follows the path it would travel along if no force had been applied, so it may strike in two directions practically at once, but the second direction is usually of shorter range.

This is very similar to a weapon that includes a conflict, but the range of the shot is generally shorter and the ballast block is more influenced by the connecting blocks, so it produces a shot in the connecting block's direction.

Because this weapon design doesn't create conflict either, it produces multiple connections without conflict for a short range and the ballast block is influenced by the connections more strongly.
Because there is only one force, the shot's range is hard to control and can fly beyond the map or only twenty blocks at best. This makes creating these weapon designs more challenging, more uncontrollable and complicated, but also fun and interesting.

The balloon is obviously very fragile, but it has an interesting property that your weapon can benefit from: You can change its string length.
This gives you the opportunity to define how much force the connection has.
Values over 0.5 mostly just influence when the balloon starts to pull on the ballast block, but 0 to 0.001 makes a great difference in the strength the ballon pulls.

Overall, it's a great way to introduce more conflict, because you can precisely control the conflict you're adding.

As the only connection at all, the spring stays directly attached to the ballast block, as if it had mass.
This can create interesting phenomena, but should be used together with another stable bond when a force is applied, otherwise, anomalies beyond the common understanding of Besiege emerge.
(My current project examines various anomalies similar to that, so expect a guide that covers that in the future.)

When connecting the massless ballast block to your weapon, you can basically use every block there is.
But, and especially in conflicting systems with multiple connections, your choice could have a large influence on your weapon:
It determines its range, its stability, its precision and its reliance.
To help you make that decision, I've made an extensive list of many blocks and their properties.
But before that, there are a few terms I have to explain:

• Dominance
  This describes how strong the connection is and how much the ballast block is attracted relative to other forces or connections.
  
  
• Stability
  This term describes how much the ballast block will move around if force is applied or connections are conflicting. Obviously, that corresponds to the range.
  
  
• Resting Value
  Resting is when a ballast block in a conflicting system remains in a position without moving at all.
  The faster and longer resting appears, the larger the value is.
  
  
• Long-Range-Chance
  This is the probability of strikes by the ballast block wich can be as long as the map.
  
  
• Range

The blocks are listed with decreasing strength:

The suspension is the strongest block there is, it just fixes the ballast in a certain position.

The spike ball has what is probably the highest dominance, is very stable and has a relatively high resting value.

The metal plate has the second highest dominance, yet it is highly unstable and has a relatively low resting value.

Just like the metal plate, the holder has a low stabilty, but not as low as the metal plate.
It has a high resting value.

The plow is more unstable than the holder and has a high resting value.

Its extremely stable and has a high resting value.
It needs to be fixated to a grabber.

As the spike, the flamethrower has a high resting value but its stability is a bit lower than that of the spike.

The water cannon has suprisingly low stability relative to its dominance.
It has a medium resting value.

The decoupler is stable and has a relatively high resting value.
The force of the decoupling can be used to power a weapon.

The torch has a high resting value while having a low stabilty, which is a really interesting combination.

The blade is only a bit less dominant than the explosive decoupler.
Because it has to be fixated by a grabber and has average stability and a lower resting value, its only use is to be a dominant connection without high resting value.

Being flammable and large, the wing panel is not such a good choice.
It is stable and has a very high resting value.

Despite the fact that the sawblade is difficult to attach to your weapon, it has some potential applications:
It is very unstable and has a low resting value.
It's also very easy to destabilize the grasp with a rotation, especially if the rotational axis is off-center. This can be used to create a strong and very unstable connection.
Like every rotating block, the ballast block will spin only if there is no other connection inhibiting that.

The halfpipe has a low stability but a suprisingly high resting value.

Measuring the drill's dominance is quite difficult, so I might be wrong about that.
The drill has a remarkably low stability and resting value. It can destabilize its connection by spinning, especially when off-center.

The spinning block is almost as dominant as the decoupler.
It is not very stable and has a low resting value.
The spinning of the block can be used to destabilize the ballast block, but that is only possible if the spinning block is placed off-center.

The slider is also very dominant, but not as dominant as the spinning block.
It has a relatively high resting value and is stable.
Because the ballast block can move to an extent, it gets more stable and the connection is less dominant.
The dominance of the slider depends on the direction it is in. It is also able to force the ballast block to travel in straight lines.

This joint is almost as dominant as the slider.
It is very stable and has a resting value similar to that of the slider.
Because the ballast block can rotate, it adds to the stability without decreasing the dominance.
If your weapon creates a conflict by rotating both connections against each other, all the joints vary in their values with the direction they were built at.

The hinge is a bit less dominant than the swivel joint, has a higher stability and a similar resting value.

The ball joint is even less dominant than the hinge, a bit more stable and has a similar resting value.
The decreasing dominance is caused by the rotational freedom gained by the ballast block.

The piston's values are similar to the ball joint:
It is equally dominant, similarly stable and has a high resting value.
Suprisingly, extending or retracting the piston has only microscopic effects.

The flying spiral is greatly unstable and has a mediocre resting value.

Both are relatively unstable and have a medium resting value.

It has a relatively high resting value and a high stability.
Because the brace is not a block but a vector, you can have as many connection through braces as you want.
With this technique, you can build very intricate devices:













But if the brace falls down, it will fall through the ground and pull the ballast block with it.

Ropes are quite unstable and have a incredibly low resting value.
The low stability and resting value are caused by the constant movement that the rope has, because it is a vector influenced by gravity.
The rope can only be used as conventional connection if it is fully coiled and can be only used as a secondary connection block because it doesn't hold the ballast block in postition.
If not, the average position of the ballast block is moved downwards.
This can be used when the other connecting block is high above.

The steering hinge is really stable and has a high resting value, but both the stability and the resting can be heavily disturbed by turning the hinge, because its rotational axis is normally placed off-center.
You can even precisely and permanently change the stability and resting value by turning it.

Both cogs have a low stabilty and resting value.

The contractable spring is more stable and has a higher resting value than you would expect,
higher than the rope.
The spring is not suited for conventional connections. Instead, you can use it to have a highly dynamic connection.
It would mean that your weapon is less controllable and your connection can be changed by the acceleration of the weapon, thus changing the direction and range.
Like the brace and rope, the contractable spring can fall through the ground, taking the ballast block with it.

These are essentially like swivel joints, but flammable.
They have a comparatively high stability and resting values.

Powered wheels hardly differ from unpowered ones in their dominance, stability and resting values.
They can rotate the ballast block, which doesn't have that great of an influence, though.

The small propeller has a medium stability and a medium resting value.

The Ballon has a stable connection and a very high resting value.
Even though it seems too tenuous and fragile to build a weapon with, its very flexible rope may outweigh the disadvantages if the balloon is shrinked in size.

Its stability and resting value are nearly exactly the same as the small propeller, but the dominance is higher.

The steering block has the highest stability and resting value there is, combined with an equally extreme lack of dominance.
Trying to turn the ballast block has almost no destabilizing effect.

The grabber is probably the most unstable block and has a very low resting value.

The wooden panel is very unstable and has a very low resting value.
It is ridiculously weak and has nearly no dominance.

Sadly, the only working option for applying some force to the ballast block is the water cannon.
It can be heated to be a steam cannon and the force modified depending on the planned range
and strength of the connections.
Since the behavior of the connections when a force is applied differs a lot from the properties in a conflicting systems, there is also a list of these characteristics.
As usual, there are a few terms I'm going to use:

• Safety
  This describes how likely the weapon is to damage itself.
  
  
• Range
  The average width of the area where the ballast block affects its environment if shot with a water cannon with a power of x1.
  Usually the weapon has a range as long as the bounding box, so if no other data is presented, this is the connection's range.
  
  
• Long-Range-Chance (LRC)
  There is a likelihood that an attack covers a very large distance, easily across half of the map.
  
  
• Form Of The Shot
  This describes the form of the area the ballast block usually covers.
  For example, spherical, random, elliptical, disc shaped, straight, among others.
  This can refer to the force or the block's orientation, which means away from the connection.
  
  
• Non-Local Phase (NLP)
  This describes the ballast's behavior to disappear when the tiniest force possible is applied (a water cannon with a power of 0).

This table is sorted in alphabetical order:

Aerodynamic Propeller + Small Aerodynamic Propeller

• Medium LRC;
  
• Low safety;
  
• Linear form;
  
• No NLP.

Ball Joint

• Unknown LRC;
  
• Extremely unsafe;
  
• Mostly linear form;
  
• Direction of the joint (connecting side) infuences the direction by ~60%;
  
• NLP: 0.5sec.

Balloon

• 100% LRC. Long-range only;
  
• Extremely unsafe, not only for the ballon by popping;
  
• Form: The Shot starts linear, then beginns to orbit the origin vertically;
  
• NLP: 0.75sec.

Brace

• Relatively high LRC;
  
• Very safe;
  
• Form: Linear;
  
• No NLP.

Cannon

• Lower LRC;
  
• Safe;
  
• Form: Linear;
  
• No NLP.

Circular Saw

• No results with a 1x water cannon;
  
• No NLP.

Contractable Spring

• High LRC;
  
• Completely Unsafe;
  
• Form: Influenced by direction of force (linear) ~35%;
  
• Influenced by direction of spring (linear) ~45%;
  
• Has a random Component ~20%;
  
• NLP: 4sec.

Decoupler

• Medium LRC;
  
• Medium safety;
  
• Form: Linear;
  
• No NLP;

Drill
no results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

FlameThrower
Very low LRC
Medium safety
Mostly Linear form
No NLP

FlyingBlock
Medium LRC
Medium safety
Mostly linear form
No NLP

Grabber
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Grip Pad
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Halfpipe
Relatively high LRC
Safe
Linear form
No NLP

Hinge
100% LRC, long range only
Safety: When the turning axis alligns with the force: very safe
When the truning axis is rectangular to the force: extremely unsafe; unuseable
NLP: ~0.15sec.

Holder
Very low LRC
Safe
Linear form
No NLP

Metal Blade
Relatively high LRC
Safety: Medium
Linear form
No NLP

Metal Plate
Low LRC
Not very safe
Linear form
No NLP

Metal Spike
Medium LRC
Safety: Low
No NLP

Motor Wheel+
Large Wheel
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Piston
High LRC, Range: ~6 blocks
Very safe
Form: The only direction the ballast bock will really fly
is away from the pistons bottom in a straight line. Otherwise it will only be pushed away the same distance very briefly instead of being very stable and constanctly pushed 6 blocks away
No NLP

Plow
Medium LRC
Medium safety
Linear form
No NLP

Powered Medium Cog
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

ShrapnelCannon
Very low LRC
Relatively safe
Linear form
No NLP

SimpleRope+Winch
100% LRC, long-range only
Very safe
Form: Sphere (random)
NLP: ~0.15sec.

Slider
100% LRC, long-range only
Very safe
Form: Linear in the sliding direction
No NLP

SmallTorch
Low LRC
Relatively safe
linear
No NLP

Small Wheel
High LRC
Safe
Linear form
No NLP

Spike Ball
Very high LRC
Relatively Safe
Form: roughly linear
No (real) NLP

Spinning Block
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Steering
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

SteeringHinge
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Suspension
No results with a 1x water cannon
No NLP

Swivel Joint
Medium LRC
Unsafe
Form: Mostly linear, but also shots turning in the direction the joint would do.
NLP: ~0.1sec

Unpowered Large Cog +
Unpowered Medium Cog
Very High LRC, range: ~0.8 block
Unsafe
Form: A flat disc in the same spatial orientation as the cog
NLP: >0.5sec

Unpowered Large Wheel +
Unpowered Wheel
Extremely High LRC
Lower safety
Form: A flat disc in the same spatial orientation as the wheel
NLP: > 0.1sec.

WaterCannon
Medium LRC
Safe
Linear form
No NLP

Wing
Medium LRC
Low safety
Linear form
No NLP

WingPanel
Medium LRC
Low safety
Form: linear
No NLP

WoodenPanel
Extremely High LRC
Extremely unsafe
Random Form
NLP: ~ 0.18sec.

This segment analyses the way in wich the already existing designs work
and explains their exact behavior with the different introduced terms and rules.

The so-called black-hole-glitch is a conflicting system using a grabber and a decoupler
or two of the same blocks.

If this video doesn't work for some reason, here is a link.
lightBHT(without tracks)
As you can see, this compound is highly unstable and has a very large range.
The decoupler is both more dominant and more stable,
as indicated by the movent of the ballast block:
When it is near its original postion, it can be seen on the side of the decoupler way more
than on the grabber's side.
The astonishing lack of stability is mainly caused by the grabber.
There is one flaw in this design:
Because the ballast block is often anywhere near the vehicle,
especially the connecting blocks, and moves extremely fast,
there is a risk of harming the vehicle, especially the tracks.

If this video doesn't work for some reason, here is a link.
dualBHT
The Decoupler x2 compounnd is much more stable,
so you can use it to build conflicting systems across large distances
without losing every bit of accuracy you may had.
Because decouplers don't determine the direction of the shot,
the tanks can turn without any problem.
Another benefit of this design is that it avoids the risk of harming itself by shifting the path
the ballast block travels.