There are actually three main types of weapons: spherical, cylindrical and ballistic.
Spherical range applies to lasers and things similar to lasers. Weapons with spherical range have range limits both horizontally as well as vertically. If something is too high or too low, they won't be able to reach it. That's why you don't see many stingers on spires, and only short spires even if then, because they effectively lose range if you hoist them up.
Cylindrical range mostly applies to rockets and missiles. These weapons have no vertical limit, and thus can hit anything inside their range circle.
Ballistic range applies to plasma projectiles and arty weapons and all similar things. These weapons are affected by gravity and their range is not a simple sphere or cylinder. Ballistic weapons gain range vs things that are lower altitude and lose range vs things that are higher altitude. This is why crabe and DDM and stardust spires are effective.