Post by Victor Thorne on Aug 25, 2013 19:12:05 GMT 1
For your referential pleasure, here you’ll find a brief overview of the common ship-mounted weapons found across the ‘Verse, their capabilities and applications.
Mass Accelerator Cannons
Thanix Cannons
Turbolasers
Plasma Cannons
Ion Cannons
Caster Cannons
Phase Missiles
Gauss Cannons
GARDIAN Laser Cannons
Flak Guns
Proton Torpedo
Concussion missile
Particle cannon
Shield Disrupter
Mass Accelerator Cannons
Known colloquially as railguns, mass accelerator cannons pass an electrical current along a pair of parallel rails to accelerate solid metal slugs to extreme velocities with the resulting magnetic fields, impacting the target with devastating kinetic force. The two largest limiters of a mass driver’s destructive power are its physical length and the mass of the slugs it fires; a longer barrel permits greater acceleration before the slug exits, and a heavier slug will impact with greater force. Of particular benefit is the fact that no air resistance exists in space, so the velocity and trajectory of the shot don’t change – a fired slug will keep moving at full speed until it hits something. Many warships are designed around a single huge mass accelerator that spans the length of the hull, allowing targets to be engaged from tens of thousands of kilometres away.
Thanix Cannons
The thanix cannon is a recent and rare variation on the standard mass accelerator. Instead of solid projectiles, its magnetic array fires a superheated liquid alloy of metals. This jet of molten metal scythes through targets with both impact force and irresistible heat, inflicting far more damage than could be dealt by a solid slug of similar mass. The main downside is the hugely increased power requirement to keep the weapon’s ammunition in constant magnetic suspension at a constant temperature; a ship that wields a thanix cannon can afford far fewer other weapons.
Turbolasers
Turbolasers are a relatively recent development in ship-based directed energy weaponry. Contrary to the name, they do not fire laser beams, but rather highly focused particle bolts energised by a special gas and fired through focusing apparatuses housed within the weapon’s barrels. While these projectiles are inferior in range, velocity and destructive potential to a mass accelerator’s slugs, turbolasers have no need for physical ammunition, can sustain a much greater weight of fire, and their bolts explode violently on impact.
Plasma Cannons
Plasma cannons are functionally similar to turbolasers, firing bolts of highly energised, extremely hot matter. Most of the damage is done via sheer heat transfer, burning through the target’s defences to incinerate interior systems. Plasma cannons commonly have the ability to be excessively charged, firing larger, hotter bolts across greatly increased ranges. The most obvious drawback is extreme heat generation, which must be vented between firings to preserve the weapon; many a reckless commander has completely burned out their plasma cannons by sustaining fire without allowing time for heat ventilation.
Ion Cannons
While incapable of inflicting structural damage to the target, ion cannons are designed to neutralise enemy shields and electronic systems. They fire bolts of ions – energised molecules with an electrical charge. The result is a localised electromagnetic pulse that wreaks havoc with a target’s electronics. Countless ships have been left dead in the water by barrages of ion cannon fire that crippled their shields and fried on-board systems.
Caster Cannons
A weapon so far unique to Harker Industries’ Diabolus, the caster cannon is a technology brought from a world where magic is very much real. It fires shells imbued with a charge of potent elemental magic, which release this charge in a fierce explosion upon detonation. Depending on the nature of the magic used to prepare the shells, caster cannons can be outfitted for a variety of roles, from melting through hardened armour with fire to compromising shields and electronics with lightning. The Diabolus’ Straitjacket Hyper Laser employs a similar technology, expending prefabricated magic charges to fire highly destructive beams of raw energy. The Straitjacket’s technology is, of course, not for sale.
Phase Missiles
Phase missiles are a new and promising development in extreme-range ship-to-ship ordnance. These high-yield torpedoes bear their own, very powerful on-board phase drives. The intention is for the weapon to close the distance to its target once fired by making a high-speed micro-jump through phase space, crossing tens of thousands of kilometres nearly instantly. In this way, an anticipated enemy fleet can find themselves staring down a volley of torpedoes from literally out of nowhere before the ships that fired them have even entered mass accelerator range. The main drawback to the phase missile is that its target must be designated and its course plotted ahead of time, because it must exit its phase jump short of the target and go the rest of the way through real space or risk passing the target in mid-jump and missing it completely.
Gauss Cannons
While seemingly functionally identical to mass accelerators, since both use magnetic fields to accelerate solid projectiles, gauss cannons are markedly different in both function and application. Mass accelerators guide projectiles between two rails along which an electric current is passed, accelerating the slug via passage through the resulting magnetic fields, whereas gauss weapons surround the barrel with a series of coils which are turned on and off in sequence to accelerate the projectile with its attraction to each separate magnetic field. Gauss cannons can therefore fire multiple shots much more quickly than a mass accelerator – as quickly as the sequence of coil activations can be cycled, in fact – and require much less power, but cannot handle nearly the kind of projectile weight that mass accelerators can. Gauss cannons are therefore usually employed as point defence on larger vessels, but also see use as the primary weapons of small personal ships, valued as a cheap mass accelerator analogue. Some custom-built vessels of even cruiser size and above sport gauss cannons as their primary weapons rather than mass accelerators, their owners preferring rapid-fire capability over sheer range and power.
GARDIAN Laser Cannons
The GARDIAN (General ARea Defence Integration Anti-spacecraft Network) system is the current standard of naval point defence, consisting of banks of small turreted laser cannons across the hull of a ship. The reason for its mainstay status is obvious - because laser beams travel at the speed of light, it is impossible to evade GARDIAN fire. In the hands of a halfway competent fire controller, who need only activate the system and designate hostiles, it will hit its targets. It has two limitations, however. The first is heat; like with plasma, sustained laser fire will overheat the weapon, so time must be taken for ventilation during which the enemy can take advantage of the decreased volume of incoming fire. The second is range; laser beams gradually diffuse and spread out as they travel, resulting in less energy density that can be placed on long-range targets and therefore less damage that will be inflicted. Most GARDIAN cannons project infrared lasers for maximum damage at knife-fight ranges, but some are calibrated to fire at longer wavelengths, greatly extending their effective range at the cost of lower damage output.
Flak Guns
One of the best weapons for point defense against missiles and starfighters the flak gun is one of the most dated and old weapons that is still used regularly on board ships due to its ability to put shrapnel into the air and suppress targets while destroying potential high threat weapons that are launched against the ship armed with the flak guns. Where the flak gun exceeds expectations is in the department of beating highly advanced technology. With the advancement of technology some missiles were able to know when they were locked on by targeting computers and adjust their course to fly through cover and avoid predictable firing patterns. The result was a return to an even older concept, that of the flak gun. Shells would be fired in the general area of the target, which would then explode, filling the area with shrapnel. Though effective planetside, it was in space combat that it really shone—with no atmosphere to slow the shrapnel, and the far higher velocities used, the shrapnel became incredibly deadly.
Proton Torpedo
Proton torpedoes came in a wide array of sizes and yields; from massively powerful capital ship weapons designed for orbital bombardment, to small but nimble fighter-grade weapons. A number of torpedo designs were shielded to protect them from being shot down either by skilled pilots or the target's defensive flak guns. The energized torpedoes carried a devastatingly powerful blast from a proton-scattering warhead, and could be fired at much greater ranges than the standard laser cannon. The torpedoes were exceptionally maneuverable, able to make a 90 degree turn within a turning circle of a meter, enabling them to be used against starfighters.
Concussion missile
A concussion missile was a short-range, winged or wingless anti-vehicle missile generally deployed by starship or vehicle mounted launchers. There were a wide range of concussion missiles, varying in speed, maneuverability, and destructive capability. The concussion missile evolved from the ancient concussion spheres that were bigger, slower, and less destructive weapons that were similar to traditional bombs. This missile type is a weaker form of assault concussion missile but can, however, have their explosive yield and exit velocity increased via advanced concussion missile upgrade.
Particle cannon
An older version of the current Ion and Turbo laser cannons, the particle cannon excels over the other two in only one area, the ability to put more shots into the air faster. Aside from this, both newer types of weapons do exceedingly more damage at the cost of firing speed. Particle cannons are used mostly by pirates and older ships that don't want to give up antique weapons that they deem better than the newer weapons. Particles cannons draw energy in and release it in rapid succession, some particle cannons are single shots and can be charged until an energy bank is filled and release one extremely powerful dense shot. When firing rapidly they do little damage but can blanket an area quickly with shots.
Shield Disrupter
A prototype weapon of newer generations, at the cost of a lot of energy one could hit a target with a shot from a shield disrupter and take down or weaken the shields of other ships. The draw back of the weapon is the amount of energy needed to use the weapon and the velocity of travel from weapon to target being exceptionally slow.
