Entry: 2009424
Subject: Starship Weapons besides Lasers
Status: Canon and Fanon
Capsule:Projectile Weapons - Kinetic Energy WeaponryCentrifugal Mass-drivers - Nicknamed by some the tumble dryer of doom, a centrifugal mass-driver lobs large projectiles such as proton bombs and asteroids at distant targets. Due to its large size and terrible tracking capabilities they are mostly used as siege platforms to destroy facilities and planetary defenses.
Magnetic Acceleration Mass-drivers - Similar in concept as a centrifugal mass-driver, a magnetic acceleration mass-driver fires asteroids or large warheads such as proton bombs by accelerating them along a magnetic rail often times several kilometers in length. As such they are usually deployed on moons around a world that is under siege, however some really large capital ships can carry such weapons.
Railguns - Much like a magnetic acceleration mass-driver in concept, a rail gun fires a projectile along an electromagnetic rail, however they are much smaller and fire a much smaller bolt of solid metal or antimatter container, as such they can easily fit on most starships, but tend to have slow tracking making them ineffective at close range. However their extreme long range capabilities from the hypersonic bolts is superior to most turbolasers.
Coilguns - The long rail of a railgun is the primary reason for its long range, and low tracking rate. In an attempt to make railguns useful in the intermediate ranges most combat occurs at the design was modified. Instead of a rail, the bolts are shot through a barrel with a coil of electromagnets wrapped around the barrel.
Gauss Blasters - Weapons designers took the coil gun one step further, by shortening the barrel and superheating the bolt they created gauss blasters. Similar in function to a wookiee cross-bow, a gauss blaster fires a superheated bolt of metal or an ionized antimatter canister resulting in a dramatically higher damage output then with just an everyday railgun or coilgun. However the bolt tends to cool and deform at intermediate ranges limiting the weapon's usefulness to shorter range.
Chemically Accelerated Projectile Cannon - A gun pure and simple. Basically an old fashioned slugthrower built big enough to deliver a round damaging to a starship. Often times they fire explosive rounds resulting flak bursts. The flak variant would continue to be used even into the galactic civil war for point defense.
Magnetically Accelerated Projectile Cannon - A magnetic coilgun modified to fire a more traditional slugthrower shell like a flak shell or heat round. Like the chemically accelerated projectile cannon, it would see service into the galactic civil war for point defense and artillery fire.
Accelerated Charged Particle Weapons - Preferred primarily by Trandoshan slavers, Accelerated Charged Particle weapons are a hybrid of chemical acceleration, blaster ionization, and superheated ammunition. Starship scale versions either consist of multi-barreled auto-cannons or long range artillery weapons. While slightly less powerful than their turbolaser rivals, these weapons are highly adaptable and capable of using a wide variety of ammo that can be designed to have unique impact properties.
Energy Weapons - Particle Beam WeaponsPulsed Particle Stream - A blast of ionized and superheated hydrogen propelled along a magnetically constrained path. This weapon lacks range but does tremendous thermal damage upon impact, but has rather poor tracking compared to a traditional laser cannon.
Positron Beam Weapon - Positrons, or anti-electrons as they are sometimes called are fired through a particle accelerator and impact targets, annihilating the electrons which hold ionic bonds together, resulting in a repellant positive charge in the target which proceeds to tear itself apart. Due to the immense damage this can cause a biological entity if hit (Star Trek Vaporization of a phaser comes to mind) it is outlawed and considered a barbaric weapon. Additionally, shielding seems to be unusually effective against the incoming positrons.
Solar Ionization Cannon - While a Solar Ionization Reactor uses the corona metallic hydrogen of a fusion reaction as a source of power, a solar ionization cannon uses a magnetic field to direct the fusion reaction down a barrel with the corona metallic hydrogen is forced in front to act as a leading edge to the blast. As a result the weapon impacts in two stages, where the wedge of metallic hydrogen burns through the shields and the armor. The following fusion reaction destabilizes as it impacts resulting in a fusion explosion, often times inside the hull of the target, ripping it apart.
