| Technology and Vehicle Design - Photon weaponry |
Back to 'Calthean "Splintercraft"'
Photon weaponry (30/07/99 )
Photon Weaponry
Photon blasters were invented as an upgrade to laser weaponry, using an altered frequency of the waves used to initiate hyperspace travel. The waves are bounced around the closed end of the cannon, and have an unusual effect on light—instead of lasing, the light coalesces into a coherent ball of energy. This ball of energy grows in size until the waves bombarding it cease, and the shot leaves the cannon at high speed. On impact with a solid object, the ball explodes, doing damage proportional to the size of the blast itself.
A blaster must be designed with a large enough barrel to contain the largest size blast the weapon will emit, and military factories produce them in a variety of sizes, from small pistols capable of only stunning to large, clunky support or turreted guns. Most photon firing mechanisms are set up with variable modes, allowing them to either fire a stream of shots in rapid succession or charge up a large, concentrated blast. The shots behave less and less like light as they grow larger, their speeds slowing greatly. Small, rapid-fire photons may move almost as fast as light, but heavy artillery-class shots may move only as fast as 150 kph. Therefore, the largest photon blasters on starships are usually designed as a clustered set of smaller cannons rather than a single, massive gun. This provides nearly the same damage potential with sufficient speed.
One quirk of photon weaponry is that the light-disrupting wave generator can be damaged separately from the rest of the firing apparatus. Thus it has been known to happen that a damaged Mek or skimmer suddenly finds itself wielding a clumsy conventional laser or a high-beam searchlight instead of a blaster cannon. Another notable effect is that the weapons have slight recoil, which becomes more troublesome as shot size increases.
Researchers have been trying to come up with countermeasures against photons for years, since their invention lessened the usefulness of laser-reflective armor (which can sometimes bounce a photon hit, given proper slope for the angle of attack, but not often). Thus far, padded infantry armor, similar to a flak suit, has been developed that can partially absorb or disperse a photon hit. Researchers are constantly improving the metal alloys used to armor plate Meks and skimmers to achieve a similar effect.
| Photon weaponry (SabreCat) - 30/07/99 |
|
|