I'm going to use this post to put up some Work-in-progress submissions for the CSA.
Kraytscale-series Armor Plating
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide the Commenor Systems Alliance with a standard vehicle/starship armor system
- Image Source: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
- Name: Kraytscale-series Armor Plating
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Homeworld (optional): N/A
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Affiliation: Lucerne Labs / Commenor Systems Alliance
- Modularity: No
- Material: Quadanium Steel plating, VACX, Synthmesh, Carbonite Nanofibers
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Classification: Compound
- Weight: Heavy
- Resistances
- - Blasters (And other plasma type weapons): Average
- Kinetic: High
- Lightsabers: Low
- Other: Explosive: High
- Color: Blue-Gray
SPECIAL FEATURES
- (Detail briefly in a list format actual contents of the known abilities, special features, properties qualities of note, etc. such as extreme durability, superconductive, blaster resistant, etc- If these are notable enough to be strengths, please add them to strengths.
Strengths:
- Dispersion: Kraytscale uses layered approach to each plate and integrally connects them together to effectively redirect and disperse energy from kinetic and explosive attacks elsewhere.
Weaknesses:
- Thermal Ablation: Kraytscale relies on VACX to provide thermal protection between its "scales". VACX can protect these gaps for a time, but it will vaporize as heat is applied to it, eventually leaving no thermal protection between the scales. The use of VACX is also something of a maintenance issue because of the time and cost needed to replace it after use.
DESCRIPTION
Kraytscale series armor plating is designed to provide CSA starships and vehicles with general protection on the battlefield from a variety of threats, but especially kinetic weapons. Kraytscale is composed of many, relatively small octagonal plate that are connected to each other through multiple layers of embedded carbonite nanofibers. In this respect, it resembles the 'scale mail' used by ancient warriors of the Core or by low-tech civilizations today. Each plate can partially disperse kinetic energy throughout these carbonite nanofibers to the rest of the hull. This makes the whole system exceptionally useful in lessening the effects of high velocity, penetrating kinetic attacks such as hypervelocity rounds.
But each scale individually is an exceptional example of
non-energetic reactive armor. Each Kraytscale is composed of a pair of quadanium steel plates separated by a thicker layer of synthmesh sheets. When an object strikes the scale, the synthmesh underneath the steel plates gives way (or elastically deforms), causing the point of impact to also shift to an different angle. If it is a particularly high velocity attack coming perpendicularly to the armor plate, it may pass through the armor, but it may does so at angle that sends it into the more superficial sections of the hull rather than deep inside. If the attack is more low velocity or comes in at an acute angle, it may simply glance off, as the synthmesh regains its form after being compressed. Similar principles also make Kraytscale effective against shaped explosive charges, such as proton torpedoes, as the point of impact for the explosive jet will shift to lessen penetration.
For all of its advantages against projectile weapons, Kraytscale is notably less effective against conventional energy weapons such as turbolasers. The individual quadanium steel plates remain as effective as they would be as part of a conventional armor scheme, but the small gaps between the individual scales area areas where it is easier for thermal attacks to reach the hull. Lucerne Labs partially compensated for this flaw by introducing VACX gel into these gaps. However, this coating vaporizes as it absorbs more and more heat, leading eventually to its complete dissolution. This makes Kraytscale armored ships and vehicles somewhat more vulnerable to sustained energy fire barrages, especially without shields.
Kraytscale is produced in a variety of sizes for use in a wide diversity of CSA vehicles and vessels, from landspeeders to space stations. Depending on the type of vehicle and the forces it is expected to experience, the armor usually is anchored to the vehicle's hull by more carbonite nanofibers while the plating itself rests on more VACX gel and quadanium steel brackets. It is a not unheard of punishment or disciplinary measure for soldiers to have all of the VACX gel stripped and reapplied, an obnoxiously tedious process.
Bombard-class Scatter Cannon
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To provide the CSA with a unique space weapons technology
Image Source: N/A
Canon Link: N/A
Restricted Missions: N/A
Primary Source: N/A
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Bombard-class Scatter Cannon
Affiliation: Lucerne Labs / Commenor Systems Alliance
Modularity: Ammunition
Production: Mass-Produced.
Material: Quadanium steel, typical projectile weapon components, Pressor Field generators
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Scatter Cannon
Size: Ship-Mounted
Length: 10 meters
Weight: 6 Tons
Ammunition Type: Shells (projectile)
Ammunition Capacity: Effectively Unlimited
Effective Range: Capital Ship
Rate of Fire: semi-automatic
SPECIAL FEATURES
Pressor beam “choke”
Variable Munitions
improved close-quarters tracking
Each Bombard is equivalent to two turbolasers for shipbuilding and terms of rough power
Carries up to two munition types on the battlefield
Strengths:
Devastating Power: The Bombard-class Scatter Cannon fires exceptionally potent munitions, whose effects are derived from their payload rather than velocity.
Variable Munitions: The Bombard can fire a variety of shell types, which makes it an adaptable weapon System.
Improved Tracking: Because the Bombard has a relatively short barrel length, the turret has less mass to move, making it exceptionally fast-tracking for a such powerful weapon.
Spread: Much like an ancient shotgun or scattergun, the Bombard fires a spray of munitions at its target, making it unusually effective against many smaller and faster ships such as starfighter groups, subcapital ships, and light capital vessels that typically rely on evasion to survive. It is also exceptionally useful against stealth or cloaked vessels as it typically blankets an area with weapons fire.
Weaknesses:
Low Rate of Fire: The Bombard's breach is very compact but very strong, which necessitated a tradeoff in its rate of fire.
Short-range: Because most of the Bombard's barrel is occupied by the shell, and not the propellant, and there is not a not enough time to build up significant pressure, the Bombard's shells are effectively short-range weapons, as they otherwise take too long to hit targets.
Low Muzzle Velocity: The Bombard's shells have a low muzzle velocity, which not only contributes to its short-range, but also make the velocity of the projectile itself rather slow. This means that the kinetic energy imparted by the projectile to an object is very minimal, and almost is entirely based on the payload itself.
Imprecise: The very same scatter effect that makes it so useful against smaller enemies can also make it a liability. A Bombard cannot make precise shots, whether it is trying to hit a particularly small target, or trying to avoid fratricide with an ally that is very close to the target.
DESCRIPTION
The Bombard is essentially an oversized scattergun designed to be used as a capital ship weapon, making it a polar opposite and complementarily weapon to the basic turbolaser. Whereas the turbolaser is a long-range, precise weapon using the latest in energy technology, the Bombard is a short-range, area of effect weapon that can call upon a whole history of projectile designs. This makes it exceptionally multi-purpose weapon that is devastating at close range.
Each Bombard consists of a short, large-bore barrel mounted in a squat, armored turret that holds a compact but exceptionally stout breach assembly. But keeping the Bombard's mass so low, the turret's motors are able to rotate it faster than many weapons of comparable size, giving it excellent tracking capability at close ranges. This excellent tracking is complemented by the weapon's ammunitions, which fire out in spread controlled by a group of variable power pressor field generators that act like a shotgun's chock. This can make a fairly focused spread that is effective at typical turbolaser ranges, or a very wide spread that is only effective at short ranges but saturates a large area of space. Because the bombard's velocity is very low, the weapon's effects and damage dealt are almost exclusively determined by the payload itself:
Proton Scattershot: This munition consists of dozens of small, spherical
proton bombs separated by plasticene packing. When the shell is fired and they leave the barrel, the proton bombs activate either a time-delay or proximity fuse depending on their intended use. Time-delay fuses are typically used for demolition work (such as clearing an asteroid field or scuttling a ship) whereas proximity fuses are typically used against moving targets, especially smaller ships.
Ion Scattershot: This munition consists of dozens of
ion charges separated by plasticene packing. These munitions are primed with proximity or impact fuses. Proximity fuses are typically used for use against small targets like starfighters or warheads, whereas impact fuses are typically used at short range to bombard an enemy ship or installation.
incendiary Scattershot: This munition consists of dozens of
thermal wells with magnetized cases separated by plasticene packing. Unlike other weapons, these only come with timed fuses. Upon launch, the thermal wells will attach to any nearby metallic objects before they ignite on time fuse. The intense heat they generate can easily melt through thick hull plating, duracrete of fortified installations, or ignite flames in combustibles.
Radiation Scattershot: Despite its name, this munition actually consists of dozens of
plasma torpedos separated by plasticene packing. Upon launch, the torpedoes home in the nearest enemy target, which is usually enemy capital ship. Upon detonation, they cause an intense burst of radiation that is exceptionally strong at overwhelming shields.
Flechette Scattershot: The munition consists of a variety thousands of variably sized durasteel flechettes and chaff coupled with light explosive to help expand their cloud. When fired, this effectively creates a dense cloud of shrapnel that is dangerous to starfighters, subcapital ships, and incoming munitions. Much like the Caltrop-5, these flechette clouds can temporarily blind sensors to objects on the other side of the cloud. Batteries of Bombards typically coordinate and fire multiple Flechette shells to make a dense billowing cloud that can obscure entire starships from long-range sensors.
Gravity Well Scattershot: This munition consists of dozens of MX-Int mines separated by plasticene packing. These are typically launched into incoming starfighters or warhead making attack runs. When triggered, the generate intense gravity waves that wreck havoc on the abilities to move and maneuver, making them easier pickings for other weapons to pick off.
Bombards can only carry two types of munitions onto the battlefield because in order to keep the system compact, it would only have two separate feeds in its magazine. Most Bombards are deployed and fire-linked in groups, allowing them to employ mass fire techniques to blanket areas in weapons fire, or to use their variable chokes to deploy fields of munitions in various layers to either initiate or deter attacks. Bombards tend to not be very effective at standard turbolaser ranges because their munitions disperse too much, which leads them to be deployed at medium to very short ranges. They are best thought of as a supplementary weapon system for close-range combat.