John Locke
V U L K A N
[SIZE=9pt]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Intent:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] To sub a weapon to be used on unique ships.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Image Source: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]ArtStation[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Canon Link: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]N/a[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Primary Source: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Magnetic Pulse[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE] Manufacturer: Locke and Key Mechanics
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Affiliation:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Company Name(s)[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] (Locke and Key Mechanics)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Model:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Aurora Tempestas[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Modularity:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] No[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Production: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Semi-Unique[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] (A single small unit, squad, or squadron[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Characters refer to NPCs & PCs.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Material: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Electronics, DC generator, Optical beam generator, Titanium[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Classification: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Magnetic Pulse Weapon[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Size: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Very Large[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Weight:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Very Heavy[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Ammunition Type: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Energy from the ship’s reactor[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Ammunition Capacity:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] As long as the ship has power effectively unlimited.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Reload Speed: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]None[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Effective Range: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Battlefield[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Rate of Fire:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Very High[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Stopping Power: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Extreme[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]·[/SIZE][SIZE=7pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Recoil:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] None[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=9pt]Can penetrate shields[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Can shut down enemy weapons systems[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Causes no damage to an enemy ship[/SIZE]
- What Shield: The light beam can travel through deflector, molecular, even Xythan Force Shields, no-one ever thought that light would be dangerous.
- What Weapon: Designed to shut down weapons by generating a magnetic field over the surface of the target ship. The very nature of weapons systems on a ship leave then vulnerable to this attack, a vulnerability they are more than happy to exploit.
- The Weapon is in effect a Beam of light shone at enemy ships, and as such it has a very high rate of fire, the only thing preventing it from being a continuous beam of light was the engineer’s desire toe prevent the weapon burning out.
- What Damage: While capable of penetrating shields the weapon does absolutely no damage at all, none…well maybe it scratched the paint.
- Cloaks: While a normal shield isn’t designed to block light, a cloaking device is and if the beam can’t penetrate to hit a target it has no effect.
- Has no effect on pure bioships since the Faraday effect has to pass through a magnetically conductive material, which a bioship isn’t. Certain vong ships, on the other hand, would be affected due to their construction. Other organics will need sunglasses and very strong sunblock.
- Watch out for the zap: Due to the powerful electric currents being generated in the hull of a ship, anyone standing too close to it is likely to receive a bad shock as the current discharges.
- [SIZE=9pt]Diminishing Returns: The magnetic field is generated at the point of impact, spreading out across the ship from there. However, when it comes to larger ships, such as a SSD or Battlecruiser, the generated magnetic field will not cover [/SIZE]the[SIZE=9pt] entire surface of the ship, requiring multiple hits correctly spaced across the surface of the ship to disable all it's [/SIZE]weaponry[SIZE=9pt]. [/SIZE]
- [SIZE=9pt]Temporary Drop: The Aurora Tempestas generates a magnetic field across the surface of a ship which is able to knock out weapons systems. However, this is only a temporary effect. The charge surging through the weapons can be grounded and the weapons reset to a working condition given time and manpower. (OOC Note: This is not meant to be an instant reset but take some time to [/SIZE]completely fix.)
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[SIZE=9pt]The Mag Pulse was another obscure technology which Locke and Key Mechanics decided to update for the modern battlefield. Where the original weapon had used a torpedo to deliver the magnetic pulse which was at the core of the weapon to a target the engineers realised that this delivery method was less than effective on the modern battlefield with the vast anti-missile defences that most navies seemed to deploy with. So they went back to the drawing board, breaking down the weapon into it’s most basic form.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]At its core the Mag Pulse aimed to carry a magnetic field to an enemy ship where it could play across the surface of the ship. The difficulty that the engineers had initially when creating a weapon to perform this effect at range was how to transmit the field over the interstellar distances required. A normal EM wave used in this manner would weaken and dissipate before they could reach their target. Forcing the beam into a coherent beam helped to extend the range some, but not nearly far enough for the engineers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]The breakthrough actually came in a completely unrelated project, when John Locke was discussing another weapon with a friend he mentioned that shields don’t generally defend against light. (This is readily apparent in all the movies and novels where ships are visible. If standard light was blocked then we would only see black where a ship was and no sensors, friendly or enemy would work.) John didn’t think anything of it till he came back to stare at these plans before it struck him, light would make the perfect transmission medium.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]The weapon is really a three-part weapon, generation, transportation and execution all equally important.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]The generation element comes from the weapon itself a beam of light is generated which passes through a polarising filter before leaving the weapon. This polarisation is very important to the final effect of the weapon, and the filter technology is the most important, and most secret part of the weapon.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Once generated the beam travels at, would you believe, the speed of light. However, the beam is not a turbolaser and lacks the intense destructive power of the weapons. Instead, the beam is unable to do any damage to modern armours, playing across an armour will barely leave a scratch, not what you expect from a weapon of this level. Instead, the weapon traded the ability to any damage for two very unique abilities. The first was its ability to travel through shields. No Molecular, deflector or ray shield was able to stop the beam for one very important reason, it did no damage. Shields weren’t designed to block out light, just the high energy ionised blasts which modern weapon used. To block out light would be to prevent the ship from observing its surroundings and reading its own sensor data, not an optimal solution, yet one which was sometimes seen in use in the hybridium cloaks. Baring a cloaking device though, there was no need to block light from penetrating to the hull of the ship.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]It was when the light struck the hull of a ship that the final ability of the beam, and the execution phase. This ability is based around a little known truck known as the[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Faraday Effect[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]. The Faraday Effect means that if polarised light, like the light generated by this weapon, passes through a medium then it alters the polarisation of the light. It also just so happens that if you alter the polarisation of a beam of light travelling through a magnetic medium…it generates a magnetic field. Space itself doesn’t have the ability to affect the beam, but the moment it hits a ship it will start to generate a magnetic field. It is this magnetic field that is the ultimate aim of this weapon, because of the effect of magnetic induction. The magnetic field generated would have an effect of any electronics they come into contact similar to an EMP, generating an electric current in the ships weapons that will overload the electronics until they can be purged and reset. However, due to the hull of the ship and the fast travel time of the light the Magnetic field doesn’t penetrate very far, and only vulnerable electronics on the surface of a ship are affected. ((OOC: This is meant to affect only the weapons on a ship which are always exposed. However, if the defending writer wants to write more systems being affected that is their choice. However, systems like life support and engines are generally too deep within the ship to be affected.)) The Magnetic field created primarily targets weapons systems, which by their very nature are exposed on the surface of a ship leaving them vulnerable to the effect. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Further Reading - Scientific Basis[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]http://www.futurescience.com/emp/emp-notes.html[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-calculated-a-new-way-to-generate-superstrong-magnetic-fields[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_effect[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/240093/can-light-be-warped-by-a-magnetic-field[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/41680/why-is-light-called-an-electromagnetic-wave-if-its-neither-electric-nor-magne[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]https://www.wanttoknow.info/050812electromagneticbeamweapons[/SIZE]
