Ayden Cater
Grumpy Goat
Intent: To create a unique weapon module for starship and vehicles designed by CEC or those who license the technology
Development Thread: N/A
Manufacturer: Corellian Engineering Corporation
Model: Corell OmniPod
Affiliation: CEC Products / Licensed Affiliates
Modularity: None
Production: Mass Produced
Material: Durasteel
Description: Battles are a frequent fact of life to the galaxy. Many states vie for control, resources, planets and resources, or just fight for petty reasons. As a result, more fights are breaking out and more warships and vehicles are being made to fight in those fights. Many vehicles and ships made are hardwired, their armaments fixed and unchanging unless they taken back to drydock for a major refit. That takes a lot of time and money, and when the scale of fights is getting bigger and bigger, neither can be wasted.
The first lessons were taught centuries ago. By the Battle of Yavin IV, CEC freighters were well known and toted for their rugged versatility. They could accept practically any after-market modification. And so the company focused on continuing that trend, even going so far as to design aftermarket mod kits themselves.
The next lessons were learned much more recently. Rassilon fighters, developed by Silk Holdings, were designed in such a fashion that several of their non-combative systems were modularly upgradable at purchase, though they were hardwired in at final delivery. After purchasing two dozen to study, the two lessons clicked. Why could they not develop a module, a weapons pod, for starships and vehicles that would allow for rapid reconfiguration of a ship depending on the mission profile? Why not design it such that a ship could launch with a dazzling array of ion cannons and laser cannons for one mission, then be reconfigured and relaunched toting missile pods and mass drivers in less time than a new ship could be built?
Key to this idea is modular weapon configurations. To this end, pods are developed and prefabricated across a wide spectrum of needs. One pod might hold two heavy laser cannons and an ion cannon while another might have have a single mass driver cannon with a composite beam turret. Larger ships and vehicles have larger pods, and thus have more weapons per pod.
By mounting the weapons in pods rather than hard-wiring them, a ship can be repaired or reconfigured in a fifth less time as a normal ship. The reason for this is two fold. Damaged weapon pods can be replaced in hours as opposed to the days it would take a normal ship. As well, removing the pods allows technicians access to the interior of the ship or vehicle in short order rather than having to disassemble the target area part by part and reassemble it all upon completion. This is also a boon for salvage, as a ship or vehicle can be near totally destroyed but a working weapon pod can be removed and attached to a working vehicle in an afternoon.
Despite these many advantages, the system is not without its drawbacks. By holding the weapons in pods, a ship or vehicle must concentrate its weapons into group, potentially rendering the ship incapable of fighting when other ships would still have weapons to fire. As well, the pods are not designed to handle exceptionally heavy stresses, so there is a limit to what each class of pod can handle (See Pod Types below for more details). Given the modular nature of the pods, the ships and vehicles in question cannot utilize specialized targeting algorithms as the firing mechanics of a laser cannon are different from a mass driver and from a missile launcher. As such, any craft utilizing the OmniPods cannot field Advanced Targeting software.
Great care is taken to balancing the load on the pods, limiting what types can be carried by a set of vehicles or ships (Detailed below). While they can accept larger pods, this puts considerable strain on the frame and significantly impacts speed and maneuverability of the craft. For each pod above the vehicle or ship's rating, speed and maneuverability are slow by 50% (or in the case of vehicles, lowered by a quarter). The effects are multiplicative. Thus, an interceptor with a normal Speed of 2 attempting to utilize two C-Type pods in place of two A-Type pods would find itself restricted to Speed 10, a veritable death sentence for an interceptor, to avoid flying apart and exploding. Strict adherence to pod ratings is thus encouraged to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
While interest is high in further developing the system for capital ships, difficulties in power distribution prevents this at the present time.
Strengths:
Rapidity: Craft utilizing OmniPod technology can be refitted for different mission profiles, or simply repaired, in a fifth the time or less. When swapping a laser cannon might take twenty hours to replace and recalibrate, an OmniPod could be replaced and ready in four hours.
Adaptability: A fighter could be fitted with four ion cannons and two missile launchers for one mission, and then launch a few hours later with two repeating heavy laser cannons. This gives craft with OmniPod technology a degree of unpredictability and adaptability that other craft do not have.*
*Note that all weapon configurations must remain roughly equivalent to the average of that vehicle. Thus, an interceptor with the tech should have a loadout roughly equal to two laser cannons and two missile launchers. This is NOT carte blanche to cram vehicles and ships with outrageous weapon numbers, and attempts to do so will very likely result in reporting and Roleplay Judge intervention.
Weaknesses:
Condensing: To achieve the speed in repairs and replacement, weapons must be grouped very close together. Damage in combat can thus knock out an entire group of weapons as opposed to a single weapon, in some cases completely removing the craft's ability to fight back.
Jack-of-all-Trades: As the craft has to have the targeting algorithms for multiple weapon-types ready on a moment's notice, generic software must be loaded into the computer during refits and repairs. No craft with the technology can utilize Advanced Targeting Systems at the same time as the pods.
Warranty Voiding: Any craft attempting to utilize a larger type of pod than it's rated for suffers a multiplicative 50% penalty to speed and penalty for each pod, for each rating group above its normal rating.
No Refunds: Any gun counts not filled are lost. If a pod can support a value up to eight guns and only six are used, the extra two are lost with no benefit to the craft.
Pods Types:
Note: Missile launchers are worth two guns, base. Modifiers still apply.
A - Designed for use on a light vehicle. They can support two individual weapons up to a worth of four guns (So one missile launcher and a mass driver, or a heavy laser cannon and an ion cannon, etc)
Interceptors are designed to use A-type pods
B - Designed for use on heavy vehicles. They can support up to four individual weapons up to a worth of nine guns.
Starfighters, bombers, and light freighters are designed to use A or B-type pods.
C - Designed for use on very heavy vehicles. They can support six individual weapons up to a worth of thirteen guns.
Gunships and heavy freighters are designed to use A, B, or C-type pods
D - A special type of pod, D-Type pods are designed for "dakka" types of configurations, capable of supporting up to eight individual weapons. However, they cannot fit missile launchers and are restricted to 'Light' weapons only. This type of pod is rated to fit safely in B or C-Type pods.
E - A specialty pod, the E-Type is the mirror of the D-Type pod, namely in that it is designed solely for mass missile launchers. Capable of supporting up to six missile launchers per pod, no other weapon type is accepted. As well, while rated for B or C-Type pod slots, the E-class is heavy enough to slow a craft even when installed correctly. +1 to Speed and Maneuverability per pod.
F - A specialty pod, the F-Type pod is designed to augment speed positively. By giving up the weapons normally allocated to the pod, the craft is granted additional agility. -1 to Speed and Maneuverability per pod. Must fit in a B or C-Type pod.
Development Thread: N/A
Manufacturer: Corellian Engineering Corporation
Model: Corell OmniPod
Affiliation: CEC Products / Licensed Affiliates
Modularity: None
Production: Mass Produced
Material: Durasteel
Description: Battles are a frequent fact of life to the galaxy. Many states vie for control, resources, planets and resources, or just fight for petty reasons. As a result, more fights are breaking out and more warships and vehicles are being made to fight in those fights. Many vehicles and ships made are hardwired, their armaments fixed and unchanging unless they taken back to drydock for a major refit. That takes a lot of time and money, and when the scale of fights is getting bigger and bigger, neither can be wasted.
The first lessons were taught centuries ago. By the Battle of Yavin IV, CEC freighters were well known and toted for their rugged versatility. They could accept practically any after-market modification. And so the company focused on continuing that trend, even going so far as to design aftermarket mod kits themselves.
The next lessons were learned much more recently. Rassilon fighters, developed by Silk Holdings, were designed in such a fashion that several of their non-combative systems were modularly upgradable at purchase, though they were hardwired in at final delivery. After purchasing two dozen to study, the two lessons clicked. Why could they not develop a module, a weapons pod, for starships and vehicles that would allow for rapid reconfiguration of a ship depending on the mission profile? Why not design it such that a ship could launch with a dazzling array of ion cannons and laser cannons for one mission, then be reconfigured and relaunched toting missile pods and mass drivers in less time than a new ship could be built?
Key to this idea is modular weapon configurations. To this end, pods are developed and prefabricated across a wide spectrum of needs. One pod might hold two heavy laser cannons and an ion cannon while another might have have a single mass driver cannon with a composite beam turret. Larger ships and vehicles have larger pods, and thus have more weapons per pod.
By mounting the weapons in pods rather than hard-wiring them, a ship can be repaired or reconfigured in a fifth less time as a normal ship. The reason for this is two fold. Damaged weapon pods can be replaced in hours as opposed to the days it would take a normal ship. As well, removing the pods allows technicians access to the interior of the ship or vehicle in short order rather than having to disassemble the target area part by part and reassemble it all upon completion. This is also a boon for salvage, as a ship or vehicle can be near totally destroyed but a working weapon pod can be removed and attached to a working vehicle in an afternoon.
Despite these many advantages, the system is not without its drawbacks. By holding the weapons in pods, a ship or vehicle must concentrate its weapons into group, potentially rendering the ship incapable of fighting when other ships would still have weapons to fire. As well, the pods are not designed to handle exceptionally heavy stresses, so there is a limit to what each class of pod can handle (See Pod Types below for more details). Given the modular nature of the pods, the ships and vehicles in question cannot utilize specialized targeting algorithms as the firing mechanics of a laser cannon are different from a mass driver and from a missile launcher. As such, any craft utilizing the OmniPods cannot field Advanced Targeting software.
Great care is taken to balancing the load on the pods, limiting what types can be carried by a set of vehicles or ships (Detailed below). While they can accept larger pods, this puts considerable strain on the frame and significantly impacts speed and maneuverability of the craft. For each pod above the vehicle or ship's rating, speed and maneuverability are slow by 50% (or in the case of vehicles, lowered by a quarter). The effects are multiplicative. Thus, an interceptor with a normal Speed of 2 attempting to utilize two C-Type pods in place of two A-Type pods would find itself restricted to Speed 10, a veritable death sentence for an interceptor, to avoid flying apart and exploding. Strict adherence to pod ratings is thus encouraged to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
While interest is high in further developing the system for capital ships, difficulties in power distribution prevents this at the present time.
Strengths:
Rapidity: Craft utilizing OmniPod technology can be refitted for different mission profiles, or simply repaired, in a fifth the time or less. When swapping a laser cannon might take twenty hours to replace and recalibrate, an OmniPod could be replaced and ready in four hours.
Adaptability: A fighter could be fitted with four ion cannons and two missile launchers for one mission, and then launch a few hours later with two repeating heavy laser cannons. This gives craft with OmniPod technology a degree of unpredictability and adaptability that other craft do not have.*
*Note that all weapon configurations must remain roughly equivalent to the average of that vehicle. Thus, an interceptor with the tech should have a loadout roughly equal to two laser cannons and two missile launchers. This is NOT carte blanche to cram vehicles and ships with outrageous weapon numbers, and attempts to do so will very likely result in reporting and Roleplay Judge intervention.
Weaknesses:
Condensing: To achieve the speed in repairs and replacement, weapons must be grouped very close together. Damage in combat can thus knock out an entire group of weapons as opposed to a single weapon, in some cases completely removing the craft's ability to fight back.
Jack-of-all-Trades: As the craft has to have the targeting algorithms for multiple weapon-types ready on a moment's notice, generic software must be loaded into the computer during refits and repairs. No craft with the technology can utilize Advanced Targeting Systems at the same time as the pods.
Warranty Voiding: Any craft attempting to utilize a larger type of pod than it's rated for suffers a multiplicative 50% penalty to speed and penalty for each pod, for each rating group above its normal rating.
No Refunds: Any gun counts not filled are lost. If a pod can support a value up to eight guns and only six are used, the extra two are lost with no benefit to the craft.
Pods Types:
Note: Missile launchers are worth two guns, base. Modifiers still apply.
A - Designed for use on a light vehicle. They can support two individual weapons up to a worth of four guns (So one missile launcher and a mass driver, or a heavy laser cannon and an ion cannon, etc)
Interceptors are designed to use A-type pods
B - Designed for use on heavy vehicles. They can support up to four individual weapons up to a worth of nine guns.
Starfighters, bombers, and light freighters are designed to use A or B-type pods.
C - Designed for use on very heavy vehicles. They can support six individual weapons up to a worth of thirteen guns.
Gunships and heavy freighters are designed to use A, B, or C-type pods
D - A special type of pod, D-Type pods are designed for "dakka" types of configurations, capable of supporting up to eight individual weapons. However, they cannot fit missile launchers and are restricted to 'Light' weapons only. This type of pod is rated to fit safely in B or C-Type pods.
E - A specialty pod, the E-Type is the mirror of the D-Type pod, namely in that it is designed solely for mass missile launchers. Capable of supporting up to six missile launchers per pod, no other weapon type is accepted. As well, while rated for B or C-Type pod slots, the E-class is heavy enough to slow a craft even when installed correctly. +1 to Speed and Maneuverability per pod.
F - A specialty pod, the F-Type pod is designed to augment speed positively. By giving up the weapons normally allocated to the pod, the craft is granted additional agility. -1 to Speed and Maneuverability per pod. Must fit in a B or C-Type pod.
