Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create an common tractor beam in Lucerne Labs product line
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi Concord, Lucerne Labs Customers
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: GravForce-class Tractor Beam Projector
- Modularity: N/A
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Tractor beam projector and pressor field projector components, Biolux series Organoform Circuitry, Psykhe series Droid Brain, durasteel chassis, various electronics
- Classification: Tractor/Pressor Beam Projector
- Size: Large
- Weight: Heavy
- Ammunition Type: power
| Tractor Mode | Pressor Mode | Tensor Mode | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition Capacity | Average | Average | Average |
| Effective Range | Average | Average | Long Range |
| Rate of Fire | Average | Very High | Low |
| Stopping Power | Very High | Average | Very High |
| Recoil | Average | Average | Average |
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Tractor/Pressor Device: GravForce uses conventional force field technology in the form of a large number of bundled up, miniaturized tractor and pressor beam projectors. As such, GravForce affects targets by its ability to push or pull away targets. Thus, GravForce doesn't necessarily have to be used as a weapon, but it can also be used as a tool to move starships, debris, or to place space stations or satellites into stable orbits.
- Variable Fire Modes: GravForce utilize different force field components in different ways depending on where power is cycled to. Power can be diverted to only tractor beam projectors, only pressor beam projectors, or to both sets of projectors at once in order to produce different effects. In its tractor beam projector mode, GravForce is equivalent to many standard tractor beam projectors, though it inflicts very little actual physical damage (often manifested as structural stress against most capital ships). Activating all of the pressor beam projectors allows the user to rapidly send out of series of gravity pulses to push back starships and objects – this is often used to stagger or throw off-balance opponents or divert kinetic weapons moving towards the using starship. Again, it does nearly no actual physical damage to the target. The Tensor mode, however, is actually an unusual and physically dangerous weapon. By activating both the tensor and tractor beam projectors simultaneously, parts of the target can be sheared and/or molecularly disrupted as unseen forces try to simultaneously push it parts of the target away even as other parts can be drawn to it. In this respect, it acts much like the Squib Tensor Rifle but on a smaller scale. Many conventional starships and other potential targets do not have protection specific to the threat posed by the GravForce in this mode except for sturdy physical construction and some particle shields.
- Automated: While GravForce can be operated manually like a classic tractor beam projector, it does come with a hardwired Psyhkhe-series Droid brain equipped with starship gunnery and tactics knowledge cannisters, allowing it to act fully autonomously, though often organic oversight is needed to provide it with tactical direction. This droid brain's quick reaction time and exacting precision makes it much better at quickly reacting to incoming threats to push them away or to more precisely move objects into geosynchronous orbit.
- Versatile: GravForce has the utility of both tractor and pressor beams, and can also act as a direct fire weapon if needed.
- Hefty Power (Tractor and Pressor Modes): GravForce is fairly powerful when pulling objects towards it or acting as a direct fire gravity shear weapon.
- High Rate of Fire (Pressor Mode): GravForce can quickly unleash a series of gravitational pulses that can push away objects moving towards the host vehicle.
- Delay: Switching between fire modes takes a few seconds to recalibrate power feeds, meaning that GravForce often has a minor delay in firing when switching modes.
- Bulky: GravForce is a bit larger and heavier than the average tractor beam projector due to the inclusion of both pressor and tractor devices into a single package.
Tractor beams are so commonplace in the galaxy that most spacers and naval officers take them for granted. Looking to get a little bit more versatility of the typical tractor beam projector, Lucerne Labs experimented by fusing elements of a tractor beam projector with elements of a pressor field generator. While in many instances, the two devices can almost be used interchangeably for many non-combat tasks (pushing versus pulling an object), blending the two devices together into a single package made a more interesting if slightly larger than normal product in the end.
GravForce's tractor beam mode is not particularly notable from the typical tractor beam projector - it can grab objects and reel them if attached to a larger craft, or pull the host ship towards the target object if the target object is larger than the host ship. But including a pressor field generator in the mix better allows the host ship to do things like deflect incoming debris, kinetic weapons, and other physical threats away from the host ship than a tractor beam would. Some users have also found it easier in certain circumstances to move around extravehicular cargo containers and other similar objects without having to bother with having to reposition their vessels. But perhaps most interesting, igniting both sets of components simultaneously produces a gravity shear weapon. While only slightly more than powerful in terms of raw power than the typical turbolaser, the gravity shearing effect can be devastating to targets that rely heavily on shielding rather than structural integrity. Moreover, most opponents aren't expecting what appears to be a tractor beam projector to suddenly turn into a direct fire weapon, which can give the benefit of surprise to the user.
GravForce Tractor Beam Projectors are scheduled to begin replacing their older predecessors within Lucerne Labs's starships and vehicle product line. It is expected that a large portion of the production run will be found on larger warships, but numbers are still expected to be distributed to smaller starships and some larger planetary vehicles or even stationary installations. Given the sheer commonality of tractor beams in the galaxy, the number of GravForces that will likely be produced is almost certainly going to be astronomical.
