Approved Ranged Weapon LPD-81 Flamestrike Personal Blast Cannon

[Gir Quee]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To make a large personal blaster cannon version of the technology employed by the LPD-78 Survivor Heavy Blaster Pistol
• Image Source: BB-23 Heavy Blaster by Sergey Kolsnik
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Lucerne Personal Defense
• Affiliation: Directorate, The High Republic, Lucerne Personal Defense customers
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: LPD-81 Flamestrike Personal Blast Cannon
• Modularity: sights/scopes; ammunition
• Production: Mass-Produced
• Material: Dallorian alloy barrel, receiver, and internals, permex furniture, Magnatomic Grip Panels, miscellaneous blaster cannon components

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: personal blaster cannon
• Size: Average
• Weight: Heavy
• Ammunition Type: power pack / blaster gas
• Ammunition Capacity: Average (12 shots)
• Effective Range: Personal
• Rate of Fire: Semi-Automatic (Average)
• Damage Output: Very High
• Recoil: Average

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Variable Fire Modes: Like the much smaller Survivor Heaby Blaster Pistol, the Flamestrike's primary unique feature is that the rear of the blaster receiver has a rotating drum, much like the cylinder on an old revolver, which rotates to align one of six chambers with the main blaster barrel. Each chamber can be selected via pushing a button just above the grip, or manually rotated by hand to index. Unlike a classic revolver, each chamber contains a different set of galven circuitry, with each set of circuitry providing a different effect:
  • Charged Shot: This set of heavy duty galven circuitry helps form an overcharged shot that not only frequently outright disintegrates its target, but causes an explosive blast much like the older BB-23 Heavy Blaster Cannonwhich severely wound or destroy nearby targets. This bolt usually explodes against contact with a lightsaber blade, and with its blast radius of several meters, typically wounds and/or batters back the lightsaber wielder. This potential for collateral damage makes most people cautious about using it.
  • Ricochet: This galven circuitry set produces a highly unstable bolt that tends to only partially dump its energy into the first target before bouncing off in a slightly weaker state to hit someone or something else. Theoretically, this bolt could bounce up to three times before completely dissipating, and with the power of the Flamestrike's bolts, this typically can outright kill a handful of people. This set is most commonly used when trying to hit hard to hit targets or against crowds of opponents.
  • Electric Stun: This galven circuitry forms a wide packet of dense electrical energy much like a CS-33 Firespray Stun Rifle which can typically electrocute multiple targets at once into unconsciousness or can cause severe muscle paralysis. This mode works differently than most blaster stun settings, and consequently is both more reliable at stunning targets, and also much more rough on them as well. This is the only stun setting available on the Flamestrike.
  • Maser: This circuitry effectively turns the Flamestrike into a heavy maser weapon much like the Chiss charric, imparting both typical heat energy as well as kinetic impact against targets. This is only a partial conversion of the blaster bolt energy, and consequently the bolt can be theoretically parried by a lightsaber, though the kinetic momentum is significantly more powerful than most blaster cannon bolts.
  • Ion: This circuitry includes ion focusing coils, which turns most, but not all, of the condensed energy in the bolt into ion energy. This mode is particularly effective at penetrating through shielding and can often disable large electronic devices and droids with a single shot, though typically some minor damage does occur. Against an organic, it causes a very painful sensation which is often knocks targets unconscious.
  • Armor Piercing: This upgraded galven circuitry effectively gives the Flamestrike the augmented spin barrel modification, making its bolts narrower and much more likely to pierce through different materials, whether it is cover in the environment or actual armor. This is an ideal weapon for use against heavily armored battle droids and even medium armored vehicles, with a power more equivalent to a laser cannon than a handheld blaster. This mode also sees use as a breaching weapon, with a single blast often being capable of disintegrating or knocking down doors and walls. Against most humanoid targets, the damage often disintegrates entire parts of the target.
• Targeting Laser: The Flamestrike can use the priming laser of the blaster to act as a visual targeting laser by lightly holding onto the trigger. Doing so projects a faint red light out of the barrel and onto the target/environment that directly corresponds to the forthcoming blaster's bolt trajectory.
• Picatinny Rail: The Flamestrike does have a top modular rail near the end of the receiver, which allows it to use a variety of over the counter weapon's attachments such as scopes, tactical lights, and other similar devices.
• Carry Handle: The Flamestrike has a retractable carry handle at the top of the receiver which can be used to help brace the weapon, especially when being fired from the hip while on the move, in part to offset the weapon's heavy weight.

STRENGTHS

• Heavy Hitter: Like traditional personal blaster cannons, the Flamestrike fires an exceptionally powerful bolt which is often enough to severely damage vehicles and outright destroy droids and humanoid targets.
• Versatile: The Flamestrike's unusual galven pattern rotating drum allows the weapon to transform its bolts to better suit different situations.
• Blast: As the weapon's "blast" name suggest, most of its bolt types explode on impact with a blast radius of several meters. This makes the Flamestrike excellent at clearing out clusters of enemies.

WEAKNESSES

• Heavy: The Flamestrike is a fairly heavy weapon, in large part because of the heavy build needed to withstand the heat of the such powerful bolts.
• Short Range: The large bolt diameter of the Flamestrike's shots is conductive to bringing great power to bear quickly, but they dissipate quickly too, giving the weapon an effective range of less than a hundred meters - a range far shorter than many blaster rifles.
• Collateral Damage: The Flamestrike's bolts generally explode upon impact, which can cause collateral damage to infrastructure or friendly assets depending on the nature of the bolt.

DESCRIPTION
With the relative success of the LPD-78 Survivor Blaster Pistol, the LPD design team responsible for that weapon turned their eyes into taking that technology and upscaling it to the other extreme of the spectrum, handheld blaster cannons like the BB-23 Heavy Blaster Cannon or the older CR-1 Blaster Cannon. These powerful weapons often bridge the gap between handheld weapons and light artillery, but they have largely fallen out of favor on the galactic scene due to their relatively low ammunition capacity and the flexibility of competing munition-based weapons. The design team reasoned that with the galven circuit technology they developed for the LPD-78, a heavy blaster cannon would have the tactical flexibility to compete against projectile weapons, with the added bonus of only needing the same blaster gas and power supplies used by the common blasters carried by most infantrymen. To that end, the team started with the basic BB-23 design and modified it to include a revolving drum with different types of galven circuitry much like the LPD-78 Survivor. After several more refinements and production optimization changes, the LPD-81 Flamestrike Personal Blast Cannon was born.

The resulting Flamestrike offers its users the ability to hit multiple targets hard with a variety of effects, which makes it attractive to assault troops and independent operators. Many militaries issue it as a heavy weapon in infantry squads, where it usually supplements or replaces smaller grenade launchers. The weapon has become fairly popular with troops who carry it, who appreciate that they don't have to carry as much heavy or different ammunition like the above mentioned grenade launchers. It's only major complaint among its users is it's relatively short-range, but that is a tradeoff for the logistical convenience among individual soldiers and militaries that most are happy to make. The weapon has sold fairly well for the company so far - more so than the Survivor Blaster Pistol which inspired it - which means that it will have a long production time for many years to come.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Under Review.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Gir Quee

Another cool submission. Enjoy! Approved!