Become the Crisis
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To develop a set of beam weaponry for an extremely limited number of capital ships.
- Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8RHNF5stR-s/VY7nIXLKLTI/AAAAAAAANkE/FXNNUgg4NkE/s1600/Star%2BWars%2BDeath%2BStar%2Bgun.JPG
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Defiance Consolidated Multipurpose Manufacturing
- Model: LRBBeam(Long Range Big Beam)
- Affiliation: Closed-Market (Select Sith Empire ships as of right now)
- Modularity: No
- Production: Limited(Select Sith Empire and other ships)
- Material: Energy Crystal(power source), Duranium-Adamithium composite(framework), Diatium(internal circuitry and electronics)
- Classification: Beam Weapon
- Size: Extreme
- Weight: Extreme
- Ammunition Type: Ship Reactor
- Ammunition Capacity: Infinite(connected to ship's reactor)
- Reload Speed: Very Low(35 seconds)
- Effective Range: Long Range
- Rate of Fire: Very Low
- Stopping Power: Extreme
- Recoil: None(Beam Weapon)
- Beam weapon
- The LRBBeam is capable of causing tremendous damage to enemy warships of practically all classes.
- The LRBBeam's focusing of the weapon's power to a single point means more likelihood of hull and shield penetration given the focus on a single shield quadrant, draining it more effectively than a turbolaser barrage spread across the entire ship. This also has the effect of focusing the power of the beam at a very specific point on the ship's hull, allowing for pinpoint damage to ship subsystems.
- The LRBBeam's damage over time is comparable to a few hundred turbolasers firing over the same timespan, meaning that the per-shot damage is incredibly high for the weapon's size and capabilities.
- Beam cannon technology is still in its infancy with regards to being mass-produced. As the largest and most powerful beam cannon that DCMM sells, its production is limited and few ships are capable of fitting the weapons. Those ships that can are of Star Destroyer/Battleship class and above. Any ship Cruiser size or smaller would have to be built around a single gun(with accompanying powerplant) and would likely have extremely minimal primary armament aside from the weapon.
- Unless fitted in a dedicated turret, which would minimize the armament on the rest of the warship, the weapon is semi-fixed within the side/top/bottom of the ship and will have an extremely limited field of traverse(approximately 10 degrees in any direction for a 20 degree 'cone' of fire that increases at maximum range). In some ships, the weapon may be properly fixed and unable to move. This requires the ship to maneuver and ensures that even a non-turreted ship fitted with beam cannons will never be able to bring its full armament to bear on a single target.
- Being rather large weapons in contrast to turbolasers and other primary armament of warships, the LRBBeam will realistically be more likely targeted by enemy bombers and warships. The elimination of a single beam cannon deprives a warship fitted with the weapons of far more of its effective primary armament.
- The rate of fire in comparison to a turbolaser battery is abysmal. It takes over half a minute for the weapon to recharge after a burst, a far cry from the second or so for most turbolasers.
- Smaller and more maneuverable ships, such as some corvettes and frigates, can outmaneuver the beam, as it will remain static while firing.
Vanessa Vantai had for years researched prototypical beam weaponry. From the composite beam lasers used as turret armament on the LAAT gunship and the great superlaser weaponry used by the Death Star to Geonosian handheld beam cannons and prior capital ships fitting beam weaponry, both larger and smaller in size(as well as particle beams like the Emeritus Rad-Rifle), the rediscovery of beam cannon technology as a useful anti-ship weapon was slowly but surely realized. Early prototypes of beam weaponry, primarily proton type, found themselves mounted on Subach-Innes ships, while the refined variation relies more on a beam generated using a sudden power surge from an energy crystal fitted within the cannon, drained of power in a four second burst before being reenergized by the ship's main reactor after half a minutes. Initially, there is a sign the weapon is firing - a gleam of greenish plasma begins to form at the end of the barrel before the beam exits the end of the array, flying out a vast distance into space before impacting an enemy ship's shield and boring through it and the hull with intense potency.
Given that the LRBBeam is the largest and most powerful beam cannon produced by DCMM, it has the longest range and the most power - and is also the most costly to produce. The early prototypes of these weapons are expected to be fitted to the Ablution, flagship of the Void Irregular Fleet, after its eventual much needed overhaul. Other LRBBeams have been reserved for use as singular weapons on new Star Destroyers or Dreadnoughts for the Sith Empire, where their exceptionally power-hungry design can be fed by potent hypermatter, antimatter, or solar ion reactors. Consideration has been made to building a smaller(<1km) ship around a single LRBBeam, but the resulting lack of secondary firepower and the requirements for most if not all reactor power to be dedicated to the weapon would prove to be the seeds of a particularly fragile warship.
