Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Plumbata is Lucerne Lab's entry into the defensive missile entry market after making extensive use of repurposed PLX-2M missile launchers for the same purpose. While not a perfect adaptation, experience with those launchers proved to be invaluable in formulating a dedicated defensive missile battery. While satisfactory from an offensive standpoint, it was found that the exposed PLX-2Ms frequently were too delicate to survive prolonged slugging matches. This finding spurred Lucerne Labs's designers to make the system internal, which in turn spawned the rest of the redesign process. With the launcher internal, the Plumbata no longer had the wide transverse or elevation needed to quickly track down any target, which in turn dictated that the Plumbata know exactly where the target would be. To solve this problem, the designers turned to the conventional antimissile octet technology and adapted its fire control technology to work with basic magnetic accelerator technology. This allows Plumbatas to launch projectiles into the projected paths of targets.
Most often, these are cold-launched starfighter-grade missiles, which after drifting a short ways, activate to home in on their targets. After being fitted into sabots, small Arakyd 3t3 missiles and other missiles previously used on the PLX-2M are the most common payload on Plumbatas. This backwards compatability allows the Directorate and other users to use existing missile stocks and provides adaptability for use in the atmosphere. Normal starfighter grade missiles can also be fitted into sabots and launched, but the sabots are then thinner, and it is frequently found that because of this, these warheads can be damaged by the firing process. The other most common payload is KSA's vibroflechettes, which effectively turns it into a large-bore space shotgun with similar characteristics to an antimissile octet. Duraplast sabots can also encapsulate any number of other light launcher payloads, which notably include proton grenades, typically during boarding actions, and anti-ordnance EMP drones, typically used against massive swarms of missiles.
While this variety of payloads is one of the Plumbata's greatest strengths, it also has caused some headaches. Using sabots to contain the payloads has generally limited Plumbatas to using weapons that are usually weaker than many starfighter warheads, and even then, the launcher has to be carefully calibrated for that payload in order to not damage it and for better automated fire control. In practical terms, this has limited the Plumbata to only carrying a pair of ammunition types in magazine at time. Using magnetic accelerator technology, while enabling the cold launch of multiple types of missiles, is also notably slower in its rate of fire than traditional missile battery weapons or other point defense weapons. Because of these limitations, Plumbata is best employed as a part of a larger defensive weapons network.
- Intent: To provide Lucerne Labs with a defensive battery
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Model: Plumbata-class Defense Battery
- Affiliation: Lucerne Labs, Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed Market.
- Modularity: Munitions
- Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: Quadanium Steel armor plating, durasteel internal parts, magnetic accelerator parts
- Classification: Magnetic Accelerator Point Defense Battery
- Size: Ship-Mounted
- Length: 3 meters
- Weight: 10 tons
- Ammunition Type: Projectiles
- Ammunition Capacity: Variable dependent on ship size. Typically no more than 16 projectiles across all four accelerator tubes for corvettes and other small ships.
- Effective Range: short Capital Ship range
- Rate of Fire: semi-automatic
- Variable Munitions: The Plumbata can launch a variety of defensive projectiles out of its tubes. A Plumbata can only hold up to two types of different munitions on it at a time.
- Projected Tracking: Like traditional antimissile octets, the Plumbata's targeting computer calculates the projected path of an incoming target and shoots the projectile into that projected path
- Counts as four defensive guns (2 turbolasers) for shipbuilding purposes
- Variable Munitions: The Plumbata can launch a variety of munitions, including vibro-flechettes, various missiles, proton grenades, and anti-ordnance EM probes.
- Projected Tracking: Plumbata proactively fires projectiles into the target's path, increasing the likelihood that it will hit a fast moving target.
- Protected: Plumbata is built into the ship's hull, with only quadanium steel shutters sitting flush with the hull as any evidence that the weapon is present. This makes it particularly difficult to damage or destroy compared to many other point defense weapons.
- Slow Rate of Fire: It takes time for Plumbata to charge up its magnetic accelerators before launching, which leads to a noticeably slower rate of fire compared to most defense guns.
- Deceived: Plumbata's automated projected tracking can be deceived by electronic warfare and canny tacticians, leading to decreased effectiveness.
- Limited Field of Fire: Because each Plumbata is built into a ship, each individual magnetic accelerator has a very limited field of direct fire.
Plumbata is Lucerne Lab's entry into the defensive missile entry market after making extensive use of repurposed PLX-2M missile launchers for the same purpose. While not a perfect adaptation, experience with those launchers proved to be invaluable in formulating a dedicated defensive missile battery. While satisfactory from an offensive standpoint, it was found that the exposed PLX-2Ms frequently were too delicate to survive prolonged slugging matches. This finding spurred Lucerne Labs's designers to make the system internal, which in turn spawned the rest of the redesign process. With the launcher internal, the Plumbata no longer had the wide transverse or elevation needed to quickly track down any target, which in turn dictated that the Plumbata know exactly where the target would be. To solve this problem, the designers turned to the conventional antimissile octet technology and adapted its fire control technology to work with basic magnetic accelerator technology. This allows Plumbatas to launch projectiles into the projected paths of targets.
Most often, these are cold-launched starfighter-grade missiles, which after drifting a short ways, activate to home in on their targets. After being fitted into sabots, small Arakyd 3t3 missiles and other missiles previously used on the PLX-2M are the most common payload on Plumbatas. This backwards compatability allows the Directorate and other users to use existing missile stocks and provides adaptability for use in the atmosphere. Normal starfighter grade missiles can also be fitted into sabots and launched, but the sabots are then thinner, and it is frequently found that because of this, these warheads can be damaged by the firing process. The other most common payload is KSA's vibroflechettes, which effectively turns it into a large-bore space shotgun with similar characteristics to an antimissile octet. Duraplast sabots can also encapsulate any number of other light launcher payloads, which notably include proton grenades, typically during boarding actions, and anti-ordnance EMP drones, typically used against massive swarms of missiles.
While this variety of payloads is one of the Plumbata's greatest strengths, it also has caused some headaches. Using sabots to contain the payloads has generally limited Plumbatas to using weapons that are usually weaker than many starfighter warheads, and even then, the launcher has to be carefully calibrated for that payload in order to not damage it and for better automated fire control. In practical terms, this has limited the Plumbata to only carrying a pair of ammunition types in magazine at time. Using magnetic accelerator technology, while enabling the cold launch of multiple types of missiles, is also notably slower in its rate of fire than traditional missile battery weapons or other point defense weapons. Because of these limitations, Plumbata is best employed as a part of a larger defensive weapons network.
