Starlance Assault Missile

[Gir Quee]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a heavy warship missile
• Image Source: here
• Canon Link: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
• Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed-Market
• Model: Starlance Assault Missile
• Modularity: No
• 
  Production: Mass-Produced.
  
• Material: Mirrsteel fuselage and kinetic penetrator, shockwave generator rods, Psykhe Droid Brain, Biolux Organoform Circuitry, Electro photo receptors, Heat Detector, dataport, typical missile components

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Heavy Capital Ship Warhead
• Size: Very Large
• Weight: Very Heavy
• Ammunition Type: Kinetic penetrator, shockwave generators
• Ammunition Capacity: 1 kinetic penetrator, 1 plasma-based shockwaves
• 
  Reload Speed: None
  
• Effective Range: Battlefield
• Rate of Fire: Very Low
• Stopping Power: Very High
• Recoil: Very High

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Kinetic Penetrator: The 'bullet tip'of the Starlances is actually a massive, solid mirrsteel penetrator. This is designed to allow it to punch through heavy defenses and better weather defensive fire. The fuselage itself is also made up out of thick, mirrsteel armor, giving the penetrator a lot of inertia behind it.
• Shockwave Generators: The rear of the Starlance contains a ring of eight shockwave generator rods set just ahead of the plasma VSAMIR drive. During normal flight, these generators continuously create a low-power stream of plasma that travels up through tubes in the missile to coalesce in just in front of the missile's penetrator to act as a rudimentary plasma sheathe. However, when the Starlance hits a target it triggers the missile's ultracapacitor to immediately dump all energy into the generators. This creates a massive plasma burst at the base of the missile that rips apart its fuselage to explode much like a fragmentation grenade, and perhaps more importantly, creates a massive sonic wave that can shake a large target to pieces or tear apart smaller targets like other sonic demolitions, such as a seismic charge.
• Plasma Sheathe: The shockwave generators are used to generate a plasma sheathe that coalesces about one meter in front of the missile. During flight, this sheathe acts as a rudimentary shield providing some protection against defensive weapons like point defense cannons. This shield also allows the missile to better withstand atmospheric reentry. Perhaps just as importantly, this sheathe aids the Starlance in penetrating through physical defenses such as starship armor and earth.
• Droid Brain: Like Tidefall Torpedoes, each Starlance is piloted by a Psykhe droid brain using a combination of a heat detector and electrophotoreceptors. This allows the Starlance to think and react to threats on the battlefield, whether its a hostile starfighter or electronic sensor jamming.
• Etheric Flaps: Starlances have a ring of etheric flaps at the base of the missile just around the engine nozzles. This allows the Starlance to adjust its trajectory, especially when travelling through the atmosphere. This allows the Starlance to accurately freefall towards targets before reigniting its engines.

Strengths:

• Extended Range: Starlances have extended fuel tanks, allowing them to travel across the battlefield
• Defense in Principle: Much like the Statet Grav Missile or the Starcore-class Concussion Missile, the Starlance is designed to survive many of the new electronic-based anti-missile technologies being employed through principles of design. This includes extensively using Biolux series organoform circuitry to make it resistant to EMP/Ion weapons and using an isolated droid brain for guidance purposes to make it resistant to sensor jamming and generally immune to missile deactivator transmitters.
• 
  Protected Assault: The Starlance's shockwave generators produce a plasma sheathe that surrounds the tip of the warhead, which both provides the warhead additional protection against both passive and active defenses. Additionally, most of the fuselage is essentially made out of solid Mirrsteel, making it exceptionally durable against many defensive weapons.
  

Weaknesses:

• 
  Large Size: Starlances are about the same size as many small starfighters, and require special launchers such as the heavy ordinance bays on the Pelagic Star Cruiser to properly launch. The Starlance is too large for Lucerne Labs Harpoon General Purpose Warhead Launcher and standard warhead launchers. Their relatively large size also makes Starlances easier to hit than many warheads.
  
• 
  Inertia: Starlances's heavy construction of almost solid Mirrsteel makes it exceptionally durable with good penetration, but it also means that the missile does not easily change course. This means that small or exceptionally maneuverable ships have the potential to make last minute adjustments to their course to completely dodge the missile.
  
• 
  Isolated Telemetry: Starlances lack any ability to accept new input once launched. While this means that they are not easily deactivated, this also means that they cannot received new orders in flight or accept additional sensor feed or intelligence that might better allow them to hit their target.
  

DESCRIPTION
The Starlance Assault Missile is a heavy bombardment weapon designed to shatter fortifications and tear capital ships asunder. Almost as large as an A-wing, the Starlance is a partially hollowed-out Mirrsteel slug into which the components of a warhead had been inserted. Many of the components are developments of other recent Lucerne Labs warheads. The Starlance is guided and piloted by a Psykhe droid brain utilizing visual sensors much like the Tidefall Brilliant Torpedo, while the warhead itself uses an extended chemical fuel drive based on that of the Starcore Concussion Missile. These refinements better allow Starlances to better survive battlefields in which increasingly sophisticated ECMs are being fielded. But while the avionics of the Starlance are only mere copies and adaptations of previous warheads, the Starlance's payload is more unique.

At the core of the Starlance's idea is the basic use of kinetic energy. Rather than use explosives or exotic payloads, most of the Starlance's offensive force is the simple, dense fuselage of the missile itself. This high mass makes it more difficult to destroy than many other warheads and increases its ability to penetrate through physical defenses. This kinetic energy is augmented by including eight shockwave generators in the base of the missile. This generators produce a plasma sheath just in front of the missile's tip while it's in flight, allowing it better withstand enemy weapon's fire and increasing its ability to penetrate through armor and physical objects. Collapsing or disintegrating the penetrator causes the missile's ultracapacitor to dump all of its available energy into these shockwave generators, causing them to form an intense plasma wave that then breaks apart the remainder of the warhead like a fragmentation grenade and cause intense, damaging vibrations in the target itself. Starlances are often used to as coup de main in close quarters combat against damaged opponents, as they often capable of penetrating through already weakened active and passive defenses. The other main use for Starlances is as an orbital bombardment weapon, as the missiles generally can cruise towards a planet before entering the atmosphere to precisely pound a target.

Starlances are somewhat limited in deployment because few ships have the launchers necessarily to deploy them. Those ships that do deploy them tend to use them as weapons that borderline between the tactical and strategic. While a single Starlance is a tactical threat to a capital ship, dozens of Starlances can cross a battlefield and wipe out strategic installations, such as defensive forts and space stations. The largest concentration of Starlance-equipped ships to date lies with the Silver Jedi's 4th Fleet under Admiral Quee.

 

[Gir Quee]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a heavy warship missile for the Silver Tide
• Image Source: here
• Canon Link: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
• Affiliation: Silver Jedi
• Model: Kraken Heavy Torpedo
• Modularity: Optional x1 hyperdrive
• 
  Production: Limited (only can be used by the ship Silver Tide)
  
• Material: Mirrsteel frame, Phrik-Neutronium laminated armor plating, Psykhe Droid Brain, Biolux Organoform Circuitry, Electro photo receptors, Heat Detector, dataport, Defender Deflector Shield Generator, Baradium warhead charges with Detonite priming charges, Coaxium / Baradium Nitrate-based chemical thrust engine, hyperdrive (optional), typical missile components

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Heavy Capital Ship Warhead
• Size: Very Large
• Weight: Very Heavy
• Ammunition Type: 8 Baradium Charges
• Ammunition Capacity: 1
• 
  Reload Speed: None
  
• Effective Range: Battlefield
• Rate of Fire: Very Low
• Stopping Power: Extreme
• Recoil: Low

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Droid Brain: Like Tidefall Torpedoes, each Kraken Heavy Torpedo is piloted by a Psykhe droid brain using a combination of a heat detector and electrophotoreceptors. This allows the Kraken to think and react to threats on the battlefield, whether that threat is a hostile starfighter or electronic sensor jamming.
• Reconfigurable Warhead: The Kraken carries a heavy baradium payload not unlike that found on other baradium missiles. However, it carries this payload in several smaller charges that can be prematurely ejected rather than a single charge. This means that upon direct impact, the Kraken can detonate as a single unit, or alternatively, it can be deployed as a cluster munition, which is particularly effective against small capital ships or groups of starfighters.

Strengths:

• Massive Punch: Each Kraken packs a very heavy punch, much like many Baradium Missiles. A single Kraken is oftentimes capable of taking out a small corvette by itself or a squadron of starfighters.
• Extended Range: Kraken have a fairly large fuel source, which combined with a high speed, allows them to travel across the battlefield quickly.
• Defended: The Kraken is a very well protected warhead, comparable to a typical superiority starfighter in terms of durability. Like Baradium Missiles before it, the Kraken incorporates its own deflector shields, which protects it against both energy and kinetic weapons. The missile's hull itself is composed of a durable phrik-neutronium armor backed by mirrsteel frame, which also makes the fuselage itself quite durable. To protect against Ion and EMP weapons, the Kraken makes extensive use of Biolux series Organoform Circuitry as well as a chemical thrust-based engine and uses a detonite priming charge, meaning that its core functions are likely to continue at reduced performance even if the weapon is caught up in an EMP/Ion blast.

Weaknesses:

• 
  Large Size: Krakens are about the same size as many small starfighters, and require special launcher. Their relatively large size also makes Krakens easier to hit than many warheads.
  
• 
  Inertia: Krakens have a fairly heavy construction combined with a high sublight speed which means that they are not very good at making last minute course corrections, such as may be encountered by a particularly maneuverable target or by an object placed within the Kraken's flight path.
  
• 
  Isolated Telemetry: The Kraken's droid brain lacks any ability to receive or transmit information to and from any outside sources. While this protects the missile from missile deactivators, it also means that it cannot receive new orders while in flight or accept additional sensor feed or intelligence that may otherwise improve its performance.
  

DESCRIPTION
The Kraken Heavy Torpedo is a variant of the baradium missile designed and manufactured by Lucerne Labs exclusively for use by the Star Defender Silver Tide. While upon first glance the Kraken appears to be a simple piece of heavy ordinance, the Kraken is sophisticated as many starfighters, having its own specialized sensor systems, deflector shielding, droid pilot, sublight drives, and in some cases its own hyperdrive. Despite this array of sophistication, these technologies all work together in order to allow the Kraken to effectively deliver its payload to its intended target.

The heart of the Kraken is a cluster of eight baradium charges, each attached to their own individual detonite priming charges. In typical use, all of these charges are detonated simultaneously, producing a massive and blinding spherical explosion capable of taking out small capital ships and groups of smaller objects on its own. However, the Kraken can be used as a fragmenting cluster warhead, with each of the eight charges being ejected from the missile before they explode on a variable timer. This typically used as a 'shot-shell' for hitting targets that might otherwise escape the missile's reach, such as groups of starfighters or maneuverable capital ships. This mode is also frequently used for planetary bombardment to hits groups of troops. This latter mode is enabled by the Kraken's heavy duty fuselage.

The Kraken's fuselage shares more in common with starships than with other warheads due to its large size. It uses the base lines of the Empire's old Probe-Mate Hyperspace Pods, but uses a sturdier construction of a mirrsteel frame covered in an unusual armor of alternating thin layers of phrik and neutronium, where phrik is used for general durability, the neutronium is used to rapidly disperse energy attacks across the entire fuselage. This construction spreads damage across the entire hull rather than a single point, making it resistant to penetrating attacks. But this hull itself is only the second layer of protection after the missile's shield generators, which make it as durable as a classic X-wing.

Unlike an X-wing, the Kraken is piloted by a Psykhe Droid Brain which uses a heat detector and a series of electro-photoreceptors to navigate through the battlefield. Piloting the Kraken like this by the droid brain leads to some particularlities in its flying style, with the missile flying primarily by inertial guidance based on the Silver Tide's original sensor scan of the target until the missile nears the target, when visual tracking from the EPRs and heat detectors takes over. Using passive sensors like this allows the Kraken to target enemies without using active sensor pings that may trigger a ship's lock-threat warning system. This whole process may not necessarily be as straightforward, as the Psykhe pilots the missile to avoid threats that may be attacking it, such as enemy starfighters or munitions. Krakens do have a fuel where they have the ability to take detours to try and evade these threats.

Krakens use a coaxium/baradium nitrate-based chemical thrust drive for sublight propulsion, where coaxium is only present in extremely small amounts, acting primarily as a catalyst and occasional accelerant to the primary fuel. Some Krakens retain the x1 hyperdrive originally found on its predecessor, the Probe-Mate Hyperspace Pod. As the Psykhe-class Droid Brain cannot handle astrogation, these coordinates are programmed into the torpedo by the Silver Tide just before launch. Unlike the original probot pod design,there is significantly less hyperdrive fuel on the Kraken, which limits its use to only several lightyears, typically just long enough for the Silver Tide to launch torpedo strikes from just outside of a star system. As the Kraken does not have any lifeforms onboard, the safety cut-outs have been removed from the hyperdrive, meaning that its reversion from hyperspace into realspace is not effected by interdictors or artificial gravity wells.

Krakens are only found on the Silver Tide, and the vast majority of these torpedoes are actually manufactured by the Star Defender herself. The Silver Tide can only launch these torpedoes through special, large launchers that appear to be squat, stub barreled double gun turrets. Each turret is fed by a large magazine located deep within the Silver Tide. Krakens are one of the Silver Tide's key weapon systems not only because of its power and range, but its capability for indirect fire. While they can be employed against almost any target, they are common reserved for volley use against star destroyers, battlecruisers, and against other dreadnoughts.

 

[ADM. Reshmar]

8 baraidium charges? That's a punch in the face

 

[Gir Quee]

Never said how powerful each individual charge is, but that's probably best left up to the opposing writer.