Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out a Lucerne Labs specific version of the Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannon in manner that it explicitly is NOT a superweapon
- Image Source: Originally here, modified by yours truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannon (Weapon Card for Star Wars Armada), Heavy Particle Cannon, Particle Beam, Particle Cannon Turret
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed-Market
- Model: Thunderer-class Heavy Particle Cannon
- Modularity: Can be installed into different types of mounts or turrets (double barreled, triple barreled, etc)
- Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: durasteel casing, Agrinium tanks for holding Prothium gas, dallorian alloy barrel, standard particle cannon components
- Classification: Very Heavy Particle Cannon
- Size: Extremely Large
- Weight: Extremely Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Power / Prothium gas
- Ammunition Capacity: Very Large
- Effective Range: Extreme / (Average in less than ideal conditions)
- Rate of Fire: Low
- Stopping Power: Extreme (Average in less than ideal conditions)
- Recoil: High
- Roughly equivalent to 100 turbolasers in terms of power
- Particle Cannon: The Thunderer uses a staggered series of particle accelerators to rapidly accelerate prothium gas particles (known to be relatively easy to excite and decelerate) at almost superluminal speeds, making it an example of a neutral charge particle beam weapon.
- Variable damage output: Thunderer's power input can be dialed up and down to allow to relatively precise effects. On its lowest setting, it can immediate vaporize the area of a typical house (other particle effects will still bloom out from this area). On its highest setting, it's beam radius might vaporize a city block, though this direct damage will be much more haphazard and some areas in that radius might be completely unscathed.
- Multiple Effects: As a particle beam weapon, Thunderer effects its targets in several ways. The most obvious is a massive discharge of thermal damage via the electricity in the particles, subatomic particles colliding with the target at almost light speed, and the consequent disruption of atomic bonds (almost like a disruptor weapon). The consequent destruction of this material at this subatomic level results in vast scattering into the nearby area of ions (causing ionization/EMP damage) and radiation from decomposing elements (causing a variety of effects on biologics, from almost imperceptible radiation sickness to death). These reactions are relatively short-acting, and the radiation entirely disappears in a matter of several minutes. This area of effect for secondary effects is typically as large two to three radii of the weapon's output beam. While area of effect attack has obvious connotations for planetary targets, it also applies to targets in space, especially screening starfighters and escorts.
- Dual-Purpose Weapon: Like the original Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannon, the Thunderer can be used as an orbit-to-ground siege weapon to batter down and break through hardened ground defenses such as planetary shields or wrought damage against static positions, large formations, or very large vehicles. However, it is more frequently used as a heavy space weapon, where its consolidation of firepower makes it useful against larger starships such as star destroyers and battlecruisers. It is especially effective against carrier-role starships, as its radiation secondary effects on the target can damage nearby starfighters and possibly hurt their pilots via radiation exposure as well.
- Extreme Firepower: The Thunderer is an exceptionally powerful weapon largely due to its very large size and power draw, making it an ideal weapon to quickly batter down star destroyers and battlecruisers. The relatively fast travel of its bolts also means that most of the bolt's energy connects with a target.
- Exceptional Range: The Thunderer has a relatively long-range mostly because of brute force engineering and the sheer power of the weapon.
- Slow Tracking: The large size of this weapon means that is tracking is relatively poor against small and fast targets such as starfighters, subcapital ships, corvettes, and frigates.
- Conditional weapon (less than ideal conditions): Much of the weapon's extensive range and exceptional power depends on the environment. It generally performs quite well in normal vacuum and in typical atmospheres. However, certain environments, such as exceptionally dense and hazy atmospheres, unusually large and unstable electromagnetic fields, or nebulae in space, can cause electrostatic blooming. This greatly reduces the particle beam's cohesion, which in turn significantly reduces its range and power.
Looking for ways to thwart the marauding Bryn'adul, Lucerne Labs spent time searching for viable orbital to ground weapons in hopes that it could find a way to precisely hammer invasion forces from orbit with a minimum of permanent collateral damage. Ironically, they found that solution in one of the Empire's old superweapons: the Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannon. Lucerne Labs refined this design and greatly downsized it to ensure that it would not be too powerful to cause inordinate amounts of collateral damage. As part of this, the Thunderer has been specifically built with settings to intentionally reduce the power of the weapon to effect relatively small areas with a high amount of explosive areas. The particle beams secondary effects that spread out from the initial reaction produce high amounts of radiation which can adversely effect biological targets and fry electronics like conventional EMP or Ion Weapons. However, these effects are relatively short-acting and do not permanently scar the target area, meaning that unlike some more dirty weapons, post-battle recovery is significantly easier, thus ensuring a minimum of expenditure of political capital. Perhaps more immediately pressing for military commanders, the quick degradation of this radiation also means that friendly forces can quickly move into areas just hit to fight off survivors of the attack or otherwise occupy ground. While originally intended as a ship-board support weapon to break down enemy ground forces and static positions, the Thunderer is also a fairly potent anti-ship weapon as well.
Most of this power against other ships is a simple matter of firepower consolidation. With a power draw equivalent to that of roughly a hundred turbolasers, the Thunderer simply hits harder than most long-range turbolasers and hypervelocity cannons. Against starships, the volatile nature of the accelerated prothium particles produces the explosive blast characteristic of particle weapons that can wreck a wide section of an enemy starship if it pierces through its shields. The explosive nature also means that many craft in the immediate vicinity of the blast radius are not only physically damaged, but may also be caught in the larger secondary blast radius that produces ionization effects on technology and biohazardous radiation which can effect a ship's crew or highly wear down on their shields. Nearby sections of the originally attacked starship might also suffer these secondary effects. This makes the Thunderer particularly useful against carriers or vessels using starfighter screens. Unfortunately, those very same effects can also lead to the issue of fratricide if friendly ships are in the area, as often occurs during tangled dogfights. Many vessel commanders will choose to dial down the weapon's power in order to mitigate this occurrence, especially if the Thunderer is being employed in close-quarters fighting. The Thunderer is a powerful weapon which is both aided and limited by its secondary blast effects. Consequently, while it seems likely to be employed on some of the company's larger warships, it is not likely to ever be the primary battery of any warship except a dedicated bombardment vessel.
