Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Tractor and pressor beam technology is commonplace in the galaxy, and many sailors take its presence for granted every day. Many common tractor beam projectors are multipurpose units, easily powerful and handy enough to transfer cargo containers from ship to ship during times or peace or just as easily being employed as capture devices during times of war. But there are a handful of more specialized tractor beam projectors out there, such as the Hansen FeatherTouch, typically designed more for exceptional control over brute power. The Aura takes the opposite design approach to these projectors, emphasizing raw power over fine control much like an Asteroid Tug Tractor Beam Projector.
Each Aura is actually an octet of four tractor beam projectors and four pressor beam projectors centered around a single, large gravitational field disruptor. These projectors are adjusted to focus their beams on a single point, or a small area, to pull or push a target towards the host ship depending on if the pressor or tractor beam projectors are activated. In this respect, the Aura's base capabilities are not all that different from typical tractor/pressor beam projectors except in strength. However, the gravitational field disruptor can been utilized to alter the target's mass, either making it lighter or heavier, depending on its user's orders. Since tractor/pressor beams rely on relative mass differences, this can make objects either easier or heavier to move in relation to the Aura's host. The gravitational field disruptor's ability to alter the target's mass is relative though, typically within 20% of its original mass. Larger objects are not as affected by this field disruptor to that degree, while conversely, smaller objects may be more affected by the field disruptor.
While Auras are typically used in a similar manner to other heavy tractor or pressor beam projectors in combat, they can also be used as an inefficient direct fire weapon. In this mode, both the tractor beams and pressor beams focus on nearby sections of a target and apply their forces. The tractor beams pull the object towards the Aura, while the pressor beams press adjacent areas away the Aura. This causes a shearing effect that can stress or strain heavy armor plating and ship structure or even rend pieces off of the target. This is an inefficient weapon in energy usage in comparison to most conventional weaponry, which typically makes this direct fire mode's use situational.
Auras are exceptionally large and heavy emplacements, much like their Asteroid Tug Tractor Beam Projector predecessors, and will likely see similar use. Lucerne Labs is banking on the fact that they will be able to maintain a small and steady sale of the devices to mining concerns for moving and breaking up asteroids, but they are also hoping to sell the devices to interested militaries looking for a heavier tractor beam projector.
- Intent: To provide Lucerne Labs with an advanced tractor/pressor beam projector
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Model: Aura-class Tractor/Pressor Beam Projector
- Affiliation: Closed-Market
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: Durasteel casing, electronics, four tractor beam projectors, four pressor beam projectors, gravitational field disruptor
- Classification: Large Composite Tractor/Pressor Beam Projector
- Size: Very Large
- Weight: Very Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Energy
- Ammunition Capacity: Dependent on host's power source (in practical term's infinite)
- Reload Speed: Average
- Effective Range: Battlefield
- Rate of Fire: Low
- Stopping Power: High (moving objects) / Low (direct damage)
- Recoil: Very High
- Combined Tractor Beam Projectors & Gravitational Field Disruptor
- Equivalent to fifty turbolasers in terms of rough power usage (equivalent to ten turbolasers in direct damage mode)
- Lighter/Heavier than Expected: By incorporating a Gravitational field Disruptor, Aura can somewhat alter its target's mass. It can make the mass lighter, making it easier to drag in or push around. Alternatively, it can make it denser so that it doesn't not move much as it normally would.
- Area of Effect: Auras can separate their subcomponent beams to focus on a small general area (~50 meters in diameter), rather than a specific single point.
- Battlefield Range: Auras have exceptionally large and powerful pressor/tractor beam projectors that give them greater range than many smaller tractor beam projectors.
- Limited duration: Aura's gravitational field disruptor uses a tremendous amount of energy that is taxing on the host's power systems and on its own cooling system. That means that using the field disruptor causes the beam to only be utilized for brief bursts, unlike the continuous operation of typical tractor/pressor beam projectors.
- Indirect/Light Damage: Auras are exceptionally powerful tractor/pressor beams when it comes to moving things, but their direct damage output is quite low. Each individual tractor and pressor emitter can be tuned to pull and push things at different force levels to cause a shearing effect, but since the individual emitters are all quite weak, this is an inefficient weapon in terms of direct damage output compared to conventional weapons like turbolasers.
- Poor Tracking: Aura is a large and cumbersome weapon. While turreted, it usually cannot accurately target smaller corvettes or anything smaller. It may even have difficulty tracking some ships larger than that if they are exceptionally fast for their size, and faster than the host ship.
Tractor and pressor beam technology is commonplace in the galaxy, and many sailors take its presence for granted every day. Many common tractor beam projectors are multipurpose units, easily powerful and handy enough to transfer cargo containers from ship to ship during times or peace or just as easily being employed as capture devices during times of war. But there are a handful of more specialized tractor beam projectors out there, such as the Hansen FeatherTouch, typically designed more for exceptional control over brute power. The Aura takes the opposite design approach to these projectors, emphasizing raw power over fine control much like an Asteroid Tug Tractor Beam Projector.
Each Aura is actually an octet of four tractor beam projectors and four pressor beam projectors centered around a single, large gravitational field disruptor. These projectors are adjusted to focus their beams on a single point, or a small area, to pull or push a target towards the host ship depending on if the pressor or tractor beam projectors are activated. In this respect, the Aura's base capabilities are not all that different from typical tractor/pressor beam projectors except in strength. However, the gravitational field disruptor can been utilized to alter the target's mass, either making it lighter or heavier, depending on its user's orders. Since tractor/pressor beams rely on relative mass differences, this can make objects either easier or heavier to move in relation to the Aura's host. The gravitational field disruptor's ability to alter the target's mass is relative though, typically within 20% of its original mass. Larger objects are not as affected by this field disruptor to that degree, while conversely, smaller objects may be more affected by the field disruptor.
While Auras are typically used in a similar manner to other heavy tractor or pressor beam projectors in combat, they can also be used as an inefficient direct fire weapon. In this mode, both the tractor beams and pressor beams focus on nearby sections of a target and apply their forces. The tractor beams pull the object towards the Aura, while the pressor beams press adjacent areas away the Aura. This causes a shearing effect that can stress or strain heavy armor plating and ship structure or even rend pieces off of the target. This is an inefficient weapon in energy usage in comparison to most conventional weaponry, which typically makes this direct fire mode's use situational.
Auras are exceptionally large and heavy emplacements, much like their Asteroid Tug Tractor Beam Projector predecessors, and will likely see similar use. Lucerne Labs is banking on the fact that they will be able to maintain a small and steady sale of the devices to mining concerns for moving and breaking up asteroids, but they are also hoping to sell the devices to interested militaries looking for a heavier tractor beam projector.