Razelle Breuner
Rogue Element
B O O M S T I C K
Sonic Shotgun
- Intent: The bulk of our available sonic weapons are either ancient or unique. Here's one that isn't.
- Image Source: Artstation - Sean Bigham, Warframe's "Arca Plasmor"
- Canon Link: Sonic Weapons
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Confederacy of Independent Systems
- Affiliation: Closed-Market
- Model: Gundark-Pattern Sonic Projector
- Modularity: No
- Production: Minor
- Material: Plasteel, sonic shielding, blaster components
- Classification: Sonic
- Size: Large
- Weight: Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Heavy power cell, compatible with E-Web and other mounted weapons
- Ammunition Capacity: 5 shots
- Reload Speed: Average
- Effective Range: Personal
- Rate of Fire: Average
- Stopping Power: Very High
- Recoil: High
- Sonic damage bypasses lightsabers entirely, offering no chance at deflection
- As an area weapon, evading this weapon's effects requires creativity
- Stopping Power: One has to respect a weapon whose developers had a clear sense of what they wanted. The Gundark-pattern sonic projector hits like a train. Possibly like two trains, stacked on top of each other and covered in spikes. A single blast from the Gundark is normally enough to cause extraordinary pain, unconsciousness, and acute bone fatigue in most organics. It can even be quite fatal at point blank range, causing internal bleeding from popping blood vessels and organ damage.
- Large Spread: The Gundark discharges its energy over a very large area. While the range of this blast isn't suited for the scale of a typical battlefield, as a personal or specialist weapon it excels at clearing rooms, scattering formations, and negating cover. Designed to be employed not unlike a flamethrower, plasma cannon, or heavy assault shotgun, these weapons are at their best when deployed in small numbers.
- Sonic Damage: Sonic is an oft-neglected energy type. It bypasses many forms of defense entirely, most notably lightsabers. Armor is designed with protection against sonic attacks more rarely than other forms of damage. As a result, a blast from the Gundark is likely to affect most organic targets.
- Extremely Loud: Well yeah, it's a sonic weapon. "Silencing" a Gundark is impossible, and the blast it makes can be heard hundreds of meters away. In fact, the noise pollution caused by one of these weapons necessitates even the wielder and nearby allies not in the area of effect to wear appropriate protective gear to avoid any hearing damage. When you fire a Gundark, people will notice.
- Limited Range: The Gundark has an effective range of about 30 meters. This makes it extremely effective in urban combat, or for clearing fortifications during a breach or overrun. However, the average battlefield measures its diameter in kilometers. As a shotgun-like weapon, the Gundark has its place, and that place is as a close-range infantry fire support weapon, which will become immediately clear for anyone who plans to field it against tanks, artillery, snipers, and close air support.
- Bio-Configuration: Sonic weapons need to be calibrated to affect different species. The default setting for near-humans is effective against the vast majority of species in the galaxy, but other humanoids - such as Twi'leks, Aqualish, Toydarians, and Hutts - all require different configurations. These can be downloaded at no cost into any connected datapad for easy switching, but on the off-chance you don't have the right setting, the Gundark (like any sonic weapon) will have markedly reduced effectiveness. Deafening an enemy isn't nearly as useful as blasting them into unconsciousness.
- Ammo Issues: The Gundark puts quite a strain on its power supply. In addition to needing a large power cell commonly used for heavy weapons, it drains roughly 20% of that cell per shot. Combined with a very middling rate of fire, punishing recoil, and an involved reloading process, one needs to make one's shots count.
- Sheer Size: It shouldn't come as much surprise that the Gundark is pretty friggin' beefy. Its sizable bulk is concentrated towards the front of the weapon, which gives it a very awkward balance. Basically, between size, weight, and poor balance, one isn't going to be using this particular shotgun-adjacent weapon in CQC.
Sonic technology is a rare, oft-neglected option in warfare. While custom-model sonic weapons aren't unheard-of, they've yet to see widespread deployment in most contemporary militaries. Sensing the shortage of available options and the potential to capitalize on that, Confederate eggheads whipped up the Gundark-Pattern Sonic Projector, normally referred to as the Gundark, or simply the "boomstick."
A shotgun-like heavy weapon, the Gundark occupies a similar place on the battlefield as flamethrowers, plasma projectors, arc cannons, and shrapnel cannons. Given that the weapon requires an entire squad to be outfitted with aural dampeners, and its weight and cumbersome firing cycle weigh heavily on the average soldier, the Gundark is normally deployed in small numbers for specialist teams in urban warfare. Shock troopers and vanguards are also quite fond of the heavy-hitting area blast, and naturally it has the potential to be quite popular with bounty hunters and mercenaries, due to its obvious usefulness against Force-users.
The Gundark isn't the first and probably won't be the last sonic shotgun referred to as a boomstick.
