GDI CEO
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a mainline capital grade weapons battery for use across a myriad of ship classes.
- Image Source: Image Source
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Maser - Wookieepedia Link
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
- Manufacturer: GDI Incorporated
- Affiliation: GDI Incorporated
- Market Status: Closed-Market | Guardian Defense Industries Inc.
- Model: MM-38 ‘Carronade’ Megamaser Battery
- Modularity: Yes - can be ship mounted, or used as a dedicated emplacement on the ground
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material:
- Quadanium Exterior Plating
- Durasteel Superstructure
- Duravlex Coating
- Cold Plasma Cooling System
- Interchangeable Machined Parts
- Megamaser Components
- Recoil Stabilizers
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Classification: Megamaser Battery
- Size: Large
- Weight: Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Tungsten-forged armor piercing rounds, infused with reactor-fed energy.
- Ammunition Capacity: Average
- Effective Range: Battlefield
- Rate of Fire: Average
- Damage Output: Very High
- Recoil: Very High
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Interchangeable Parts: GDI has established itself as a company based around modularity and ease of maintenance. As a general rule, they have always strived to implement that same hallmark of their brand within even the most complex and specialized of technologies they’ve designed. With respect to the PT-11A, its mass-produced production status renders it among the easiest of weapon systems to maintain and repair if necessary given the plethora of replacement parts available.
- Volley Fire Integration Computer: The MM-38 is designed to be used in either small clusters, or in larger groupings (such as entire broadsides/hull sections). GDI’s ‘Volley Fire Integration Computer’ is specially designed to streamline the coordination of said mass groupings in both targeting, as well as effective applications of massed volleys. This eases the strain on ship-board computer systems (however mundane such a task may be for more specialized systems), and can also enhance the effectiveness of tracking and coordination.
- Energy-infused Rounds: Maser-technology is fairly ‘tried and true’ on the galactic stage, widely used as an alternative (or complement) to turbolaser technology. Their main point of divergence is they are not purely an energy based weapon like turbolasers. Instead, this weapon platform is munition based, which is therefore infused with highly concentrated energy within ship-board reactors. This grants traditional masers similar performance as mainstream turbolasers, namely in shield disruption; along with the added punch and velocity afforded to ordinance-based weapon systems.
STRENGTHS
- +Interchangeable Parts: (See special features)
- +Energy Infused Rounds: (See special features)
- +Slugger: The design behind the MM-38 is straightforward, and as subtle as a rancor - where the PT-11A excels in high rate of fire and high tracking, the MM-38 provides vastly superior stopping power and range. This renders the weapon ideal for broadside applications, or in clusters positioned along ideal ship sections affording angles of fire against larger sized vessels. There is not much else to the weapon system, serving as a showpiece to the simple elegance behind the GDI brand.
WEAKNESSES
- -One-Dimensional: Despite the functionality and innovation behind the MM-38's design, it Is only designed to do one thing very well. The role it plays is that of a medium/heavy ship weapon system capable of throwing large caliber rounds down range at an exceedingly long range, nothing more. It is highly effective against large and/or slow moving ships, but decidedly lacking against more agile craft with slim silhouettes. This can be mitigated to a certain extent with an advanced targeting system, and this is not to say it is entirely inadequate to the task if required; but it still cannot compete with platforms designed specifically for countering more agile vessels.
- -Heavy Caliber: As noted above, the MM-38 is designed as an anti-capital ship weapon. Its rate of fire is considered average, along with its munition reservoir, meaning the system has to draw from a central ordnance cache within whatever ship it is mounted upon. If deployed in small quantities, this can cause delays if all MM-38’s are fired in unison whilst each platform’s reservoir inevitably reloads from the central cache. If used in mass quantities, volleys can be staggered, thus reducing the lull.
- -Internal Maintenance: The function of a megamaser involves a sequence of operations internal to the weapon system itself. Proper operation requires regular calibration and maintenance. Most routine services can be performed by ship-board engineering teams, with only drastic repairs or retrofits requiring a starbase.
DESCRIPTION
After the development of the PT-11A Pulse Turbolaser, GDI set about developing another weapon system as a complement to it in the form of the MM-38 ‘Carronade’ Megamaser Battery. Where the PT-11A excels in rapid application of firepower against targets possessing high speed and agility, the MM-38 fills the gaps as a steady and reliable mid-to-heavy armament, capable of inflicting considerable damage per shot to mainline vessels; particularly when fired en-masse. Combining the damage output of energy-based weaponry, along with the velocity and stopping power of munition-based platforms, the Carronade is ideally suited to fill the role of a main ‘en-masse’ armament aboard most ship classes at startling ranges for a mass-produced weapon system.
Simple and straightforward in design, the MM-38 is a weapons platform slated to be heavily used in new ship designs for both the public and private market, where jurisdictional laws apply.
