Factory Denied Phase IV/01 Heavy Repetition Antimatter Cannon

[Mellifluous Magenta]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a heavy repeating weapon.
• Image Source: N/A
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: First United Astral Engineering
• Affiliation: Agents of Chaos and Closed-Market
• Model: Phase IV/01 Heavy Repetition Antimatter Cannon
• Modularity: Yes; May be Installed in Different Vehicle Platforms or Utilized as a Man-Portable Heavy Weapon. Can also link to virtually any electronics, sensor suite, HUD, or targeting system. Rail Interface may accommodate a number of attachments.
• Production: Mass-Produced
• Material: Antimatter, Antimatter Repeater Components, Dallorian Alloy, Durasteel, Duraplast, Titanium, Myoflex, and, Anti-Ion/EMP Agrinium and Duraplast Mesh Construction Surrounding Electronics

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Heavy Repetition Antimatter Cannon
• Discharge Velocity: 2231 m/s
• Size: Large │ Very Large (Power Generator)
  • 40 Inches (101.6 Centimeters) │ 40 Inches (101.6 Centimeters) + Size of Generator
• Weight: Very Heavy │ Extremely Heavy (Power Generator)
  • 39 Lbs. (17.69 Kilograms) │ 39 Lbs. (17.69 Kilograms) + Mass of Generator
• Ammunition Type: Antimatter Cell and Power Cell (Or Power Generator)
• Ammunition Capacity: Average │ Very High (Power Generator)
  • 100 Discharges Per Power Cell and 300 Discharges Per Antimatter Cell │ ~Unlimited Discharges With Power Generator and 250 Discharges Per Antimatter Cell
• Effective Range: Average (375 meters)
• Rate of Fire: High
  • ~13 Discharges Per Second
  • 2 Discharge Burst, Semi-Automatic, and Fully Automatic
• Stopping Power: Extreme
• Recoil: High

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Ammunition Counter and Cautionary Pulsar
• Weapon Integrity Reader (Operating Temperature, Power Cell Levels, and Etc.)
• Continuous Cooling System (Incorporated Heat Sinks and Cryo Cooling)
• Electronic Safety
• Autosteady-Gyro Gimbal System
• Standard Rail Interface System (Combat Sights, Scopes, Grips, and Etc.)
• Genetic Code, Retinal, Chitinous Accretion, Cytoplasmic, and/or Dermatoglyphic Operator(s) Verification/Security System
• Anti-Light Reflection Lens Coating (If Applicable)
• Passive Mini-Sensors Around Barrel (Detects Any Hazardous Obstructions Around the Barrel, Prevents Firing Until They are Cleared)
• Precision-Guided Targeting Computer (Integrated With all Factory-Issue Optics)
  • Interfacing, Uplink, and Networking Capability
    • Pyrowall and Echo Pulse
  • Oversight and Governing Data-Brain
  • Holographic HUD Display and Targeting Reticule
  • MFTAS
  • Backup Optical Targeting/Sighting Module (In Event of Sensor Jamming)
  • Automatic Zero Adjustment
  • Anemometer Sensor
  • Ambient Air Density Sensor Module (Temperature Sensor, Humidity Sensor, and Barometer)
  • Gravity Sensor
  • Temperature Sensor
  • Humidity Sensor
  • Rangefinder

STRENGTHS

• Reflective Shielding and Lightsabers: Technologies which would otherwise prove effective in returning energy, such as lightsabers, Xythan Force shields, or similar defensive systems, are unable to return or reflect magnetically-sheathed antimatter particles, as antimatter will simply annihilate itself and potentially, any matter within close proximity, upon impact. This is especially dangerous to unshielded lightsaber wielders, as the “splash” created by such an explosion could likely result in grievous injury or in extreme cases, annihilation. However, this effect typically will not nullify the purely defensive qualities of reflective shield systems or any other variant of ray or molecular shielding.
• Extreme and Versatile Damage Potential: Given the hyper-reactive, explosive, and annihilating nature of antimatter, the Phase IV/01 is capable of damaging and potentially disabling virtually any atmospheric and ground-based military vehicle smaller than 20 meters, with more or less direct hits required to do so, depending on the overall size and defenses of the unit. Utilized against infantry, including power armor-clad units and monstrous humanoids possessing disruptor-resistant organic carapace, it is usually a nigh-overkill with few enduring exceptions. It is also effective against light and medium vehicles, including light walkers and medium-sized landspeeder or wheeled craft, albeit with multiple direct hits. Finally, it may also render terminal damage effects on smaller starfighters and atmospheric craft. While it is capable of engaging larger vehicles and heavy tanks, these machines are extremely resilient to it and as such, are somewhat aptly characterized as "bullet sponges" when taking fire from the weapon. In essence, they can be neutralized, but only after tanking high amounts of fire.
• EMP/Ion Resistance: The Phase IV/01 has a very robust resistance to EMP and Ion weaponry. In general, area-of-effect EMP/Ion weaponry is largely ineffective in disabling it, especially if the weapon is not in close proximity to the point of discharge. However, more focused EMP/Ion weaponry, such as ionization blasters and EMP guns are capable of overcoming the weapon's internal defenses to render it little more than dead weight.

WEAKNESSES

• Stationary: The Phase IV/01 is a large, heavy weapon and generally requires that an unaugmented user be stationary in order to fire it, unless it is mounted on a vehicle.
• Penetration: The antimatter particles can generate spectacularly explosive results upon impact with a given target, it is largely ineffective as an armor penetrator. An obstruction as thick as a bush or a small cluster of foliage, which would otherwise only serve as concealment and subsequently be easily bypassed by a kinetic projectile, is enough to detonate the antimatter prematurely, presumably allowing any targets behind it to escape with minimal damage or virtually unscathed.
• Accuracy: The Phase IV/01's accuracy at ranges beyond 150 meters tends to suffer under prolonged periods of rapid fire, especially when utilized in smaller vehicles or as a man-portable heavy weapon.
• Heat Discharge Protocol: When fired at the maximum rate of fire over a sustained period (Typically longer than four seconds), it is likely that the cannon will execute an emergency heat discharge protocol which will prevent the operator from discharging the weapon for over five seconds. In order to avoid this, it is recommended that the operator remain cognizant of monitoring of the weapon’s heat levels and exercise trigger discipline.

DESCRIPTION
The Phase IV/01 Heavy Repetition Antimatter Cannon is a heavy, yet man-portable weapon system which bears rough equivalence to a blaster cannon, albeit with significantly more damage potential. Designed and produced by one of the largest defense corporations based within the Scintilla, it was created to fill the gaps in the arsenal of the Wild Hunt and the Armada pertaining to heavy firepower. It can be utilized as a man-portable, heavy weapon for specialized troops or a vehicle-integrated offensive system. In both cases, the Phase IV/01 is an extremely potent and versatile weapon that is capable of neutralizing a wide range of threats.

 

[LT-137]

Under Review.

 

[LT-137]

Mellifluous Magenta - I just wanted to start this out with an apology for it taking a while for the Factory Team to process this submission, and that we appreciate your patience.

On the first run through of your submission, I've noted that there are a few links missing from your Product Information section. In order for this submission to be approvable, I will require that the Agents of Chaos faction be linked, as well as the wookieepedia article for Antimatter. I have provided both for you for editing ease.

From there, I believe that the hard number you've listed for your range rating isn't what would be conventionally considered Average amongst energy weapons. Especially the man-portable cannon variants. The average is roughly half the 650 metres that you've listed, while greater ranges are possible if outfitted onto a vehicle. To back up my thoughts, I'll be linking the generic blaster cannon article that's used by the factory to help establish a baseline.

My suggestion here would be to lower the 650 metres to a number under ~400 metres, and mention that greater distances are possible with the vehicle-mounted variants. If you wanted to include a number for this weapon's range when it's vehicle-mounted, that'd be fine too.

Extreme and Versatile Damage Potential: Given the hyper-reactive, explosive, and annihilating nature of antimatter, the Phase IV/01 is capable of damaging and potentially disabling virtually any atmospheric and ground-based military vehicle smaller than 45 meters, with more or less direct or indirect hits required to do so, depending on the overall size and defenses of the unit. Utilized against infantry, including power armor-clad units and monstrous humanoids possessing disruptor-resistant organic carapace, it is usually a nigh-overkill with few enduring exceptions. It is largely effective against light, medium, and heavy vehicles, including heavy tanks and walkers, albeit with multiple direct hits. Finally, it may also render terminal damage effects on starfighters and various atmospheric craft.

I've highlighted two portions of one of your strengths that is concerning to me.

When combined with every aspect of your submission, the best comparison that I can draw is that this weapon is basically a heavy disruptor cannon that's man-portable. Which, if that was the only thing - then this submission wouldn't be out of the ordinary, especially for Chaos, lol. However, it has an incredibly high rate of fire despite the high rating, an insane discharge velocity, a larger than average (disruptor comparable) ammunition capacity and by your words - is capable of disabling or destroying anything that isn't a Small Corvette or a Super-Heavy Vehicle in a manner of seconds. Essentially, this is a man-portable super weapon at mass-produced.

I'm going to be honest, but I'm hesitant to even consider stamping this, or even sending it off for a second run-through.

So, in order for that outcome to pass - I would recommend paring back some of this weapon's destructive capabilities by balancing it out with more weaknesses that are genuine and significant, and a sufficiently more descriptive description. Matter and antimatter annihilates themselves when they come into contact, how would this affect the discharged round? How accurate is this weapon, especially since it's capable of firing ~20 rounds a second? How would this weapon be affected by Electronic Warfare (EWAR) via EMP bursts or Highly-ionized plasma? How is this weapon capable of disabling vehicles, starfighters, and atmospheric craft with indirect fire? These are just a few of the many questions in either the weaknesses or description sections that I would personally like to see answered before revisiting this submission.

If you disagree with any of my findings and notes, you're welcome to contest them with your thoughts and convince me otherwise. Or, you're welcome to request that another judge takes over this submission via the Second Chance request thread.

Thanks for your time, and please tag me when you've made any edits, or have posted a reply.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Thank you for picking up this submission! I appreciate your assistance in helping me make this something that is approvable.

I added the links as requested and made some changes pertaining to the weapon's overall damage potential, rate of fire, accuracy, and EMP/Ion resistance.

Regarding the damage potential, which seems to be the point of most concern, I added a bit to the "Extreme and Versatile Damage Potential" strength to more precisely clarify its capabilities in engaging heavier/larger vehicles.

LT-137

 

[LT-137]

Mellifluous Magenta - Thank you for taking the time to edit your submission with some of my points being taken into consideration. However, I don't believe that enough has been made to counteract the general walking super weapon vibes I mentioned in my last reply. You've taken a few steps in the right direction by reducing the hard numbers in the range field, and by adding an accuracy weakness too. But, it isn't enough to dissuade me of the notion that this isn't an overpowered, man-portable "one-shot/barrage" super weapon.

Accuracy: The Phase IV/01's accuracy at ranges beyond 150 meters tends to suffer under prolonged periods of rapid fire, especially when utilized in a smaller vehicles or as a man-portable heavy weapon

When this Weakness is combined with the High Recoil rating, it doesn't seem to add up as theoretically there would be a considerable spread, likely turning into a proverbial cone as soon as these discharges/projectiles exit the weapon. My suggestion here would be to remove the number entirely and reword the weakness that these antimatter projectiles are highly inaccurate at long(er) ranges, especially when fired rapidly. That's not even mentioning the, now lowered number of discharges, and the velocity at which their discharged at - which would likely factor into the weapon's operation.

I appreciate that you've lowered the hard value in the Extreme and Versatile Damage Potential strength, alongside the attempt to explain how this weapon effects heavier vehicles, essentially treating them as bullet sponges. But, that doesn't answer my questions of How. I would ask that you fully flesh out this weapon's capabilities and make an attempt to answer the questions that I've brought up in my previous reply by utilizing the description section. The Factory Template also has some factors that will need to be addressed, as there is considerable potential for abuse that need to be brought up and explored in the submission.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

As with most of my submissions, I prefer to embed the bulk of my prose within the strengths and weaknesses sections. I know that isn't exactly how the template calls for it to be done, but it's easier for me to present information when using the strengths and weaknesses as a guide, rather than the somewhat open-ended format of the description. As such, I believe that your questions pertaining to how the weapon deals damage, its relative resistance to EMP/Ion weaponry, and degree of accuracy are already answered within those sections. Also, I neglected to mention in my previous reply that all references to indirect fire have been removed from the text.

While I understand the reasoning behind the suggestion of rewording the accuracy submission, I prefer to keep the wording there as it is since the phrase "long(er) ranges" is a bit more vauge than I would like and in my opinion, opens the weapon up to more potential for abuse.

As for your last point, I am not quite sure how I would explain the potential for abuse while maintaining the tone of the text. I would like to ask for your assistance with that, especially some examples of how it is typically written in other submissions, as I don't really have the frame of reference for how to write something like that.

If there are any more concerns that you like for me to address in the submission or in a reply, please let me know.

LT-137

 

[LT-137]

Mellifluous Magenta - Apologies about the further delay, but this is a submission that requires careful consideration, especially with the edits that've been made. As it stands, this weapon is still a rapid-firing, highly accurate, "disruptor" cannon that's man-portable, capable of disabling or destroying vehicles under a certain size limit, and has a high ammunition capacity... at mass-produced. Now, as I've mentioned before, I've drawn parallels to disruptors because of the listed capabilities this weapon has, or is alluded to have through it's open-ended nature. However, Disruptors have the balancing factor of them being slow firing weapons that chews through an ammunition supply at an incredible speed.

They also have the benefit of the technology being expanded on through a series of further articles, detailing how it works, what'll happen if you get struck by it, etc.

Antimatter on the other hand doesn't benefit from expanded lore, nor articles that one can create a frame of reference from. However, what articles do exist detail the insane capabilities of antimatter weapons. A Micromine, for example, is a tiny device that's capable of blowing up the side of a hill. An Anti-matter Bomb, likely larger than the micromine, is capable of leveling entire large-scale cities with a single blow, and rendering large tracts of land as uninhabitable through Cherenkov radiation.

All of this information is being drawn from Wookieepedia alone, so there's likely some creative license being taken in how everything would, or wouldn't operate in a RolePlay setting. With that being said, it gives people the idea of how their weapon works, and how the opposition would take damage. Yes, you've touched on that in the strengths section. However, what I've been asking you since I've selected the submission is how. You can state that this weapon works however you'd like. As there are no antimatter weapons outside the bombs and mines that I could find - you've got quite the playground to draw from. However, in weaponizing the substance and making it man-portable... there's a lot of grey areas that need to be filled in.

Hence, the reasoning behind the How questions in my previous replies.

Reflective Shielding and Lightsabers: [1] -Technologies which would otherwise prove effective in returning energy, such as lightsabers, Xythan Force shields, or similar defensive systems, are unable to return or reflect magnetically-sheathed antimatter particles, as antimatter will simply annihilate itself and potentially, any matter within close proximity, upon impact. [2] - This is especially dangerous to unshielded lightsaber wielders, as the “splash” created by such an explosion could likely result in grievous injury or in extreme cases, annihilation. However, this effect typically will not nullify the purely defensive qualities of reflective shield systems or any other variant of ray or molecular shielding.

Extreme and Versatile Damage Potential: [3] - Given the hyper-reactive, explosive, and annihilating nature of antimatter, the Phase IV/01 is capable of damaging and potentially disabling virtually any atmospheric and ground-based military vehicle smaller than 20 meters, with more or less direct hits required to do so, depending on the overall size and defenses of the unit. [4] - Utilized against infantry, including power armor-clad units and monstrous humanoids possessing disruptor-resistant organic carapace, it is usually a nigh-overkill with few enduring exceptions. [5] - It is also effective against light and medium vehicles, including light walkers and medium-sized landspeeder or wheeled craft, albeit with multiple direct hits. Finally, it may also render terminal damage effects on smaller starfighters and atmospheric craft. [6] - While it is capable of engaging larger vehicles and heavy tanks, these machines are extremely resilient to it and as such, are somewhat aptly characterized as "bullet sponges" when taking fire from the weapon. In essence, they can be neutralized, but only after tanking high amounts of fire.

EMP/Ion Resistance: [7] - The Phase IV/01 has a very robust resistance to EMP and Ion weaponry. In general, area-of-effect EMP/Ion weaponry is largely ineffective in disabling it, especially if the weapon is not in close proximity to the point of discharge. However, more focused EMP/Ion weaponry, such as ionization blasters and EMP guns are capable of overcoming the weapon's internal defenses to render it little more than dead weight.

As you can see in the quoted section above, there's seven sentences or sections that alone cause my mind to fill with hundreds of questions - each pertaining to How? I'm not going to list them all out, as that's something that should've been factored into this submission when it was originally authored. However, I will give one for the sake of explaining my reasoning, or thought process. "How would a heavy vehicle suddenly become extremely resistant to the weapon after it passes 21 metres? All that's changed is that the vehicle's longer or taller, nothing else, as even smaller vehicles can have thicker armour plating than their heavy compatriots."

And that's just one highlighted section of this submission...

So, I'm not entirely sure how I'd be able to help you in any capacity by giving examples - as it's pretty clear to me what needs to be expanded on and fleshed out further than what's already present in the strengths and weaknesses section. If you'd like - I can move this submission into the Pre-Factory area, so you can take some more time and flesh it out. Or, if you believe that I've been unfair in my judgement - you're welcome to request a Second Chance through the link I've provided.

Let me know what your response is, and we can go from there.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Bin it.

LT-137