Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Intent: Barrel consolidation, applying New Republic weapons principles to Rebellion Era weapons and their descendants.
Development Thread: No
Manufacturer: Silk/EDY
Model: QQ-T-05 "Hushaby" Rotary Ion Cannon
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: No
Production: Mass-produced
Material: Electronics
Description:
Comparable in housing style, maneuvering ability, and materials stress tolerances to a standard New Republic-era antimissile octet (a rotary mass driver flak cannon), the Hushaby rotary ion cannon is designed to consolidate ion cannon barrels for use against gunships, freighters, and other small vessels, as well as against individual weapons emplacements on larger ships. As detailed below under 'Notes on Equivalency', it is composed of eight standard starfighter-scale ion cannon barrels arranged in a rotary configuration. As these barrels are not repeating weapons, nor the emplacement as a whole designed to fill the role of a repeating weapon, fire rate is not especially rapid.
-Advantages
Benefits include consolidated targeting and reduced gunnery crew requirements, as well as easier targeting correction against single targets (it's easier to see the flaws in your accuracy when all your shots are coming from the same vector, as compared to two quad anti-fighter gun batteries). The Hushaby is rather good at disabling individual capital-scale turrets once shields are down, or through some vessels' shield gaps, potential allowing a small, fast ship to create a safe blind spot near a far larger vessel. If the weapon has one true advantage, it lies in tracking speed, with a radians-per-second rotational acceleration, velocity, and smoothness equal to a very good military-grade quad laser.
-Disadvantages
Many would claim, however, that the weapon's disadvantages outweigh its advantages. Disadvantages of consolidation center around the number of barrels incapacitated by a direct hit to a single Hushaby weapons emplacement. Other downsides include decreased ability to handle swarms of small targets; where two batteries of quad lasers can target eight warheads or starfighters at once, a Hushaby can only fix upon one target. Furthermore, in situations where a spread of fire is necessary, a Hushaby only fires one bolt at a time comparable to the multiple simultaneous bolts possible with two quad laser batteries. (For example, two standard reciprocating quad laser batteries would be able to put out alternating waves of sixteen bolts simultaneously.) Thus, the Hushaby is less capable of 'bracketing' a highly maneuverable target. Also, the Hushaby is generally not compatible with fully automated targeting systems like those found in point defense emplacements. It must be manually targeted, comparable to a quad laser. This renders the gunner vulnerable and compounds the counterfire weakness: One gunner incapacitated, by whatever means, knocks eight guns out of the fight. Furthermore, as with nearly any ion cannon, it does no physical damage. This standard limitation partially reduces its effectiveness against some warheads, as some volatile explosives might not detonate if shot with ion fire, but might detonate on blind impact thereafter. Compounding the issue, eight barrels is rather a large number to tie up in a weapon which does no physical damage, and which can be counteracted with cap drains or other anti-ionization countermeasures.
-Notes on Situational Effectiveness
This balance of weaknesses and strengths, comparable to a capital gun, does not make it fully equivalent to a capital-scale ion cannon; for example, its range is still far shorter than that of a capital gun, and each blast is far less powerful. However, it has tested well against bombers, freighters, gunships, dropships, and even very light capital ships, especially once shields are depleted, and it is quite good at disabling individual turrets of unshielded vessels.
The Hushaby, like many ion weapons, has somewhat increased effectiveness against many large obsolete and refitted ships, due to inconsistencies between ancient, obsolete-modern, and fully modern wiring, circuitry, components, housings, and so forth. Broadly speaking, it is most effective against peripheral systems of large, complex refitted ships.
Due to its equivalence to eight standard laser/ion cannons, it would not be suitable for any but the most specialized of small craft, though a specially designed gunship could carry it. As a Silk Holdings design, it is compatible with many freighters, though adding a Hushaby to a stock freighter would generally involve a severe reduction in other weapons capacity (and a custom tech submission for the ship). The Hushaby is also suitable for freighters and fast vessels of corvette and frigate scale, vessels which might find it useful to disable pirate craft for reclamation, or intercept small ships during customs duties. The Hushaby is not recommended for most ground-based or atmospheric applications. Though it is fully capable of disabling light walkers and tanks if properly mounted and fired in a sustained manner, a disabled airborne target would quickly become an unsalvageable crater in an unpredictable location.
-Notes on Equivalency
The Hushaby has eight barrels in a rotating, gyroscopically stabilized configuration, which uses a secondary balance gyroscope to offset structural stresses incident to the gyroscopic forces of a rotating barrel being moved about two axes. (Damage to the secondary balance gyroscope does not significantly impede targeting once the damage is recognized and targeting control systems account for the differential, a process which generally takes only a few seconds. However, damage to the balance gyroscope increases gyroscopic torque on the weapon mounting with each maneuver, potentially leading to degrading wear and tear, and even immobilization.) Each barrel of the Hushaby is an ion cannon equivalent in anti-shield power to one full-sized X-Wing laser cannon or one standard anti-starfighter quad laser cannon, and in every respect would be considered equivalent to one quad laser anti-starfighter emplacement or one full-power starfighter laser cannon. As the Hushaby's number of shots per second is exactly equivalent to two anti-starfighter quad laser batteries, it does not offer the damage per second bonuses of a 'repeating' weapon.
An approximate number of shots per second could be derived from the roughly four bolts per second produced by a quad laser cannon. Thus, two batteries would produce roughly thirty-two bolts per second. Since the Hushaby's bolts are each as strong as the combined strength of a quad laser's bolts (individual quad laser barrels being rather small as far as laser cannons go), equivalency would demand a fire rate of eight shots per second, which is well in line with the recharge time of a standard full-sized (but not Heavy) laser/ion cannon (approximately one shot per second on an X-Wing).
Classification: Ion cannon array (value 8 anti-starfighter guns/2 anti-starfighter batteries)
Size: Ship-mounted
Status: Legality varies by region. In some areas of the galaxy, the Hushaby is considered military-grade technology. In others, it is acceptable for civilian vessels. Caution is advised. On an entirely unrelated note, Silk sells a collapsible anti-debris shield to protect a deactivated cannon from meteor showers and other minor hazards. This collapsible shield covers the Hushaby completely.
Length: 2.5m
Weight: 400kg
Ammunition Type: Ion
Ammunition Capacity: Indefinite
Effective Range: Equivalent to a standard laser cannon or standard subcapital ion cannon (generally accepted to be roughly one kilometre)
Development Thread: No
Manufacturer: Silk/EDY
Model: QQ-T-05 "Hushaby" Rotary Ion Cannon
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: No
Production: Mass-produced
Material: Electronics
Description:
Comparable in housing style, maneuvering ability, and materials stress tolerances to a standard New Republic-era antimissile octet (a rotary mass driver flak cannon), the Hushaby rotary ion cannon is designed to consolidate ion cannon barrels for use against gunships, freighters, and other small vessels, as well as against individual weapons emplacements on larger ships. As detailed below under 'Notes on Equivalency', it is composed of eight standard starfighter-scale ion cannon barrels arranged in a rotary configuration. As these barrels are not repeating weapons, nor the emplacement as a whole designed to fill the role of a repeating weapon, fire rate is not especially rapid.
-Advantages
Benefits include consolidated targeting and reduced gunnery crew requirements, as well as easier targeting correction against single targets (it's easier to see the flaws in your accuracy when all your shots are coming from the same vector, as compared to two quad anti-fighter gun batteries). The Hushaby is rather good at disabling individual capital-scale turrets once shields are down, or through some vessels' shield gaps, potential allowing a small, fast ship to create a safe blind spot near a far larger vessel. If the weapon has one true advantage, it lies in tracking speed, with a radians-per-second rotational acceleration, velocity, and smoothness equal to a very good military-grade quad laser.
-Disadvantages
Many would claim, however, that the weapon's disadvantages outweigh its advantages. Disadvantages of consolidation center around the number of barrels incapacitated by a direct hit to a single Hushaby weapons emplacement. Other downsides include decreased ability to handle swarms of small targets; where two batteries of quad lasers can target eight warheads or starfighters at once, a Hushaby can only fix upon one target. Furthermore, in situations where a spread of fire is necessary, a Hushaby only fires one bolt at a time comparable to the multiple simultaneous bolts possible with two quad laser batteries. (For example, two standard reciprocating quad laser batteries would be able to put out alternating waves of sixteen bolts simultaneously.) Thus, the Hushaby is less capable of 'bracketing' a highly maneuverable target. Also, the Hushaby is generally not compatible with fully automated targeting systems like those found in point defense emplacements. It must be manually targeted, comparable to a quad laser. This renders the gunner vulnerable and compounds the counterfire weakness: One gunner incapacitated, by whatever means, knocks eight guns out of the fight. Furthermore, as with nearly any ion cannon, it does no physical damage. This standard limitation partially reduces its effectiveness against some warheads, as some volatile explosives might not detonate if shot with ion fire, but might detonate on blind impact thereafter. Compounding the issue, eight barrels is rather a large number to tie up in a weapon which does no physical damage, and which can be counteracted with cap drains or other anti-ionization countermeasures.
-Notes on Situational Effectiveness
This balance of weaknesses and strengths, comparable to a capital gun, does not make it fully equivalent to a capital-scale ion cannon; for example, its range is still far shorter than that of a capital gun, and each blast is far less powerful. However, it has tested well against bombers, freighters, gunships, dropships, and even very light capital ships, especially once shields are depleted, and it is quite good at disabling individual turrets of unshielded vessels.
The Hushaby, like many ion weapons, has somewhat increased effectiveness against many large obsolete and refitted ships, due to inconsistencies between ancient, obsolete-modern, and fully modern wiring, circuitry, components, housings, and so forth. Broadly speaking, it is most effective against peripheral systems of large, complex refitted ships.
Due to its equivalence to eight standard laser/ion cannons, it would not be suitable for any but the most specialized of small craft, though a specially designed gunship could carry it. As a Silk Holdings design, it is compatible with many freighters, though adding a Hushaby to a stock freighter would generally involve a severe reduction in other weapons capacity (and a custom tech submission for the ship). The Hushaby is also suitable for freighters and fast vessels of corvette and frigate scale, vessels which might find it useful to disable pirate craft for reclamation, or intercept small ships during customs duties. The Hushaby is not recommended for most ground-based or atmospheric applications. Though it is fully capable of disabling light walkers and tanks if properly mounted and fired in a sustained manner, a disabled airborne target would quickly become an unsalvageable crater in an unpredictable location.
-Notes on Equivalency
The Hushaby has eight barrels in a rotating, gyroscopically stabilized configuration, which uses a secondary balance gyroscope to offset structural stresses incident to the gyroscopic forces of a rotating barrel being moved about two axes. (Damage to the secondary balance gyroscope does not significantly impede targeting once the damage is recognized and targeting control systems account for the differential, a process which generally takes only a few seconds. However, damage to the balance gyroscope increases gyroscopic torque on the weapon mounting with each maneuver, potentially leading to degrading wear and tear, and even immobilization.) Each barrel of the Hushaby is an ion cannon equivalent in anti-shield power to one full-sized X-Wing laser cannon or one standard anti-starfighter quad laser cannon, and in every respect would be considered equivalent to one quad laser anti-starfighter emplacement or one full-power starfighter laser cannon. As the Hushaby's number of shots per second is exactly equivalent to two anti-starfighter quad laser batteries, it does not offer the damage per second bonuses of a 'repeating' weapon.
An approximate number of shots per second could be derived from the roughly four bolts per second produced by a quad laser cannon. Thus, two batteries would produce roughly thirty-two bolts per second. Since the Hushaby's bolts are each as strong as the combined strength of a quad laser's bolts (individual quad laser barrels being rather small as far as laser cannons go), equivalency would demand a fire rate of eight shots per second, which is well in line with the recharge time of a standard full-sized (but not Heavy) laser/ion cannon (approximately one shot per second on an X-Wing).
Classification: Ion cannon array (value 8 anti-starfighter guns/2 anti-starfighter batteries)
Size: Ship-mounted
Status: Legality varies by region. In some areas of the galaxy, the Hushaby is considered military-grade technology. In others, it is acceptable for civilian vessels. Caution is advised. On an entirely unrelated note, Silk sells a collapsible anti-debris shield to protect a deactivated cannon from meteor showers and other minor hazards. This collapsible shield covers the Hushaby completely.
Length: 2.5m
Weight: 400kg
Ammunition Type: Ion
Ammunition Capacity: Indefinite
Effective Range: Equivalent to a standard laser cannon or standard subcapital ion cannon (generally accepted to be roughly one kilometre)
