Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a hybrid aeronautical-nautical heavywarhead
- Image Source: here modified by yours truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi Concord, Lucerne Labs customers
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Seafall-class Aerial/Nautical Torpedo
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Plasteel fuselage, Detonite priming charge, Baradium-Collapsium main charge, repulsorlifts, various avionics and warhead / hydro torpedo components
- Classification: hydro torpedo / aerial warhead
- Size: Large
- Weight: Heavy
- Explosive Type: Detonite priming charge, Baradium-Collapsium main charge
- Delivery Method: Self-Propelled
- Effective Range: Average
- Area Of Effect: Large
- Damage Output: High
- Baradium-Collapsium Charge: Seafalls use an detonite primed Collapsium warhead. Upon impact, the small charge of detonite explodes, which then triggers the Baradium-Collapsium to implode, which causes an intense pull of matter towards the center of the reaction and rapidly expand outward as an equally intensive shockwave- the warhead is effectively a miniaturized seismic charge. The sonic nature of this weapon makes it especially effective underwater compared to conventional warheads.
- Composite Gravity/EPR tracking: Seafall uses a combined gravity and sonar signatures to make a composite signature to track targets. These sensor signatures are typically harder to spoof and/or jam, especially as joint criteria for targeting, which makes Seafalls not as easily fooled by conventional sensor jamming.
- Repulsorlift Drive: Unlike many projectile weapons, the Seafall uses a repulsorlift drive system, allowing it to be effectively be used in the air and underwater. This dual nature drive enables aircraft to attack targets underwater and conversely, allows underwater users to target airborne vehicles. The repulsorlift drive is optimized for underwater use however, and the Seafall is slightly slower and less maneuverable in the air compared to concussion missiles and proton torpedoes.
- Backwards Compatible: Seafalls are built using the rough same dimensions as a proton rocket, making it an usually large and heavy sea weapon in the modern era. But using the same rought size and shape means that it is backwards compatible with platforms which can fire heavy rockets, including the LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launcher, the TwinStar Rocket Launcher, or even Plumbata missile batteries.
- Potent: The seismic charge of the Seafall is fairly large, making it very dangerous in both its sheer power and breadth of effect.
- Dual Nature Weapon: Seafall’s ability to be used underwater and in the air due to its repulsorlift propulsion makes it unusually well-suited as transitional weapon between air, land, or sea users and targets in any of those same domains.
- Bulky Weapon: The Seafall is a large weapon, and consequently most of its launching platforms carry fewer of it than they would of other warhead types.
- Inoperable (Space): Seafalls rely on repulsorlift technology, meaning that they are not able to travel at all in deep space.
After creating the Seabolt-class Aerial/Nautical Torpedo to deal with small aquatic threats, Lucerne Labs decided to make a larger warhead that would be more suited to destroying larger sea vessels and more permanent infrastructure. To that end, the Seafall most was mostly designed by scaling up the Seabolt to the size of the typical proton rocket to enable the same backwards compatibly that had proven useful in its smaller predecessor. This increase in size also meant that a more complicated and powerful warhead could be equipped. With the focus on attacking aquatic threats in mind, the engineers settled on a seismic charge, where its expanding shockwave would be especially effective underwater as sound travels significantly faster within water, making it more difficult to avoid and where it could create intense pressure fluctuations that'd be effectively strain the integrity of most submersible vehicles or maim organic beings
A direct hit is typically strong enough to outright destroy AQ-5 Wave Walkers, Aquatic Terrain Armored Transports, and other similarly sized vehicles but even a single hit can potentially cripple or sink large ocean going vessels such as submersible carriers. Of course, the repulsorlift nature of the weapon means that it can be employed in an air-to-air or air-to-ground capacity, in which cases it is largely equivalent to a proton rocket in use.
Like most military grade weaponry, Lucerne Labs has so far restricted their sales of this weapon to established governments with similar political views to those of the company's leadership. Most Seafalls have unsurprisingly been sold to Silver Jedi Concord aligned governments and the Directorate. While a relatively niche weapon for most militaries, it is also nearly indispensable for water worlds such as Mon Calamari, Hast, or Kattada - which means that it will likely see production for a long time to come if even in small numbers.
