Vortex Macro Cannon
http://machinations.sourceforge.net/images/screenshots/turret3.jpg
Image Source: Artist unknown, but seems to be for an unmade game.
http://machinations.sourceforge.net/images/screenshots/turret3.jpg
Intent: To create a main weapon for my upcoming Maelstrom class Destroyer. This weapon will be extremely powerful, but have equally strong limitations.
Development Thread: Yes:
http://starwarsrp.net/topic/51097-vortex-of-death/and
http://starwarsrp.net/topic/36135-building-the-farstrike-republic-fleeters/
Manufacturer: Firemane Industries and Technology NEW
Model: MSB-VX-1
Affiliation: Silver Sanctum Coalition
Modularity: N/A
Production: Limited – can only be used on
specially manufactured ships.
Material: Regular shipbuilding components.
Classification: Ship mounted mass-driver/railgun.
Size: Ship mounted. The bore of the weapon is a metre wide.
Length: Barrel is 25 metres long
Weight: 40,000kgs including turret..
Ammunition Type: Solid munitions in 3 forms.
Ammunition Capacity: Special. The weapon has a magazine, the size of which depends on which type of ammunition is being used.
Effective Range: ‘Long’ range for starships. In practice infinite, but effective only at ‘long range’. Since no source agrees what range fleet battles are fought at, consider this as long-range, in the same way that ‘long range turbolasers’ are.
Rate of Fire: Regular slugs, once every 30 seconds. Special ammunition, once a minute.
Special Features:
- Counts as 100 capital guns per cannon.
- Fires three types of ammunition, as listed in description.
- Has ‘long-range’ in a fleeting sense.
- Currently can only be used on one ship type – the soon to be submitted Maelstrom Cannon.
Description:
Vortex and Maelstrom. Two synonyms which to Admiral Stahlmann went together very well indeed.
Following a series of battles with the One Sith the Admiral came to understand what he thought were lessons to be learned from these struggles. In basic, he decided he needed a ship and weapons system to go on it which allowed him to strike from long range with great power against both conventional and Vong ships.
Thus the Vortex Cannon was born as the brainchild of this thought. Though mass drivers and hypervelocity cannons had been used before they had often been static, fixed into position on the front of ships. There they could do damage, but lacked tactical flexibility. So combining a hypervelocity or mass driver cannon into a turret was something worth trying.
However, he went further, creating a weapon able to adapt to circumstances and provide a key tactical role. However, its limitations made it a support weapon primarily, rather than a weapon able to be refitted on every ship for instant victory.
Following the Admiral’s departure from the Republic he took the plans with him, as the Maelstrom was never completed. The Coalition were willing to entertain his plan for this weapon on a limited basis, and so its creation restarted again.
Ammunition Types:
Slug:
This is the main ammunition of the Vortex Cannon. A 5 tonne lump of shaped durasteel accelerated to ridiculous speeds by the cannon, each slug hits hard. This forms the majority of this weapon’s ammunition.
Strengths:
- Non-reactive. As a lump of metal, a strike on the magazine will not cause a chain reaction as this is just a big piece of metal.
- Solid. As a solid projectile, this slug passes through at least some of a ship’s shields and strikes the hull beneath. It is especially effective against unshielded ships though.
- Physics. A 5 tonne slug travelling at several km/s imparts a massive amount of energy to where it impacts, enough to blast open ship hulls.
- Unstoppable. The slug’s size and speed also makes it extremely hard to stop with defence weapons. Even if a weapon does hit it, it will likely only break off pieces of it rather than stop it dead.
Weaknesses:
- Slow to fire. It takes 30 seconds to winch a new round up, load, aim and fire. In this time a turbolaser could have fired more. And since this takes so much space, for one shot of this, hundreds of turbolaser rounds could have been fired from an equivalent number of capital guns.
- Targeting. This weapon has no guidance systems in the slug, so once it is fired it will go where it’s going with little input. Because small ships are moving so quick, this weapon is completely ineffective against attack craft, corvettes or frigates, unless they are not moving.
- Defences. If fired against a Vong ship capable of using dovin basals effectively, or against a heavily reinforced ship hull, the effects of these slugs will be greatly reduced.
- Physical ammunition. Even though they are non-reactive, they are still huge lumps of metal, and a ship can only carry so many. Though it is unlikely to be a problem most of the time, in a long battle running out of ammunition is an issue.
‘Vortex’ Cluster Round
A specialised type of ammunition, this weapon fires a gigantic cluster bomb like munition that breaks into 2000 miniature explosive warheads. These each lock onto enemies and attempt to impact, or detonate once their fuel is expended.
Strengths:
- Exterminator. This weapon is utterly horrific against fighters, bombers and other light ships. Whilst previous cluster munitions broke into a few, the sheer size of the Vortex Cannon allows for 2000 of these cluster warheads to be employed. Any one of these mini-warheads is enough to at least disable any attack craft it hits, and firing it into a swarm of such craft will cause massive damage.
- Escort Breaker. This weapon is also highly effective against small escorts, especially corvettes. A corvette will be unable to avoid all the warheads, and the sheer amount of firepower will be enough to at the least take it out of the fight. At best it would result in its utter destruction.
- Vong Scourge. The sheer amount of warheads means that Dovin Basals are less effective simply because of the many vectors of attack. Against smaller Vong ships this is highly effective, and even against larger ships it can annoy and distract.
Weaknesses:
- Limited. Each cannon carries a single round of this ammunition. Once fired, that’s it. Meaning that although a Maelstrom class could fire all their shots in one burst of 12,000 warheads it would be most unwise to do so.
- Low Power. Against shielded ships or anything larger than a frigate this munition is completely ineffective. The mass of warheads are too low-powered to do more than scratch the paint of heavy armour, and fare poorly against proper shields.
- Countermeasures. Essentially the warheads are small missiles, so the usual countermeasures will work in some ways against them.
Apocalypse Round
Of all the munitions cooked up by Admiral Stahlmann, this is the most fiendish. Taking a cue from well-known thermal detonators and the long destroyed Galaxy Gun, he created a weapon of tremendous power. Essentially this weapon vaporises the target, greatly reducing the power of armour plating.
Strengths:
- Destructive. Whilst a much, much smaller version of the Galaxy Gun, this munition shares some characteristics of that long-lost weapon. Essentially this munition is a giant thermal detonator, vaporising the target it hits to a radius of up to fifty metres.
- Protected. To protect the vital payload to the target, the munition is heavily protected by thick armour with the detonator hidden inside. This gives it a good chance of escaping critical damage from countermeasures.
- Breaker. Against an unshielded ship, this weapon can carve a hole almost through any armour plating, just like a thermal detonator. Against a capital ship this will cause not only carnage amongst the crew, but open it up to conventional weapons attacks.
Weaknesses:
- Limited. Like the Vortex munition, only one of these is carried by each cannon per battle because of their extremely dangerous nature and their cost to produce.
- Reactive. Unlike most munitions, a magazine strike with this weapon could be catastrophic.
- Aiming. Like the Slugs, firing this weapon at anything smaller than a capital ship is a waste as it will likely be avoided.
- Shields. Against shields the power of this weapon is greatly reduced. Best results can only be attained by firing at an unshielded target.
- Vong. Dovin Basals have the ability to disrupt or negate this weapon normally. Firing against a concerted enemy defence is inadvisable.
Primary Source: N/A
revents injury in the head and neck including whiplash.Assists in absorbing damage from concussion force.
