In Umbris Potestas Est
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To develop a beam weapon for use by specific battlecruiser and star dreadnought designs.
- Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot...th+Star+gun.JPG
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Defiance Consolidated Multipurpose Manufacturing
- Model: UBeam(Long Range Big Beam)
- Affiliation: Closed-Market (Select Sith Empire ships)
- Modularity: No
- Production: Limited(Select Sith Empire and other ships)
- Material: Energy Crystal(power source), Duranium-Adamithium composite(framework), Diatium(internal circuitry and electronics)
- Classification: Beam Weapon
- Size: Extreme(Battlecruisers and up)
- Weight: Extreme
- Ammunition Type: Ship Reactor
- Ammunition Capacity: Infinite(connected to ship's reactor)
- Reload Speed: Very Low(45 seconds)
- Effective Range: Battlefield
- Rate of Fire: Very Low
- Stopping Power: Extreme
- Recoil: None(Beam Weapon)
- Beam weapon
- The UBeam is capable of causing tremendous damage to enemy warships of all classes, up to and including dreadnoughts.
- The UBeam's focusing of the weapon's power to a single point means more likelihood of hull and shield penetration given the focus on a single shield quadrant, draining it more effectively than a turbolaser barrage spread across the entire ship. This also has the effect of focusing the power of the beam at a very specific point on the ship's hull, allowing for pinpoint damage to ship subsystems.
- The UBeam's damage over time is comparable to literal thousands of turbolasers firing over the same timespan, meaning that the per-shot damage is incredibly high for the weapon's size and capabilities.
- Beam cannon technology is still in its infancy with regards to being mass-produced. As the largest and most powerful beam cannon that DCMM sells, its production is limited and few ships are capable of fitting the weapons. Those ships that can are of Battlecruiser class and above. No smaller ship class can fit this weapon.
- The weapon is semi-fixed within the side/top/bottom of the ship and will have an extremely limited field of traverse(approximately 10 degrees in any direction for a 20 degree 'cone' of fire that increases at maximum range). In some ships, the weapon may be properly fixed and unable to move. This requires the ship to maneuver and ensures that even a non-turreted ship fitted with beam cannons will never be able to bring its full armament to bear on a single target. The UBeam is so large that it is physically impossible to put into a turret.
- Being rather large weapons in contrast to turbolasers and other primary armament of warships, the UBeam will realistically be more likely targeted by enemy bombers and warships. The elimination of a single beam cannon deprives a warship fitted with the weapons of far more of its effective primary armament.
- The rate of fire in comparison to a turbolaser battery is abysmal. It takes over three quarters of a minute for the weapon to recharge after a burst, a far cry from the second or so for most turbolasers.
- Smaller and more maneuverable ships, such as some corvettes and frigates, can outmaneuver the beam, as it will remain static while firing.
- Molecular shielding is exceptionally effective at absorbing the damage from all beam weaponry due to its energy-absorbing abilities.
Vanessa Vantai had for years researched prototypical beam weaponry. From the composite beam lasers used as turret armament on the LAAT gunship and the great superlaser weaponry used by the Death Star to Geonosian handheld beam cannons and prior capital ships fitting beam weaponry, both larger and smaller in size(as well as particle beams like the Emeritus Rad-Rifle), the rediscovery of beam cannon technology as a useful anti-ship weapon was slowly but surely realized. Early prototypes of beam weaponry, primarily proton type, found themselves mounted on Subach-Innes ships, while the refined variation relies more on a beam generated using a sudden power surge from an energy crystal fitted within the cannon, drained of power in a four second burst before being reenergized by the ship's main reactor after half a minutes. Initially, there is a sign the weapon is firing - a gleam of greenish plasma begins to form at the end of the barrel before the beam exits the end of the array, flying out a vast distance into space before impacting an enemy ship's shield and boring through it and the hull with intense potency.
With the development of battlecruiser-class warships by DCMM, a weapon was needed that was even more powerful than the LRBBeam. The UBeam has the longest range and most power of any beam produced by DCMM. The weapon is intended for mounting on battlecruiser and dreadnought-scale warships, being too large to fit in a turrets. The UBeam is intended for use on DCMM's first battlecruiser-scale warship, as well as a potential future dreadnought-scale ship or static space station for anti-warship defense.
