Plasma Weapons

Plasma weapons fire charged particles in a gas form and contain them within a force field. These devices are equivalent to energy based artillery file. Plasma blasts generate massive explosions, caused by the expansion of gas and air from the release of high levels of energy and heat.

Plasma weapons use a fusion reactor to power an electromagnetic accelerator that fires a toroid of very energetic excited matter. The reactor powers both the weapon's systems, as well as generates the plasma for use as ammo.

Plasma weapons have limited range; this is due to the fact that the plasma itself must be encased within a containment field in order to travel any length in an atmosphere. Once exposed to an atmosphere, plasma tends to dissipate in the surrounding environment within about 50 centimeters, which is almost instantaneous.

Once the plasma impacts a target, the containment field dissipates and the target is subjected to a blast of plasma energy nearly twice as hot as the temperature of the sun.

Typically force fields can repel most high energy plasma blasts, but extremely powerful blasts focused though an expander can sometimes penetrate magnetic force fields.



Laser Weapons

A laser fires an intense coherent beam of light which results in heat damage and is effective over great distances.

Lasers are moving at near the speed of light and typically strike their target instantaneously.

When lasers are fired, the air around the weapons can be heated to the point where it becomes a plasma gas, which is visible in the form of a burst of white light. Additionally lasers are nearly always invisible while in space.



Charged Particle Beam Weapons

A particle-beam fires an intense collimated stream of near-light speed subatomic particles. It carries enormous energy because its velocity is so close to the speed of light.

The particles transfer their kinetic energy to the atoms in the molecules of the target upon striking, much as a cue ball transfers its energy to the racked balls in billiards, thus exciting the target's atoms and superheating the target object in such a short time that it creates a massive degree of damage.



Railguns

There are 2 types of Railguns

MAG (Magnetic Accelerator Gun) utilizes an electromagnetic force to propel an electrically conductive projectile.

GAG (Gravimetric Accelerator Gun) which uses a Graviton Accelerator to fire its projectile.

Both weapon types (depending on their size) are able to achieve extremely high velocities (9,800 Meters a second/32,152 Feet per second) but they each have their advantages and disadvantages.

MAG based weapons can only fire ferrous material (contain iron or are effected by magnetic fields) this also means their projectiles can be deflected with an electromagnetic force field. MAG weapons however use less energy than GAG weapons and are therefore more portable.

GAG based weapons require large fusion power generators in order to produce and focus the gravitons it uses to accelerate its projectiles. Their main and obvious advantage is they can file any material regardless of its reaction to magnetic fields.



Quantum weapons:

Quantum Singularity Projectile: The weapon system for the QSP is able to warp space-time, and produce a microsingularity in its core. Exotic matter is then ejected into the device, which promptly gets sucked into the microsingularity in its core and increases its energy content.

The device is fired from a projectile housing at the enemy. When it strikes the enemy vessel, the device is destroyed, and can no longer maintain the space-time distortion that keeps the microsingularity from blowing itself apart (microsingularities cannot sustain themselves because they radiate Hawking radiation too quickly). As soon as the containment core is destroyed, all of the mass/energy in the microsingularity is released in a titanic 100% efficient conversion of matter to energy.

The resulting blast is capable of destroying entire starships or leveling cities from space.

Planet Killers: There are also other quantum weapons which are far more destructive. Utilizing teleportation technology, a Quantum Singularity containment device may be transported into the mantel at the center of a planet. The intense gravitational forces combined with the massive energy release of the singularity results in the eventual destruction of the entire planet from the inside out.

The use of this type of Quantum weapon is expressly forbidden by the UARC Articles of Planetary Conflict.

The Axium have used such weapons to cripple enemies and extort technology and wealth.