Weapons of the Worlds Apart Universe

==Odyssey/Pathfinder Weaponry Background==
The Odyssey Mission was conceived of as a mission of peace and exploration; original mission parameters called for Pathfinder Ships to be armed with limited defensive capabilities; and without warfighters but only on "Security Teams." 
Tactical requirements were revised based on reports from the Sapphire Permanent Defense Service; the Republic Ministry of Defence; and the Sumacian Academy. All three entities reached the same conclusion: 
1. Human Galactic Civilization had been wiped out centuries earlier by a powerful force; thought to be, but not confirmed to be, a hostile alien species with superior technology. 
2. Republic's Olympic Project lost all of its interstellar ships without a trace. 
3. Better to have weapons and not need them than to need them and not have them. 
As a result of these studies, the weapon systems and on-board tactical resources were upgraded dramatically; over the forceful objections of Republics Ministry of Diplomacy; Ministry of Peace and Resolutions by two of its Houses of Government, that threatened to withhold funding if the ships were to be heavily armed. These objections were overcome by agreement by the Republic Ministry of Defence, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Space Development, and Ministry of Energy; and some well-placed budget allocations and outright bribes for the remaining Republic Houses of Governance. 
Thus were weapons and tactical assets integrated into the design of Pathfinder Ships and the Odyssey Project. The early missions of the Pathfinder ships validated the wisdom of this approach as they ventured into unknown and sometimes hostile areas where their armaments came in handy.
==Measuring Weapon Yield==
Weapon yields are measured using both the Republicker "Isokinetic Force Transference" formula for calculating force the yield of weapons as a function of the destructive energy unleashed. There is also the much more relatable Sapphirean units of 'Boom;' where one 'Boom' is the energy sufficient to destroy/vaporize/annihilate/demolecularize matter within a one meter radius, and a KiloBoom or K'Boom being the energy sufficient to destroy matter within a 1,000 meter radius.
==Light Weapons and Personal Armament==
===Manplification Armor===
Odyssey Project Warfighters are equipped with specialized body armor that provides protection against ballistic, projectile, and energy weapons; increases physical strength; protects against hostile environmental conditions; and augments sensory perception. The armor custom fits to the wearer, and can be further customized with the addition of mission badges and decals. The discovery of an ancient personal armament exo-suit (Poltergeist suit) on the Chapultepec Starlock enabled Pathfinder engineers to incorporate a personal energy shield into the "Manplifier" armor, providing higher levels of protection against offensive weaponry. [Worlds Apart Book 05: Aurora]
===Pulse Gauntlets===
The pulse gauntlet is a personal tactical weapon. The gauntlet fits over the user's forearm, while the business end protrudes over the back of the hand. Gauntlets are usually worn with gloves made from an insulating material to protect the user from blowing off his own knuckles. The gauntlet fires pulses of charged particles -- hence the name. Its charges have a yield of up to one Boom; however, the weapon incorporates a non-lethal (stun) setting that can disrupt a human nervous system, causing ~30 minutes of unconsciousness; providing user time to escape, subdue, or teabag his opponent. The weapon interfaces with tactical Spex to provide precision targeting. It is powered by dual quantum power cells. 
===Pulse Weapon===
The pulse weapon is a handheld alternative to the Pulse Gauntlet. It can be fired by digital activation, neural interface, or autonomous firing mode. The pulse weapon fires pulses of charged particles. Its charges have a yield of up to one Boom; however, the weapon incorporates a non-lethal (stun) setting that can disrupt a human nervous system, causing ~30 minutes of unconsciousness. The weapon interfaces with tactical Spex to provide precision targeting. It is powered by dual quantum power cells. 
===Pulse Rifles===
The pulse rifle is the pulse weapon's badass big brother. It can be fired by digital activation, neural interface, or autonomous firing mode. The pulse rifle fires pulses of charged particles. Its charges have a yield of up to 10 booms; however, the weapon incorporates a non-lethal (stun) setting that can disrupt a human nervous system, causing ~30 minutes of unconsciousness. The weapon interfaces with tactical Spex to provide precision targeting, but also incorporates an integrated targeting system. It can be operated in single shot, multiple discharge, long ranger sniper mode, and can discharge a continuous anti-proton beam. It is powered by dual quantum power cells that are, as one would figure, much more powerful than the cells in the pulse weapon. It is the primary weapon of New Commonwealth/Free Alliance Warfighters. There are multiple versions with multiple designations. 
Shadow Grenade [Book 02 - EdenWorld] - A shadow grenade is a weapon used by Centurions of Republic's Notorium Order. It produces several seconds of complete darkness; sufficient to cover an escape or momentarily disorient a foe.
===Smart Grenades===
Smart grenades are autonomous grenades that will guide themselves to any target the user specifies. 
===Buzzknocks===
Buzzknocks are an accessory that can be fitted onto warfighter tactical gloves that deliver powerful neuro-electric shocks that shut down the human nervous system. They are used for hand-to-hand combat. 
===Thean Battlestaff===
The Thean Battlestaff is a cylindrical rod approximately 2M long and about as thick as a woman's wrist. It is made of an unidentified material and its surface is covered with runes that have been known to change and shift position, also to glow with a pale amber light. The weapon is capable of extending suddenly and with great force. It is wielded like a quarterstaff, but it manipulates force and gravity, allowing it to deliver a disproportionately large amount of force against whatever it impacts. Nine Thean battlestaffs were presented to the leadership of the planet Sapphire after the Thean Siege of Sapphire Colony in whatever century that happened in. Two were lost. One was destroyed in a fatal attempt to study it. Three are kept in museums. And three are held in the private collection of the Keeler family. One of the latter is possessed by Bill Keeler, commander of the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus. [Worlds Apart Book 01: Meridian]. One of the others is used as a deadbolt to keep people out of the kitchen when the womenfolk are trying to cook.
==Heavy Weapons==
===Antiproton Guns===
Antiproton guns are the primary offensive energy weapon of large tactical ships: Pathfinders, Defenders, Battle Cruisers, Frigates, and Corvettes. The antiproton gun is essentially a massive quantum accelerator that draws energy from the quantum generator that supplies the ships power and initiates the production of a massive number of antiprotons; which are discharged from the front of the ship in a massive invisible death beam that explosively annihilates matter upon contact. The antiproton weapon is lethal within 4,000 kilometers of the target but most lethal in the first 14,000 meters. The Fast Attack Corvette was essentially designed around its antiproton gun, which runs the entire length of the ship. FAC and Frigate antiproton guns have the highest yield of any antiproton weaponry; 6,000 K'Booms at 10,000 meters. (Battle Cruisers are a close second at 5,000 K'Booms.) 
===Phalanx Cannons===
Phalanx cannons are kinetic-energy weapons used for close-in defense of large ships [Pathfinder Ships, Defenders, Corvettes, Frigates] against other vessels, kinetic energy weapons, or other threats within 10,000 meters of the weapon. The Phalanx cannons are railgun weapons; relying on electromagnetic energy to hyper accelerated small projectiles. The projectiles are made of a dense composite alloy with an artificial neutronium core. [The Pathfinder Ship Pegasus once supplemented its phalanx projectiles using crystalline shards harvested from a collapsed white dwarf star. [Worlds Apart Book 11: Charlemagne]. Once activated, the Phalanx guns function autonomously, identifying, tracking, and engaging targets using their AI programming. Pathfinder Ships carry up to 64 Phalanx guns located primarily in their wingblade sections. Defenders have between 14 and 20, clustered close to the command center, engines, and weapon clusters. Corvettes and frigates have 6-10.
===Ion Cannons===
Large tactical ships including pathfinders and defenders use Ion cannons for both medium-range defense, and for offensive purposes against other capital ships. These weapons are notoriously phallic in their shape, and their charges carry a throw-weight of 400-500 Kbooms over 10,000 meters.
===Hammerhead Missiles===
The Hammerhead is the standard multi-purpose attack weapon for Pathfinder ships. It is an autonomously targeted missile powered by ion-thrusters that can carry a conventional hyper explosive, nucleonic, antimatter warhead with a typical yield of 200 Booms . A Hammerhead missile is 2.2 meters long and has a distinctive bulbous warhead, which looks kind of like a hammer... sort of. Aves and Aquilae can carry Hammerheads in their forward missile bays or attached to hardpoints under the wingblades. Defensive Hammerhead missile launchers are arrayed at various points on larger ships as a complement to the phalanx guns and ion pulse cannons. 
===Hammerjack Missiles===
Hammerjack missiles are highly mission specialized delivery systems with modular payloads that can be customized with different types of weaponry, including electromagnetic pulse weapons; biological weapons; chemical weapons; nanobot weapons; infiltration bugs; and sensor jamming devices. The Pathfinder Ship Pegasus fired Hammerjacks loaded with Nanobots to infect and disable an Aurelian Megasphere near the planet Bodicea. [Worlds Apart Book 03: Bodicea] Hammerjacks are 3 meters long ... too large for the weapons bays of Aves, and can only be carried on the hardpoints on the wingblades. Aquilae configured for the Tactical function can accommodate them in their weapons modules. 
===Starhammer Missiles===
The Starhammer missile was designed as a Field Replacement for the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus's depleted stock of Hammerhead missiles. It is similar in design and carries a warhead of similar yield. It can be distinguished from the Hammerhead by the yellow fins on its aft section. 
===Type 1 Missiles===
[Used at the Battle of Terrastar, Worlds Apart Book 12: Earth] - 
Type 1 Missiles were the heaviest class of offensive ballistic weapon carried aboard Defender and Battle Cruiser ships, as well as some Fast Attack Corvettes and Frigates. Type 1 missiles were ballistic weapons powered by ion-thrusters and fired from electro-magnetic rails at speeds approaching high sublight. They carried anti-matter warheads with a yield of 10,000 KaBooms.
===Type 4 missiles===
[Used at the Battle of Terrastar, Worlds Apart Book 12: Earth] 
Type 4 Missiles were offensive ballistic weapons carried aboard Defender and Battle Cruiser ships, Fast Attack Corvettes and Frigates. They could also be mounted in the weapons pods or external hardpoints of Aquilae class shuttlecraft. Type 4 missiles were ballistic weapons powered by ion-thrusters and fired from electro-magnetic rails at speeds approaching high sublight. They carried conventional high-explosive or nucleonic warheads with a yield of up to 2,000 KaBooms.
==Weapons of Mass Destruction==
===Nemesis "Big Damage" Warheads===
Nemesis Warheads, also known as Big Damage (Big Dam) warheads were programmable-yield weapons of mass destruction carried by Pathfinder Ships. A standard Nemesis warhead carries 5,000 kilograms of deuterium. A quantum detonator is used to switch a programmable amount of that deuterium into anti-deuterium, resulting in a massive explosion that can devastate vast areas of a planet’s surface or scorch its entire atmosphere. The Quantum Switch is the key component of the warhead, enabling the immediate transformation of matter into anti-matter. The most devastating use of a Nemesis warhead is when the Quantum Cascade effect is triggered by the warhead. When this is used, the anti-matter in the warhead reacts with matter in its vicinity effectively converting it to anti-matter. This effect can shatter an entire planet once unleashed. 
Nemesis Warheads were banned by the New Commonwealth as part of the Treaty that ended the First Aurelian War. The remaining weapons were removed from Pathfinder Ships in the Perseus Quadrant. [Worlds Apart Book 11: Charlemagne]
==Defensive Shields==
===Graviton-Based Defensive Shields===
The Graviton Engines that provide the propulsion for spacegoing vessels all provide the ships with defense against ballistic and energy weapons. The Graviton fields that surround the ship absorb and deflect the energy from weapons fired at the ship. An array of projectors allows the defensive shielding to be focused and intensified around vulnerable area of the ship. Feedback from repeated strikes against the shields can overwhelm the projectors, resulting in a loss of coverage over areas of the ship where shielding fails. The defensive shields must also be lowered to allow the ship to fire its own weapons. The hull of most large ships (Pathfinders, Explorers, Defenders, Supply Ships, Fast Attack Corvettes, and Frigates) can be directly reinforced by augmenting the Structural Integrity Field; another graviton-based technology that reinforces the strength of the hull-plating, keel, and structural supports throughout the ship. Face it, Graviton-based propulsion is awesome (although it is kind of a misnomer as Graviton is a catchall term for all kinds of artificial particles with gravimetric properties; gravitons, graviolis, gravibiscuits, gravitinos,... and so forth). 
===Holoflage Shields===
The gravitational displacement field used for propulsion can also be applied to bend light and other electromagnetic energy around a spacecraft; rendering it, if not completely invisible, then at least extremely difficult to detect. An Aves, for example, has eight graviton field thingies (GFT) arrayed around its hull that cam alter the ship's gravitational propulsion field and hide the ship, whether in flight or on the ground. The GFTs are designed to fluctuate asynchronously every .04 seconds to allow sensors to operate; otherwise the aviator would be flying blind since all the light is being bent around his ship. [First Use: Worlds Apart Book 01: Meridian] 
===Personal Shields===
The discovery of an ancient personal armament exo-suit (Poltergeist suit) on the Chapultepec Starlock enabled Pathfinder engineers to incorporate a personal energy shield into the "Manplifier" strength/speed/sense/agility enhancement armor worn by Odyssey Project warfighters. 
Shadow Suits - Shadow suits were developed by the Centurion Order of the planet Republic for discreet infiltration missions; usually driven by the need to sneak around and kill people. The suits are woven of a material with inherent camouflage properties enabling the wearer to blend into his background... like a very, very pale shadow. [Worlds Apart Book 05: Aurora]
Category:Weapons
Category:Background