Thunderclap

The Thunderclap is a Laser weapon for Main hardpoints with a long range, high rate of fire, and strong effect against both hull and shielding.
== Acquisitions Entry ==
The Thunderclap’s colorful name derives from a more than passing resemblance to lightning. What appears as a bright blue beam is actually the ionization of oxygen from thousands of femtosecond laser pulses. A paper in the Journal of Weaponized Photonics titled “Improved Efficacy of Ultrafast Pulsed Impacts Against Shielding and Carbon Based Lifeforms” made the rounds about a decade ago, but this is the first successful deployment I’ve seen of those outlined principles. The Thunderclap has shown to be particularly effective at both armor ablation and hardshield disruption, with poor performance against fortifications and high density structures being the only apparent drawback. As Thunderclaps are a mainstay of Spacer forces, I suspect this explains why Jericho cannons are fielded so numerously as well. 
Psyops have taken a particular interest in the weapon due to unusually high incidence of combat fatigue in theaters where it’s fielded. I suspect this has to do with the particularly disturbing fashion in which the beam sublimates living tissue, most impacts leaving behind only a fine red mist and bones heavy with gristle. It is a powerful and distinctive weapon, rightly feared.
-Efi
== Achievements ==
Category:Weapons
Category:Laser Weapons
Category:Main Weapons