Andromeda: Starship Missiles

## **Missiles**

### **Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles**

Defensive Missiles are the main defensive weapon against incoming Offensive kinetic kill missile in ship to ship combat and can also be used against enemy fighters. Defensive missiles are smaller missiles (about 1/3 of a kilogram), which move slower than offensive missiles (60 to 70 PSL), but with twice the acceleration. They have a range of only 6 to 8 Light Seconds.
Kinetic warheads do not carry an explosive payload, but rather rely on the fact that kinetic energy equals one-half mass times velocity-squared (i.e., .33 kilogram x 70% of 300,000 kilometers per second). Thus when defensive missiles impact with a ship, they cause incredible damage, with many megatons of energy.

**Game Notes**:

* This missile can be fired to intercept the Offensive Kinetic Kill Missile. The defender fires a Defensive Kinetic Kill Missile at the Offensive Kinetic Kill Missile by rolling a full attack. Success indicates that the Offensive Kinetic Kill Missile has been intercepted and destroyed causing no damage. Failure indicates the Defensive Kinetic Kill Missile missed and the Offensive Kinetic Kill Missile hits its target. These missiles can be used against smart missiles but at a +10 difficulty.

### **Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles**

Offensive kinetic kill missiles are the main offensive weapons in any ship-to-ship or ship-to-ground combat. The actual payload of the missile weighs about 1 kilogram, while the delivery system is about 3 meters long. They move at 90 to 95 PSL and cause a 40 megaton size explosion when they hit, due to the kinetic energy of impact. Most have a range of 8 to 10 Light Minutes.

Offensive missiles are considered cost effective and easy to make, as the payload is just a piece of metal or a manufactured blend of high density alloys. The vehicle of this payload is an easily manufactured shell using basic rocket design that is fueled by Antiproton. They are usually manufactured by a vessel or fleet through nanotechnology: a swarm of nanites is released onto an asteroid to extract valuable minerals and ores, which are then used in the construction of the payload, the fuselage and circuitry, and finally the propulsion systems.

They are counteracted by the Defensive kinetic kill missile.

### **Smart Missiles**

Smart Missiles are a broad range of weaponry that are essentially projectiles which rely on sensors to track, lock on, and intercept their targets. They are usually extended-range, high-endurance missiles with a variety of payloads and kill vehicles that employ a combination of ship, drone and organic active/passive sensor systems to find targets and destroy them. At their top speed, smart missiles can achieve upwards of 90 PSL. Smart missiles are most effective at less than one AU, but special variants can extend that range up to 3 AU, when combat operations permit missile control "handoff" from platform to platform. Many Systems Commonwealth fleets often do this, and the Deep Stand-off Attack Ship is specially designed for this strategy. Smart missiles can be called back or neutralized in flight, which can be extremely helpful in combat operations when missiles either miss or the parameters of a mission change.

**Variants**:

* **Strategic Smart Missile**

This is a smart missile that has traded some of its damaging characteristics for triple range.
* **Ground Assault Missile**

This is a smart missile designed specifically to give of a high explosion, dealing twice its damage against ground targets.
### **Multiple Warhead Missiles**

A Multiple Independent Kill Vehicle, also known as an MIKV, is a special missile delivery system that contains as many as a dozen independently targeting warheads. They are used mainly for the element of surprise, as the smaller kill vehicles contained inside the launched vehicle are usually used to try and overwhelm a target, because single missile would appear on an enemies scanners and then, when within a preset range, split into dozens of smaller independent warheads. Usually anti-missile systems like Point Defense Lasers are overwhelmed by this kind of barrage. MIKVs are also extremely effective and efficient for large scale bombardment of a given region, as they can be used in a manner similar to clusterbombs. Usually only Systems Commonwealth vessels use them, but galactic powers like the Than-Thre-Kull, and the Nietzscheans have been known to use them. During the Long Night they were used prolifically, although in the modern era they are mostly deployed in ship-to-ship combat.

**Game Notes**:

* **Single Target**: When used against a single target the Fire Control is an additional +2D and the damage is 8D, +1D damage for every 5 points the attack beats the defenders dodge roll to a maximum of +6D.
* **Multiple Targets**: When used against multiple targets (up to 8), the attacker rolls one attack roll with the listed Fire Control Bonus. Each target dodges as normal against the attack roll. Damage is 8D per missile.

### **Neutron Missiles**

The Neutron Ground Assault Missile is an anti-planetary surface missile particularly effective against living targets.

**Game Notes**:

* These missiles do 10D damage vs inorganic matter such as a ship's hull. Neutron missiles do double damage vs Biological and Living Targets.

### **Artificial Gravity Mass Packets**

Artificial gravity Mass Packets are warheads equipped with artificial gravity generators, used as a nonlethal ship to ship weapon in order to disable or slow down enemy vessels. Pyrians employ them as part of their offensive strategy; they fire the mass packets at ships like the Andromeda Ascendant to slow them down and limit their maneuverability. Once the ship is bogged down and can barely move, the Pyrians move in and slice the ship to pieces with plasma cutters. However, they are relatively easy to remove, as Seamus Harper remarked that he could dispatch nanobots to clean them off the hull.

**Game Notes**:

* Each "packet" that hits a moving target causes the target to suffer a penalty of -1 to Space/Move and a -1 pip to Maneuverability. These penalties are cumulative. AG Mass Packets are unaffected by the target's Shields/Battle Blades.

### **Nova Bombs**

A Nova Bomb is a very powerful weapon capable of making a sun go supernova, destroying nearly all the matter of a solar system. The weapon itself is about the size of a 55 gallon drum, and is mounted on a missile in place of a traditional explosive payload. These warheads are almost never actually kept loaded in missile tubes before they are launched in case of any technical malfunction that would cause the Nova Bombs to activate.

**Science**

A Nova Bomb doesn't destroy a sun by "blowing it up" in the traditional sense as an ordinary missile might, it instead destabilizes a star's gravity. A sun's gravity exerts a tremendous amount of pressure inward, while the ongoing fusion reaction exerts a constant outward pressure. Therefore, a star is in a constant state of balance. The Nova Bomb unbalances this equilibrium by negating the star's inherent gravity, causing a runaway fusion reaction of stellar proportions. With no gravity, the hydrogen gas which was undergoing fusion disperses in all directions, exploding and destroying everything in its path. Large amounts of Nova Bombs can be used to counteract the effects of a black hole. The collective field destroys the gravity well of the singularity, creating a "White Hole", which is essentially a miniature big bang, which, like the big bang, takes a singularity of almost infinite density and scatters it. However, once the effects of the Nova wear off, gravity reasserts itself, and all the matter released in the White Hole starts compressing back together. This might work, theoretically, on a star large enough, but there isn't nearly enough matter or gravity for a star to reform, making its destruction almost absolute.

Also, a technique using a Nova Bomb can be used to disconnect a star system from the Slipstream. It is unknown exactly how this is done, but during so, a large Tachyon burst emanates from the System, rivers of blue energy connect planetary bodies. Everything in the system then disappears, and the slipstream disintegrates around the Star System. This was done to isolate the Tarn Vedra and Rahl Parthia systems. This does not make the system then 100% inaccessible, however, but very difficult to return to.
The main ingredient in nova bombs is the artificial element Voltarium used for high radioactive explosions.

**Game Notes**:

* When used against a Star, it causes the star to go nova destroying everything within the system. If a Nova Bomb is used against a ship or planet, its effects are: Damage: 20D/15D/10D/5D Capital Scale; Blast Radius: 0-3/5/8/10 Space Units.

## **Source**

* The Andromeda Wiki: Defensive kinetic kill missile
* The Andromeda Wiki: Offensive kinetic kill missile
* The Andromeda Wiki: Smart missile
* The Andromeda Wiki: Multiple independent kill vehicle
* The Andromeda Wiki: Nova bomb
* thedemonapostle