Secondary Weapons

The term "Secondary Weapon" covers a wide variety of different weapons systems, each operating on vastly different principles. Their common trait however is firepower; Secondary weapons are (with the exception of some Advanced Weapons ) the most powerful weapons onboard a starship. They are generally designed to break through shields and directly impact with a targets hull. Most are so powerful that even with shields up, a small amount of energy bleeds through the shields and combined with the physical impact, causes some damage to the targets hull and systems.

Secondary Weapons can be best exemplified by the Photon Torpedo and the Plasma Torpedo Both these main types have different variants, with Photon Torpedoes coming in Standard and Heavy varieties and Plasma Torpedoes coming in Heavy, Medium, and Light variants, these being mostly employed by the Romulan Star Empire. The Interstellar Concordium and the Gorn Confederacy also employ their own types of Plasma Torpedo, the Type-I and Type-G respectively. Power wise, these two are roughly equal to the Romulan Medium Plasma Torpedo. Photon Torpedoes have a lower yield but a higher rate of fire than Plasma Torpedoes, which take a considerable amount of power and time to charge. Plasma Torpedoes are also shorter ranged and somewhat slower, but pack a very powerful punch.

Two specialised forms of Photon Torpedo are the Burst and Parallax Torpedo. They are both designed to be targeted at an area, rather than a ship or station, and to burst into a small shock-wave at a designated point. Parallax Torpedoes differ from Burst Photon Torpedoes in that they are basically Plasma Torpedoes inside a Photon Torpedo Casing, allowing the plasma to burst forth into a shock-wave when the casing is detonated. Burst Photon Torpedoes are used by the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Interstellar Concordium, with Parallax Torpedoes being employed by the Gorn Confederacy and the Romulan Star Empire.

Other powers use different secondary weapons. The Hydran Kingdoms employ the Photon Cannon, a rather exotic design based around using only magnetic fields to contain a Photon Torpedo type warhead. These weapons take considerable power reserves and physical space aboard a vessel and are only mounted on the largest Hydran starships and facilities.

The Lyran Star Kingdom also employs secondary weapons of considerable power and size. Rather than firing a projectile like the Photon Cannon, the Lyran secondary weapon of choice is the Mauler Cannon, essentially an overpowered Disruptor.

The Mirak Star League employs Missile Scatterpacks, whilst the Sha'Kurian Duchies use various types of Impulse Projectiles. The Tholian Assembly uses no secondary weapons.

## Secondary Weapons in Service(2292)

Photon Torpedo

Heavy Photon Torpedo

Heavy Plasma Torpedo (Type-H)

Medium Plasma Torpedo (Type-M)

Light Plasma Torpedo (Type-L)

Gorn Plasma Torpedo (Type-G)

Concordium Plasma Torpedo (Type-I)

Burst Photon Torpedoes

Parallax Torpedo

Photon Cannon

Mauler Cannon

Scatterpack

Ballistic Projectile

Active Terminal Guidance Projectile

Multi-Warhead Projectile

## See also

Primary Weapons

Heavy Weapons

Advanced Weapons