MAC

## Mass Acceleration Canons

Mass Acceleration Canons exploit the instantaneous matter acceleration of the Matter Stream Line and the Gravity Lens to project matter at a percentage of the speed of light, allowing them to reach distant starships moving at incredible speeds.

Nickel-Iron slugs are taken from the ship’s cargo hold and conducted into the space just outside the canon. A Gravity Lens simultaneously activates, warping the space outside the projector so that the insane recoil is shunted into the space outside the ship rather than into the canon itself. The slug, instantly atomized by the shock of exiting the stream, rushes into the deep fold in the Gravity Lens's affect field, trapping its heat and mass in the tight envelope as it travels.

MAC projectiles radiate their mass into energy over time in the form of radiation. This accounts for the blue pulse of light that erupts at the moment of fire and along its path, and then finally when it impacts the target surface. This impact would be incredibly destructive – capable of sterilizing whole planets in a moment – if not for the unique delivery mechanism of the Matter-Stream. Upon interacting with normal matter, the slug is immediately decelerated to its original relative velocity when it entered the stream, delivering the damage of that force minus the mass lost in transit.

This force is still equal to the detonation of several million tonnes of TNT, with Gamma rays and X rays as a bi-product. An XL MAC can remove an entire module in a single hit and send a ship spinning.

MACs come in Sm, Md, Lg, and XL sizes. The heat generated at each size increases exponentially, along with the energy requirements of maintaining the Gravity Lens against the recoil.

MACs require ammo and generate heat. MAC slugs are generally Nickel-Iron, but any matter is equal.  The Weapons Officer can modulate the weight of matter going into the stream by 25, 50, 75, and 100%. This is good for conserving ammo, reducing energy costs, and reducing heat build-up, but potentially will prolong combat against durable enemies.

Four capacitors are available for each turret. Upgrades require a capacitor slot.

* **Kinetic** – Standard round, adding extra capacitors reduces recycle time by 10, 20, 30, 40%

* **Plasma** – Requires 2x the M, but reduces heat per shot by 2x as well as reducing damage by 50%, but inflicts 4x the Heat onto the target module. This can stack up quickly and melt enemy Heat Sinks. Adds a Capacitor with a Red Glow to the Turret Magazine.

* **Ion** – Requires 4x the E to fire, but inflicts the equivalent on an enemy module, blowing out Fuses and destroying Capacitors. Sm Fuses can process 128E/sec, and sm Capacitors can hold 2048E. A Sm IP round can deal 2048E. A Md IP can deliver 2048E, enough to take out Md Fuses and Sm Capacitors. Adds a Capacitor with a Blue Glow to the Turret Magazine.

* **Scatter Shot** – Requires the same as a standard round, and can be combined with the previous two by taking up another Capacitor slot, which will glow Green. Scatter Shot breaks up shortly before impact or upon contact with a point defence, and allows a blocked shot to divide by 6 and hit a larger target area, possibly damaging several modules with 1/6th their original power.

## Stats

MAC Damage Output

**Small MAC**

A Sm MAC Can use 2 to 16 Units of M, causing 800~6,400 points of Damage:

* 2 Units of M to fire, 4 Units of **E**, and generates 8 Heat – 800 Damage

* 4 Units of M to fire, 8 Units of E, and generates 16 Heat – 1,600 Damage

* 8 Units of M to fire, 16 Units of E, and generates 32 Heat – 2,400 Damage

* 16 Units of M to fire, 32 Units of E, and generates 64 Heat – 6,400 Damage

**Medium MAC**

A Md MAC can
use 16 to 64 Units of M, causing 6,400~51,200 points of Damage

* 16 Units of M to fire, 32 Units of E, and generates 64 Heat – 6,400 Damage

* 24 Units of M to fire, 48 Units of E, and generates 128 Heat – 12,800 Damage

* 32 Units of M to fire, 64 Units of E, and generates 256 Heat – 25,600 Damage

* 64 Units of M to fire, 128 Units of E, and generates 512 Heat – 51,200 Damage

**Large MAC**

A Lg MAC can
use 64 to 512 Units of M, causing 51,200~204,800 points of Damage

* 64 Units of M to fire, 128 Units of E, and generates 512 Heat – 51,200 Damage

* 128 Units of M to fire, 512 Units of E, and generates 1024 Heat – 101,400 Damage

* 256 Units of M to fire, 1024 Units of E, and generates 2048 Heat – 152,800 Damage

* 512 Units of M to fire, 2048 Units of E, and generates 4096 Heat – 204,800 Damage

**XLarge MAC**

An XL MAC can
use 512 to 4096 Units of M, causing 204,800~819,200 points of Damage.

* 512 Units of M to fire, 2048 Units of E, and generates 4096 Heat – 204,800 Damage

* 1024 Units of M to fire, 4096 Units of E, and generates 8192 Heat – 409,000 Damage

* 2048 Units of M to fire, 8192 Units of E, and generates 16384 Heat – 618,000 Damage

* 4096 Units of M to fire, 16384 Units of E, and generates 32764 Heat – 819,200 Damage

## Upgrades

**Plasma**: Delivers 25% Damage as Heat, -25% Kinetic Damage

* Cost x2 M, (4, 8, 16, 32) -2x Heat (4, 8, 16,32) 1 Capacitor Slot

**Ion**: Delivers 50% Damage as Energy to overload systems

* Cost: 4X E (16, 32, 64, 256) 1 Capacitor Slot

**Scatter**: Breaks round into 2, 4,6, 8 Smaller rounds on prior to impact to avoid point defences

* Cost: 1 Capacitor Slot, divides damage between scattered shots

**Kinetic Upgrade** – Standard Round +50% Kinetic Damage

* Cost: 1 Capacitor slot; +50% cost of shot