Starship Weapon Systems

Weapons systems are highly varied and differ greatly by the groups that field them, but have a few marked similarities.

In general, most weapons fall in to one of two categories: projectile and non-projectile.

Projectile Systems

Any time a ship fires a solid, non-reusable object, it is considered a projectile. Projectiles themselves are generally differentiated by guided and unguided.

Unguided Projectiles

Rail guns are the most common, where in a metal 'slug' or bullet is proppelled by passing a current between two rails. Magnetic guns are also common, and while less efficient, their do exist gravity guns(which use artificial gravity to propel a projectile. All of these weapons are typically small, turret mounted affairs and commonly used for point defense or close-in ordnance. Because they are relatively easy to build and maintain, this is also the most common armament fitted to civilian ships.

While much less common, there have also been many notable examples of "space guns" fielded by different powers. Good old fashioned nitro-cellulose(smokeless gunpowder) works perfectly well in outer space, and in a vacuum can propel a large projectile to very dangerous speeds.

While effective range is not a major issue(in space, an object in motion remains in motion), unguided projectiles are still considered only a short-range or close-in weapon. The primary problem with these weapons is aiming; since the projectiles travel much slower than the speed of light, it becomes nearly impossible to hit distant targets.

Guided Projectiles

Guided projectiles typically consist of missiles or torpedoes, and may or may not carry a warhead. A key difference between the two is size and payload: torpedoes are generally much larger than missiles.

The addition of a guidance system makes range considerably less of an issue. The deciding factor then becomes delta-V budget; how much can the projectile change it's relative velocity? Pure chemical-based motors have extremely low delta-V compared to their nuclear counterparts.

Missiles

The most common guided weapon is a kinetic missile, which consists of a rocket motor, guidance system, attitude control system, and an inert "impactor" usually made of some dense, heavy metal. These missiles kill with pure kinetic energy, relying entirely on the speed of the missile and the speed of the ship launching them.

Kinetic missiles are popular because they are cheap, easy to build, an effective against most targets. Chemically-driven kinetic missiles can, at close range, inflict serious damage; and much like railguns are popular "civilian armaments" in the Merchant Marine.

In fact, kinetic missiles are so efficient that chemical explosive warheads are almost never used. The most powerful and sophisticated non-nuclear explosives simply don't add enough to be worthwhile. The exceptions are whenever the function of the payload is strictly destructive against another ship. Some small SIMs are equiped with a chemical explosive payload and designed to produce a cloud of shrapnel; these are seen most often on weapons fitted to stunt-fighters designed to take out other stunt fighters.

Larger missile payloads are often nuclear, with most space navies fielding some form of N1 missile. Interestingly, most N1 missiles are complete ineffective on anything other than a direct hit. An N1 warhead exploding only "near" a ship hardened for the kind of radiation encountered in deep space(E.G.: All ships) would be unaffected by the radiation, and there is almost no shockwave to speak of.

To counter-act this, N1s are usually surrounded by a "burner" or fuel layer made of some dense material, usually a heavy elemental metal. In the explosion, the burner is vaporized and turns into a shockwave of energetic plasma. This is an important feature as it turns a "near miss" into at least some damage.

• The Gudersnipe Foundation fields an N1 missile with a shaped tungsten or depleted uranium cone that functions much like the penetrator in a rocket-propelled grendade anti-tank weapon. When the warhead explodes, it creates a white-hot jet of plasma capable of penetrating most Starship Shield Systems and doing significant damage to an armored hull.