ARES Weapons II-Electrical Boogaloo
Propellent Weapons: A type of weapon that has worked for thousands of years. A propellant weapon fires a projectile by igniting the projectile's propellant. In atmospheric conditions, these weapons are limited b weight. However, in the weightlessness of space, they can become ridiculously large. These weapons and their ammo are cheap, and effective, however, they do suffer some accuracy problems, and have a considerable recoil that must be dampened and compensated for. Time has made these weapons better than what they used to be though. Advancements in chemistry have allowed the propellant composition to be about 50% propellant, 50% oxidizer. Most modern ammunition for these weapons have gyroscopes built in, with some even being laser guided. Their are three types on propellant weapon; artillery, repeaters/autocannons, and revolving repeaters. There are also two types of ammo.
-Artillery takes the form of a heavy cannon that fires one projectile, then reloads. It does not have an "active" magazine. These weapons are generally placed in turrets. There are generally between 1 and 4 guns in each turret. These weapons are large, but accurate and damaging.
-Autocannons/repeaters are guns that fire several shots before reloading. They are not as big as artillery, but they have a considerable damage output. These weapons have reduced range, and are not effective against large, armored targets. These weapons are mounted on turrets in groups of anywhere between 1 and 6 depending on size.
-Revolving Repeaters, also called "Gatlings" are weapons that draw directly from a large magazine. These weapons are small, because of their massive ammo consumption and the fact that their recoil could move the ship around. They chew apart armor in a hailstorm of projectiles. The sound and fireworks that these weapons make will make you cry in fear, or laugh at its hapless victims. These weapons are commonly used as close in weapon systems against missiles and fighters, but may also be used against small ship depending on the size of the weapon.
Ammo types:(applies to all) Powered and Unpowered.
-Unpowered ammo is a projectile that uses a self-contained propellant once to eject it from the barrel. Once it had left the barrel, it will not continue to accelerate. These have better accuracy, but lower damage.
-Powered ammo is a projectile that uses a kicker charge to eject itself form the barrel, and then powers itself down range with an itty bitty rocket motor. They are inaccurate because the gyroscopes can't always handle the power of the motor. These however, make up for damage.
Plasma Weapons
Plasma weapons are high damage weapons that melt away armor, but have trouble with shields. They do however, can eat through shields if used enough. Plasma weapons use superheated gas, ball it up with magnetism, and eject it. These things make good, but deadly, fireworks. Plasma weapons have a high damage drop off, because the magnetic field holding it together dissipates quickly. This also reduces their range. Plasma weapons use Deuterium as a fuel, and may either draw from a tank of it, or receive a shell full of deuterium. Their are also R&D hybrid concepts where a shell full of deuterium would activated, and in doing so would begin the fusion process. The shell would keep the deuterium hot, and the shell would either be fired via Railgun or propellant weapon.
Mines
Mines are a sinister, area denial weapon. They can be sensor (radar, magnetic, or otherwise) activated, or contact activated. There are also magnetic mines, which are attracted to any form of magnetic metal. Simple versions are usually contact activated, and sit until they break, are hit by something, or destroyed. These also encompass SPEHSS IEDs.
Smart mines are intelligent munitions that are just as sinister, just not to everybody. They have IFF systems, so they won't attack friendly forces. They can be deactivated remotely, or even be programmed to self destruct remotely or at a pre-determined date.
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