NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This thread will not be done in an OOC manner. All of the info below info is available IC-ly. However, this is also directed mainly at the NS crowd.

I prefer not to get ignored because someone labels me as a wanker and godmodder without first finding out that I have only won one engagement in my nation's history, or that the said 'win' has cost me a very big chunk of my fleet and was pre-arranged.

On with the show...

Weapons
Point-singularity cannon
Point-sincularity cannon (PSC) are designed exclusively for anti-supercapitol ship combat. They are mounted on the Storm dreadnaughts and the Hood destroyers. A PSC fires a small singularity, which has an approximate damage diameter of ten meters. That radius expands with each ton of matter consumed, but only large craft such as Dreadnaughts or supercarriers have enough mass to allow a singularity to expand significantly. it is not known whether or not any shielding can effectively block a PSC, and current Weyrean tactical manuals reccomend that a ship simply drop shields and let the singularity pass through it in order to diminish the amount of energy it consumes from ship shields.

A PSC cannon can fire once every ten minutes, on average. New PSC have a 'reservouir' containing up to four point-singularities, which allow the weapon to fire rapidly for the first few moments of battle. The PSCs slow rate of fire, high power requirements, and ineffectiveness against anything smaller than a battleship, make it useless in most combat situations. Because of the PSCs size, the craft carrying it has to point almost directly at the target in order to hope to score a hit.

Hyperfusion missile
Hyperfusion missiles are designed for on-contact kill. They carry powerful thaumaturgic warheads that can devastate an unshielded craft. Powerful tachyon drives, combined with coilgun launch tubes, allow the missiles to achieve high velocities before impact, but cause problems at long distances due to relativistic time distortion. Maneuvering thrusters allow the missiles to evade some counterfire.

The missiles’ peudo-intelligence guidance system is capable of peforming evasive maneuvers, and even picking new targets, but cannot recieve new orders from its launching craft. The size of the missile makes it an attractive target for 'smart' interceptor missiles. The warhead's guidance package can be jammed or confused by countermeasures. Jamming or confusing the missile's passive scanners forces it to switch to active systems, which makes it easy pickings for fast CIWS systems.

Lancer missile
These are essentially heavy particle cannon strapped to rockets. A Lancer gets to within several hundred kilometers of its target and fires a heavy particle beam, the backlash of which destroys the missile. Lancer missiles are significantly less powerful than hyperfusion missiles, and are prone to missing their targets. Their guidance packages are significantly less powerful than those of their hyperfusion counterparts. Cheap to build, they are fielded in large numbers in order to compensate for their faults.

Combat Drone Pods
These 'pods' are either towed by smaller craft or attached to the hull of larger vessels such as the Storm and Nox. Drones contain a heavy-duty drive and an advanced pseudo-intelligence system, surrounded by a rack of low-yield missiles. Accelerating at much faster rates than crewed craft, they can rapidly close in on enemy cessels and deploy their missile payloads. Because of the smaller range, the missiles are significantly reduced in size and can expend their fuel reserves much faster, allowing them to achieve much greater velocities than missiles launched individually from craft.

Because of their relatively large size, drone pods present easy targets, and can even be hit by sufficiently-accurate anti-ship weapons. Like hyperfusion missiles, combat drones cannot recieve new orders from their mother ships, and rely on their opseudo-intelligence guidance to get them to their targets.

WMC
Wave Motion Cannon were developed from subEtheric weapons designed to kill demons. They fire projectiles containing pure thaumaturgic energy at one twentieth to nine tenth the speed of light. Increase in velocity means a reduction in thaumaturgic mass, meaning that the actual power of the projectile depends entirely on the net amount of energy within it. Since a WMC draws its power directly from the vessel's firien cells, which also power craft's shields and most essential systems, no craft can sustain a heavy rate of fire for long. While there is no theoretical limit to how powerful a round from a WMC can be, the resulting backlash ensures that no vessel can safely fire its WMC at ‘full power’.

All WMC have three settings. The kinetic setting fires a basic subEtheric slug at a target, and acts as a standard ‘solid’ round. The high-explosive setting causes the round to go off at a set distance, engulfing the surrounding area in a ball of energy. The flachette setting causes a round to turn into a cluster of high-velocity shrapnel that can shred apart parasites and missiles. Because the energy in a WMC round, including the velocity, stays the same, a high-explosive round has significantly less on-point power than a kinetic round, and a flachette round may not even harm large craft.

rWMC
Smaller brothers of the full WMC, the repeating Wave Motion Cannon take on parasites and enemy missiles. They cannot even dent the armor of most larger craft. Like the WMC they have the three basic settings – kinetic, high-explosive, and flachette. In heavy combat, rWMC are prone to overheating. Proximity blasts can rapidly increase an rWMC's temperature, and short out its superconducting circuitry and thaumaturgic systems.

Reason
The Reason gatling is designed for smaller ranges than the rWMC. It fires a stream of subEtheric rounds at any target within its range, and can shred an unshielded parasite in under a second. Shielded craft are relatively safe from Reason cannon, delegating the gatlings for predominantly anti-missile work. Like rWMC, Reason are dependent on low temperature to function at peak efficiency.

Shields
OOC: To be completed

Polarization
All craft hulls are polarized in order to protect vessels from spacial radiation. As an additional benefit, this poarization can counter plasma-based weaponry, including HEAT-type projectiles and charged particle weapons. Since energy for polarization is drawn from firien cells, a ship CO has to balance between protection, energy for drives, and power for WMC batteries. A kinetic or explosive projectile can destroy the polarized outer layer of the craft's armor, leaving it open to damage by energy weapons.

Ion shields
The main shielding on a Weyrean craft consists of two magnetic bands, which contain a cloud of ion particles. Projectiles pass through the outer layer with a high positive charge, and are deflected by the negative band. Large objects that cannot be deflected in this manner have to be evaded. This shielding works on most objects.

Each deflected particle takes away ions and draws power from firien cells. Under a heavy barrage, the shield weakens to the point that it cannot ionize projectiles enough to make them deflectable. This shield, s a result, is succeptable to saturation fire. Firther, the design of the shield requires it to be flashed for kinetic and missile batteries to fire, which leaves an opening of several seconds for enemy projectiles to get through. SubEtheric cannon rounds, such as those onboard WMC, are not highle affected by this shield. Scanners become less effective, since the shield bubble blocks significant amounts of radiation. Antenna trails can be extended outside the shield to counteract this interference, to an extent, but cannot match the power of unshielded scanner arrays.

Weyrean Star Destroyers4
Where I set down the rule of law on WSDs

Weyr has used ISDs for about ten NS years, and has never gone back to them since. OOC-ly, I refuse to use any more Star Trek, Star Wars, Honorverse, or other such tech.

Weyrean Star Destroyers were part of an 'Imperializt' fad that followed the conquest of Weyr by the Galactic Empire. They were based on the Imperator type of vessels, and were approximately one and a half kilometers long. Over forty were constructed over a period of ten years, and most were destroyed in a period of two hours in the 'last battle' of the Sith Wars, which destroyed the Rebellion for all practical purposes for at least a short period of time. No other types of Star Destroyers were constructed in Weyrean staryards.

Final Weyrean Star Destroyers featured several key differences compared to those employed by other entities. The primary bridge and secondary bridge had been shifted from the exposed superstructure and into the hull of the vessel. The marine and ground combat complements had been significantly reduced. Hyperfusion missiles had been added. TIE craft had been replaced with parasites of Weyrean design. CIWS systems such as flak guns, gatlings, interceptor missiles, and laser cannon have been added. The core has been replaced with Starfire fusactors. The hyperdrive has been replaced with a Translation drive. Increased automation has significantly reduced the normal crew complement. These modifications came only after the decisive battle of the Sith Wars, and were deemed to expensive to implement.

The use of WSDs is considered to be one of the worst decisions in the Star Guard's history, and the construction of the massive craft nearly bancrupted that organization.

Constructive comments and suggestions are welcome. More ships and weapons specs will be added later. (Read: when I feel that these ones are becoming outdated.)

Two fighter craft are employed by the Weyrean Star Guard -- the Black Tiger and the Cosmo Tiger. Both craft have seen many incarnations, and both have undergone significant improvements over the years. Since both parasites are very similar in most respects, they can be covered in a single section.

All modern Weyrean parasites are powered by Resurge-4 fusactors and firien cell assemblies. The lighter Black Tiger can outrun, and the heavier Cosmo Tiger can usually match, the acceleration of any enemy parasite. Secondary drive ports along the crafts' hull allow for rapid maneuvers, and can put out as much as 50% of the main rear drive's power. The high-efficiency drive does take up a significant amount of space, and makes Weyrean parasites somewhat larger than some of their opponents. It has been theorized but not yet proven that magDrive-powered craft will be able to outmaneuver weyrean parasites, since no combat has taken place between such craft.

Weapons on Weyrean parasites include both anti-parasite torpedoes, as well as smaller lascannon and Reason gatlings. The Black Tiger will often forgo missiles for extra maneuverability and aceleration. The Cosmo Tiger has two hard points on each wing which can be used to carry either four anti-parasite missiles, two medium anti-ship torpedoes, a single large torpedo, or clusters of anti-parasite rockets. The cannon are synched to fire through the parasite's shields. An additional auto-turret is mounted on the top of most Weyrean parasites, on top of the drive sector, and can self-target any enemy vessel in range. While Weyrean secondary cannon are powerful, the parasites rely on their missile payloads for long-range combat and to even the odds against their more numerous opoonents.

Countermeasures include chaff, noisemakers, flares, and decoys. Additional anti-missile defenses include 'guided bullet' cannon and all-spectrum jammers.

Scanners are mounted in the nose cones of Weyrean parasites=, which has the unfortunate side effect of creating a blind spot at the rear of the craft. This has been partly remedied by installing secondary scanners in the rear, although the drive emissions prevent powerful scanners from being mounted there.

Shielding on Weyrean parasites comes in two layers. The outermost layer consists of a powerful dual-polarity shield containing a dense field of ions,. This shield can be shifted to provide additional protection at a particular point, though this drains the parasite's firien cells and leaves other shield angles open to attack. The secondary shield is built into the hull itself. The hull of a Weyrean parasite is polarized, and can deflect most energy weapons, for a time. Traditional armor-piercing weapons that rely on plasma torches are almost impotent against Weyrean armor except as raw kinetic projectiles.

Parasite armor is a sandwich of composites and metals. The outer skin is made of Type-3 plasteel, and can withstand small arms fire and even high-velocity chaff. Beneath is a layer of diamond. During impact, the diamond shatters and escapes from the resulting hole as a fine dust, which both slows proceeding kinetics and significantly reduces damage from beam weapons. Beneath the diamond is another layer of plasteel, followed by heavy insulation and control circuits.

Ship schematics (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Weyr/Craft/battlecruiser_hoodSS.jpg)
The Hood-class cruiser
Size comparison (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Weyr/Craft/yamato_comparison.jpg)
The WW2 Yamato vs an average Weyrean ship.
CIWS (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Weyr/Craft/yamato10_57YM.jpg)
A superstructure's armament.

Weyrean starships come in two types -- fast and agile, or lumbering and massive. The vast majority of Weyrean craft do not exceed three hundred meters. The Nox-class Ships-of-the-Line, at one-kilometer, are dwarfed only by the five-kilometer Storm-class dreadnaughts.

Weapons
Missiles and WMC (pseudo-kinetic cannon) are primary weapons. Point-singularity cannon take significant time to charge, require the craft to be pointing almost directly at its target, and do not do significant damage except against large ships or objects. They have a damage diameter of ten meters, which slowly increases with each ton of matter consumed. PSC are patterned to collapse after a certain point in order to prevent collateral damage.

No Weyrean craft employ energy weapons, which have been discarded due to their power requirements. Long-range combat relies on missiles and drone pods, which are carried almost exclusively by Ships of the Line and Dreadnaughts. Close combat relies on WMC cannon. Point-singularity cannon are employed against supercapitol craft.

WMC are mounted on large turrets that have from two to four semi-independent barrels. These turrets are designed to absorb the backlash of a WMC blast, and can be sealed off from the rest of the craft in battle to prevent boarding forces from easily taking control of the craft's main guns. Missiles are mounted in stationary cells, which contain coilgun accelerators for higher initial velocity. PSC are mounted in large spaces at the front of th3ecraft, and can take up as much as a third of that craft's space, like in the case of the Hood destroyer. Like missiles, PSC cannot be fired in any direction except forward. Drone pods are either attached to the hulls of craft, or towed alongside by arachnoweave cables.

Drives and Engines
Weyrean craft are powered by heavy fusactors, which are clustered in a 'drive secor', which also contains the cryogenic plant. Only the main drives draw power directly from the fusactors. All other systems draw power from firien cells in order to avoid power fluctuations. Weapons and systems that require large bursts of power can rapidly drain firien cells, leavign the craft exposed until the cells recharge. Weapons, shields, and drives have to be balanced in order for a craft to function at peak efficiency. A fusactor meltdown can easily occur if the cryo plant is damaged in battle, with disastrous consequences for all surrounding ships. The drive sector takes up a significant portion of any ship.

Interiors
The interiors of Weyrean craft look nothing like holoflick dramas No well-lit passageways and showers in every room. Older craft continuously break down, and may not even have basics such as artificial gravity. Newer craft do contain artificial gravity, which goes offline prior to combat in order to free up energy. Backup systems exist for virtually everything. Doors are manually closed and opened, although bulkhead hatches are auto-sealing. Vent shafts are small, and even a child would have trouble squeezing through them.

Uniforms
Star Guard uniforms are made of bulletproof arachnoweave. While the uniforms can only be cut by a molecular blade (a quality glass knife can pierce them, too), they do not offer significant protection against energy weapons. 'Smart' gelpacks can rapidly deploy to protect the uniforms' wearers from significant stresses such as high falls, rapid veolcity changes, and some kinetic weapons.

In the event of rapid decompression, the uniforms self-seal to prevent significant trauma. They carry several minutes' worth of oxygen scrubbers, and have fittings for more premanent portable filtration modules. Specialized uniforms are equipped to handle powered armor, maintenance suits, utility tools, and specific equipment.

Rating insignia consists of a shoulder patch and nametag. Groups are identified by a color arrow across the front and back of the singlesuit, and the back of the flight jacket.

Crew sizes
The size of a craft's crew depends on its function. New Paradigm cruisers have two hundred hands, half of which are marines. Because they are built as heavy cannon platforms, automated systems can handle most of the work originally assigned to sentient beings. The Storm dreadnaught contains a significantly larger crew, since it is designed to both act as a prarasite carrier, and to command large groups of ships. Vessels that carry parasites have large crews due to the workload that cannot be automated or that can be better performed by humans/Weyreans/elves/dwarves.

Scanners and superstructures
Weyrean vessels feature prominent superstructures, which contain scanner systems and CIWS. Weaker shields than the main hull protect them, and their destruction significantly reduces a vessel's fighting ability. The superstructure is made to be as far as possible from the drive sector, which contains the fusactors and primary firien cells.

Larger craft such as the Nox have a dual superstructure on the 'top' and 'bottom' of the hull, with each mounting similar scanner systems. Smaller and more numerous designs such as the Hood and the New Paradigm have a single superstructure with the primary scanners on one side, and a smaller 'blister' with secondary scanners on the opposite side of the craft's hull.

Drive emissions significantly lower the sensitivity of a craft's scanners. All Weyrean craft have a thirty-degree cone 'blind spot' at the rear, directly behind the primary drives. This problem is resolved by using towed scanner arrays, which remove the 'blind spot' and augment permanent scanners, but at the same time significantly restrict the ability of that craft to go into evasive maneuvers.

Construction
Automation has significantly reduced the expenses of constructing, maintaining, and crewing Weyrean vessels. In theory, a single Constructed Intelligence system can run an entire dreadnaught with the help of a few 'slave' Pseudo-Intelligence systems. Composites and thaumaturgic devices, along with a large population of underemployed thaumaturgs, have sent the cost of construction plummeting. This is not to say that Weyrean craft are cheap, but they do cost less than equivalent vessels built under lower-tech societies.

The Weyrean government does not build its own craft, but rather issues a criteria for what it needs out of a particular vessel and then purchases the 'best' bid.

Most of the cost of constructung a craft comes from the required infrastructure and the delivery of materials. While any corporation can land on an 'unclaimed' planet and set up an automated mine after doing extensive geologic surveys, few corporations have the ability to hold more than a handful of planets against competition and pirates. Holding a single raw materials planetoid requires several private cruisers, ground defenses, and a significant infantry force.

Constructing a single Storm-class dreadnaught takes over ten years and requires tens of thousands of designers, programmers, thaumaturgs, engineers, construction workers, and managers. Only two Storm-class dreadnaughts can be constructed simultaneously, and the cost of even a single such vessel ensures that only a few can be built. The construction of ten such craft nearly bancrupted the Star Guard. Several corporations cooperate to build any type of craft, with one designing the vessel, another providing the drives, and still another making the pseudo-intelligence systems, and more building everything from CIWS to WMC weapons. Most construction takes place

Meet the vessels

The predominant vessel in the Weyrean fleet is the New Paradigm-class battle cruiser, which is a 220-meter craft made to kill larger vessels. This design has been in service for over six decades, and has been significantly modified to meet with new threats. Combining massive guns with a powerful drive, the 'Para' can stand against vessels twice its size. This is not to say that it can go toe-to-toe with large vessels, but rather than it can use its greater agility to even out the battle. Most often the 'Para' is fielded in groups of four, alongside a single Nox-class Ship-of-the-Line. While the SoL pounds the opponent up front, the 'Para' maneuvers to fire at the target's more vulnerable points.

The 'Para' has three ventral and three dorsal WMC turrets, with two facing forward and one facing the rear. rWMC and Reason gatlings, as well as interceptor missiles, are mounted on the superstructure and hull and provide fairly decent interception capability.

The New Paradigm has several weaknesses. Due to its small size, few provisions or supplies can be stored on board, requiring continuous resupply. Armor and shields on a 'Para' are weaker than those on larger craft. Backlash from the vessel's powerful main six canon can buckle the hull and splinter the vessel's frame during intense battle. A lack of missiles forces the 'Para' to rely on its WMC cannon, resulting in a significant disadvantage when faced with missile-equipped craft. Interceptor weapons are concentrated on the exposed superstructure, and can easily be disabled by heavy fire.

During the rebuilding of the Weyrean skyfleet, it became apparent that specialized craft would be needed to counter enemy missiles and parasites. When the Star Gaurd was formed, the Hivebreaker design was offered to fulfill lthis role in space. The Hivebreaker is a small, long craft with light WMC armaments and bolstered gatling and rWMC batteries. The destroyer contains powerful drives and advanced scanner systems, and is capable of destroying formations of unshielded parasites in minutes. Automated tracking systems allow for batteries to hand targets to one another for increased efficiency. The vessel's two WMC turrets are specially designed to fire flachette subetheric rounds, and do not wear out as rapidly as those of other craft.

Advanced automation is required for the craft to maintain its rapid acquisition ability. Systems are prone to overheating from proximity blasts, a problem that has only partially been solved. The craft relies on two main scanner arrays for ranged target acquisition, and the loss of those arrays significantly reduces the vessel's fighting ability. Armor on the Hivebreaker is not as powerful as on main cruisers, and cannot stand for long against heavy fire.

Hivebreaker cruisers have recently been adapted to carry combat drone pods, which allows them to attack capitol craft with some measure of cuccess.

The Hood-class destroyer is the latest vessel designed by Weyrean shipbuilders. Its entire structure is based around a single point-singularity cannon. The vessel has to point almost directly at its target to fire the weapon and it can take up to ten minutes for that cannon to recharge after firing. The Hood is made to kill capitol ships, although its secondary armament can stand against other destroyers. It carries thee powerful forward-facing WMC cannon (two dorsal, one ventral), and six lesser WMC on the larboard and starboard side (two forward, one back on either side). These cannot are weaker than those mounted on the 'Para'.

The craft's large size, hulking superstructure, and prominent, undefended bow make it a prime target for more agile vessels. The PSC construct takes up a third of the Hood's interior space, and leaves the bow without defensive armament. The space left for the dfrew is very cramped, and the Hood has an even smaller endurance than the New Paradigm. Counterifre batteries have been reduced, and the power required by the PSC significantly reduces both the power of the weapons and the strength of the shielding.

The second most common vessel in the Weyrean fleet is the Nox-class Ship-of-the-Line. This is a large craft, designed to form the core of a small task force or to handle deep space patrols that last months. Over a kilometer long, it contains heavy main cannon batteries, a fair array of missiles, and a small parasite complement. Its armor and shielding can withstand hours of one-on-one combat.

Because of its size, the Nox is not as agile as its smaller brethren, and thus receives considerably more attention from enemy guns during combat. While its armor and shielding is heavy enough to withstand a concentrated barrage, the Nox’s effectiveness is considerably reduced without peripheral craft. The craft’s massive cannon are significantly less effective against small targets, and might not even dent the armor of supercapitol craft.

The Storm-class dreadnaught is the largest vessel ever built in Weyr except for the long-decommissioned Hornet-class supercarrier. Only a dozen such craft have been constructed, and all but two have been destroyed by the combined Coredian and Techonian fleets during the 'last battle' of the Rebellion.

The dreadnaught contains four point-singularity cannon on its forward arc. Missile cells on the hull provide long-range capability. Massive WMC cannon allow the Storm to take on most large craft. Lesser WMC can target cruisers and destroyers, although the Storm requires support from smaller escort vessels to be effective against such opponents. The Storm carries a significant parasite complement, and is capable of replacing several Hive-class carriers.

Because of its size, the Storm is not highly maneuverable. Its flattened, semi-spherical shape gives it a fairly uniform defensive capability. The design is not made for direct ship-to-ship combat, however, and is meant to serve as a command center for large ship groups. Carrying large quantities of supplies and maintenance equipment, the Storm can act as a sort of mobile base of operations for prolonged attacks.

Small craft can dodge the Storm's main cannon, and possibly evade its missile and drone pod armaments. The Storm's PSC are not effective against small craft.

Constructive comments and suggestions are welcome. More ships and weapons specs will be added later. (Read: when I feel that these ones are becoming outdated.)

no comment other than to say good work weyr.

If people consider this wanking, then wank away!

Well-written and thought out, and I'd RP with you anytime based on these technologies...

OOC: I know that some parts of this section won't hash with what I have used in RPs against Sith and Coreworlds. Hopefully, that won't happen again. I'm going back to what I originally intended for Weyr back when I made it space-tech.

The force groupings are based on Ships of the Line from Serena Dawn

Force Groupings

Squadron -- 4 parasites
Wing -- 3 squadrons

Platoon -- 3 destroyers and two cruisers
Company -- 3 platoons and one Ship of the Line
Battalion -- 1 company and 2 Hive Cruisers
Regiment -- 3 companies
Battlegroup -- 2 Battalions
Corps -- 4 Companies
Systems Group -- Half of all forces in a sector

Force Distribution

Sol Fleet
Station: Earthbound Station, Terra
Flag: WSGS Nox (Nox-class)
CO: Admiral Fara Iro Lancer
XO: Lieutenant-Admiral Masaki Mandel
1 corps (36 destroyers, 24 cruisers, 4 SoL)
1 battlegroup (18 destroyers, 8 cruisers, 4 Hive cruisers)
Parasites: 480
Gunships: 46

Paradigm Fleet
Station: Starhavven Station, Paradigm System
Flag: WSGS Haduken (Storm-class)
CO: Admiral Artur Fulmer
XO: Lieutenant-Admiral Ari Chen
1 corps (36 destroyers, 24 cruisers, 4 SoL)
1 batallion (9 destroyers, 4 cruisers, 2 Hive cruisers)
Parasites: 210
Gunships: 16

Rapid-Response Fleet
Station: Starhavven Station, Paradigm System
Flag: WSGS Storm (Storm-class)
CO: Fleet Admiral Rae Hawksblood
XO: Lieutenant-Admiral Daniel L. Fuller
1 corps (36 destroyers, 24 cruisers, 4 SoL)
2 battlegroups (36 destroyers, 16 cruisers, 8 Hive cruisers)
Parasites: 660
Gunships: 32

OOC: This section is still under construction, and the information below is in no way finalized. Don't forget that there are not that many MArines in Weyr. As always, any and all suggestions and criticisms are appreciated.

Ejo Captain Jack
Bring me back to the railroad track
Give me a gun in my hand,
I want to be a shooting man

Weapons

Reason had initially been developed as a heavy infantry weapon, and has remained true to its roots. The gatling is not as powerful as that mounted on starships, but is still a force to be reckoned with. it consists of two units -- the munitions case, and barrel. The munitions case contains BAT cells, which are fed into the barrel via a series of cables. A switch on the barrel allows the user to switch between three firing modes -- kinetic (subsonic), kinetic (supersonic), flame, and icefire. Because of its mass, the vast majority of persons while moving or standing cannot wield Reason.

The Grenadier armor is the only Weyrean system that can use Reason without any aids. Reason is prone to overheating, and is not particularly accurate, and its use is ill advised in urban or close areas.

40 mm subEtheric cannon is used as an anti-vehicle weapon. While not as powerful as the 80mm subEtheric cannon found on armored walkers, it can destroy lightly armored objects with relative ease. The cannon can punch through ‘soft’ targets, and can be set to kinetic, icefire, flame, flachette, and explosive. Like WMC cannon, the net energy within the weapon remains the same, so a flachette may have the same net energy as a kinetic round, but each flachette will have significantly less force than a single kinetic round. The 40mm cannon can fire one round at a time, and its accuracy depends on the user and his ability to control his armor’s integrated systems.

Because of its relatively low power, the cannon cannot damage heavily armored units, and is too heavy to be used by most combat armors. The power requirements of the cannon allow for only a few shots to be carried by the user. The heat signature makes the weapon highly unstealthy.

The 8mm K-14 is the standard weapon used by the Weyrean Marine Corps. It contains a 32-round magazine, and can be set to single shot, 3-round burst, or full automatic. The weapon has four firing settings -- kinetic, high-explosive, flame, and iceflame. The weapon is fairly common, but is not useful against hardened targets, and has a penetratign power similar to that of an Old Terra M-16 rifle.

Armor

The Hoplite (X) armor was developed for the High Guard mobile infantry, and is now used by marines stationed aboard starships due to its flexibility and light mass. Regular marines also use it in ground situations, although this task has been delegated to the Grenadier armor in recent years. The Hoplite is not a powered suit, but rather a reinforced combat armor.

The Hoplite endosuit is made of light, padded arachnoweave. It is capable of stopping traditional projectiles and kinetic weapons, and offers full protection against shrapnel. Seals at the neck, wrists, and feet allow the suit to seal in hazardous enviroments, providing an additional level of protection should the exosuit seals fail. Embedded thermal filaments can cool or warm the wearer. Direct feedback links allow the suit to interface with the exosuit, and let the wearer 'feel' the external conditions. The wearer can control the sensitivity of the feedback. The endosuit can be used as armor, but cannot dissipate the force of projectile weapons effectively.

The exosuit contains the actual mithril-steel armor plating, secondary weapons, and hardpoints for primary weapons. The cuirass protects the chest area, with segmented pieces extending to protect the stomach. Pauldrons and bracers overlap to provide protection to much of the arms with little hindrance. The legs are segmented to provide a high degree of protection without restricting mobility. Each arm contains hardpoints for two-barrel subEtheric weapons. The 'backpack' unit can contain the munitions for a light Reason gatling, or for several other weapons. The exosuit is semi-powered, but is not designed for high excretions, and cannot compete with heavier powered armors in head-to-head combat. The exosuit contains full atmospheric controls, and can provide protection from biochemical threats for up to two days. Power for the suit comes from firien cells built into the Hoplite's 'backpack'. Heavy combat can rapidly drain those cells, as energy is used for scanners, weapons, and daily activities.

Because of its small size, the Hoplite is not capable of mounting heavy weapons. The armor plate cannot completely dissipate the kinetic force of a high-recoil weapon, and the interior gel pads are not capable of sufficiently cushioning the wearer against heavy shocks. A lack of polarization makes the suit vulnerable to energy weapons. The space between the hard armor plating -- at the joints and the neck -- makes it vulnerable to precision shots. A hit at those points can cause severe internal damage to the wearer, although the projectile itself might not penetrate the armor. Although the armor can theoretically survive a point-blank shot from an Abrams tank, the wearer will not. The arachnoweave seals on the suit can be cut by a molecular blade, or by a sharpened glass knife.

Grenadier armor is made for direct combat, and is the heaviest modern battle suit fielded by the Star Guard Marine Corps. It is almost identical to the Hoplite armor in many respects, but boasts heavier armor plating and more powerful augmentation circuits. It is used exclusively on the ground, and is supplemented by Hoplite units and true armor and air vehicles. The Grenadier should not be confused with multi-purpose mecha designs.

The Grenadier endosuit is a direct copy of the Hoplite suit, but contains heavier padding and is not designed to be used as independent armor.

The Grenadier exosuit is heavier and stronger than its Hoplite counterpart, and is capable of withstanding most kinetic assaults. Polarization allows the armored plating to survive repeated plasma and particle hits. The joints are significantly better protected, although they are still weak points that can be exploited by enemies. The Grenadier can lift several times its wearer’s strength, and can jump several stories without significant damage. It can run as fast as sixty kilometers per hour for short periods of time, and can theoretically outrun a speeding car. Weapons on the grenadier include the Reason gatling and the 40mm subEtheric anti-vehicle cannon, which can punch through ‘soft’ targets, and can be set to kinetic, icefire, flame, flachette, and explosive. The 40mm cannon can fire one round at a time, and its accuracy depends on the user.

The cushioning of the Grenadier is not perfect, and sufficiently hard forces can kill the wearer even if the armor remains apparently unharmed. Because of its size, the combat suit cannot fit through standard starcraft hatches and doors. While the armor of the suit better protects the wearer, joints are still weak spots, and even common rifles and missiles can cause severe damage in they hit those points. The armor polarization does not extend to the joints and is lessened in the head. The power requirements of the Grenadier during battle are significant, and the suit cannot function for more than two days without requiring resupply. Custom fitting is required, and wearing another soldier’s armor can kill the wearer. The suit is relatively maintenance-intensive, and most companies contain at least one armorer.