NationStates Jolt Archive


Controlled Singularity Launcher (Black Hole Gun! FT)

Perimeter Defense
11-10-2007, 16:05
The Grand Unified Federation of Perimeter Defense's main conventional weapons - those of explosive projectile, kinetic projectile, antimatter, photon, plasma, ion, and the like - are basically on par or even weaker than those of their counterparts with other nations at the same technology level. And at the current level of innovation and research on these systems, it can be extrapolated that the tech level of PD on these will fall behind the average given a number of decades.

PD compensates for this shortcomings through tactics, superior ship design - and, of course, special weapons, to which the Stringbreaker and others belong. Today's matter of discussion and sale is one of PD's older weapons, whose use is still quite widespread in the empire, and will most likely continue for years to come: The Controlled Singularity Launcher.

The CSL Dragoneye weapon operates by first creating the physical aspect of a black hole - the singularity. Large amounts of material are added in a magnetically suspended environment; any matter may be used, but it is preferred that very dense elements such as iridium and osmium form the structure of the singularity. Antimatter explosions fuse the material together; eventually the gravitic forces become self-sustaining and a singularity forms. Meanwhile, high-power inverse tractor beams pulse the singularity in extremely rapid sequence, spinning it that it forms into a ring shape. At 45 cycles per second, angular momentum becomes sufficient for the two event horizons to merge and form a naked singularity, in the form of a golden halo. A device is placed at the center of the torus, to control its spin.

This is the weaponized stage. Usage after this may vary. The most common use of the Dragoneye is against unshielded ships or ships whose shields have been depleted. The resultant singularity is launched at a target; because of its extreme density, the singularity smashes through the hull with ease, and once properly located, the control device interrupts the spin of the singularity, diverging the two event horizons and destroying the target within through tidal forces.

Another less common use is seen when two or more ships are close to each other. The singularity is launched in the middle of these, and activated when at a common distance. This causes exterior hull damage, but little against shielded, really.

The largest of PD's ships carry Dragoneye Forte, a much larger version of the black hole gun that makes proportionally larger singularities. These are launched at long range into fleets, not on individual targets, because the gravity wells of such black holes are less steep than that of Dragoneye. These intend to simply strand affected ships inside a black hole's event horizon.

Issues include preparation time. Generating a Dragoneye singularity takes twenty minutes; a Dragoneye Forte singularity takes just over an hour. Singularities may not be stored for more than eight hours. Another obvious issue is the fact that open black holes will remain on the battlefield, sucking up valuable debris. Finally, the system does not distinguish between friend or foe, and care must be taken when firing.

Cost of each Dragoneye system is $9 million.
Cost of each Dragoneye Forte system is $43 million.