For the Expoletian Fleet to possess the firepower it does, the Armada has a small, but powerful selection of Ship to Ship combat weapons. Each has strengths and weaknesses which affect how effective they are against certain types of craft.
Starting in the basic weaponry, the Kodekai Enterprises Turret line is the backbone of any vessel in the Expoletian Armada. The most recent in this line is the Type XIV, which is offered as a stationary version, primarily used on fighters, and a mounted version, which is found on most cruisers. Offering a quick firing, hard hitting weapon, the Type XIV, although small by STS standards, is powerful in mass numbers. An Expoletian fighter has two of these turrets mounted to their fighter, while the largest Expoletian vessels can have upwards of half a million. Noted for their low power usage, the Type XIV can be controlled by an intelligent AI, or manually by a specially trained soldier, increasing their effectiveness in the heat of battle. The dual barrel design has increased the firepower of the weapon, without increasing it's size or power consumption, which is almost exclusively used by the superaccelerator. This superaccelerator launches a very small piece of matter, called a Shredder Bolt, at 1/6th the speed of light towards it's target. Because of the small projectile mass, the damage caused to the hull of an enemy vessel larger than a fighter is negligible, but the speed of the projectile can rip through most shields and connection points on the hull of an enemy vessel.
The Kodekai Enterprises Torpedo Tube weapons are an extension of the Turrets. Using a larger caliber barrel, they can fire larger projectiles, usually laced with contact explosives, at speeds slightly slower than the Type XIII turrets. On fighters, this weapon is usually mounted between the barrels of the turret, which further reduces power usage for the weapon. On larger vessels, the torpedo tubes are always found attached to turrets, but draw power from a separate line. While turrets are known for their fast firing Shredder projectiles, the Torpedo tube fires at a much slower rate, compensating for its high heat ejection by launching slow moving cylinders of matter no larger than a fist, which deal damage 10 orders of magnitude greater than a turret could do in it's lifetime. This projectile, while only moving half the speed of a Shredder bolt, is superheated in the superaccelerator, which enables the projectile to melt most enemy hulls, causing collateral damage as well as point damage.
The Kodekai Enterprises Light Assault Battery (LTAB) is a much larger, more powerful version of the Torpedo Tube. The LTAB is found mostly on cruisers, usually as a pair. Due to their much higher power usage, the LTABs normally have a reactor exclusively to power them, and occupy the space of two docking hangars. Having a barrel with a diameter of three metres, the LTAB comes equipped with it's own fusion core, which produces the ammo for the weapon, which is loaded automatically into the firing chamber. During the firing process, the LTAB has a minute long charge up period, where the superaccelerator reaches the desired firing speed, which is usually 1/3rd the speed of light, at which point the firing piston pushes the ammo, which is launched out of the barrel in less than 1/1000th of a second, causing the projectile to stretch due to being superheated and this liquifies on contact with a target, able to destroy any less than a cruiser in one hit.
The LTABs larger brother is the MAC, or Medium Assault Cannon, although this is being phased out for the more efficient and cheaper Battery Cannon. Found on Expoletian Battlecruisers, the MAC is functionally identical to the LTAB, but fires a projectile twice as heavy, at 90% of the speed. The MACs superaccelerator is twice as large at the LTAB version, but has been optimised to run at the same power level. The MAC is more accurate than the LTAB, due to a barrel 150% longer than the 75m long LTAB. The cannon is supported through high power dampeners around the firing chamber in the hull of the vessel, in order to prevent any cracking of the weapon due to recoil. The Battery Cannon is of a similar size, but is 70% more efficient, with a 50% cost decrease, due in part to the removal of the interior fusion reactor. The Battery Cannon is instead powered directly from the main reactors, causing a momentary surge in non-essential systems.
The Large Assault Battery, LAB for short, is the largest of the Battery Cannons, and is found on Expoletian Guard Ships, where two of them are equipped. The 400 metre long barrel, with a 5 metre diameter, makes the LAB the highest caliber non-beam weapon in the Universe. Requiring power from Fission-Fusion reactors, the LAB can fire it's payload at 70% lightspeed, although the LAB rarely sees action due to the hour long process to reload. The 4-tonne projectile is loaded by crane, after the firing chamber has been vented and cleaned of leftover debris. When the LAB is used, few vessels can take a direct hit, and in most cases, one hit results in crippling an enemy vessel to the point that it cannot fight or retreat.
All Battery Cannons are forward firing due to them requiring mounting and attachment directly to their vessel.
A newer version of the Battery is seeing more use in battle, as enemy vessels get tougher. The Anti-Matter Cannon, AMC for short, was initially a prototype weapon, which provides more firepower than the MAC, for a space less than the LTAB. This is due to the AMC having a firing chamber devoid of matter, where antimatter is created and eventually pooled into an acceptable projectile size. This is then launched at speeds exceeding that of the LAB, enabling the AMC to have an independent firing AI, at the cost of consuming 20% of the vessels entire power. As a result, special cruisers were built specifically for the AMC.
The AMC inspired Shadow Hawk Limited to undertake their most ambitious project ever, and eventually produced the Concussion Anti-Matter Assault Cannon, or CAMAC. This version of the Kodekai Enterprises manufactured AMC reduces power usage, increases firing rate and improves the Anti Matter Projectile. Although the Shadow Hawk superaccelerator can only fire at 50% lightspeed, the efficiency improvements to the weapon have inspired Kodekai to support production of the CAMAC, and have also partnered with Shadow Hawk in order to produce a CAMAC that can launch it's projectile at much greater speeds. The CAMAC MKII is in a testing phase, but the CAMAC is one of the most powerful weapons in the Universe, being able to disable an enemy vessel with only a glancing hit.
The classified Phalanx cannon is an enormous weapon, being the primary weapon for the Expoletian Dreadnought of the same name, and also being 40% of the mass of the vessel. This is one of the first beam weapons used by the Expoletian Armada, although it hasn't seen any battle. Requiring a ten minute charge up time, the Phalanx fires a beam of superheated metal at 98% light speed for up to five seconds. Most specifications of the Phalanx are reserved for the highest ranking officials, although in tests all who heard the weapon firing recall a distinct hum, decreasing in pitch, until a two second pause, when a loud whoosh is heard, accompanied by a blinding light. The inner machinations of the weapon are unknown, although it is theorised that the barrel is not as large as the diameter of the weapon - 4 metres, but merely a 50cm wide hole, and the blinding beam is produced as a result of the expansion of the superheated matter leaving the barrel. Considering the Dreadnought that houses the Phalanx is a 300 tonne vessel, the Phalanx is suspected to weigh nearly 140 tonnes, and runs the length of the Dreadnought. Due to the size of the weapon, the Dreadnought Phalanx has less firepower than a medium sized Expoletian Cruiser, which makes the Phalanx unsuited for prolonged combat situations.
The Type 2 "Civilian" Class Super Ray Destroyer Battery Cannon is the Grandfather of all Beam weapons in the universe. A Colossal construction, the Civilian was designed with the purpose to implode planets with one shot. The weapon was decommissioned after the Galactic Senate passed the Preservation of Life law, although the vessel built around the Civilian saw use for decades after. The weapon was destroyed when the Expoletian Dreadnought, Ultimate, was destroyed in the Battle over Earth. The 350 tonne weapon made up 60% of the mass and size of the Ultimate, and the Phalanx cannon is based on a similar principle, although with severely reduced damage output. Never fired, the Civilian was theorised to fire a beam of metal 3 metres in diameter, superheated to temperatures exceeding 100,000 centigrade at 99% the speed of light. This is likely to destroy the core of a planet, annihilating anything on the surface instantly. The Civilian cost as much as the current worth of the combined Expoletian and Earth Fleets.
The Expoletian Armada, although lacking in variety, possesses the strongest weapons in the Universe, equipped on a fleet of around 900,000 vessels, but this is hardly the largest fleet; the Earth Empire Fleet is nearly 2 million strong. All numbers exclude fighters and transport vessels.
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