Plasma Gatling Gun

From The Coursebooks Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Plasma Gatling Gun is a weapon system developed by several respective powers, and exists in numerous variants. It's primary function is as close-in armaments on fighters and small spacecraft, though terrestrial, man-portable, and even handheld variants have been created.

Role

Energy weapons do not scale well. In principle, a starship armed with a compressed energy weapon such as a beam cannon and an adequate power source, could continue firing indefinitely. The "ammunition" then becomes the powerplant, there are no bullets or missiles to run out of. This is a highly attractive concept, but one that does not miniaturize well.

A sustained beam from a standard directed energy weapon requires massive power. Starships and other fixed defenses typically have to have both a strong generator and a large storage capacity. The weapons also require compression, strong barrels, and myraid of other components that, again, are difficult if not impossible to scale down to fit into fighters or even crew-served weapons.

Plasma-based weapons overcome a lot of this