Starship Weapons on Autofire

If a starship weapon has an automatic rate of fire, it can be set on autofire. Autofire affects an area and everything in it, not a specific target. The starship using the autofire weapon targets a 1,000-foot-by-1,000-foot area and makes an attack roll; the targeted area has an effective Defense of 10. If the attack succeeds, the pilots of all ships within the affected area must make a Pilot check (DC 15) or take the weapon's damage.

Apply a penalty on the check based on the size of the pilot's ship: Huge -2, Gargantuan -4, Colossal -8.

Some starship weapons-such as the needle driver-only have autofire settings and can't normally fire single shots.

FUSION BEAM (PL 6)

The fusion beam initiates a fusion reaction and then directs the blast at the target.

GAUSS GUN (PL 6)

The gauss gun is an electromagnetic accelerator that fires tiny ball bearings at an extremely high velocity.

LASER (PL 6)

The simplest beam weapon, the laser is used generally for small craft. It consists of a focused beam of white-hot light.

LASER, HEAVY (PL 6)

The heavy laser is simply an oversized laser that pours more energy on the target. It's too big to install on light spacecraft, but is common on destroyers and larger warships.

MINE, FUSION (PL 6)

A fusion mine initiates a fusion reaction that deals damage to all starships in its square and all adjacent squares.

MISSILE, CHE (PL 6)

A CHE (conventional high-explosive) warhead can destroy a small vessel, but it's less effective against larger warships unless launched in numbers. Heavy vessels, such as battleships, can usually ignore the weapon despite its payload of hundreds of kilos of advanced chemical explosives.

MISSILE, KE SUBMUNITION (PL 6)

This warhead consists of a bundle of dozens or even hundreds of tungsten steel darts, each mounted on small rocket motors. As the weapon approaches its target, the warhead splits open, unleashing a lethal hail of high-velocity metal arrows. The impact alone can vaporize several square yards of heavy armor.

MISSILE, NUCLEAR (PL 6)

This 1-megaton warhead is essentially a fusion bomb rigged to a guided rocket.

NEEDLE DRIVER (PL 6)

The needle driver is a larger, heavier version of the rail cannon (see below), with an extremely high rate of fire. It fires small metal flechettes at the rate of thousands of rounds per minute.

NEUTRON GUN (PL 6)

This device directs an intense blast of neutron radiation at the target.

NEUTRON GUN, HEAVY (PL 6)

This weapon is simply a larger version of the neutron gun.

RAIL CANNON (PL 6)

Rail cannons use a series of electromagnets to propel projectiles down a magnetic track. The projectiles are kinetic-energy weapons with no explosive charge, but at close ranges, they can still be quite devastating.

ANTIMATTER GUN (PL 7)

Using the same basic technology as the PL 6 rail cannon, the antimatter gun throws a piece of antimatter at the target. The impact alone is extremely destructive. Following the initial impact damage, the "splatter" of antimatter from the disintegrating warhead creates a cluster-bomb effect around the point of impact, increasing the chance of a critical hit.

MASS CANNON (PL 7)

The mass cannon uses gravitic technology to "charge" a small bit of matter with incredible gravitational energy, then hurls it at the target, where its increased gravitational pull causes it to slam into the target like a wrecking ball.

MASS CANNON, HEAVY (PL 7)

The heavy mass cannon is a larger and more powerful version of the mass cannon.

MINE, GRAVITIC (PL 7)

When a gravitic mine detonates, it creates a brief artificial gravity well that pulls on ships in its square and in all adjacent squares, tearing their hulls.

MISSILE, MASS REACTION (PL 7)

This warhead uses a dark matter reaction to unleash a powerful wave of energy. The effect is more concentrated than a nuclear blast, but it's less likely to cause unwanted collateral damage.

MISSILE, PLASMA (PL 7)

The plasma warhead improves on the PL 6 chemical explosive. It creates a burst of white-hot plasma that can blast a small ship out of space with one shot.

PARTICLE BEAM (PL 7)

The next phase of the PL 6 neutron gun, the particle beam projects a stream of protons, neutrons, or alpha particles at the target-each particle accelerated to near light-speed.

PARTICLE BEAM, HEAVY (PL 7)

This weapon is simply a larger version of the particle beam.

PLASMA CANNON (PL 7)

Using a powerful electrical charge to convert a mix of chemicals into white-hot plasma, this weapon then accelerates the plasma mass toward the target with a simple rail gun. The result is a bolt of incandescent plasma that can explosively vaporize objects in its path.

PLASMA CANNON, HEAVY (PL 7)

This weapon is simply a larger version of the plasma cannon.

QUANTUM CANNON (PL 7)

The quantum cannon fires a stream of highly charged subatomic particles, destabilizing the atoms of the target and creating localized fission reactions.

AUTOMASER (PL 8)

The automaser uses multiple firing arrays to channel high-energy maser compressions into shorter pulse widths. This weapon fires only in automatic mode.

EMP CANNON (PL 8)

The EMP cannon induces an electromagnetic pulse effect similar to that of a nuclear explosion. This makes the EMP cannon especially effective against electronic equipment. In addition to taking damage, the starship is dazed for 1 round. Neither crew nor passengers are dazed, however.

KINETIC LANCE (PL 8)

The kinetic lance creates a high-velocity stream of virtual particles simulating solid matter. The impact of these particles is quite destructive-rather like a collision with a solid object.

MASER CANNON (PL 8)

Maser cannons channel an enormous amount of power through a linear antenna array, creating a broad-spectrum blast of energy that devastates the target with heat, light, and intense radiation.

MASER CANNON, HEAVY (PL 8)

The heavy maser cannon is a larger version of the maser cannon. With 1 hour of work and a successful Repair check (DC 30), a heavy maser can be reconfigured for semiautomatic or automatic fire mode. (Resetting the weapon to its original configuration requires another check and another hour of labor.) Increase the purchase DC of the modified pulse maser by +5.

MINE, ZERO POINT (PL 8)

This mine creates a spontaneous quantum fluctuation of energy-the same energy as the Big Bang, though obviously on a smaller scale.

MISSILE, NOVA BURST (PL 8)

The nova burst warhead generates an incredible gravitational force that compresses normal matter into an incredibly dense mass, which then explodes in a colossal detonation.

MISSILE, STARLOAD (PL 8)

The starload warhead is essentially an improved version of the PL 7 mass reaction missile.

NEUTRONIUM DRIVER (PL 8)

This version of the rail gun is configured to fire a projectile of false neutronium-a slug the size of a baseball, but with a temporary mass of thousands of tons. Because neutronium is electrically neutral, the driver mechanism actually encapsulates the projectile in a sleeve or sabot of ordinary matter to fire the slug.

SLIVER GUN (PL 8)

An efficient mass driver loaded with flechettes of tungsten steel, the sliver gun is the PL 8 version of a heavy machine gun. It cycles at a rate of fire of almost 4,000 rounds per minute, and each sliver can tear through a yard or more of heavy armor.

ZERO BORE (PL 8)

The zero bore creates a stream of energy that encourages extraordinary amounts of quantum energy fluctuation-the so-called "zero point" energy. Anything in its path is wrecked by the spontaneous destruction of space itself.

BLACKLASER (PL 9)

Using the fluorescent gaseous form of dark matter, a blacklaser fires a beam of coherent light. To human eyes, it appears to be a beam of purplish light bordering on ultraviolet, but it is composed of radiation much more energetic and dangerous than ordinary photons.

MINE, NULL (PL 9)

This weapon is horrifyingly simple in design. It harnesses nuclear strong force to generate a field in which all atomic bonds cease to exist. Matter in the mine's square and all adjacent squares is pulverized into subatomic dust.

A null mine ignores a ship's hardness.

SINGULARITY CANNON (PL 9)

The singularity cannon creates a quantum black hole and fires it at the enemy. A quantum black hole is no bigger than a single molecule, but it masses hundreds of millions of tons and can rip even the toughest armor to shreds.

STRING PROJECTOR (PL 9)

The string projector creates a super-dense cosmic string that passes through the target. A cosmic string is a short-lived chain of extraordinary mass; the effect on the target is similar to being pierced by the mass of a mountain, but concentrated into a space the size of a strand of hair.

TACHYON GUN (PL 9)

The tachyon gun fires a blast of high-energy, faster-than-light particles at the target.