Weapon Technology

Firearms

There are different types of firearms used in the galaxy, some are older, dating back thousands of years, others are more modern, their creation having required some advanced magical technology.

Powder Weapons

Powder weapons rely on the use of gunpowder, which is a technique that most civilizations have been using since long before becoming a spacefaring civilization.
They are very basic, and have long since been fully perfected, they are generally the cheap option when it comes to ranged weapons, and there are millions of variants upon their design across the galaxy.

They are largely considered obsolete for military uses, since most types of shields, and Koldar exo-suits, are able to protect against regular caliber bullets. However, they are still used for the sake of personal defense or hunting, as well as by pirates, simply due to the lower cost.

Blasters

Alternate names are: Firelight weapons, or energy weapons.

This is the name for handheld firelight weapons. They are quite old by now, but their use of karyndimyte crystals makes them a much more advanced weapon than old-school powder weapons.
They can be made to use both electricity and magical energy, the former is no longer very popular for smaller weapons, because mana flasks are able to store much more ammunition than even the best types of batteries.

Larger weapons, especially on board of large battle ships, still use electricity. This is because those types of ships will have reactors on board, eliminating the ammunition problem entirely.

Function

Karyndimyte crystals create a hot liquid substance that is called firelight. How they do this exactly can be calibrated with small programming chips, put inside of the weapon. They can either be stable, only using the heat to melt and burn through things, or they can cause small explosions on impact. This reduces piercing potential significantly, but makes them more powerful against a single target.

Once the firelight is created, they are propelled out of the barrel with a powerful energy pulse. Firelight is nearly weightless and experiences very little drag from matter, meaning it is able to travel very far without losing speed or being affected by gravity.

The speed of firelight projectiles depends on the weapon, generally the larger the weapon, the faster the firelight, because the can be pushed for longer. The projectile speed of firelight weapons ranges from 500 m/s to 5000 m/s in handheld weapons, all the way up to 50.000 m/s in larger weapons.

Blasters can also be blocked by shielding and Koldar exo-suits, but they are much more efficient against both of these than powder weapons.