Sonic Rifle XN-RS
A powerful, small arms sonic rifle of the Hyperion Federation.
The Sonic Rifle XN-RS is a very powerful shockwave beam cannon designed to provide infantry with means to counter Subterrenes. Shockwaves can travel much more easily and rapidly through solid materials such as rocks that most planets are made of. This kind of weapon can also detect subterrenes by observing the tectonic conditions below. Many frequencies of sonic waves are unique to subterrenes.
This allows the user to determine the bearing of the subterrene track. Coupled with another team with a Sonic Rifle, the position can be triangulated. For this reason, the weapon comes with QEC to automatically share detected tracks and fire at them.
The weapon itself is however very large and unwieldly. The person using it needs to be trained specifically to use this weapon which makes logistics difficult. Additionally, they are designed to shoot at larger, crewed subterrenes. It is unlikely to hit a drone in any meaningful way (as subterrenes are heavily reinforced to remain in the ground anyway). To attack, the user needs to bury the sonic emitter of the weapon underground as keeping it in the air results in highly inefficient energy transferal between media.
It can be used to strike a surface target such as other infantry or enemy tanks, but is designed to send its shockwaves through much more dense media. It will definately knock out infantrymen on hit, but is unlikely to damage a tank because the sound waves bounce off the tanks armour. This is a role the Sonic Rifle does not serve well due to its sheer size and mass.
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