XR-27 Hardlight Bolter Cannon
The XR-27 is a very powerful hardlight bolter turret as used by the Hyperion Federation. Capable of compressing light into a solid form, and then it fires that at high velocity. It is a very long range weapon and is very accurate. However it does have a slow fire rate.
Hardlight is an exotic state of matter where the photons are condensed into an extremely dense form. Hardlight is extremely tough and can pierce armour extremely well. However, this makes it highly unstable so after it penetrates it breaks up into many shards which ricochet around the ships interior at relativistic velocities. Photons of all frequencies and energies are scattered thorough the ship as well.
Due to its long range, high velocity role it is often placed on smaller, faster ships that can reposition easily. This allows them to kite enemy forces to a high effectiveness, particularly against enemy heavy starships. The HF uses incredibly advanced computing systems to calculate the exact trajectory of the Hardlight bolts, taking into account the extremely thin space atmosphere - which is mostly dark matter - as well as any effects from radiation emission and other extremely minor effects. It is thus accurate to within several millimieters at a range of about 100 kilometers and is thus often used to hit enemy weak points. This makes it one of the highest-precision weapons the HF has acess to. The XR-27 can quite easily cripple an enemy before they can even approach Hyperion Federation forces, if this doctrine is used well enough.
However, from a close range, the slow fire rate of the XR-27 puts it at a significant disadvantage despite this power and precision. For conventional warfare and closer range battles, other weapons such as the Oblivion Assault Gun are used. Ewar can also cause it to lose a small amount of accuracy, which significantly impacts its range at these distances as even an extremely small inaccuracy can displace a raound significantly.
The XR-27 was designed by the Micars Empire. The HF required a weapon that could more precisely damage enemy ships at extremely long ranges, but a Tachyon Obliteration Cannon was too powerful for this role as it would use too much energy. The individual that designed this was a Drath enginer who, after submitting the techprint to the Hyperion Federation military, rapidly rose through the ranks as a huge number of kills were attained by various forces using his weapon. This individual often regrets designing it, as it can make him feel like he has indirectly taken those lives, but the HF often reminds him that they fight defencive wars.
Parent Technologies
Comments