Ceres is a game of space exploration and combat. There are plenty of weapons available to fight with, some experimental and some outright unbelievable.
In Ceres, ships can be fit with weapons, that are either built into the structure of the ship, or housed in turrets. A weapon fits inside a turret, and the turret fits over a ship's mount slot. The whole thing is named a mount. Usually, all weapons are housed in a turret with a 360 degrees traverse, save for the torpedo accelerators, constrained in heavy cages and unable to train, and the highly experimental (and scary) quantum shifters, located deep inside a ship.
In Ceres, ships can be fit with weapons, that are either built into the structure of the ship, or housed in turrets. A weapon fits inside a turret, and the turret fits over a ship's mount slot. The whole thing is named a mount. Usually, all weapons are housed in a turret with a 360 degrees traverse, save for the torpedo accelerators, constrained in heavy cages and unable to train, and the highly experimental (and scary) quantum shifters, located deep inside a ship.
There are three sizes of mounts : small, medium and heavy. There are also three similar sizes of turrets. Turrets all house a weapon which size corresponds to theirs, while mounts can have turrets of smaller size if they like. Some weapons exist in only one size, while others are declined in many -the latter is true of most lasers, the former of missile launchers. Some turrets can even house two weapons of the same type.
Every ship's captain has the ability to match a turret with a weapon, to better suit his purpose. Of course, small vessels are more likely to have small mounts, while large vessels have a more diverse mix of mounts. Some factions prefer having many small mounts on their vessels, while others prefer to rely on fewer but larger mounts.
More can be found about weapon mounts and how they are related to ship design in the "spaceship design" sub-section.
Every ship's captain has the ability to match a turret with a weapon, to better suit his purpose. Of course, small vessels are more likely to have small mounts, while large vessels have a more diverse mix of mounts. Some factions prefer having many small mounts on their vessels, while others prefer to rely on fewer but larger mounts.
More can be found about weapon mounts and how they are related to ship design in the "spaceship design" sub-section.
There are a few different kinds of weapons in Ceres:
LASERS
Beams of coherent light focused by large mirrors on their targets. They are the most common and versatile weapons, able to hit a ship a long distances but also destroy an incoming missile or torpedo. The power of a laser depends on its color: the closer it is to blue, violet or even ultra-violet, the more powerful it is. Yellow or red lasers are the less expensive but also the weakest -this has to do with the wavelength of the photons in the laser beam: red or infra-red light, as opposed to violet or ultra-violet, contains less energy but is easier to generate. Furthermore, some lasers will have better mirrors than others, giving higher accuracy at long range. Every laser weapon has its own power, accuracy and energy capabilities clearly and simply displayed in the game -you do not need to be a physicist to equip your ship !
Beams of coherent light focused by large mirrors on their targets. They are the most common and versatile weapons, able to hit a ship a long distances but also destroy an incoming missile or torpedo. The power of a laser depends on its color: the closer it is to blue, violet or even ultra-violet, the more powerful it is. Yellow or red lasers are the less expensive but also the weakest -this has to do with the wavelength of the photons in the laser beam: red or infra-red light, as opposed to violet or ultra-violet, contains less energy but is easier to generate. Furthermore, some lasers will have better mirrors than others, giving higher accuracy at long range. Every laser weapon has its own power, accuracy and energy capabilities clearly and simply displayed in the game -you do not need to be a physicist to equip your ship !
GUNS
Rail guns, coil guns or gauss guns are the second commonest weapons found on ships. They may function in different ways, but they all end up propelling small but heavy projectiles at great speed towards their intended target. So as to increase the speed of their 'bullet' and thus the chance of hitting that target, these guns feature a very elongated barrel -it is not unusual for a gun to accelerated its 'bullet' at more than 20 kilometers per second ! Some guns have multiple barrels so as to increase their rate of fire. These weapons are not as primitive as they seem, and need skilled maintenance.
MISSILES
Third most common weapons on the ships, the missiles are small to medium-sized guided rockets. They are contained in missile launchers and connected to an ammunition magazine deep in the mount. Each missile has different capabilities: speed, range, maneuverability and a specific warhead. The warhead can be of cluster ammunition, contact or nuclear type. Every missile launcher has its distinct missile, although variants do exist.
PLASMA CHAMBERS
These are light fusion reactors housed in turrets. They produce a cone of plasma and particles that can be devastating at short range -but do no expect the poorly focused plasma to be much of a threat beyond a few kilometers. Some advanced chambers mix a number of elements while igniting their fusion charges, leading to more harmful particles leaving the chamber, others have shallower designs with a wider cone.
PLASMA BEAMS
A experimental weapon created just before the Cataclysm. This weapons fires a ray of energy and plasma particles ride the ionized energy stream to its target. How this is done remains a mystery to many but it is known that nano technology is used.
This weapon uses a lot of energy and is quite devastating to its targets. It is rumored that it can be found in various tech caches scattered around the solar system.
TORPEDOES
Powerfully armored, equipped with better guidance, these heavy missiles are the bane of capital ships. In fact, they are so heavy that their launcher cannot fit inside a turret, and they have to be accelerated from within the ship. Their linear accelerator railings are so heavy and power hungry that seldom is more than one installed inside a vessel. Some ships have an external-mounted accelerator so as to better deal with the waste-heat issue, but that comes at the price of a lowered accuracy and increased vulnerability of the weapon.
There are three sizes of turrets, with each housing a weapon fitting its size. Each turret has its own armor rating and rotating speed, making it more or less adapted at long-range combat or point defense. Some turrets even have extra optics that increase the accuracy or range of their weapon. Some factions prefer heavy but slow turrets, while others tend to use lighter and more agile models.
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To the left is light laser turret mount.
It is usually found on smaller vessels or used as point defense on larger ships. The whole mount is inserted through a well down the ships' hull and is of standardized layout, allowing it to fit ships in any faction of the solar system. The mount is made of three parts. The top part is the turret, where the weapon is housed, be it a laser, a gun a missile launcher or else. The middle part is the turret drive and its counter-rotating mass. The bottom part is all parts and machinery: it generates the laser beam, houses the missiles or twists the gravitons into existence. The whole mount is encapsulated by a double-layered inner skin, that shields it from unwanted radiation and vibrations. Complex cooling circuits and power systems run in and out of the mount, as it tends to generate humongous amounts of waste heat when it operates. Each mount is thus connected to a nearby radiator and to a main or auxiliary energy capacitor. |