Mines
"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once."
- - Common joke around the Human faction navies
Mines are one of the oldest weapons in human history, and their most recent reincarnations work much the same as always. Small explosive charges left behind the in the wake of special minelaying ships, these potent weapons can do massive damage with little warning.
Often used to set up traps, mines are a favorite of commanders who prefer to trick their targets, and corner them. Each of the factions has developed a mine weapon based off their own technologies, and aspiring ccaptians are warned to keep sensors on at all times to facilitate the detection of these hidden menaces.
Mines are vulnerable to Point-Defense weaponry, which limits their usefulness in real world combat scenarios due to an increased use of PD by all sides in the most recent battlezones.
UGTO
EMP Mine
| 225px | |
|---|---|
| Faction: | UGTO |
| Type: | Mine |
| Range: | {{{range}}} |
| Damage: | ??? |
| Falloff: | {{{falloff}}} |
| Energy use: | Low |
| Magazine: | 12 |
| Resource Req: | 60 |
| Tech Req: | 15 |
Recent advancements in EMP weaponry design have allowed UGTO scientist to create an EMP Mine, a novel use of UGTO's pet weapon. Simply a drifting EMP generator with a proximity fuse, this simple weapon was the deciding factor at many early battles in the Fourth Stellar Conflict.
Most effective against the highly tech-based ICC, these mines do damage to Shields and Ship Systems, disabling them while leaving the hull and armor of a ship mostly intact. Due the weapons nature, it's direct damage is the lowest of the warring faction's mines, but has the highest blast radius. This characteristic of EMP weapons makes them useful for capturing enemy vessels, or shutting them down so the UGTO can divide and conquer among the defender's fleet. While devestaingly effective against ICC forces, K'luth ships have so far shown to be less vulnerable, probably due to thier use of organic vessels and decreased reliance on traditional electronic technologies.
Once activated, the EMP Mine launcher primes and releases 8 EMP Mines behind the minelaying vessel, one mine is launched every .7 seconds and every mine has an arming period of around 1.5 seconds to avoid accidental detonation to close to the parent vessel.
ICC
Thermonuclear Mine
| 225px | |
|---|---|
| Faction: | ICC |
| Type: | Mine |
| Range: | {{{range}}} |
| Damage: | ??? |
| Falloff: | {{{falloff}}} |
| Energy use: | Low |
| Magazine: | 10 |
| Resource Req: | 55 |
| Tech Req: | 5 |
The most technologically simple Mine in use by a major faction, these mines are drifting, self-contained nuclear devices which detonate at the approach of enemy ships. The simplicity is mostly by design, as ICC scientists and weapon designers wanted to avoid their traditional reliance on high-tech as to weaken UGTO's dominance over them in EMP design. The Thermonuclear Mine actually has no electronic components and is entirely mechanical, making the TN Mine the bane of UGTO captains hoping to easily detect and sweep away ICC minefields. However, the radiation signatures left behind by the nuclear device itself can be detected by a comprehrensive sensor device, which has lead to increased use of such devices among UGTO fleets.
In terms of damage, the Thermonuclear mine is the middleground between the other warring faction's mines, dealing average damage at an average radius. The detonation also creates a small EMP blast as all nuclear weapons do.
When activated, the Thermonuclear Mine launcher lets loose 6 TN mines at a .7 second interval, each with an arming period of 1.5 seconds to avoid accidental detonation near the parent ship.
K'luth
Anti-Matter Mine
| 225px | |
|---|---|
| Faction: | K'luth |
| Type: | Mine |
| Range: | {{{range}}} |
| Damage: | ??? |
| Falloff: | {{{falloff}}} |
| Energy use: | Low |
| Magazine: | 12 |
| Resource Req: | 65 |
| Tech Req: | 25 |
Once again proving thier dominance over the humans in anti-matter containment and control, the K'luth artisan caste has created a functional Anti-Matter Mine and in combat scenarios it has constantly proven to be the most powerful of the Mines used by the warring factions, but at the cost of explosive radius. The Mine itself is a magnetic core containing the anti-matter, surrounded by an explosive shell. When an enemy ship is detected or makes contact, the anti-matter is released to interact with the regular matter of the shell, annihilating itself in a massively powerful but fairly contained radius of destruction. Any excess anti-matter is also released to interact with the offending ships hull and armor itself, dealing even more damage.
Once an Anti-Matter Mine launcher is activated, 5 mines are set adrift at a .7 second interval, each with an arming period of 1.5 seconds to prevent accidental detonation near the parent ship.
