I am introducing a new weapon to v2.6 called the Gauss Cannon. I still might fiddle with the stats a little but the weapon will be essentially as described below.
A Gauss Cannon, sometimes referred to a Coilgun, is a type of projectile accelerator that uses one or more electromagnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic projectile to high velocity. Gauss Cannon consist of one or more coils arranged along the barrel that are switched in sequence so as to ensure that the projectile is accelerated quickly along the barrel via magnetic forces. Although the damage from a single hit is limited (strength-1 hit), it can fire more rapidly than any other weapon except a railgun, and can even exceed the railgun's rate of fire on more advanced models.
There are three key pieces of technology involved in the creation of a Gauss Cannon. The first is the Rate of Fire, which determines how many projectiles can be fired in a 5 second period. A very basic Gauss Cannon has a rate of fire of one but models with a rate of fire of up to six projectiles per 5 second increment are possible. The second is the Launch Velocity. A basic Gauss Cannon only has a range of about 10,000 kilometers. With greater launch velocities this can be extended to as much as 60,000 kilometers. Finally, the size of the Gauss Cannon installation, which has a considerable impact on its accuracy. A full size installation of 300 tons (12 HS) has many highly adjustable coils that can react very quickly to translate information from an associated fire control system into adjustments in the speed and direction of its projectiles. Smaller versions of the Gauss Cannon are easy to construct but they become progressively less accurate due to fewer and smaller coils. The smallest version, at one twelfth normal size (0.5 HS) has just 8% of normal accuracy.
While the smaller, low accuracy versions of the Gauss Cannon are unlikely to be of much use on board full-size ships, they are useful for fighters that lack any other weapon of comparable size. Even their low chance to hit will eventually cause damage in an extended dogfight and it gives them a lightweight "beam" weapon capable of damaging thin-skinned ships and FACs.
Because the Gauss Cannon requires very little power to operate, the required power generation is built into the installation, removing any reliance on separate power reactors.
Throughout the fighter thread and during the design of this weapon system, I was concerned about creating something that would be a better anti-missile system than the 10cm laser. Eventually I decided that I would just let it happen because the weapon also has disadvantages over the laser in other ways. Lets compare a 10cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser to a 5 HS Gauss Cannon of comparable technology. Because they are different sizes, I'll match three lasers (9HS) and 2-3HS of reactor power against two gauss cannon.
10cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 3 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 120,000 km Laser Size: 3 Laser HTK: 1
Power Requirement: 3 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 3
Cost: 20 Crew: 30
Gauss Cannon R3-100
Damage Output 1 Rate of Fire: 3 shots every 5 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 30,000 km Size: 6 HTK: 1
Cost: 36 Crew: 24
The three lasers will get 3 shots compared to the 6 shots of the two gauss cannon. On the surface this makes the gauss cannon appear to be twice as good. However, the lasers are also a very effective anti-ship weapon at close range while the gauss cannon are useless against a ship with even 1 point of armour. In addition, the lasers potentially have a range four times that of the gauss cannon so they may well get two shots at incomining missiles, albeit at much lower chance to hit, and they can be used in area point defence mode and against fighters at much longer ranges. Finally, investments in laser tech can be used for a variety of both offensive and defensive weapons while gauss technology is essentially for close-range missile defense and fighter weapons. Therefore I think the advantages and disadvantages cancel each other out reasonably well.
That said, I do think the potential for missile defence overall has been raised so given the concerns John has raised in the Fighter thread I am considering upping missile engine power by 25% to compensate for both the new fighter rules and the introduction of gauss cannon. I am open to comments on that idea though before I go ahead with it.
Steve