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Weapons battery

Cut-away view of a starship energy weapon emplacement

Ship-mounted energy weapons are directed-energy weapons mounted on spaceships. They include the following:

Laser Weapons in Knight Hawks[]

Mini-lasers[]

This is an array of small nose-mounted lasers, that are fixed facing forward. They are usually mounted on fighters and assault scouts.[1]

Laser Pod[]

This is a small, unshielded laser turret. They are usually mounted on small ships, as anti-fighter weapons. Pirates often use them, as they can be concealed behind removable panels.[2]

BSG-TOS-Turbolaser turret

Laser turret[3]

Laser Assault-Cannon[]

This heavy weapon is mounted on the bow of a large spaceship. It fires an intense, concentrated beam of light (alternating infrared and ultraviolet).

A less-common variation on this weapon is the xaser (pronounced "zey-zur") assault-cannon, which fires x-rays instead of light.

Damage: 2d10

Range: 10 hexes (100,000 km)

Minimum Hull Size: 5

Laser Battery[]

A battery is a cluster of small laser cannons mounted in a rotating turret. It can cover multiple fields of fire (port, starboard, and aft, as well as forward), but is less powerful than an assault-cannon.

Damage: 1d10

Range: 9 hexes (90,000 km)

Minimum Hull Size: 3

Laser & Xaser Weapons in KH Vector[]

Laser/Xaser Batteries []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6 / 3 hexes / MHS 1

Type 2 -- 1D6+3 / 6 hexes / MHS 2

Type 3 -- 1D10 / 9 hexes / MHS 3

Type 4 -- 1D10+5 / 10 hexes / MHS 4

Type 5 -- 2D10 / 11 hexes / MHS 5

Type 6 -- 3D10 / 12 hexes / MHS 6

Type 7 -- 4D10+5 / 14 hexes / MHS 7

Type 8 -- 6D10 / 16 hexes / MHS 8

Type 9 -- 8D10 / 18 hexes / MHS 9

Type 10 -- 10D10 / 20 hexes / MHS 10

Laser/Xaser Assault-Cannons []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6 / 3 hexes / MHS 1

Type 2 -- 1D6+3 / 5 hexes / MHS 2

Type 3 -- 1D10 / 7 hexes / MHS 3

Type 4 -- 1D10+5 / 9 hexes / MHS 4

Type 5 -- 2D10 / 10 hexes / MHS 5

Type 6 -- 3D10 / 14 hexes / MHS 9

Type 7 -- 5D10 / 16 hexes / MHS 11

Type 8 -- 7D10 / 18 hexes / MHS 12

Type 9 -- 10D10 / 20 hexes / MHS 14

Type 10 -- 15D10 / 22 hexes / MHS 16

Particle Projection Weapons in Knight Hawks[]

Laserbatterybeam

Forward array of UPFS Adriadne (CL 4), in action against the Sathar fleet in the Battle of Xagyg's Spur (SW II).

Ion Beam Battery[]

This turreted weapon fires an intense charged-particle beam. It is available in two sub-classes.

Proton-Beam Battery[]

This weapon fires an electrical beam of positively-charged particles (protons). Like all batteries, it can cover every field of fire: aft, forward, port, and starboard.

  • Range: 12 hexes (120,000 kilometers)
  • Damage Table Modifier: +10
  • Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
  • Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 10

Electron-Beam Battery[]

This weapon fires an electrical beam of negatively-charged particles (electrons). It can cover all four fields of fire.

  • Range: 12 hexes (120,000 kilometers)
  • Damage Table Modifier: +10
  • Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
  • Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 6

Antimatter Beam Battery (optional)[]

This powerful weapon fires an intense beam, alternating positrons (anti-electrons) and negatrons (anti-protons), which can be blocked only by antimatter screens. It can cover all four fields of fire.

  • Range: 12 hexes (120,000 kilometers)
  • Damage Table Modifier: +10
  • Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
  • Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 8
B5 omega

Disruptor canon[4]

Disruptor-Beam Assault-Cannon (aka Disintegrator)[]

This powerful weapon must be mounted on the bow of a large warcraft. It is available in two sub-classes: Ion, which fires an intense beam of alternating protons and electrons; and Antimatter (a less-common variation), whose beam alternates negatrons and positrons. Disintegrator beams can do heavy damage to a target ship's electrical system. An ion (antimatter) disruptor will also inflict double the normal amount of hull damage points, if its beam intersects an antimatter (ion) screen.

  • Range: 9 hexes (90,000 kilometers)
  • Damage Table Modifier: +20
  • Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 3d10
  • Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 12

Necro-Beam Assault-Cannon (optional)[]

This powerful weapon must be mounted on the bow of a large warcraft. It fires an intense beam (a "Death Ray" by name and function alike), alternating neutrons and anti-neutrons. A necro-cannon will inflict double the normal amount of hull damage, if its death-ray intersects an x-screen (or a masking screen). A stasis screen, however, will halve the damage from necro-beams.

  • Range: 9 hexes (90,000 kilometers)
  • Damage Table Modifier: +20
  • Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 3d10
  • Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 12

Particle Projection Weapons in KH Vector[]

Ion (electron/proton) & Antimatter-Beam Batteries []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6 / 10 hexes / MHS 6

Type 2 -- 1D6+3 / 11 hexes / MHS 7

Type 3 -- 1D10 / 12 hexes / MHS 8

Type 4 -- 1D10+5 / 13 hexes / MHS 9

Type 5 -- 2D10 / 14 hexes / MHS 10

Type 6 -- 3D10 / 15 hexes / MHS 11

Disintegrators (Antimatter & Ion-Beam Assault-Cannons) []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6 / 2 hexes / MHS 7

Type 2 -- 1D6+3 / 3 hexes / MHS 8

Type 3 -- 1D10 / 5 hexes / MHS 9

Type 4 -- 1D10+5 / 6 hexes / MHS 10

Type 5 -- 2D10 / 8 hexes / MHS 11

Type 6 -- 3D10 / 9 hexes / MHS 12

Type 7 -- 4D10+5 / 11 hexes / MHS 13

Type 8 -- 6D10 / 12 hexes / MHS 14

Type 9 -- 8D10 / 13 hexes / MHS 15

Type 10 -- 10D10 / 15 hexes / MHS 16

Necro-Beam (neutron/antineutron) Assault-Cannons []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6+3 / 2 hexes / MHS 8

Type 2 -- 1D10 / 4 hexes / MHS 9

Type 3 -- 1D10+5 / 6 hexes / MHS 10

Type 4 -- 2D10 / 8 hexes / MHS 11

Type 5 -- 3D10 / 9 hexes / MHS 12

Type 6 -- 4D10+5 / 10 hexes / MHS 13

Type 7 -- 6D10 / 11 hexes / MHS: 14

Type 8 -- 8D10 / 12 hexes / MHS 15

Type 9 -- 12D10 / 14 hexes / MHS 16

Type 10 -- 18D10 / 15 hexes / MHS 17

Necro-Beam (aka "Death Ray") Batteries []

-- Damage / Maximum Range / Minimum Hull Size

Type 1 -- 1D6+3 / 11 hexes / MHS 7

Type 2 -- 1D10 / 12 hexes / MHS 8

Type 3 -- 1D10+5 / 13 hexes / MHS 9

Type 4 -- 2D10 / 14 hexes / MHS 10

References[]

  1. Mini-Lasers and Laser Pods are not canon to the Knight Hawks rules, but they are a common house rule to add some anti-fighter capability to Fighters, as they are defenseless after exhausting all their Assault Rockets.
  2. As noted above.
  3. Turbolaser turret from original Battlestar Galactica
  4. Omega class destroyer firing forward cannon from Babylon 5
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