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Project Acheron: Paper on the use of pulse weapons in antisubsystem roles Wrote:

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Disclaimer and description:

This review is not a scientific paper, rather a collection of findings presented from the perspective of the admiralty board under the Hammer Ascendent fleet hardware revitalisation program conducted by the quorum of volunteer enlisted vessel maintenance groups, under the reference of the Syndicate League Volenteer Defence Armada and the Admiralty board proper. The contents of this document are reserved for direktorate use and can be accessed through the use of a direktorate-approved terminal using direktorate-assigned command-and-access codes. Manufacturing copies of these materials is a violation of the Unionisation pact under several separate articles and will result in punitive countermeasures.

This paper seeks to explore the potential modification of pulse weapons to assist in the disruption of spacecraft subsystems of varying dimensions and performance metrics, using evidenced field research to substantiate its assertions. It also offers strategic guidance in the effective deployment of modified pulse weapons under particular circumstances, such as GEIST negation assignments, and the boarding of large spacecraft.

The paper explores only from the perspective of weaponry up to bomber-launched dimensions. It does not discuss the impact of modifying larger pulse projectors, such as those on gunboats, cruisers, or battleships, as it lacks supporting data due to the inherent risks/expenditures of manufacturing and mounting irregular pulse projectors to valuable warships in a time of war.


Thesis and Analysis:

Conventional antishield distortion weaponry are designed to exploit certain conditions that exist within all shield grids, irrespective of emissive design; shields are not perpetually running at so-called ‘active power’, but instead activate upon a distance threshold being crossed by intersecting hard mass, or dangerous levels of particulates. Simply occluding every ambient emissive within the known universe would render shields unacceptably energy inefficient, especially within nebulae or particulate dust clouds. In addition, the conventional LIDAR acquisition range of most vessels would be increased to a degree that the effectiveness increase of standoff munitions such as torpedoes and missiles would negate the considerable advantages to combat survivability offered by modern shield systems. Energy from weapons fire or even explosives can be retarded from the initial point of impact, creating a “splash cone” that can frequently be seen upon the visible spectrum where the matter, or energy, is repulsed from the vessel. As the instantaneous hardfields of shield systems are still subject to relativistic effects, a vessel with a powerful shield system, yet low mass relative to the force applied, will find itself forced in an opposing direction to the force imposed upon the hull to measurable and sometimes commensurate degrees. Such are the guiding principles of modern flack guns.

Pulse distortion weaponry, including pulse distortion charges such as those present within the Paralyzer and Incapacitator, rely upon the creation of a shaped energy bottle to overwhelm shield grids by removing transient effects between inpact points. Multiple near-instantaneous impact points overwhelm shield capacitators by creating a quandary for even the most advanced quantum-computing shield VI as to where to prioritise vessel power expenditure in defence of the hull. Since these expansive emissive bursts are usually below the tolerance of modern spaceship hulls – which can stand near-coronal thermal and radiation shocks with ease – the pulse is rarely the weapon of choice against targeted systems.

However, we’ve seen a resurgence of the EMP – which is in essence a far cruder template for the modern pulse cannon, lacking the Lorenz contortion sculpting required for modern antishield solutions – in the destruction of critical ship systems. It remains as true as it did over a thousand years ago – whilst electromagnetism remains the most efficient conduction and data transmission medium in the universe for the transfer of energy states within a three dimensional cosmos, the dumb EMP will always defeat sensitive systems, especially at the quantum-tunnel-level computing of the last seven hundred years of nanotransistor evolution. The perpetually increasing vulnerability of complex machines to EMPs are the reason why ships that are physically held together with tensile hardfields fear the nuclear electromagnetic pulse warhead, which has become the favoured weapon of the modern dread actor, and the prime deterrent against itself. It’s probable that the Hispania was crippled – assuming there’s any truth in the saboteur theory – by an electromagnetic pulse warhead rather than a physical bomb in the starboard engine block, considering that the majority of the Hispania’s sleeper pods survived the blast and the relatively intact nature of the ship despite its non-functional propulsion systems.

The Pulse Weapon has remained less effective against internal components. Whilst a certain level of efficiency at EMP disruption and destruction has been illustrated both by paralyser and screamer munitions against external components, such as turrets, guns, and auxiliary engine apertures, extensive field testing on more nuanced components not bound by the out-of-date rigour of The Big Three’s universal hardpoint system, such as comms arrays and under-surface controlled lines, has not been sufficiently tested within common documentation. In practice, this is due to the nature that every ship is different to varying degrees with completely separate protective systems and design architectures – sabotage is rarely repeatable between variants and versions.

Field tests of modified pulse weapons for anti-systems duties have therefore been conducted with a comparable sense of unpredictability – in live-fire environments with unprescribed hostile combatants. The difficulty remained with the ethical and strategic implications of leaving our men without live-fire weapons; I’ve done what I can to keep weapons performance consistent with unaltered pulse weapons as ordered to Vulkan’s subdirectoratorial ordinance compliance board. Whilst the reconfiguration of pulse-cannon and pulse-warhead fire computers to remodulate their charges for surface-system disruption has directly increased maintenance requirements to a degree that would deleterious to cellwide morale if they were issued for universal deployment, the combat effectiveness increases from our C-Eval units has been dramatic, as confirmed by GEIST observers. During the recent engagement between C-Eval Pacifica group seven and two equally numerous wings of Rheinland Federal Police and Federal military vessels, both featuring superior levels of command and control standardisation, conventional tactics training and combat equipment active mass, the Eval unit scored an exceptional kill-to-casualty ratio of Six to One, a statistic near-unheard of except in pre-planned ambushes against corporate transports without assertive support. Additional test data gathered from third party operatives against civilian targets has framed the effectiveness of the Pulse Incapacitator warhead at disabling unhardered subsystems, and fluctuating shielded equipment, aboard large, high-surface area vessels of up to liner mass, with but one bomber alone. The correlation would infer that the effects would scale to larger vessels, such as warships, given sufficient effective attention.

Outcome Analysis:

The committee proposes that the Union immediately issues ‘Pulse Update Program Acheron’ to GEIST Special Service Direktorate Actionarbetiers as soon as possible, and scrub non-vaulted program variants to prevent technology capture by rivals within the underworld, or the development of potential identifiable countermeasures by lawful forces such as reconfigurable skin-mounted microinsulation baffles or other probable developments within the coming months. In addition, the resulting forty five percent increase to the deployment cost of pulse cannons over time due to increased hardware burnout would negate the profit-loss balance of the aforementioned combat results. Initial deployment shipments should be supplied entirely to assist in ‘Operation Hammer Ascendant’ as the given target designations are established for future use. The design board speculates an acceptable seventy eight percent confidence that repeated Incapacitator impacts upon a battlecruiser would successfully negate the vessel’s ability to transmit generalised, focused, and even subspace distress communications given a sufficient pulse-wave frequency inhibiting field generation. The board promotes that the devices are utilised as soon as possible to aid in the capture of the Selket, along with any other potential targets, such as liberty navy dreadnaughts or Rheinlandic cruisers, before lawful entities sufficiently adapt. Be advised that the incapacitation of noncritical electronic subsystems can only be used effectively for vessel capture if conducted in conjunction with the insertion of a disciplined, capable boarding party.


Signatories:

- the Combat Technologies Aggressive Variable Evaluation and Control Mission (STAVECOMM).
- Admiral E.W Abendroth, Syndicflotte.