Here is my take on how the different types of WC guns work. Comments are welcome. It has been a while since I have read the "Victory Streak" booklet, so some of this may be off.
Loosely speaking, guns in WC fall into one of five categories: Kinetic (like the Mass Driver), Neutral particle (like the Neutron Cannon), Charged particle (like the Ion Cannon), Energy (like Lasers), and Exotic particles (like Tachyons).
Kinetic Weapons:
Mass Driver: fires solid slugs at high speeds using electromagnets to accelerate them.
Stormfire Mk. I: fires small solid slugs using high-pressure gas for acceleration (similar to 20th century machine guns)
Stormfire Mk. II: fires larger, possibly explosive, slugs using high-pressure gas for acceleration
Charging Mass Driver: This weapon either supercharges the electromagnets used to fire the slugs (resulting in a greater muzzle velocity), or else imparts an electromagnetic charge on the slugs, resulting in a disruption in the molecular bonds of the target.
Neutral Particle Weapons:
Neutron Cannon: fires bursts of high-speed neutrons. When the neutrons strike a target, they cause transmutation of the atoms--some atomic nuclei will absorb the neutrons and undergo beta decay, becoming a heavier element, while other atomic nuclei will undergo fission with the accompanying release of energy. Either way, the chemical bonds in the target are disrupted. Neutrons are difficult to focus into a tight beam since they have no charge, resulting in the beam spreading as range increases, which explains the short range of this weapon.
Particle Cannon: fires whole atoms, resulting in disruption of the chemical bonds in the target as the high-speed atoms impact and either combine with the target's molecules, fission, or knock atoms out of the target's molecules.
Charged Particle Weapons:
Ion Cannon: fires alpha particles (helium nuclei ionized by removing their electrons), which by virtue of their positive charge, steal electrons from the target's atoms, resulting in a disruption of the chemical bonds in the target.
Plasma Cannon: fires bursts of super-heated plasma (ions at extreme temperature). The highly energetic particles in the heated plasma superheat the target.
Energy Weapons:
Laser: an ordinary laser, it sends out a beam of infrared light at a single wavelength, tightly focused. The infrared radiation superheats the target.
Photon Cannon: Similar to the laser, but using multiple wavelengths results in lower efficiency but higher total output for a gun of a given size.
Leech Cannon: Similar to a tightly focused EMP, it overloads the electronic systems of a spacecraft while causing no inherent physical damage/
Exotic Particle Weapons:
Meson Cannon: fires bursts of mesons (subatomic particles made up of two quarks intead of three like Protons and Neutrons are). Since shield technology is based upon mesons, the two react with each other strongly.
Antimatter Cannon: fires bursts of vaporized anti-matter. When the anti-matter strikes any target made of matter, the anti-matter is annihilated along with an equal amount of matter, resulting in a huge release of energy. Additionally, the quantum-reversed characteristics of anti-matter result in it being able to pass through meson shields.
Tachyon Cannon: fires bursts of tachyons that have been artificially slowed to sub-luminal (slower than light) speeds. Since 21st century quantum theory does not describe how it is possibe for tachyons to move slower than light (Einstein says that it would take infinite energy, just as it would take infinite energy to make ordinary particles travel faster than light), it is not possible for me to describe how they react when striking a target.
Loosely speaking, guns in WC fall into one of five categories: Kinetic (like the Mass Driver), Neutral particle (like the Neutron Cannon), Charged particle (like the Ion Cannon), Energy (like Lasers), and Exotic particles (like Tachyons).
Kinetic Weapons:
Mass Driver: fires solid slugs at high speeds using electromagnets to accelerate them.
Stormfire Mk. I: fires small solid slugs using high-pressure gas for acceleration (similar to 20th century machine guns)
Stormfire Mk. II: fires larger, possibly explosive, slugs using high-pressure gas for acceleration
Charging Mass Driver: This weapon either supercharges the electromagnets used to fire the slugs (resulting in a greater muzzle velocity), or else imparts an electromagnetic charge on the slugs, resulting in a disruption in the molecular bonds of the target.
Neutral Particle Weapons:
Neutron Cannon: fires bursts of high-speed neutrons. When the neutrons strike a target, they cause transmutation of the atoms--some atomic nuclei will absorb the neutrons and undergo beta decay, becoming a heavier element, while other atomic nuclei will undergo fission with the accompanying release of energy. Either way, the chemical bonds in the target are disrupted. Neutrons are difficult to focus into a tight beam since they have no charge, resulting in the beam spreading as range increases, which explains the short range of this weapon.
Particle Cannon: fires whole atoms, resulting in disruption of the chemical bonds in the target as the high-speed atoms impact and either combine with the target's molecules, fission, or knock atoms out of the target's molecules.
Charged Particle Weapons:
Ion Cannon: fires alpha particles (helium nuclei ionized by removing their electrons), which by virtue of their positive charge, steal electrons from the target's atoms, resulting in a disruption of the chemical bonds in the target.
Plasma Cannon: fires bursts of super-heated plasma (ions at extreme temperature). The highly energetic particles in the heated plasma superheat the target.
Energy Weapons:
Laser: an ordinary laser, it sends out a beam of infrared light at a single wavelength, tightly focused. The infrared radiation superheats the target.
Photon Cannon: Similar to the laser, but using multiple wavelengths results in lower efficiency but higher total output for a gun of a given size.
Leech Cannon: Similar to a tightly focused EMP, it overloads the electronic systems of a spacecraft while causing no inherent physical damage/
Exotic Particle Weapons:
Meson Cannon: fires bursts of mesons (subatomic particles made up of two quarks intead of three like Protons and Neutrons are). Since shield technology is based upon mesons, the two react with each other strongly.
Antimatter Cannon: fires bursts of vaporized anti-matter. When the anti-matter strikes any target made of matter, the anti-matter is annihilated along with an equal amount of matter, resulting in a huge release of energy. Additionally, the quantum-reversed characteristics of anti-matter result in it being able to pass through meson shields.
Tachyon Cannon: fires bursts of tachyons that have been artificially slowed to sub-luminal (slower than light) speeds. Since 21st century quantum theory does not describe how it is possibe for tachyons to move slower than light (Einstein says that it would take infinite energy, just as it would take infinite energy to make ordinary particles travel faster than light), it is not possible for me to describe how they react when striking a target.
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