Weapon systems

Weapons systems up to the Holocaust

Various weapons have been used by the Colonial fleet since early times. The colonials have developed from using simple lasers to sophisticated phaser arrays.

Lasers

Type I Laser

The Type I laser was the earliest laser developed for use in war. It was developed nearly 2300 yahren ago by scientists on Caprica. The first interplanetary war saw the use of Type I lasers on civilians and military craft, this laser is the weakest laser and is now used mainly for high speed communications and medical uses.

Type III Laser

Developed at the onset of the Cylon War, the Type III Laser was 10 times more powerful the the Type I. It proved ineffective against the Cylon threat though. Hundreds of colonial ships were destroyed because the Cylons had better weaponry than the colonials.

Type VII Laser

This laser was developed after the initial failures of the Type III against the Cylon threat. The numerals used for the types of lasers measure the degree of intensity of light focus and damage caused. While the Type III was 10 times more intense and powerful than the Type I, the Type VII was nearly 200 times more powerful than the Type III. Scientists at the Lenoria Institute of Science developed this marvelous weapon, and the Type VII proved very effective against the Cylon foes, until the Cylons adapted.

Type X Laser

This laser was the last laser developed before the Holocaust. Developed nearly 150 yahren ago, it was the most powerful weapon in the colonial arsenal for many years. The Type X laser initially could destroy a Cylon Basestar with a direct hit. Of course, the Cylons adapted to this, but for many yahren the Type X Laser proved the most effective weapon the colonials had. The major drawback was the amount of power it took to fire a single shot. Only Battlestars carried Type X lasers, the enormous amount of energy needed to fire these weapons on a continual basis proved to be too much for smaller colonial ships and most everything below a battlestar used Type VII lasers.

Missles

Missles were used from the earliest combat situations till the Holocaust.

Pulson Missle

The Pulson missle was developed nearly 1500 yahren ago. Encased in a tritanium shell, the pulson missle carries large amounts of deuterium and notronium. On impact, the two materials collide and cause an explosion.

The Pulson missle was very effective against the Cylons early in the war, but the missle also had a high degree of backfire into the ship. Many ships were lost when the missle failed to launch from the ship.

Anti-matter Missles

Anti-matter missles were developed nearly 700 yahren ago, when anti-matter was discovered and could be developed in laboratories. The anti-matter missle is extremely effective in combat and some ships still use it even today.

The only drawback to the anti-matter missle is the extreme unreliability of anti-matter. Anti-matter is very tough to keep separated from matter, and when they combine, the ship or whatever is carrying it is destroyed. The Battlestar Rycon is thought to have been lost when an anti-matter containment unit failed on one of her missles.

Zeon Missles

The Zeon missle was developed about 50 yahren ago. It uses a complex anti-matter/matter mixture with artificial zeon filaments.

The Zeon missle is launched in a magnetic containment system which houses the mixture. Upon impact, the anti-matter and matter mixture explode and thus ignite the zeon filaments. The zeon filaments then detonate across the hull of the ship causing massive damage to the outer hull.

The Zeon missle was the most effective weapon against the Cylon threat before the Holocaust. The Zeon missle was very expensive though, and it required a massive overhaul of any ship in which it was carried on. Only 4 Battlestars ever carried them before the Holocaust: the Pegasus, the Atlantia, the Pacifica and the Galactica each carried the Zeon missle.

Polaron Missle

The Polaron missle is still in development stages at the Hanshak Science Academy.

Other weapons

Gravitron Beam

The Gravitron beam was first conceived of nearly 100 yahren ago, but technology couldn't build a workable weapon until only a few yahren ago. The beam uses a heavy gravity field to distort space where the beam goes. The distorted space allows the beam to penetrate shielding and inflict damage on the hull. The Hisari scientists have developed a working prototype that is being used in on the test vessel Hisara.

Phasors

Phasors aren't widely used yet in the Colonial military, but that is rapidly changing. They were developed after the Holocaust.

Type III Phasors

The phasor is a complex device that fine tunes a laser beam into 1,000,000 times the power it would normally have. Type III phasors are used mainly on a few select battlestars.

Phasor Cannons

There are phasor cannons being developed, primarily for the new class of heavy fighters, the Cobra. The phasor cannon basically amplifies the phasor energy into a highly-tuned beam that can pierce through shields and armor.