ARC-920 railgun

Template:Weapon Infobox

The Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, abbreviated ARC-920 or known simply as the railgun, is a compact-channel linear accelerator weapon used by the United Nations Space Command. It was designed and manufactured by Acheron Security.^[1]

Design details

The ARC-920 uses a pair of parallel conducting rails to accelerate its projectiles. A large electric current flows from one rail into the projectile and then to the other rail; the electromagnetic effects of this interaction accelerate the projectile to an immense speed. The rifle requires a brief charging period before firing high-explosive rounds accelerated to an incredible speed.^[2] The explosive yield contained in the round adds to the kinetic force of the impact, making the weapon effective against both infantry and armor.^[1] The weapon lacks a scope.^[2]

Gameplay

Compared to the Spartan Laser, the ARC-920's charging time is half the duration and deals less damage to vehicles. In addition, the travelling time for a fired shot is almost instantaneous^[2](though still markedly slower than most ballistic, hard light, and laser weapons in the game, which are hitscan). In Campaign and Spartan Ops, the charging time is longer than in War Games.

Trivia

Canonically, a magnetically accelerated projectile would move at many times the speed of sound. However, for the sake of balance, the railgun's projectiles move at a much slower subsonic speed in gameplay.
Despite being a railgun, the rings that form around the barrel when charging, as well as the Railgun Kill medal depicting a projectile going through rings, seem more indicative of a coilgun.
This weapon's name may be a reference to the M-920 Cain, a railgun in the Mass Effect series. In addition, the number 920 is a reference to the number 7 (9-2-0=7)