Magnetic Accelerator Cannon: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:44, June 27, 2007

This article does not meet the wiki's general standards and/or standards on layouts. You can help by cleaning this article.

The Basic Design of a coilgun

The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, or MAC guns, is a large coilgun that serves as the primary offensive weapon for UNSC warships. A larger variant is in service aboard defensive space stations. Within the UNSC arsenal, only nuclear ordnance exceeds the power of the MAC.

The M68 Gauss Cannon used by UNSC ground forces maybe regarded as a relative of the MAC, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Overview

Mounting

The size of a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon is such that it is normally an integral component of a warship's structure. Some types of space stations are literally built around the massive weapon.

Ammunition

A MAC typically fires massive slugs at a fraction of the speed of light, or c. The high muzzle speed gives the slug the kinetic energy and momentum necessary to damage a target, and partially mitigates the unguided and unmaneuvering nature of the slug.

Aiming

The integration of the MAC to its carrying hull means the entire warship or station must maneuver to aim the weapon. Even with an AI laying the gun, the required precision and the 'dumb' nature of the ordnance fires means that hitting an evading target at 100,000 kilometers is extremely unlikely.

Types

Standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

The standard ship-mounted MAC fires a 600 ton ferric projectile with a depleted uranium core at 0.1 c. The large amount of energy needed to fire the weapon is particularly onerous on a warship, and the extended recharge times is a significant factor in combat against Covenant warships as multiple MAC rounds are required to penetrate Covenant shields. The standard MAC is sufficient to destroy any human vessel or severely damage an unshielded Covenant vessel.

An experimental version of the MAC was developed to fire three successive rounds on a single capacitor charge. A prototype was mounted on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn.

Cairo Orbital MAC Station Firing.

"Super" Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

Main article: Orbital Defense Platform

A UNSC defense platform typically mounted a much larger and more powerful version of the standard MAC, nicknamed "Super MAC" or "the Big Stick." These super MACs fired a 3000 ton ferric-tungsten round at 0.4 c, powerful enough to penetrate a fully shielded Covenant warship. By receiving power from ground-based powerplants, orbital platforms could achieve recharge and reload times as short as five seconds.

Speculation

Other MAC Sizes

Although never explicitly elaborated there maybe many more different sizes of MAC based on the sizes of possible mounts. For example, one might extrapolate that a frigate would mount a smaller, less powerful cannon than, say, a supercarrier or a Template:ShipClass, if only for power management issues.

Conceivably a 'large' ship could mount many 'small' MACs. However, the lack of such occurrences might suggest that the power of a MAC, once the mass and volume of all attendant components (ex. capacitors) are accounted for, does not scale linearly.

Template:ShipClass MAC Location

File:PoAed.JPG

MAC muzzle

Many believe that the MAC launch tube is located near the underside of the ship, where there are three large plates. However, it is more likely that the tube is located along the entire length of the ship. Logically, the multiple powerful magnets needed accelerate a 600 tonne slug to 0.1c requires an exceptionally long tube, allowing for many magnets to affect the projectile. The huge length 1.17 km length of the Pillar of Autumn would facilitate this, making the most likely muzzle location of the MAC tube to be located at the protrusion at the ship's bow.

Further supporting the hypothesis of a tube running through the entire ship is the structure and design of Cairo Station. After exiting the cargo elevator, the player can look up and observe the Super MAC platform in action. The slug travels the entire length of the tower, and exits at the "top." Later in the level, the player can notice the loading zone of the slugs at the base of the launch tube.

Sources

External Links

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Cleanup}}
+[[Image:Coilgun animation.gif|thumb|340px|The Basic Design of a coilgun]]
-[[Image:Cairo_Mac_firing.jpg|thumb|Cairo Orbital MAC Station Firing.]]
+The '''Magnetic Accelerator Cannon''', or '''MAC guns''', is a large [[Wikipedia:Coilgun|coilgun]] that serves as the primary offensive weapon for [[UNSC]] warships.  A larger variant is in service aboard [[Orbital Defense Platform|defensive space stations]].  Within the UNSC arsenal, only nuclear ordnance exceeds the power of the MAC.
+The [[M68 Gauss Cannon]] used by UNSC ground forces maybe regarded as a relative of the MAC, albeit on a much smaller scale.
-The '''Magnetic Accelerator Cannon''', often abbreviated as '''MAC gun''', is a magnetic projectile accelerator [[weapon]] that is the standard heavy armament for [[UNSC Navy]] vessels.
+==Overview==
-==Introduction==
-The MAC Gun is the standard main weapon of all [[UNSC]] fighter ships and much larger versions are the main weapons onboard UNSC orbital defense stations. The MAC gun is stated as the UNSC's most powerful non-nuclear weapon.
-All Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are built into the structure of a ship or weapons platform. Thus, to aim the cannon, the ship or the platform must maneuver to be facing the target. Both shipboard and platform versions generally require an [[AI]] to aim the cannon, as the slugs fired are unguided. Even taking into account the high speed of the shots and the supreme accuracy with which an AI can aim them, they are highly inaccurate as battles usually take place across 100,000 km or more, allowing Covenant vessels to dodge them. The slugs are made from depleted uranium. From what is known about the MAC gun, it may be possible to build one with a cannon, superconducting magnets, a lot of power, and a magnetic artillery shell.
+===Mounting===
+The size of a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon is such that it is normally an integral component of a warship's structure.  Some types of space stations are literally built around the massive weapon.
-== Standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon ==
+===Ammunition===
-[[Image:Coilgun animation.gif|thumb|340px|The Basic Design of a coilgun]]
+A MAC typically fires massive slugs at a fraction of the [[Wikipedia:Speed of Light|speed of light]], or ''c''.  The high muzzle speed gives the slug the kinetic energy and momentum necessary to damage a target, and partially mitigates the unguided and unmaneuvering nature of the slug.
-The MAC gun uses a linear acceleration system, comprised of several superconducting coils which generate a series of powerful magnetic fields that continually add velocity to a ferric projectile until it leaves the shaft of the MAC cannon carrying a extremely high amount of kinetic energy. The coils are powered by a series of capacitors that store the tremendous energy necessary to accelerate a heavy projectile to relativistic speeds.
+===Aiming===
+The integration of the MAC to its carrying hull means the entire warship or station must maneuver to aim the weapon.  Even with an [[AI]] laying the gun, the required precision and the 'dumb' nature of the ordnance fires means that hitting an evading target at 100,000 kilometers is extremely unlikely.
-Common shipboard Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are capable of accelerating a 600 ton ferric projectile with a depleted uranium core to 10% the speed of light, or roughly 30,000 kilometers/s (18,628 miles/s). The main drawback to the shipboard MAC gun is the large amount of time it takes for the capacitors to reach full charge. This drawback has proven to be significant in combat against Covenant warships, since it has been shown that it requires several ship-scale MAC rounds to penetrate Covenant shields.
+==Types==
+===Standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon===
+The standard ship-mounted MAC fires a 600 ton ferric projectile with a depleted uranium core at 0.1 ''c''.  The large amount of energy needed to fire the weapon is particularly onerous on a warship, and the extended recharge times is a significant factor in combat against [[Covenant]] warships as multiple MAC rounds are required to penetrate Covenant shields.  The standard MAC is sufficient to destroy any human vessel or severely damage an unshielded Covenant vessel.
-An experimental version of the MAC gun has been developed that is able to fire three successive rounds on one charge. A prototype of this weapon was mounted on the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}. MAC guns exist on many different scales, ranging from the massive Mark V "Super" MAC guns on board orbital defense platforms, to common shipboard MAC guns, and even down to the "Gauss" cannon mounted on board the [[Warthog]] LRV.
+An experimental version of the MAC was developed to fire three successive rounds on a single capacitor charge.  A prototype was mounted on the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}.
-== Super Magnetic Accelerator Cannon ==
+[[Image:Cairo_Mac_firing.jpg|thumb|Cairo Orbital MAC Station Firing.]]
+==="Super" Magnetic Accelerator Cannon===
 :''Main article: [[Orbital Defense Platform]]''
+A UNSC defense platform typically mounted a much larger and more powerful version of the standard MAC, nicknamed "Super MAC" or "the Big Stick."  These super MACs fired a 3000 ton ferric-tungsten round at 0.4 ''c'', powerful enough to penetrate a fully shielded Covenant warship.  By receiving power from [[Orbital Defense Generator|ground-based powerplants]], orbital platforms could achieve recharge and reload times as short as five seconds.
-Super MAC guns are loaded on defense platforms orbiting [[Reach]], [[Earth]], and other strategic locations that must be protected, and are much more powerful than normal MACs. The Orbital MAC guns (nicknamed "Super MAC" or "The Big Stick") are capable of accelerating a 3000 ton ferric-tungsten round to 40% the [[Wikipedia:Speed of Light|speed of light]], or 179 875 474.8 kilometers/s (74,512.9 miles/s), and can reload in five seconds. These weapons are able to destroy a Covenant warship with a single shot, literally shattering a fully shielded Covenant vessel. They are are commonly placed in geosynchronous orbit around a planet, often over the location they are named after.<ref>[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]], pages 296/297</ref>
-The one weakness of the orbital MAC guns, at least on Reach, is that the power stations that power them are located on the surface of the protected planet, and are thus susceptible to attack from Covenant ground forces. The fanatical nature of Covenant engagements have also presented a problem, since the Covenant are more than willing to sacrifice a number of ships in order to destroy one platform. This tactic was seen during The Battle for Reach.
-The MAC cannons can be found throughout the Halo universe, and play critical roles in many battles. The use of the MAC gun proved decisive when the Covenant fleet descended to Earth at the beginning of [[Halo 2]], and was used as early on as Master Chief's first encounter with the Covenant, in which it was used to blow a hole into the ship through which Spartans could access.
 ==Speculation==
-There may be different size MAC guns to different ship classes e.g. the [[UNSC Frigate|Frigate]] may have a smaller or less powerful MAC gun than one fitted to say a [[UNSC Supercarrier|Super Carrier]] or a {{ShipClass|Marathon|Cruiser| cruiser}} but it is unknown.  But it is most likely that a ship could hold more than one 'large' MAC gun e.g. the ''Marathon''-class cruiser, it does not state that it holds 3 MACs so it is most probable it only holds one or else what would been of the need for the new type that was fitted on board the {{ShipClass|Halcyon|Cruiser| cruiser}}?
+===Other MAC Sizes===
+Although never explicitly elaborated there maybe many more different sizes of MAC based on the sizes of possible mounts.  For example, one might extrapolate that a [[UNSC Frigate|frigate]] would mount a smaller, less powerful cannon than, say, a [[UNSC Supercarrier|supercarrier]] or a {{ShipClass|Marathon|Cruiser| cruiser}}, if only for power management issues.
-== Likely Position of MAC cannon on a {{ShipClass|Halcyon|Cruiser| Cruiser}} ==
+Conceivably a 'large' ship could mount many 'small' MACs.  However, the lack of such occurrences might suggest that the power of a MAC, once the mass and volume of all attendant components (ex. capacitors) are accounted for, does not scale linearly.
-[[Image:PoAed.JPG|left|thumb|168px|MAC muzzle]]
-While the specific location of a ''Halcyon''-class cruiser's MAC cannon is not known, it is most likely near center of the ship. The destructive capability of a MAC cannon is such that it can completely destroy any [[human]] vessel, and severely damage an unshielded Covenant vessel, as said in the Halo novels.
+==={{ShipClass|Halcyon|Cruiser|}} MAC Location===
+[[Image:PoAed.JPG|left|thumb|168px|MAC muzzle]]
 Many believe that the MAC launch tube is located near the underside of the ship, where there are three large plates. However, it is more likely that the tube is located along the entire length of the ship. Logically, the multiple powerful magnets needed accelerate a 600 tonne slug to 0.1c requires an exceptionally long tube, allowing for many magnets to affect the projectile. The huge length 1.17 km length of the Pillar of Autumn would facilitate this, making the most likely muzzle location of the MAC tube to be located at the protrusion at the ship's bow.
 Further supporting the hypothesis of a tube running through the entire ship is the structure and design of [[Cairo Station]]. After exiting the cargo elevator, the player can look up and observe the Super MAC platform in action. The slug travels the entire length of the tower, and exits at the "top." Later in the level, the player can notice the loading zone of the slugs at the base of the launch tube.
-==Known Orbital MAC Geosynchronous Platforms==
-*[[Athens Station]]
-*[[Cairo Station]]
-*[[Malta Station]]
-*[[Nassau Station]]
-== Naming Theory ==
-One theory on the naming of of MAC's is that they are named after the place they orbit above. For example the Cairo, Athens, and Malta all orbit above the Mediterranean Area.
 ==Sources==