User:BaconShelf/Sandbox/PlasmaCannon

Plasma cannons are a broad kind of heavy plasma weaponry commonly used by the Covenant empire and its remnants. Plasma cannons are typically heavy ordnance, mounted aboard vehicles, aircraft, and starships - or used as a mounted stationary weapon in various forms of crew-served and automated turret system.

Overview
Plasma cannons are a broad classification of heavy weaponry used by the Covenant, ranging from infantry-portable crew-served weapons similar in role to a machine gun up to artillery systems and naval cannons.

Plasma cannons can be "overclocked".

Classifications
In the classification systems developed by the Office of Naval Intelligence for cataloguing Covenant materiel recovered during the Human-Covenant War, plasma cannons are generally designated as Directed Energy Cannons. When catalogued in ONI records, the plasma cannon classes roughly correspond with the following:
 * Class-1 directed energy cannons - Light plasma cannons
 * Class-2 directed energy cannons - Medium plasma cannons
 * Class-3 directed energy cannons - Heavy plasma cannons
 * Class-4 directed energy cannons - Ultra-heavy plasma cannons

Light plasma cannons
Light plasma cannons, or Class-1 Directed Energy Cannons, typically take the form of rapid-fire and infantry-portable weapon systems. These are the most common manifestation of plasma cannon, and are intended for use as a defensive weapon operated by personnel at chokepoints. They maintain an internal plasma generator that can power the weapon for an extended period before requiring a recharge - detaching the turret from its base mounting results in a security override being activated that limits the power generation capabilities. In Covenant lexicon, these weapons may also be known as Sweeping Turrets.

Although their use as infantry-carried and operated weapons is the most common application, light plasma cannons are often mounted as a secondary weapon among heavy vehicles and dropships to serve as a light weapon for fending off infantry attacks and potential borders.

Medium plasma cannons
Medium plasma cannons, or Class-2 Directed Energy Cannons, generally tend to be plasma cannons mounted on the vehicular fleet of the Covenant - both ground and airborne. As their naming suggests, they are generally heavier weapons in nature - though still exhibit broadly similar properties. Medium plasma cannons are, like their light brethren, rapid-fire, automatic weapons in nature though lack the man-portability element that characterises light plasma cannons.

Class-2-equipped vehicles include:


 * Ground vehicles
 * Ghosts
 * - equipped with twin Type-32 Directed Energy Weapon/Linked medium plasma cannons. Rated in the 100-250kW range.
 * Wraiths
 * - equipped with twin automated plasma cannons, operated by dummy modules.
 * Shadows
 * - equipped with a single medium plasma cannon, of notable similarity to the turret.
 * Shade turrets
 * - equipped with twin medium plasma cannons.
 * - equipped with twin medium plasma cannons.
 * - equipped with twin medium plasma cannons.


 * Aircraft
 * Phantoms
 * - equipped with three medium plasma cannons, directed by automated targeting sensors.
 * - equipped with a single medium plasma cannon.
 * Banshees (all except Elsedda)
 * - equipped with twin medium plasma cannons, rated in the 100-250kW range.
 * - equipped with twin Type-26 Directed Energy Weapon/Linked medium plasma cannons.
 * - built upon the Is'belox airframe, and equipped with presumably-identical Type-26 DEW/L medium plasma cannons.
 * - equipped with twin medium plasma cannons.

Heavy plasma cannons
Heavy plasma cannons have never been officially assigned a Class-designation, though given their position they are presumably Class-3 Directed Energy Cannons. Heavy plasma cannons are typically mounted on heavy aircraft, or used in the Covenant's sky striker artillery systems in both ground attack and air-defence roles. Heavy plasma cannons are comparable in scale to starship-scale plasma cannons, with the Hesduron taken of starship-grade plasma cannons stripped off aging Vestige hulls and repurposed as ground artillery.


 * - equipped with a single heavy plasma cannon.
 * - equipped with variable numbers of heavy plasma cannons, depending on configuration.
 * turret - equipped with twin rapid-fire heavy plasma cannons.
 * - equipped with one Murien-pattern heavy plasma cannon.
 * Spirits
 * - equipped with one Murien-pattern heavy plasma cannon
 * - equipped with one heavy plasma cannon.
 * - equipped with one heavy plasma cannon.
 * Gydrozka Workshop Blisterback - 2x heavy plasma cannons
 * Barug'qel Workshop Trespasser - 6x twin heavy plasma cannons
 * Eklon'Dal Workshop Lich - 1x heavy plasma cannon
 * Ogoro Workshop Tronto - equipped 1x quad heavy plasma cannon.
 * Banshees
 * - equipped with two heavy plasma cannons.
 * Seraphs
 * - equipped with four Tevaas Mu-pattern heavy plasma cannons.
 * - equipped with four Gle'mahn-pattern heavy plasma cannons.

Ultra-heavy plasma cannons
Ultra-heavy plasma cannons, or Class-4 Directed Energy Cannons, are the heaviest classification of plasma cannon used in planetary warfare, and operate on a scale comparable to the plasma cannons mounted aboard full warships. They are most commonly seen used as part of anti-aircraft weapon systems designed for warding off warships from a given ground installation. The sole known exception to this is the ultra-heavy plasma cannon found on the Deutoros-pattern Scarab, which instead operates as an automatic rapid-fire plasma cannon used for shooting down nearby hostile aircraft, and to a limited extent in ground attack missions.


 * - 1x ultra-heavy plasma cannon
 * - 1x ultra-heavy plasma cannon
 * - 1x ultra-heavy plasma cannon
 * - 1x ultra-heavy plasma cannon

Other classifications

 * Charged plasma cannon = light focus beam (Enc22 Locust)
 * Explosive plasma cannon (Reach AA Shade)

Naval cannons
Plasma cannons serve aboard Covenant starships as a form of naval artillery, filling a role similar to the naval autocannons of humanity. They have rapid-fire capabilities, though in return fire their plasma bolts at at much slower velocities than other weapons as to conserve energy. In battle, they are fired in massed barrages to form suppressive screens, creating walls of fire. There is some overlap between the heavy and ultra-heavy classifications of ground plasma cannon, with the Hesduron artillery piece retrieved from the hulls of aging Vestige warships to bolster the ground forces of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.

Plasma lances serve as a form of ultra-heavy plasma cannon, firing tightly-focused streams of high-velocity plasma at targets.