Starships might face a range of threats, whether these be other ships, stations, or natural phenomena such as asteroids. They defend themselves using a range of defensive technologies.
C-MADS Turrets
The C-MADS turret is a perhaps the best-known of the Imperial Navy's starship defences. It is a triple-fire defensive solution which combines several defensive technologies into one smart, quick, and effective package.
C-MADS stands for Counter-Munitions Active Defence System.
Turrets have a rotating base, with a cradled gimbal system which allows pitch and yaw movement. Individual turrets can fire independently or in tasked groups.
The three defensive technologies built into each C-MADS turret are:
Every first and second shot fired by a turret's mini-rail is a blunted tungsten impactor, designed to work against incoming solid rounds. By sharing their kinetic energy with the incoming munitions, these impactors can deflect them away from the turret's parent vessel.
Every third shot fired by the mini-rail is explosive ordnance intended to contribute towards the parent ship's flak curtain. It does this by clouding direct sensor views of the parent ship's critical points, interfering with flash lasers and targeting systems, and explosively impacting on the trajectories of incoming munitions.
C-MADS stands for Counter-Munitions Active Defence System.
Turrets have a rotating base, with a cradled gimbal system which allows pitch and yaw movement. Individual turrets can fire independently or in tasked groups.
The three defensive technologies built into each C-MADS turret are:
- Laser interception: two gigawatt lasers which are capable of destroying inbound missiles and torpedoes.
- Mini-gun shredder: a single high velocity, high yield automatic machine gun built into each turret can tear apart enemy fighters and drones with ease. It is also capable of cumulatively deflecting some munitions through momentum exchange.
- Mini-rail interception: every turret contains two miniaturised gauss guns.
Every first and second shot fired by a turret's mini-rail is a blunted tungsten impactor, designed to work against incoming solid rounds. By sharing their kinetic energy with the incoming munitions, these impactors can deflect them away from the turret's parent vessel.
Every third shot fired by the mini-rail is explosive ordnance intended to contribute towards the parent ship's flak curtain. It does this by clouding direct sensor views of the parent ship's critical points, interfering with flash lasers and targeting systems, and explosively impacting on the trajectories of incoming munitions.
Signal JammingCommunications are vital for the proper coordination of all fleet movements.
During military engagements, most command vessels will deploy a number of different broadcast systems intended to drown out the critical communication signals between units of the opposing force. Signal jamming is usually the first form of attack during electronic warfare. |
System InterferenceIf an enemy ship or facility has insufficient software security, it is sometimes possible to access its critical systems by penetrating the communications arrays or sensor palettes.
Most military vessels are protected against such attacks at both the software and hardware levels, but new ways to circumvent and even exploit security systems are always being discovered. |
Flash LasersAs well as being used offensively, to temporarily blind the defence turret sensors of enemy ships and stations, flash lasers can be used defensively.
Many flash emitters are powerful enough to prematurely trigger the warhead packages of many ship-to-ship missiles. They can be used more conventionally to deprive enemy units of firing solutions by blanking out targeting sensors. |
ArmourBattleships usually have hardened hulls, which allows them to absorb the kinetic energy of high velocity impacts. While this defensive strategy might seem crude, it is also effective. The prime disadvantage is that with the need for airlocks, sensor palettes, docking armatures, engine apertures, weapon mounts, and other external components, not all of the outside of a ship can be covered with thick metal plating.
The design process for new Imperial Combine starships includes a phase in which the armour coverage efficiency of the outer hull is optimised. |
Decoys and Kinetic ChaffDecoys are smaller versions of drones, which deliberately direct misleading transmissions towards enemy formations. With a competent tactical officer directing them they are able to draw opposing units into disadvantaged positions. Some large-frame ships also have decoy emitters built into their hulls.
Kinetic chaff is released as a cloud of metal fragments, and can prematurely detonate all manner of missiles and torpedoes. It is used at all levels of vehicular combat, from the airburst countermeasures carried by landers to the low velocity mines which Imperial starships are able to launch. |