Cut-away view of a starship energy weapon emplacement
Ship-mounted energy weapons are directed-energy weapons mounted on spaceships. They include the following:
Laser Weapons in Knight Hawks[]
Mini-lasers[]
This is an array of small nose-mounted lasers, that are fixed facing forward. They are usually mounted on fighters and assault scouts.[1]
Laser Pod[]
This is a small, unshielded laser turret. They are usually mounted on small ships, as anti-fighter weapons. Pirates often use them, as they can be concealed behind removable panels.[2]
Laser turret[3]
Laser Assault-Cannon[]
This heavy weapon is mounted on the bow of a large spaceship. It fires an intense, concentrated beam of light (alternating infrared and ultraviolet).
A less-common variation on this weapon is the xaser (pronounced "zey-zur") assault-cannon, which fires x-rays instead of light.
Damage/Range: 2d10/10 hexes (100,000 km)
Laser Battery[]
A battery is a cluster of small laser cannons mounted in a rotating turret. It can cover multiple fields of fire (port, starboard, and aft, as well as forward), but is less powerful than an assault-cannon.
Damage/Range: 1d10/9 hexes (90,000 km)
Laser & Xaser Weapons in KH Vector[]
Laser/Xaser Batteries []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Size
Type 1 -- 1D5 / 1, 2 / MHS 1
Type 2 -- 1D5+1 / 2, 4 / MHS 2
Type 3 -- 1D10 / 3, 6 (9 in the original SFKH game) / MHS 3
Type 4 -- 1D10+3 / 4, 8 / MHS 4
Type 5 -- 2D10 / 5, 10 / MHS 5
Type 6 -- 3D10 / 6, 12 / MHS 6
Type 7 -- 4D10+3 / 7, 14 / MHS 7
Type 8 -- 6D10 / 8, 16 / MHS 8
Type 9 -- 8D10 / 9, 18 / MHS 9
Type 10 -- 10D10 / 10, 20 / MHS 10
Laser/Xaser Assault-Cannons []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Size
Type 1 -- 1D5 / 2, 3 / MHS 1
Type 2 -- 1D5+1 / 3, 5 / MHS 2
Type 3 -- 1D10 / 4, 7 / MHS 3
Type 4 -- 1D10+3 / 6, 9 / MHS 4
Type 5 -- 2D10 / 7, 12 (10 in the original SFKH game) / MHS 5
Type 6 -- 3D10 / 9, 14 / MHS 6
Type 7 -- 5D10 / 11, 16 / MHS 7
Type 8 -- 7D10 / 12, 18 / MHS 8
Type 9 -- 10D10 / 14, 20 / MHS 9
Type 10 -- 15D10 / 16, 22 / MHS 10
Particle Projection Weapons in Knight Hawks[]
Forward array of UPFS Adriadne (CL 4), in action against the Sathar fleet in the Battle of Xagyg's Spur (SW II).
Ion Beam Battery[]
This turreted weapon fires an intense charged-particle beam. It is available in two sub-classes.
Proton-Beam Battery[]
This weapon fires an electrical beam of positively-charged particles (protons). Like all batteries, it can cover every field of fire: aft, forward, port, and starboard.
- Range: 12 hexes (120,000 kilometers)
- Damage Table Modifier: +10
- Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
- Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 10
Electron-Beam Battery[]
This weapon fires an electrical beam of negatively-charged particles (electrons). It can cover all four fields of fire.
- Range: 10 hexes (100,000 kilometers)
- Damage Table Modifier: +10
- Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
- Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 6
Antimatter Beam Battery (optional)[]
This powerful weapon fires an intense beam, alternating positrons (anti-electrons) and negatrons (anti-protons), which can be blocked only by antimatter screens. It can cover all four fields of fire.
- Range: 11 hexes (110,000 kilometers)
- Damage Table Modifier: +10
- Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 1d10
- Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 8
Disruptor canon[4]
Disruptor-Beam Assault-Cannon (aka Disintegrator)[]
This powerful weapon must be mounted on the bow of a large warcraft. It is available in two sub-classes: Ion, which fires an intense beam of alternating protons and electrons; and Antimatter (a less-common variation), whose beam alternates negatrons and positrons. Disintegrator beams can do heavy damage to a target ship's electrical system. An ion (antimatter) disruptor will also inflict double the normal amount of hull damage points, if its beam intersects an antimatter (ion) screen.
- Range: 9 hexes (90,000 kilometers)
- Damage Table Modifier: +20
- Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 3d10
- Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 12
Necro-Beam Assault-Cannon (optional)[]
This powerful weapon must be mounted on the bow of a large warcraft. It fires an intense beam (a "Death Ray" by name and function alike), alternating neutrons and anti-neutrons. A necro-cannon will inflict double the normal amount of hull damage, if its death-ray intersects an x-screen (or a masking screen). A stasis screen, however, will halve the damage from necro-beams.
- Range: 12 hexes (120,000 kilometers)
- Damage Table Modifier: +20
- Hull Damage Rating (HDR): 3d10
- Minimum Hull Size (MHS): 11
Particle Projection Weapons in KH Vector[]
Ion (electron/proton) & Antimatter-Beam Batteries []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Sizes
Type 1 -- 1D5 / up to 1 / MHS 4
Type 2 -- 1D5+2 / up to 2 / MHS: 6
Type 3 -- 1D10 / 3, 4 (11 in the original SFKH game) / MHS: 8
Type 4 -- 1D10+3 / 4, 5 / MHS 10
Type 5 -- 2D10 / 5, 7 / MHS 12
Type 6 -- 3D10 / 6, 8 / MHS 14
Disintegrators (Antimatter & Ion-Beam Assault-Cannons) []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Sizes
Type 1 -- 1D5 / 1, 2 / MHS 2
Type 2 -- 1D5+1 / 2, 3 / MHS 4
Type 3 -- 1D10 / 3, 5 / MHS 6
Type 4 -- 1D10+3 / 4, 6 / MHS 8
Type 5 -- 2D10 / 5, 8 / MHS 10
Type 6 -- 3D10 / 6, 9 / MHS 12
Type 7 -- 4D10+3 / 7, 11 / MHS 14
Type 8 -- 6D10 / 8, 12 / MHS 16
Type 9 -- 8D10 / 9, 13 / MHS 18
Type 10 -- 10D10 / 10, 15 / MHS 20
Necro-Beam (neutron/antineutron) Assault-Cannons []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Sizes
Type 1 -- 1D5+1 / 1, 2 / MHS 7
Type 2 -- 1D10 / 2, 3 / MHS 8
Type 3 -- 1D10+3 / 3, 5 / MHS 9
Type 4 -- 2D10 / 4, 6 / MHS 10
Type 5 -- 3D10 / 5, 8 (12 in the original SFKH game) / MHS 11
Type 6 -- 4D10+3 / 6, 9 / MHS 12
Type 7 -- 6D10 / 7, 11 / MHS: 13
Type 8 -- 8D10 / 8, 12 / MHS 14
Type 9 -- 12D10 / 9, 14 / MHS 15
Type 10 -- 18D10 / 10, 15 / MHS 16
Necro-Beam (aka "Death Ray") Batteries []
-- Damage / Short & Long Ranges (in hexes) / Minimum Hull Sizes
Type 1 -- 1D5+1 / up to 1 / MHS 1
Type 2 -- 1D10 / 1, 2 / MHS 2
Type 3 -- 1D10+3 / 2, 3 / MHS 3
Type 4 -- 2D10 / 4, 5 / MHS 4
References[]
- ↑ Mini-Lasers and Laser Pods are not canon to the Knight Hawks rules, but they are a common house rule to add some anti-fighter capability to Fighters, as they are defenseless after exhausting all their Assault Rockets.
- ↑ As noted above.
- ↑ Turbolaser turret from original Battlestar Galactica
- ↑ Omega class destroyer firing forward cannon from Babylon 5