Military Technology in United Trowo

Military technology in United Trowo and its respective dependencies are classified into 2 broad main catgories, namely Offensive and Defensive technologies. Due to the multitude of wars fought before the formation of the current republic, as well as the general mentality of isolationism with respect to any potential hostile extraterrestrial civilization, military technology is relatively well developed. On the contrary, even though financial resources are poured into research and developement, not much money is funneled to amassing said technology.

Military research is primarily based on the planets Trowo (System Trowo), Sijen (System Sýlýrónth) and Vercambris (System Sýlýrónth), with funding primarily coming directly from the central government at Trowo. Some planetary sub-governments conduct their own research free from the purview of the central government, leading to interesting specializations in offensive and defensive weaponry. Such technology are protected by law to not be automatically the intellectual property of the central government, making them highly profitable industries in those systems. Clandestine organizations and on occasion separatist groups conduct their own research and may produce unstable weaponry/shielding technology. The following technology listed are those which are regularly used in training and on occasion, against terrorists.


 * Note to reader: Technology here is based upon conventional physics as well as some... suspension of it*

Offensive Technology
Offensive technology are classified into 4 broad categories: Physical, Chemical, Biological and Technological. C,B and T weaponry will not be discussed in this article.

Physical Weaponry
Physical weaponry is classified into 5 categories: Kinetic, thermal, incendiary, explosive and unconventional. Physical technology refers primary to the exchange of energy (mostly transfering energy to the target) resulting in the termination of the target's function. Different types of physical weaponry might be utilized to counter the target's defences.

Kinetic Weaponry
Kinetic weaponry refers to use of kinetic energy to terminate the the target. This includes conventional guns, kinetic bombardment, coilguns and railguns.

Kinetic bombardment refers to releasing inert rods of extremely resistant and dense metals like tungsten, uranium or osmium from orbit and allowing them to fall under gravity to impact the target. Due to the speed at which the impactors impact the target, this is a relatively inexpensive yet deadly type of kinetic weaponry. For example, a 50kg tungsten rod may impact planetary installations with over 100 tons of TNT (depending on the gravitational field strength), without any radioactive fallout. It is known in Unitican as Kamórnyl. They are extremely rare in United Trowo due to the pre-requisite of possessing orbital superiority first.

Coilguns and railguns both refer to the acceleration of ammunition (explosive or not, most often not) to hypervelocities with the usage of electromagnetic fields. Railguns use a sliding armature (with the projectile riding it) that acts as a circuit completer (causing a Lorentz force) while coilguns simple accelerate a projectile by accurately timing the activation of solenoids ahead of the projectile. These weapons are extremely energy intensive, with the largests requiring their own dedicated power plants to keep them operational. Even medium sized coil/rail guns are able to 1 shot most shields, the largests of which are able to take down city sized shields in a single strike. Their drawbacks are their energy consumption as previously mentioned, as well as their extremely low rate of fire. Most railguns have to be replaced after a set number of firings due to wear and tear of the barrel. The largests of such weapons may be found on orbital defence platforms protecting the most important worlds in United Trowo, as well as mounted on the largest capital ships and destroyers.

Thermal Weaponry
Thermal weaponry refers to the use of concentrated beams of electromagnetic energy (primarily lasers and masers) and plasma to heat up a target. Lasers have developed to the point where X-ray lasers are possible, though those lasers are extremely rare. Lasers are mounted on most ships due to their ability to pass relatively unimpeded through shields, their extremely fast projectile speed (the speed of light obviously), and the ability to be fired more often than other forms of weaponry. Lasers can also be used in close quarter combat with the intention to maim and/or temporarily blind the opponent when used at lower power consumptions. Laser weapons do tend to heat up pretty fast, necessitating the use of some form of cooling systems. Most lasers on battleships and tanks use liquid cooling, while laser rifles use air cooling. The strongest of such lasers are able to melt shield-class ship armor in minutes, and incinerating buildings and underground structures in the same amount of time.

Plasma accelerators use magnetic fields to project a mass of plasma at the target. A target material (usually xenon or Teflon) is first ionized using a microwave. It is then passed into a chamber where strong magnetic fields accelerate the plasma towards the desired target. It deals both kinetic and thermal damage, with stronger vehicle mounted accelerators capable of blowing/melting holes through concrete walls. Due to the gas-like nature of plasma, it is uneffective at long ranges, especially when used in an atmosphere. However, certain accelerators also utilize a small magnetic core which it projected at the same time as the plasma, allowing the plasma to be held together (until it cools down and loses its conductive properties). Such specialized PAs are only found in elite plasma sniper rifles and in orbital/space superiority fighters. Most hand-held plasma rifles are only effective at up to 200m. Its drawbacks are its ineffectiveness against shields and its heat generated during firing.

Incendiary Weaponry
Incendiary weaponry overlaps with thermal and chemical weaponry with its use of highly oxidizing chemicals. Containers of such chemicals may be dropped on shields where upon impact they break open and unleash napalm fire which can then pass through the shield. Most incendiary weaponry are often integrated into projectiles and other explosives to maximize their effectiveness, though napalm does exist as standalone. Due to their effects on the human physiology, usage is banned in most places.

Explosive Weaponry
Explosived weaponry refers to chemical, vapour, electromagnetic, nuclear and antimatter explosions, the most common of which are chemical explosives. These refer to all manners of explosive devices such as missiles, rockets, cluster bombs, aerial bombs, mines and grenades. Nuclear fission/fusion devices are almost always never used due to their radioactive fallout, though certain planetary governments possess a small stockpile of such weapon in the interest of defence. Antimatter explosives are extremely rare due to the difficulty in manufacturing and storing antimatter. The largest of such bombs, The Sentoplanktoz, merely contains 2kg of antimatter and has to be stored under 5 layers of backup and redundancy, for a 86MT yield. If power was cut of to the bomb, it would instantly detonate, due to its method of storage. Hence, due the high chance of accidental detonation, most antimatter devices are positioned off planet in orbital installations.

Unconventional Weaponry
Unconventional weaponry refers to weapons which may not cause bodily harm, or are not under any of the above classification. Some examples may include Electromagnetic Pulse bombs (EMPs), Particle Accelerator Cannons (PACs), muon guns, shield resonance destabilizers and electrical-based weaponry. EMPs are primarily used to disable electronic devices and weaker shields. They may or may not also carry secondary thermal/explosive capabilities. PACs are very large weapons that are mounted on planetary orbital defence and the largest of capital ships. Their speed of projectile (over 99% c) and high luminosity (or radiation flux) causes instant destruction of most unshielded electrical devices, and high-flux PACs can even cause entire ships to be destroyed by radiation. At lower doses, most living things are killed from radiation, leaving structures untouched (with a small dose of radiation that rapidly decays). Muon guns are specialized PACs that are much smaller weapons that have limited range, yet deal a large amount of radiation damage that decays away rapidly. They are primarily used as anti-personnel weapons. Neutron guns are used as shield-piercing directed-energy weapons due to their lack of electrical charges are so are only slightly affected by shields (because they still possess a magnetic moment). However at extremely high speeds and utilized against smaller shields, they effectively bypass shields to deal a large amount of radiation damage. However, radiation resulting from this form of weaponry tends to last much longer.

Shield resonance destabilizers aim to match the frequency of the EM field of the shield and project a similary wave to destructively interfere with a targeted part of a shield. That targeted part can then be bypassed. However this relies on have some knowledge of the shield frequency and is relatively useless on very strong shields. A close distance between the device and the shield is also required, making SRDs a niche application in combat, primarily being carried by infantry troops (FIBUA) to infiltrate smaller installations.

Lastly, electrical-based weaponry are primarily used to incapacitate humans and well as to directly damage shield generators. Tasers are used to incapacitate criminals/enemies at close range. Laser-lightning guns (LLGs) are used to overload and directly damage shield generators from a appreciable distance. A powerful laser first ionizes the air, turning it into a plasma, which then conducts electricity. A powerful gun then generates a current that flows along the plasma and impacts the shield, which then follows the field lines to directly hit the shield generator. Smaller shield generators are instantly destroyed using such weapons. Larger shield generators can be destabilized using such weapons.

Defensive Technology
Most defensive technology in the current times refer to electromagnetic force-fields (known simply as shields), reflective/specular armor, reactive armor and heat resistant armor.

EM Shields
EM shields are specialized electromagnetic fields generated by a specialized solenoid. They are then focused through low magnetic-reluctance materials to form a thin barrier (usually no more than 2m thick) in all directions which then return to the solenoid from the other pole. This concentration of field lines into a small space creates a high magnetic flux that blocks almost every single material from entry due to the Lorentz force or the Diamagnetic effect. This means however that some paramagnetic materials/metals are able to enter the shield if they move slow enough to prevent disastrous heating/outward force. This can and is usually exploited against. Using a stronger magnetic field can overcome this to the point of restricting even the movement of air in/out of the shield, which by then causes a shimmering effect as the air itself is ionized due the magnetic flux. Needless to say, ferromagnetic materials are effectively permanetly lodged on the shield's surface should they come close enough, which is sometimes utilized by defenders as an "armour" of sorts.

Because the EM field is a barrier to movement, ionizes anything it touches (when strong enough), and extends 360 to form a donut of sorts around the shield generator, most shield designs incoporate a "shield base system". This is to prevent the ground itself from turning into lava (due to ground interacting with the shield), and well as a system to more safely intercept incoming projectiles/fires/plasma. This base conists of a ring of magnetic material which is then connected back to the shield generator in the form of long spokes (imagine a wheel). The more spokes the base contains, the more even the shield produced will be. This ring is usually a fortified wall (for obvious reasons), and may contain entrances and exits (this introduces weakness however).

Shields also have an intrinsic frequency which they are produced at. A stronger shield typically possess a field a higher frequency. Shield gens typically oscillate their frequencies at randomly and unpredictably to prevent resonance destabilization attacks. It is to be noted that movement is also prevent outwards, not only inwards, therefore shields must be dropped/deactivated when trying to assault incoming forces. Advanced bases may sychronize their defensive weaponry to the shield generator, allowing it to drop the shield at the split instance as the projectile passes through the shield. As the field forms around the generator at the speed of light, no "restart" time is needed.

Even though shields are practically indestructable (since it is a field, not an object after all), their generators and their solenoids are not. The momentum of projectiles impacting the shield is still transferred to the generator, so powerful railguns are able to destroy the solenoid by indirectly smashing it. Large, more powerful shield generators typically have kinetic absorbers, mass dampers and multiple backup solenoids to counter such attacks. For an example, the shield generator protecting the capital city Alto Rise contains over 50 backup solenoids and can resist a 100MJ railgun strike with ease.

Shields are not used a personal devices as they interfere with electronic devices and they inability to form a complete shell around the soldier. They are primarily used in space combat and in protecting stationary installations