Impactor Railgun

From Reach

The Impactor Railgun is top of the line technology on Reach. While more powerful Earth Tech railguns exist, this is the first and only railgun to be developed on Reach, and hence is the most readily available.

The Impactor is a vehicular mounted railgun meant to combat larger Natives and pirates. It is popular due to its incredible penetrating power, and the fact that it is purely a kinetic weapon, meaning that there is little splash damage. This makes it useful agains Silicon Crawlers and enemy vehicles, as it can sometimes disable the vehicle without completely destroying it.

However, there are a number of downsides associated with the weapon. First, the weapon is both large and heavy, making it impossible to use it while it is unmounted. It's cumbersome mountings make lighter vehicles, such as the Outlaw ATV, topheavy, and prone to rolling. The cost is exhorbinant, often more than the vehicle it is mounted on. When firing, the electromagnetic charge can disable unshielded equipement, and more importantly attract electrosensitive Natives. The real killer, however, is the power use. Through years of improvement, Delta Nova Techs have cut the charging time down 75%, but it still takes 6 minutes to power up after being turned on. In addition, maintaining a state of readiness (keeping the weapon powered so as to be ready for instantaneous firing) burns 1 Tin every 20 seconds, meaning that it is very expensive to maintain, let alone fire. Slugs can cost upwards of 4 Tins a piece, as the proper ferrocity of metal is difficult to find in natural mineral deposits.