Canon

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".[1]

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[2] - Light plasma cannons
  • Class-2 directed energy cannons[3] - Medium plasma cannons[4]
  • Class-3 directed energy cannons - Heavy plasma cannons
  • Class-4 directed energy cannons[5] - Ultra-heavy plasma cannons[6]

Light plasma cannons

Light plasma cannons, or Class-1 Directed Energy Cannons, typically take the form of rapid-fire and infantry-portable weapon systems.[2][7] 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.[8] In Covenant lexicon, these weapons may also be known as Sweeping Turrets.[8]

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.[8]

List of light plasma cannons
Weapon UNSC classification Deployment(s)
 
Shepsu-pattern plasma cannon
Type-42 Directed Energy Support Weapon[2] Deployable turret
 
Pek-pattern plasma cannon
Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon[9] Deployable turret
Vehicle-mounted
Scarabs (Deutoros-pattern and Sumda'te-pattern),[6] Kmiro'sish-pattern Lich and Ru'swum-pattern Phantom secondary gun
 
Shea'p-pattern plasma cannon
Type-58 Directed Energy Support Weapon[7] Deployable turret
Vehicle-mounted
Wraiths (Kemu-pattern and Muv'te-patterns), Ekesan-pattern Umbra and Phantoms (Mikpramu-pattern and Eklon'Dal)
Wraith plasma cannon Type-26 Directed Energy Weapon Emplacement[10][11] Vehicle-mounted
Wraith (Zurdo-pattern and Ogab'd-patterns)[Note 1]

Spectre light plasma cannon
T-46 Directed Energy Weapon/Mounted[12] Mounted aboard the Wuzum-pattern Spectre[4][13]

Scout Revenant light plasma cannon
N/A Mounted aboard the Phelent-pattern Revenant[4]

Prowler light plasma cannon[14]
N/A Mounted aboard the Qavardu Workshop Prowler[4]

Medium plasma cannons

Medium plasma cannons, or Class-2 Directed Energy Cannons,[3][15][16] 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
Aircraft

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 Chwich-pattern Saker taken of starship-grade plasma cannons stripped off aging Vestige hulls and repurposed as ground artillery.[27]

Ultra-heavy plasma cannons

Ultra-heavy plasma cannons, or Class-4 Directed Energy Cannons,[5] 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.[40]

Other classifications

  • Charged plasma cannon = light focus beam (Enc22 Locust)[6]
  • Explosive plasma cannon (Reach AA Shade)

Sources

  1. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 475
  2. ^ a b c Halo Waypoint, Plasma Cannon (Retrieved on Nov 1, 2011) [archive]
  3. ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Ghost (Retrieved on Oct 28, 2011) [archive]
  4. ^ a b c d Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 272
  5. ^ a b c Halo Waypoint, Scarab (Retrieved on Jun 30, 2021) [archive]
  6. ^ a b c d e Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 278-279
  7. ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Plasma Cannon (Retrieved on Jan 25, 2016) [archive]
  8. ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 300-301
  9. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 94
  10. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 117
  11. ^ a b c Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 228
  12. ^ Halo Waypoint, Spectre (Retrieved on Nov 27, 2022) [archive]
  13. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 184
  14. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 150
  15. ^ Halo Legendary Crate, Data Drop 16: Ghost
  16. ^ Halo Legendary Crate, Data Drop 17: Banshee
  17. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Enc22
  18. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 116
  19. ^ a b Halo: Combat Evolved manual, page 23
  20. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 274-275
  21. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 276-278
  22. ^ a b Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 302
  23. ^ a b Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 282-283
  24. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 119
  25. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Enc22Banshee
  26. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 289
  27. ^ a b c d e Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 304-305
  28. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 301
  29. ^ a b c d e f Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 281
  30. ^ Halo: Warfleet, page 74-75
  31. ^ Halo Waypoint, Spirit (Retrieved on Jul 12, 2012) [local archive] [external archive]
  32. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 187
  33. ^ Bungie.net, Spirit (Retrieved on Feb 7, 2021) [archive]
  34. ^ a b Halo: Reach manual, page 9
  35. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 466-467
  36. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 287
  37. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 19
  38. ^ a b Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 288-289
  39. ^ Halo: Warfleet, page 58-59
  40. ^ Halo Legends, timestamp Origins

Notes

  1. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide pages 9 and 206 erroneously describes the Wraith and anti-air Wraith's armament as consisting of a medium plasma cannon. All subsequent sources have ignored this.