List of Star Wars heavy weapons

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The following is a list of heavy weapons from the fictional Star Wars universe, including demolition weapons and personal heavy launchers.

Contents

[edit] Heavy launchers

[edit] Assault Cannon

A weapon that fires multiple blaster shots to create a shotgun effect. Used primarily by engineers, the weapon is very deadly at close range, or for firing at a concentrated group of enemies.

[edit] Merr-Sonn PLX-2M Portable Missile System

The PLX-2M is used by Republic ARC Troopers. It is an extremely powerful weapon that fires Arakyd 3T3 proton torpedoes. The sheer explosive power of the PLX-2M makes it dangerous to fire blindly in close quarters, but is extremely effective when used as a 'smart' tracking weapon. The PLX-2M has two 'smart' firing modes - the first causes the missile to home in on the magnetic emissions from the repulsorlifts of speeders, and the second causes the torpedo to home in on infrared heat sources, allowing the user to attack landspeeders, airspeeders, and even low-flying spacecraft. Of course, the launcher also has an unguided 'dumb' firing mode for manual aim. In general, it is very powerful against all armored vehicles. Also known as the "big gun" in several comic trilogies. One problem with this "big gun" is that launching a missile instantly reveals the position of the trooper- making the trooper a prime target.

[edit] Packard Mortar Gun

A mortar gun is, as the name suggests, a man-portable indirect fire weapon. It's relatively short ranged, but it has a high rate of fire and is able to hit targets on the far side of obstructions. In general, it is very powerful against all armored vehicles.

[edit] Rail charge launcher

Rail charge launchers fire bullets or pellets at an exceptionally high velocity via magnetic acceleration from alternating polarity super-conducting rails. This particular launcher can also fire guided "mini-missiles," which seek targets after being launched. Because of their speed, this tracking is only accurate at long range.

[edit] Golan Arms HH-15 Missile Launcher

The HH-15 is carried by the Rebel Vanguard in Star Wars: Battlefront. It is unique for firing two missiles at once.

[edit] BAW E-60R Missile Launcher

The E-60R is wielded by Assault Droids to counter against the threat of walkers. It is developed by Baktoid Armor Workshop.

[edit] Demolition weapons

[edit] Concussion Grenades

There are two varieties of concussion grenades. One of the two is a fairly standard grenade. It explodes with a small blast radius and expels a sonic shockwave that stuns anybody just outside its blast radius. The other kind does not detonate in a traditional sense. It causes only the shockwave, stunning anybody hit by it rather than killing or wounding them. In the game Star Wars Battlefront, these were the anti-vehicle grenades.

[edit] Cryoban Grenades

Upon exploding, cryoban grenades release a heat-absorbing chemical into the air, causing most liquids in their vicinity to freeze, and potentially causing frostbite in organics. Originally developed for fire-control work, they've proven their combat-effectiveness in the hands of mercenaries and other "irregulars."

[edit] Det Packs

A det pack is a small explosive with a remote activator that can be triggered by the user. The pack is set in place or thrown and is then detonated whenever the user desires. Typically this is used to ambush enemies or blow open doors that are otherwise sealed to the user. Engineers use these in the videogame Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and the player can use them in the renowned Jedi Knight series. The blast from a detpack has an upward force and has most effect when is detonated with an enemy directly above it. It is excellent as an ambush tool or a weapon to destroy tough enemy installations.

[edit] Flash Detonators

Much like real-life flash-bang grenades, flash detonators emit a blinding flash of light and ear piercing noise in a contained radius, temporarily stunning and disorienting targets.

[edit] I.M. Mines

I.M. stands for "Imperial Machines", an outside contractor of Imperial weapons. It is a simple kind of mine that can be set to explode by timer or by proximity.

[edit] Jedi Shadow Bomb

A shadow bomb is essentially a proton torpedo with the propellant fuel replaced by packed baradium, the material used in the destructive thermal detonators. A Jedi would then use the Force to propel the bomb into an enemy ship. Shadow bombs were developed during the Yuuzhan Vong war. Each Vong ship had gravity generators that could create miniature singularities to suck in laser fire and ordinance. Since proton torpedoes are primarily detected by the propellant trail it leaves, the Vong couldn't sense them, making shadow bombs effective towards the late stages of the war.

[edit] PLX-1 Missile Launcher

The PLX-1 missile launcher was the first version of the Merr-Sonn Munitions portable missile launcher and was introduced into the Clone Wars; it is used by Clone Troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The PLX-1, like its descendants, could fire "dumb" missiles that can be aimed by the trooper or "smart" missiles which could locate their target based on heat signatures or gravity-activated mode (GAM) missiles. The PLX-1 can hold two projectiles, one in the barrel and the other for reserve.

[edit] Sequencer charges

Originally developed for demolitions work, these come in two types: automatic and manual. Automatic work like proximity mines, while manual work like detonation packs.

[edit] Sonic Detonators

Sonic detonators emit violent sonic waves upon explosion, damaging nearby organic beings and potentially rupturing internal organs. On the Attack of the Clones DVD, George Lucas comments that the silence occurring before the use of the detonator is caused by the weapon creating "a black hole of sound".

[edit] Thermal detonator

Thermal detonators are highly unstable grenade-like weapons used primarily by bounty hunters and mercenaries. The material used is called baradium, which is a highly unstable compound prone to explosions. They cause enormous damage by initiating a fusion reaction upon detonation, with a blast radius of 20 meters or more. Some detonators have an even greater radius, although Stormtroopers carry miniature 5-meter ones. Thermal detonators have the unique ability of creating a blast that only goes as far as its blast radius. After that, the blast field collapses, and anything even slightly beyond the blast radius is left unharmed.

They can be set to detonate in several ways: on impact after being thrown, after a pre-determined time period, or upon the release of a fail-deadly trigger. Thermal detonators are not usually used as grenades due to their highly unstable nature. Instead, they are often used for demolitions work.

A thermal detonator whose baradium is stabilized with ytterbium burns at extremely high temperatures rather than exploding, which is used similar to a real-life thermite charge to melt sensitive equipment.

In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, a disguised Princess Leia used a detonator to help free Han Solo from his carbonite prison inside Jabba the Hutt's palace, by means of threatening to release the fail-deadly trigger if her demands were not met, impressing Jabba. The weapon has also been used in various Star Wars computer games (i.e., Lego Star Wars II).

The thermal detonator is carried by the soldier classes in the Star Wars Battlefront series, with the exception of the Super Battle Droid and the engineer class for organics.

[edit] Thought bomb

A thought bomb destroys all Force sensitive beings within a certain radius. Not even single-celled organisms survive. The only known thought bomb was activated by Lord Kaan in the catastrophic Battle of Ruusan. Notably, the Sith Lord Darth Bane was the only Sith remaining after the blast; he had tricked Kaan into using it and was not present at the explosion. Lord Kaan killed himself and all the other Sith and those Jedi (including Lord Hoth) present on Ruusan. The term bomb is somewhat misleading - it is a force attack rather than a physical item.

However, in the video game Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, it is theorised that Darth Nihilus used a technique equivalent to a thought bomb to destroy a planet's worth of life in the same way. However, it is also said that Darth Nihilus purged the planet of all life by consuming all of its Force energies (an ancient Sith technique). Kreia knew this power could not be retaught, so upon Darth Nihilus' death, this ancient technique supposedly died with him. Although during the course of the game, if the Exile follows the path of the dark side, each Jedi he defeats results in his "absorbing" their Force energy. Kreia refers to this as "an old Sith technique", suggesting that Kaan's technique was a variant focused on pure destruction rather than augmentation of the wielder.

[edit] Trip Mines

Trip mines consist of a beam projector affixed to a shaped explosive casing. The laser activates once the trip mine is placed, extending a beam from the charge to the nearest surface that intersects its path. If this beam is broken or the charge is fired upon, the mine will detonate and damage anything caught within its radius. Conner Ship Systems HX2 mines are trip mines used by all factions in Star Wars: Battlefront, and are carried by Heavy Weapons Units.

[edit] References

  • Sansweet, Stephen J. (1998). Star Wars Encyclopedia. The Ballantine Publishing Group. ISBN 0-345-40227-8. 
  • Slavicsek, Bill, Collins, Andy, and Wiker, JD (2002). Revised Core Rulebook (Star Wars Roleplaying Game). Lucas Books. ISBN 0-7869-2876-X. 
  • Grubb, Jeff and Stephens, Owen K.C. (2002). Arms and Equipment Guide (Star Wars Roleplaying Game). Lucas Books. ISBN 0-7869-2782-8. 
  • Stephens, Owen K. C. (2001). Starships of the Galaxy (Star Wars Roleplaying Game). Lucas Books. ISBN 0-7869-1859-4. 

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