Shock Cannon

Overview
The Shock Cannon is the current primary warship armament for space-borne vehicles. It replaced the Railgun as the standard warship weapon in 2280, and allowed the UNC to secure their dominance in space over the rebels. It is an extremely powerful weapon of destruction, with some even considering it a WMD.

History
During the UNC's period of military overhaul, replacements for the Railgun weapon system on large warships were proposed, but many companies failed to produce anything the UNMC thought was especially impressive, with most attempts basically being modified versions of railgun technology. However, the rising star HP Industries presented their attempt to the UNMC in 2278, and it was quickly put into its final stages of development after impressing all the UNMC top brass. By 2280, the first ships incorporating shock cannon technology were put to the test against rebels in space, and proved many times more effective than was originally thought. Able to inflict immense damage to enemy ships and recharge for another shot in just under a minute, the cannon devastated rebel ships in just a few shots, and had much more damage potential than the projectiles from railguns. After the initial tests, the UNMC started to refit their ships with shock cannons, and by 2306 the entire UNMC fleet was outfitted with the new weapons as their main armament. This new weapon enabled the UNMC to claim complete dominance over the ARC and UMER easily, prompting the rebels to disappear in 2315. From then on, shock cannons were used as the UNMC main weapon of choice in space combat, over the years receiving multiple upgrades including the massive reduction in recharge time and increasing of the cannons accuracy and range. Overtime the cannon was even made into multiple variants classified by their destructive power.

Operation
The Shock Cannon is at its basic principle, an anti-matter cannon directly linked to a ships reactor. When activated, the cannon uses a series of capacitors to capture energy created by the anti-matter annihilation process, and stores it in various secondary capacitors located at the base of the cannon. From there, several tertiary capacitors will further absorb and redirect a fraction of the stored energy to devices called "Shock Transformers". This redirected energy powers the Shock Transformers which then charge up and manufacture superheated plasma, which is then stored away in magnetic field chambers located on the top and bottom of the cannon and held for when it is ready to fire. On command, the firing will be initiated, and the containment chambers will direct and release the annihilated energy and plasma energy combined into the "barrel" (which is actually a large rail accelerator/magnetic container). The combined energy forces are then in a way "sealed" inside the barrel's magnetic field, (important to contain the anti-matter annihilation from the combination) then attracted and accelerated down the barrel by the series of magnetic rails that run all the way to the front of the cannon, reaching incredible speeds. Finally when the blast reaches the end of the barrel, the energy is futher magnetically compressed and expelled at speeds ranging from 2,000 km/s-almost 5,000 km/s depending on the size of the ship. After the expulsion, the cannon releases any excess energy and heat from the side vents built into the barrel and if desired, can begin charging up for another shot although the charge times differ depending on the power level of the cannon. It is important to build Shock Cannons appropriately to their needed energy level, as an overly weak cannon can cause catastrophic consequences if fired. For example, a Tier 2 cannon (at 50 kilotons of energy), built to withstand anything moderately less than at least that amount will cause a massive failure when it tries to absorb and transform the built up energy, resulting in the complete failure of magnetic containment usually followed by a sizeable anti-matter/plasma fueled explosion. Even a cannon built just slightly below the threshold will eventually fail after a number of firings, and for this reason the UNMC adheres to a strict code to build their cannons several ratings above the baseline recommended level for guaranteed saftey.

Effectiveness
Shock Cannons are arguably the most destructive weapons available to current militaries. When the blast impacts a solid surface, its electromagnetic containment field collapses, but stays active long enough to contain and focus the annihilated energy in a desired radius. With such high amounts of concentrated energy impacting at great speeds, the blast is devastating. One blast of even a class 2 cannon can cause considerable damage to several city blocks in one shot leaving nothing standing in its immediate wake, what remained would only be smoldering and broken pieces along with a fairly large crater. There is also a secondary blast/pressure wave after impact, travelling at the speed of sound and adding to the destruction of the initial area. Their effects on ships are very effective, the hull and armor of the ship will be literally obliterated on the scale of De-atomization from the extreme heat and energy. Massive holes and rips will be torn into the ship as its hull is blasted, melted, and torn out of place. Even the largest and most heavily armored warships can only take a few direct hits before acquiring heavy or fatal damage.

Variants

 * Tier 1- The Tier 1 cannon is the first model ever made, and with current technologies it can fire 1 blast every 8 seconds. Blast yield is about 100 kilotons. Tier 1 cannons are frequently used for ground support, being the smallest yield and causing the least amount of collateral damage. however, this method of attack is not often used for the exact point of its still highly destructive power, with the exception of the Exohumans who have no qualms using shock bombardment on human planets.
 * Tier 2- This variant is held as the standard or intermediate version of shock cannon. It can fire every 15 seconds and has a blast yield of 150 kilotons. Tier 2 cannons are the most widely used tier for the UNMC, being the perfect balance between firepower, and acceptable recharge time. UNMC F.A.W.s, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers, and Battleships all use tier 2 cannons as either primary or secondary weapons, with destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships all using dual configurations.
 * Tier 3- The second biggest variant, used on battleships and battlecruisers. It can fire every 30 seconds and has a blast yield of 200 kilotons. The Tier 3 is the rarest variant seen on UNMC starships, and are so power-demanding and consuming that only the mightly Battlecruisers and Battleships are capable of mounting them as primary weapons. However, they are used to great effect on both types of ship, with the battlecruiser hefting a single cannon and the battleship carrying a terrifying dual tier 3 configuration. A tier 3 cannon historically has been able to disable or outright destroy anything less than a cruiser in a single shot, and with rebel ships the effectiveness spreads to basically every type with the exception of ARC Battlecruisers or ARC Dreadnoughts.
 * Tier 4- The newest and most powerful variant. Currently, no ship is able to mount and use this variant and it is only seen on stationary ground versions, although after the start of the Human-Exohuman War there have been talks in the UNMC of a new design of warship capable of using the Tier 4. It can fire every 60 seconds and has a blast yield of a little over 300 kilotons. A tier 4 cannon can utterly destroy any currently known starship in one single shot anywhere to the superstructure. For this reason, they are normally found stationed groundside around UNMC bases, on moons orbiting important planets, and some newer models are even free floating orbital platforms around important colonies such as Olympia, Ingenero, and Piety.