Cascade Failure

Legion Sketchbook

Fleet combat in large tracts of space is inherently complicated, because of the incredible amount of space between ships. Unlike the naval battles on Earth before the Great Uplift, ships in Vacuum are usually never so close as to “go to broadsides.” Unless someone in the pilot’s chair screwed the bulitar or a tactical genius exploited a tactical error in the other ship. Where space combat is concerned, every advanced weapon you have to predict the other boat’s movement at range and take advantage is a win for your side.

Enter the Ion Cannon. These ship crushing weapons are actually a type of particle projector that launches ionized, tightly grouped, particle packs. Hitting an enemy ship can make its electrical systems fail and cause critical damage. Instead of just blowing out the lights in the ship’s bridge, these weapons can destabilize tracking and guidance, cause reactor’s and fuel cells to explode (when their handling systems go offline), and knock weapons’ systems offline.

In Message for the Dead, the Imperial Flagship, Imperator, fired its Ion Cannons across the spread of Republic ships trying to hem it in. A single salvo from the high yield weapons destroyed the first two corvettes it struck. By shutting down all power management, the ships suffered a catastrophic overload and detonated in space. A third corvette caught by the weapon lost its shields and inertial dampeners during maneuvers, and cracked along the spine.

Ion torpedoes used by fighters strafing along enemy aircraft can have a more devastating effect, as they can quickly close to within range and launch. Ships hit by ion torpedoes experience similar damage to the cannons, but with an added explosion.

During the same engagements, Imperial and Republic forces alike launched salvos of ion weaponry to disable the other side.

Ride the chaos on Galaxy’s Edge and see the destructive power of these weapons up close with Galaxy’s Edge Season 1: Message for the Dead.