Talk:AFOH/@comment-14850713-20160826145451

IC:

Outremer, AFOH Home Islands

Far away from battle-ravaged Southern Africa on the other side of the planet, a large aerospace ship emerges from warp. Unlike the fierce, almost primal look of the new Iron Hunter battleships, its sleek, flowing lines echo those of a surface warship suspended in the sky by fusion engines. It's size, guns and gaping opening at its bow, however, belie its deadly, more sinister nature. The warship's name is Richelieu and like its World War II battleship namesake it boasts an armament of 8 main guns in 2 forward quadruple turrets. This time the guns are massive Mk 16 mod 2 240cm railguns rather than 38cm conventional guns. It also sports a new and powerful weapon which fires through its bow opening, the Orbital Electromagnetic Rail Weapon known by the phonetically more appealing nickname Oberon.

Oberon is a gigantic coaxial railgun, and is the product of the fleet's vast experience in designing and operating multiple railgun sizes. But it also represents the first step into new technology. In order to save weight while improving capability, the Oberon fires bolts of plasma rather than huge tungsten-tipped projectiles. It harnesses the enormous power of the ship's fusion reactors to produce plasma toroids via a plasma generator. This system itself is very efficient, as it combines a mixture of select gases with waste reactor material into plasma that is dense enough to travel a great distance at hypersonic speed while maintaining its mass, thus enabling good kinetic penetration with high thermal damage. While still in the development stage and few months away from being declared fully-operational, Oberon promises a quantum leap in lethality compared existing AFOH weapons.

Richelieu is classified as an aerospace battlecruiser, and will provide battle fleets with long-range fire support, with the Mk 16 fulfilling the pinpoint strike role and Oberon the broad, area-denial firepower. It also mounts 46cm railguns in 2 triple turrets as secondaries, with 12 Mk 38 127mm railguns (in 6 dual turrets) and 12 Mk 19 laser CIWS (distributed around the hull) for close-in air/aerospace defense.