Jak'dal'nar Inferno Cruiser History
After their initial attempt at using ballistic weapons on the Pla'sall'e in the form of the Markab Plasma Wave, the Pak'ma'ra realized that type of targeting was not well suited for their gunners.
At this same time, as a result of success with the Plasma Web and Plasma Batteries, an effort was made to create an anti-ship version of the Plasma Web. Early experiments as a direct fire weapon failed when it was realized that the amount of plasma necessary to fill a region of space that would damage ships would not only have an extremely short range but would damage the ship that mounted the weapon as well.
The Plasma Battery and the newly gained Plasma Wave technology provided the solution to this problem. A self-contained plasma bottle was developed that had the capacity to hold the required amount of plasma for a short period of time. Attaching a detonator to the bottle and using ballistic technology learned from the Plasma Wave gave the ability to deliver the weapon to a target location where the bottle would be destroyed and the plasma released. Though the resulting cloud of concentrated plasma was not able to do significant damage to a ship, it was found that it would damage the entire outer surface of any vessels passing through the region. Like its predecessor the Plasma Web, it also lingered for some time before dissipating. The results were deemed a success as Plasma Web gunners easily transitioned to using this longer ranged version.
A Thar'not'ak was modified to be the testbed for this new weapon as it had nearly all the necessary plasma conduits already in place that the prototype version of the weapon required. The modifications worked so well the production model soon followed using the same base hull now designated the Jak'dal'nar Inferno Cruiser.
Pak'ma'ra Plasma Detonator
Class: Ballistic (Plasma)
Mode: Standard
Damage: 2d10+8 (-4 per turn)*
Range: 40 Hexes
Range Penalty: none
Fire Control: n/a
Rate of Fire: 1 per 3 turns
Rules: The Plasma Detonator targets a hex and follows the normal deviation rules for energy mines. When the detonation hex is determined, the hex is treated much like that of a Plasma web: All vessels passing through the hex takes the listed damage on 4 sides (1 hit down the centerline of each direction: fwd,port,stb,aft) regardless of the size class and resolved normally for each hit. The plasma dissipates after the movement of the fourth turn.