Technologies Of The Colonial And Cylon Fleets

Turbolaser

Turbolasers are the standard defensive turrets for both the Cylon and Colonial forces. These turrets typically house a pair of Turbolaser cannons with a shared targeting array. Both guns always fire in unison which yeild an impressive punch against both ships and fighters.

Rules: Turbolasers do damage in standard mode only. If paired, they are considered to be linked weapons which roll to hit and location damage as one weapon but each gun's damage is mitigated by armor. Note that the fire control is different between the Colonial and Cylon turbolasers.

The name Turbolaser comes from the Battlestar Galactica Writer's Guide and is in reference to the guns on the Vipers. Since it appears that the guns on the Galactica are similar technology, I'm calling them by the same name.

Mega-Laser Cannon

Mega-Lasers are secondary anti-ship weapons employed by the Cylons. These enhanced laser weapons are typically mounted individually but some of the larger vessels have pairs of them linked to deliver devastating blows to Colonial vessels.

Rules: Mega-Lasers do damage in standard mode only. If paired, they are considered to be linked weapons which roll to hit and location damage as one weapon but each gun's damage is mitigated by armor.

In The Hand Of God, the Cylon commander gives the order to fire the aft Mega-Lasers. Since the guns came from various locations around the ship, it can be assumed that these weapons are neither the Mega-Pulsars which are mentioned earlier in the episode in specific locations or the turreted turbolasers which are identical to the Galactica's (reused footage actually) that we've seen in other episodes. During that battle we see two types of blue bolts hit the Galactica, one is a single solid bolt and the other is two thin bolts that converge at the point of contact - another indication that there are two different weapon systems at work.

Mega-Pulsar

The Mega-Pulsar Cannon is the Cylon's most formidible weapon. It is a powerful type of turbolaser capable of destroying many smaller vessels in a single shot. Only employed on the largest capital and base ships, these weapons are also capable of devastating planetary targets from orbit.

Rules: Mega-Pulsars do damage in raking mode only.

In The Hand Of God, Colonel Tigh is briefing the pilots and says the base star they are facing has two long range Mega-Pulsars. The Ravoshal Laser in Gun On Ice Planet Zero was also called a Mega-Pulsar and was shown firing a beam of energy hence the raking damage mode.

Pulsar Laser Cannon

The Pulsar Laser Cannon is the standard anti-ship weapon of the Colonial military. Though it does less raw damage than the Mega-Pulsar, it is more versatile. This powerful laser is the preferred choice of heavy armaments and is found on most of the larger Colonial warships.

Rules: The damage the Pulsar Laser Cannon does depends on how long it is able to charge. The type of cannon; Light, Medium or Heavy, determines it's maximum potential.

1 turn : 1d10+2

2 turns: 2d10+4 (Maxiumum for a Light Pulsar Laser)

3 turns: 3d10+6 (Maxiumum for a Medium Pulsar Laser)

4 turns: 4d10+8 (Maximum for a Heavy Pulsar Laser)

Damage is scored in standard mode.

The Galactica is shown to have lasers heavier than those of the standard turrets. Through dialogue in The Hand Of God, we know they are at least mounted on the forward and sides. In Experiment in Terra, Adama orders "Stand by maximum laser power." implying that they have the ability to take a variable charge.

Solenite Missile

Solenite missiles are the most powerful anti-ship missile system ever developed. After launching, these missiles ignite their supply of Solenite, destabilizing it and turning its outer shell into plasma. The destabilized Solenite will then explode upon impact doing an incredible amount of damage. The missile does however lose effectiveness the longer it has to travel since it burns its own warhead. These missiles are used by both Cylons and Colonials.

Rules: Solenite missiles are ballistic weapons that do damage in flash mode and follow all normal missile rules.

The Battlestar Pegasus is shown firing extremely large ICBM sized missiles (actually I believe it is footage of the command module separation during one of the Apollo missions) which do massive damage to the Base Stars it is attacking. Though a name was never formally said, we do know that Solenite is a highly powerful explosive and it stands to reason that the warhead would be comprised of this substance. The ignition of the Solenite is my own explanation as to why the missiles look like fat turbolaser bolts when flying across the screen as there is no technical information regarding these missiles available.

Point Diverter

The point diverter is the predecessor to current Colonial shield technology and can not be used on larger warships due to it's limited range of protection. By creating a strong localized force field, a point diverter can deflect an incoming volley away from a system it is trying to protect. While it doesn't prevent a ship from taking damage, it does protect vital systems and has become very popular in civilian shipping due to it's small size.

Rules: After a single roll on a hit location chart but before damage is applied, the defending player can force that roll to be re-rolled if there is a point diverter on the section being hit. This may only be done once per point diverter per turn and can only affect one volley in this way. A volley that is diverted by one point diverter may be diverted again if there is another unused point diverter available on the same section. With piercing shots, only the hit scored on the incoming side may be diverted; the primary and the opposite side hits can not be affected by any point diverters available on those sections.

Point Diverters appear periodically under the heading of "Weapon Systems" on some technical readouts pilots call up while in Vipers or Shuttlecraft. The system above is my own creation to describe what this system does but I will likely change it slightly to enable it to attack as well as defend much like the Earth Alliance interceptor.

Megatron Torpedo

Initally developed by the Cylons, Megatron Torpedoes are an all purpose missile for both ship to ship combat and planetary bombardment. These missiles were later adopted by the Colonial military but neither force uses them very extensively. The warhead they carry is similar to that of Metron bombs though somewhat more powerful. Since the development of the Solonite missile, they have been used even less but are still found occasionally on variants of common warships.

Rules: Megatron Torpedoes are ballistic weapons that do damage in standard mode and follow all normal torpedo rules.

A Fantastic Films Magazine article had some blueprints of the various ships in the show and on the Galactica's it listed Megatron torpedoes. Since they were always called missiles in the show and that just about everything else in that article and on the blueprints were blatantly wrong I chalk it up to the magazine writers being misinformed by the Colonial military to keep that information top secret.

Proton Energizer

The Proton Energizer is the predecessor to the Pulsar Laser Cannon. Though it can not hold as large of a charge as a Pulsar Laser, it is still an effective secondary weapon system and is still found on many vessels.

Rules: The damage the Proton Energizer does depends on how long it is able to charge.

2 turns : 1d10+2

3 turns: 2d10+3

4 turns: 3d10+5

Damage is scored in standard mode.

Proton Energizers are listed under weapons on a technical readout of the Celestra in the episode Take The Celestra. There is no other canon information regarding this system.

Energy Shields

Energy shield technology was developed early in the war by both the Colonials and the Cylons. Though they operate on similar principles, the Cylons have been able to optimize their energy output to form a better barrier than that of the Colonials. Both types of Energy shields form an invisible shell around the vessel which deflects some of the energy of an incoming attack.

Rules: The shield rating is subtracted from the total damage of each hit. All weapon types are affected though fighters at range 0 are considered to be under the shield and are not affected.

In Experiment In Terra, Commander Adama gives an order to activate energy shields. In The Living Legend Part II, Commander Cain waits to fire his missiles at point blank range so that "the Cylon's shields won't be able to protect them." There are also numerous displays of technical readouts that show "Shield Depth" listed and the Terrans are said to be technologically inferior and yet they have force fields in their jail cells. All these examples lead me to believe without a doubt that they have shield technology.

Telview Extension

A Telview Extension is a weaponry extension (typically called a hard point) with a built-in electronic telemetry viewfinder to provide any ordinance attached to the extension guidance data. Similar to the Otron Extensions that Vipers use to carry missiles and bombs, Telview Extensions provide a ship with the ability to be custom tailored to it's mission through the use of various weapons and pods. Infrequently used on large vessels, these hard points are typically found on smaller electronics ships and scout vessels that have more varied missions. Each pod must be purchased seperately and does not affect the price of the ship for determining availability due to limited deployment.

Rules: The player has the option of what type of ordinance is mounted on a Telview Extension:

Otron Extensions are listed under weapon systems in a scene displaying a technical readout of a Viper. Telview Extensions are listed under the weapon systems of the Celestra in a similar scene. Nothing is officially known about these systems so this is just a guess on my part.

Mega Metron Bomb

Mega Metron Bombs are simply larger versions of the metron bombs that fighters carry. Unpowered, these weapons are usually launched from orbit onto planetary targets and are capable of destroying a small city. It has been known for ambushed assault vessels to use the bomb launchers to propel these weapons toward their enemy detonating them on timed fuses to aid in their escape.

Rules: Mega Metron Bombs may be used in the same manner as Energy Mines except they do not reach their designated hex until the following round due to their slow movement. Each box in the Bomb rack icon represents one bomb so that for each box marked off, one box of ammunition for that rack is also marked off. Should a critical of 24+ be rolled for any bomb rack, the unlaunched bombs in the rack detonate and 30 points of flash damage for each bomb remaining in the rack is applied to the section of the ship that contains the rack (Check special rules for the Assaultstar). For now, Damage and range are as per Energy Mine, but this may change depending on feedback. These bombs are designed primarily for campaign purposes and will update these rules when I have campaign rules available.

Metron Bombs are mentioned in the series and it is known that Cylon Raiders can carry them. It is not unreasonable to think that there are orbital bombardment versions of these weapons to assist the fighters in planetary bombing.

Mines

Mines are usually placed in vast numbers to discourage travel through areas that are difficult to patrol or strategically important.

Rules: The Cylon and Colonial forces use nearly identical metron and mega-metron mines:

Colonial Proton Energizer DEW mine: Cost 35, Range 10, Accuracy: +4, Signature 2 (0), Armor 2, Structure 12. Fires a Proton Energizer 1 per 4 turns - can not fire a partial charge.

The Cylons mined the Nova of Madagon in Saga Of A Star World which was a passage to Carillon.

Turbopulsar Cannon

The Turbopulsar is an extension of turbolaser technology developed by the Cylons. This weapon fires bursts of energy in rapid succession from a capacitor which needs to be recharged after every firing. The turbopulsar uses a similar energy concentrator to ones in pulsar lasers which yeilds more stable damage potential for small bursts than those used by turbolasers and mega-lasers.

Rules: The turbopulsar follows the standard rules for pulse weapons.

This is my own weapon system design and is not canon in any way.

Mask Generator

The Mask Generator was developed to take advantage of the abundance of natural cosmic dusts, gasses and mists. The Cylons developed this method of generating a sensor absorbant/dispersing cloud to hide a fleet poised to ambush opponents. Indistinguishable from natural phenomena, these clouds were a key component to the success of the Cylon ambushes of the Fourth Fleet at the Cosmara Archipelago and the Peace Conference at Cimtar.

The technology is relatively simple, it is merely an array of sprayers that pump the Masking liquid from its reservoir into space as a fine mist, and in a way that appears natural. The Masking liquid itself however is difficult to produce and can not be created on board. When a Deceiver's reservoirs are empty, the ship must be resupplied.

Rules: The Mask Generator works very much like a plasma web. It has a range of 3 hexes, can fire every turn, and fills the target hex with the Mask which will persist there for 20 turns, at which point the mist has dispersed enough where it no longer provides protection.

There is no critical hits for the Mask Reservoir, boxes destroyed can not be used by the Mask Generators. The only critical hit possible for the Mask Generator is the "Range Reduced" critical which subtracts 1 from the maximum range each time the critical is rolled.

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