The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Starfire-PD laser battery

Description
The Starfire/Skyfire-PD laser battery was a menacing point-defense system designed to provide all-angle protection from starfighters and incoming missiles. Originally designed for Yanibar Guard Fleet usage, the Sunburst turret that provided the firepower for the Starfire-PD was also adapted by the Yanibar Guard Army as the Skyfire-PD to replace their double-laser cannon turrets and equip their Reaper AA-Mod droid walkers.

The Starfire-PD's heavily-armored central component contained a crew compartment for its eight gunners, along with a substantial backup power supply and auxiliary shield generators. While in naval use the Starfire-PD was always tied into the power grid of a capital ship or a military installation, the auxiliary systems allowed it to keep firing for a limited amount of time even if main power flow was disrupted. Several complex power regulators were installed to prevent damaging overloads or feedback surges in the Starfire-PD's power flow. The control systems were designed such that even if one or two turrets were knocked out, the others could still fire due to isolated and redundant power flow systems.

The Starfire also contained its own sensor grid with effective detecting ranges that could pick up a concussion missile at three times its maximum range. For optimum effectiveness, they were always tied into a base or ship's sensor network though. Starfire-PDs were much more effective when tied into a fire-control network. Starfire-PDs could also receive and transmit targeting information from other ships or vehicles in the area.

For armament, the Starfire-PD boasted three Sunburst turrets. The Sunburst mounted two repeating triple-laser cannons that could pivot, traverse, and rotate independently. While some concepts early in the design phase had called for quad-lasers, the weight, size, and power demands proved to be too much. The triple laser cannons were capable of firing twice per second each, so each Sunburst turret could put out a dozen laser cannon bolts per second. When connected to a warship or base's power supply, the Sunburst could sustain this stream of laser cannon bolts for up to three minutes before needing to cool down for at least twenty seconds. Smart use of staggering the fire from each cannon and allowing the coolant system to partially cool off the weapon could prolong a slightly-reduced rate of fire for even longer.

In addition, the Sunburst also carried a secondary weapon designed to cut through missiles, suicide craft, or vessels with heavy ray shielding. Starfire-PDs that were mounted on capital ships carried a electromagnetic launcher that fired flak shells which exploded into clouds of shrapnel either at a set range or in proximity to targets. The shells also contained an EMP burst designed to disrupt guidance, navigation, and control systems. Terrestrial Skyfire-PDs carried a sonic cannon. The blast radius/wave radius of the flak and sonic cannons, along with the ability to fire these weapons in bursts allowed for a relatively large volume to be saturated with flak shells or sonic bursts in order to defeat mass missile or torpedo attacks.

Two different configurations of the Starfire-PD were developed. The first was designed to cover all vectors with equal coverage and was known as the StarfirePDE. The second had the third turret elevated so that it could be brought to bear along with the other two along a specific vector array for intensified focus fire along certain angles. This variant was known as the Starfire-PDF. As the Skyfire was a single Sunburst turret with a power and control hub attached, it had only one configuration.

History
The Starfire-PD was developed from 14 to 16 ABY after Yanibar Guard Intelligence agents analyzed the Battles of Nam Chorios and Adumar, where starfighters and other small craft had disproportionately high impact on the outcomes of both battles. While the Imperial-era of mass TIE fighter assaults was waning, advanced New Republic starfighters such as the E-wing or K-wing could either elude or shrug off defensive fire while inflicting serious damage to capital ships. Torpedo and missile runs had proven particularly devastating in New Republic campaigns. With the rise of the New Republic and their emphasis on elite starfighter pilots flying advanced craft, the Yanibar Guard put more emphasis on devising weapons to counter them, viewing the New Republic as just as much of a threat as the Empire. Since Yanibar Guard Fleet doctrine emphasized defending against superior numerical odds, losing capital ships to starfighters was deemed unacceptable.

To answer the threat of starfighter assault, the Starfire-PD was developed, boasting over twice as much firepower as existing quad-laser cannon turrets mounted on YGF capital ships. The first ship to be refitted with the Starfire-PD was the Juyo-class battlecruiser Lightbearer. Eventually, Soresu-class Fleet Defenders, Jar'Kai-class carriers, Shien-class assault frigates, and Niman-class cruiser-carrier were equipped with the Starfire. Refits of these weapons were completed by 20 ABY, though they saw relatively little combat use due to the reluctance of the Yanibar Guard to commit their fleet to battle. In the few instances where they were employed, the Starfire-PD enjoyed a 39% shootdown rate of targeted starfighters and a shootdown rate of 56% against targeted missile or torpedoes.

This percentage was deemed unacceptably low and anti-starfighter and anti-missile drills were intensified until gunners became more adept at using the sophisticated weapon. Fleetwide competitions between gunnery crews were arranged with expansive rewards for the best crews. By 25 ABY, the Starfire was achieving 53% shootdown rates against starfighters and 68% against targeted missiles and torpedoes. Against larger craft like Skipray Blastboats or K-wings (often represented by YGF Valkyrie starbombers in drills), Starfire-PD batteries had shootdown rates of nearly 80% while still deflecting or destroying around 60% of the incoming missiles or torpedoes. The weapon was deemed successful, but only as long as gunnery crews continued to hone their skills. All in all, YGF was quite pleased to have such an effective deterrent to starfighter attacks that had long been an effective weapon against capital ships.

Appearances

 * Force Exile V: Warrior

Behind the scenes
The Starfire/Skyfire-PD was created by Force Exile Series author Atarumaster88 with SolidWorks modeling/rendering specifically in mind. The turrets were designed to have multiple axes of rotation and Atarumaster88 decided to animate them using the in-built animation function in SolidWorks. While Atarumaster88 had attempted animation of SolidWorks models previously with the S-4 ordnance launcher, his efforts had been thus far unsuccessful. Modeling the Starfire took approximately twenty hours to complete.

The design of the Starfire/Skyfire was influenced by the Phalanx CIWS formerly employed by the United States Navy as well as Gatling and Shredder turrets in Command & Conquer. In particular, the tri-turret configuration and dual-cannon-per-turret configuration are derived from Command & Conquer.

One original concept for the Starfire was a single turret that carried two mini-missile launchers along with two repeating laser cannons. This concept later evolved into a plasma-shell firing weapon that could also load the shells onto cluster missiles for longer-ranged defense. Atarumaster88 later simplified this down into a pair of repeating lasers and a secondary weapon, emphasizing point-defense rather than a long-range ammunition-based weapon.

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