ASM-12

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

The (LR)AS(G)M-12 is the newest missile produced by the PXE. Created as complex strike missile that could travel FTL to traverse long distances in a relatively short period of time, it is the ultimate long-range naval strike asset.

While the ASM-12 earns the designation of ASM, it would be impossible to exclude it from an LRASM or LRAGM role. Like most ASM-12's, it is more than capable of not only damaging and destroying ships, but of devastating surface or stationary targets as well. An ASM-12 is essentially a guided drone starship, with coordinates preset for warp. Upon emergence, it activates its thrusters and GDS projector, to actually hit the target.

The ASM-12 is actually a highly complex and sophisticated design. It's only true difference from a starship is lack of life support, but in a sense, it is a starship, an unmanned drone. Equipped with the standardized absorbic armor of most PXE units and basic shielding, it differs from its shorter-range missile counterparts with the presence of a Mk. 5 drive, a GDS projector, EBP's, SSC's, more advanced navigational sensory systems, and MCEG-1. And, at 540 meters, the ASM-12 is the largest PXE combat missile to date, and very nearly rivals the size of the Pisces Class Corvette (and dwarfs even some corvettes, frigates, destroys, and possibly light cruisers of other governments and militaries).

However, its size means it is an easy target for anti-missile defenses, anti-ship defenses, fighters, and capital ships. But the presence of capital ship-scale/grade shielding and armor, and its inconceivable maneuverability (despite its mass) mean that it can either outrun or outlast enemy fire. Additionally, ASM-12's generally stay in warp for as long as possible to avoid confrontation until its proximity to the target is nearly negligible, highly increasing its survivability. Nevertheless, the ASM-12 can be shot down, but not before causing serious damage if so.

The core of the ASM-12's firepower (and power in general) comes from a massive payload of antimatter. While the ASM-12 relies on some of its antimatter for the journey to its target and for power, the MCEG-1 is capable of producing antimatter as well. Upon impact, an ASM-12 may be carry several megagrams of antimatter, capable of utterly devastating entire hemispheres and enemy defense fleets, hence its nicknames "Hellfire", "Fleet-Killer", and "Death From Above".

Specifications:

Model: (LR)AS(G)M-12
Manufacturer: PXE
Produced: 2606 - present
Cost: 2.4 million SPXC

Length: ~540 meters
Beam (including rudders/wings): ~155 meters
Height (equivalent to beam)

Affiliation: PXE Navy
In Service: 2606 - present
Roles: ASM, LRASM, LRAGM

Armaments:
x4 SSC-9's
x16 EBP-1's (PDS)
antimatter payload

Defenses:
15.7 - 48.1 cm absorbic armor

ASG-3
HTSG-2
DSG-1 (prototype)

Communications:
MLC-XXX
CIS-1
CCIS

Intelligent Systems:
SANDAS

Warp Propulsion: Mk. 5 drive
Warp Capabilities: WF 9.9...

Sublight Propulsion:
GDS-1 (gravitation drive singularity)
x4 SLPT-27's
x8 SLPT-28's
x1 SLPT-29

Powerplant:
x3 MCEG-1's
x1 MCEG-2

Spoiler:

There are a lot of things I should probably explain, but I'm just kind of out right now and too lazy to write up a full, proper technical description. In addition, GIMP was being a ************** and not responding while downloading fonts, so I couldn't get any nice pics up. My apologies for that.

IK that a lot of people will obviously say this is OP, but before you say this, remember that this thing is A. While actually extremely cheap, the fallout following their launch by other groups are enough to discourage a random launch in small skirmishes. B. Antimatter is more than capable of destroying entire planets, so the fact that it can destroy fleets and cities should be no surprise at all. C. ASM-12's have never been and probably never will be used in minor conflicts. D. The ASM is essentially a drone starship. The fact that it lacks any weapon emplacements should actually be a surprise.

So please remember to think your OP criticisms through before you write it. Yes, I do appreciate constructive criticism (especially on the model itself) but consider the aforementioned points first. I would have elaborated more, but I'm a bit short on time and motivation, so yeah.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

On the model: Very nice! I like the Apollo-style rocket design, like something right out of a modern space program, which is cool. The interior detailing is certainly a plus.

On balance: as Jace and I yelled at you about the other day, realism takes a backseat when balance is insanely breached. I feel the "Antimatter is super-powerful" argument isn't applicable here; normal ST photon torpedoes actually have several-hundred-kilogram antimatter warheads, and that was several hundred years ago. At this point, warheads that size are probably par for the course. So basically, what I'm saying is that t,his thing likely has the same firepower as a single, normal- 3-meter long ST torpedo, the ones fired in 5 or 6 bursts in every engagement in the series. Also, the idea of a cheap weapon that can effectively end entire fleets, even if used sparingly, really is OP beyond redemption, and I think most people would agree with that.

Not that I'm attacking you or anything, just that it's kind of really OP.

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Well yes, we will say it's OP because, well, it is OP. xD First of all, something like this would never be cheap. An FTL drive of any kind would automatically make this far more expensive than any normal weapon, and the fact that you have weapons, drives, powerplants, and an antimatter payload (which alone would cost more than most starships), means that this would cost more than many similar-sized vessels.

This weapon brings up something else I've been considering. Antimatter is too powerful. As you've made very clear, it can destroy planets and stuff, I'm sure you have a way of making it cheaper, and apparently the only downfall is that they're too scary to use in minor conflict. It seems to me that antimatter is very close to today's nuclear and biological weapons, on a larger scale. I should think that, similar to these weapons, antimatter weapons would be considered entirely unethical and never be used. I propose that this be "enacted" of sorts; rather, that we set our own Geneva Convention banning antimatter from use as a weapon, ESPECIALLY things like this, the rough equivalent of an ICBM capable of basically ignoring defenses and destroying anything it wants almost immediately with no consequences except fallout.

Two more things-- first, let's not make this an argument about the ethics of nuclear/biological weapons. That's something else entirely, and would never end or decide anything. Second, please don't freak out and talk about how heavily your group relies on antimatter, or how you don't want to change it because you'd have to come up with new weapons. You can still use antimatter drives, power plants, whatever; just not weapons.

Also, just because I proposed this doesn't make it law, so please, everybody, let's not overthink this. I simply say that antimatter weapons such as this, are too powerful and unethical; if everyone adopted these weapons PXR just introduced, everything about interstellar warfare would change and we'd have to revamp everything.

You put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword, and we'll try to kill each other like civilized people.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

Perhaps we should retroactively change the warhead in ST torpedoes to something else? They're SUPPOSED to be antimatter, as I just said, but they're portrayed as WAY less powerful than that. I guess ST shields are really powerful or something? IDK I remember something about how, in DS9, the Feds/Klingons attacked Cardassian/Dominion worlds with planetary bombardments, and they were pretty effective (if not out-of-character for the former).

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Well, we can't really use the argument "that was hundreds of years ago." If age=power, then anything related to Star Wars should be exponentially more powerful than anything ST, because SW tech has been around for tens of thousands of years. Secondly, I see two solutions to this-- either we agree to the ST precedent for the power of antimatter weapons (your average torpedo) or we agree to a sort of "Geneva convention" banning these all-powerful antimatter weapons from warfare.

The second one could also be used to set up good roleplay villains!

[Star-HunterCEO]

The model itself is actually quite aesthetically pleasing - there's a nice range of details and varied parts usage. I especially like how you constructed the forward section and used wheel hubs to join the different modules. The overall design strikes me as a sort of super-modern rocket craft.

Concerning the functionality, I have a simple question: what are the weaknesses of this weapon?

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

@Tetra: Good, glad you liked the "modular" rocket design! While the missile is not actually modular at all (in terms of flight), I did base it off of modern ICBM and ASM's, so I'm glad that it turned out that way. Thank you!

If that's so, then the producers had no idea what they were talking about. Or it's for plot. If they were truly antimatter torps, then why did the Feds have so much trouble with...well, just about everything? I'd assume that they would be all powerful and have no problems with the Borg, or Dominion, or skirmishes with other species. And, since I've been told that most ST civilizations are older than humanity, I'd assume they would have antimatter weapons, and probably something much more powerful than that.

@Supe: Then shouldn't my fighters be just as expensive? All of them are equipped with warp drives, and nobody has any issue with that. I'd assume that 600 years of using LHC-style tech and antimatter, it would be quite cheap in the 2600's. Considering that we have nanufactories, molecular assemblers, subatomic processors, and replicators, me putting a price-tag on everything is simply to give people a scale, not an actual price. In the 2600's, there shouldn't be any limiting factors to growth. Considering we can just recycle atoms, you could, in theory, manufacture an endless amount of anything.

And no, it cannot destroy planets. At least, not in the literal sense of a detonation of a megagram of antimatter. You would need much more antimatter than a single or several dozen megagrams to devastate a planet. Yes, you would wipe out most life and structures, but the planet? No. And yes, it is exactly that. And yet, many of the world's major powers have nuclear weapons. Who knows what types of biological and chemical weapons? However, have we ever used them since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for military destructive purposes (aside form testing)? No. And you're right: such a destructive weapon should be more than capable of ending wars like that in Afghanistan and the fight against ISIS today. But what would the impact on human civilization be? The fallout (no pun intended) both politically and economically would be disastrous! It would spark an all out world war, which would most likely result in the extinction of humanity. It's not the cost, or the practicality that prevents such WMD's. It's the fear. And the fallout. Fear is the driving factor not to use these, and the repercussions would be catastrophic.

And you are right: interstellar warfare, warfare itself would inevitably be changed. It's not me, it's you and the others that aren't accepting it. When the gun was fully developed and began being implemented, did people refuse this? Did they say, "NO, I'm never using this cause it's different!"? Maybe at first, but those that didn't accept this paid for it with their lives. It doesn't matter whether you want it to change or not, because it will. If you want to continue using your current weapons, that's fine by me. I never forced you to change. But you will pay for that decision.

*A quick note here as well: If you want balance to be replaced by realism, fine by me. But in the real world, there is no balance, no fair. Too bad if you think its "unfair" or "unbalanced" because in reality, there's no such thing. Whoever has the edge in science and technology and intuition and creativity ultimately wins, not the one who calls that technology unfair. Simply put: survival of the fittest.

@Tetra: As I said earlier, the developers/producers probably had no idea what they were talking about.

@Supe: The ST torpedoes I refuse to believe are antimatter. And at your second statement: that's fine by me. Because guess what? The PXE is affiliated with no one. Their allegiance lies with no one. They will say that they will stop the production and dispose of all antimatter weapons. But they won't. PXE tactics call for victory, not petty issues like "fairness" and "ethics". Because in war, there's no such thing. Victory is the only thing that is fair and ethical. If victory calls for the usage of antimatter weapons, trust me that PXE will use them, whether you like it or not. You can create your "Geneva convention". You can ban antimatter weapons. But trust me on this: PXE will continue to manufacture and develop AM weapons. If the PCG, if any group, if all governments and militaries want to unite to attack and destroy the PXE to end its manufacturing of AM weapons, that would be unfortunate. Obviously we would lose. But PXE would ensure that it inflicts as many casualties as possible against the enemy(ies), both civilian, and military.

@S-H: Thank you! I'm glad you liked the design. The forward section was probably the hardest to construct, so I'm glad you like it.

Concerning your second question/comment/concern/statement. Just hope that PXE fears the fallout of the implementation of an ASM-12 enough it won't use it. Or destroy every single missile silo in PXE territory, or hit it while it's leaving home before it warps. Best bet would be to try to beat it down, but keep in mind emergence will be very close to objective, as close as possible at the least. Won't really give specifics obviously, since you're asking a very direct question that can be used against the PXE (), but if you can knock out its scanners and sensory or cut off communications with MLC. Best way to do this is temporarily weaken the shields and send a strong radiation/magnetic storm to cloud it. Keep in mind that SANDAS is still there which will limit it's "creativity" but will guide it to objective. AI's are limited, but are designed to fulfill the mission. However, if MLC is cutoff, even momentarily, take advantage of the limited AI functions.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not, BY ANY MEANS, trying to be rude or disrespectful. If I came across that way, I apologize now. Please remember I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I am biased (well duh, I built it xD), so I'm trying my best to defend it. However, I hope all of you understand that I'm not trying to sound arrogant, disrespectful, or angry at anyone or usergroup at all. I hope I didn't come off like that, but if I did, my sincere apologies. Really sorry if I did right there.

Also, while this is probably off topic, I request that this be allowed to continue since I think it'd be very interesting to see how this turns out and Supe's idea of a "Geneva convention". So yeah, I guess this can be kind of a "general discussion" thing.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

If that's so, then the producers had no idea what they were talking about. Or it's for plot. If they were truly antimatter torps, then why did the Feds have so much trouble with...well, just about everything? I'd assume that they would be all powerful and have no problems with the Borg, or Dominion, or skirmishes with other species. And, since I've been told that most ST civilizations are older than humanity, I'd assume they would have antimatter weapons, and probably something much more powerful than that.

Very likely the former. Also, I took that from the ST technical guide, which is technically non-canon (though I don't think it actually contradicts canon in any way, so it might as well be). Also, I'm pretty sure the Feds (which are a conglomerate of races with varying tech levels) are supposed to be the most advanced (except the Borg, which could easily take over the galaxy were it not for ST's trademark bad screenwriting).

In general: the whole idea of if-you-don't-also-do-it-it's-not-my-fault thing is honestly a bit noobish. You're essentially saying that EVERYONE else is wrong and you're right. If you want to make your stuff grounded in RL, fine, but don't impose that on everyone else. If you want to make some kind of self-propelled kamikaze drone*, that's also fine- but don't make it so powerful that NOTHING could counter it. No one can just be like "Hey, I have all this powerful crap because SHUT UP, and if you don't like it, come to MY level," when there's an already-established status-quo. EVERYTHING has a downside, a (especially with a faction like the PXE), goodwill of the parent faction doesn't count. Frigates are fast, versatile cheap, yet lack hitting power of any kind and are rather weak; flagships are extremely expensive and unique, but are vastly more powerful than comparative vessels. Realism is nice when it isn't so overpowering, but here it is. rememember, the point here is not to have the BEST STUFF EVAR; it's to have fun, and at least some semblance of balance is necessary for that. This, on the other hand, is more-or-less a "press-button-to-automatically-win" thing, which is almost entirely unacceptable.

IDK; I'm tired, and should be working on HW and stuff. I might write more later, might not; will have to see.

*I'm disappointed you didn't mention that in the description, BTW.

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

@Tetra: And yet, you are saying that I am wrong and you are right. You guys are all basically forcing me to quit using antimatter. What's so bad about it? The only reason you're saying that is because you guys (in general) have no reasonable way to counter it, so by saying it's "OP" and "unrealistic", you don't have to even deal with the issue. (at least from what I'm getting) If it were you using antimatter weapons, then it would be perfectly fine, since you're the so-called majority. And I'm not forcing you to use it, I don't remember me saying you had to use it at all, and TBCH, I could careless. IDC if you use it at all, but as I said, I will use it, especially since its destructive capabilities are rooted IRL not some fantasy super magic laser gun than can destroy ships because it can. Antimatter is real, and so are the means to prove and produce it, and so is the scientific research to back it up. If you don't like antimatter, then don't use it. But I will use it, since no matter what you argue, you can't deflect its sheer effectiveness.

And as I said, politics and fallout. TBH, I could completely ignore those two, but those give me an excuse () not to use them randomly. Nuclear missiles are the press-button-to-automatically-win" weapons of today, and for me its antimatter. So if you want to go on fantasizing about fairness and balance and unrealism, go on ahead. Nuclear missiles are OP. Biological weapons are OP. Chemical weapons are OP. Does anybody talk about fairness and balance? Probably on the outside. Do they actually dispose of them? Probably not. Likewise here. I rely on realism. And saying something is balance and OP, especially something like antimatter where we know its destructive properties, is IMHO, plain noobish. That's naive and unrealistic, and, as I said, let history tell the story. When the gun was introduced to armies, those that refused to accept or acquire them died out. I'm not forcing other people to either use them or not, as I clearly pointed out in my previous post.

One more note, how can you argue that something is OP like this? Something that has scientific routes, that is low-tech (come on, 21st century stuff? ), and yet you say it's OP. 600 years of development, and the antimatter is still so hard to produce? I don't see anybody arguing about instant messaging (quantum entanglement) or somehow instantaneous warp travel. What you say is OP might be something I find is not. And considering its serious scientific routes, I don't find this OP at all, something that has had 600 years to be improved.

And yes Tetra, I apologize for discluding that.

And no, this is not meant to be offensive or anything like that.

And yes, I'm tired, so I probably made a bunch of incoherent sentences, and as Tetra puts them, "speeling" errors, so sorry about that. It was all Tetra's fault.

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Well, then I suppose the logical solution here would be for every faction to make their own versions of this weapon, with very similar specs, and either go through the whole process of building better and better ones in a perpetual cold war until we get bored of building the same thing over and over again, or assume that that's happened and forget these exist and keep building starships. xD I wasn't asking PXE to stop this, I was asking YOU to stop this, just because it's going to launch us on a long and boring route in which we all build ICBMs and never use them.

Also, a comment on your continued use of "age" as an indicator of power, which I addressed before-- staahhhhp. xD If we're going by age, not only will SW tech be MASSIVELY more powerful than anything anyone else could possibly come up with, but antimatter weapons will have been countered and their effect diminished until they're no better than any other weapon. After all, if your 600 years can make FTL and antimatter cheap, I'm sure SW's 15,000+ years can make them pointless. The only reason it hasn't is 1) because 1980's minds had a hard time imagining the future, and 2) because that would be no fun, and we would have no reason to be building starships. Going by time, why don't I put superlasers on all my larger ships? The Eclipse and Eclipse II had them, so it would be perfectly reasonable for me to do so, and I could obliterate basically anything that exists. The same could be said for the Sun Crusher, too, which would allow me to send any sun supernova with the press of a button and a cheap torpedo. But I don't, because it's no fun to put a Vape-o-Matic on my ships, even which I could easily justify it. So please, don't use age as your reasoning. xD

When it comes down to it, let's face it: there will probably never be starships like we're building here. We as humanity are already working on teleportation, something that could be as little as twenty years down the road. The fact that we're using starships at all is a bit unrealistic, so why use pure realism as a basis for a weapon that could very well turn this forum into a boring and frustrating version of the real world? If we ignore your ASM-12, then one day we'll be having a perfectly normal roleplay and then you'll be like TAAAANK MISSIIIIIILE and destroy all the things. If we counter it, then you'll counter those, and we'll counter those, and on and on until, like I said, we have a cold war and nobody has fun.

I'm not asking you to stop this because it's unrealistic or OP, I'm asking you to stop it because I'd rather keep building starships.

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

@Supe: I don't remember the PCG ever being part of the SW universe. And only loosely based off of the ST verse. If SW has been around for so long, and is so technologically advanced, I'm surprised they haven't reached the Vinge singularity yet! (Of course, I'm surprised the PCG-verse's species in general haven't either) And yet, why not? The only reason they didn't was for plot, not for practicality. There is no limit to how much energy you can release in a laser, so the Death Star's super laser is more than reasonable.

And age as reasoning? I don't consider the PCG-verse of either the SW or ST universe. Maybe loosely based off of, but by far separate. I base it off of what we know today and then add in a bunch of random crap () so it sounds like it makes sense. I *try to* base it off of realism, and now you're telling me to base it off of SW, a science FICTION movie(s)? And everything else in the SW franchinse of course. xD

As for your last part, I agree that nothing today will be realistic, because we will most likely already have reached the Vinge singularity and transcended. The next generation of exploration starships wills be unmanned nano bots, not capital-scale warships. And if they do come into use, it'll probably look like a large sphere (gyroscope) or in the form of a rotating vessel with solar panels.

As for the other part, I never said you can't. The ASM-12 is a starship, a robotic, unmanned drone. And you can just continue buildings starships. I don't remember saying I had a problem with that.

But does that mean I'm going to take this down? No. Call it OP and ask all you want, but I'm not getting rid of something that I put almost 9 hours of work in just to let you guys butcher it and delete it. That, and I'm enjoying this debate/discussion. XD

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Apologies, I wasn't saying that we were in the SW universe. The PCG-verse, from what I've always understood and general consensus, is based in the ST universe as far as planets and basic history goes, but at the same time we use species, planets, characters, and aspects of all kinds of other sci-fis, especially Star Wars. I wasn't saying that you should base your reasoning on SW, I was pointing out why you shouldn't use age as your reasoning for more powerful weapons because we use some aspects of SW. Again, the reason why I wouldn't put superlasers on all my ships, even if it's perfectly reasonable, is because it isn't any fun to do so. The problem here is that we're trying to use advanced technology in some areas without advancing in other areas, to fit our super cool but altogether impractical vision of the future, which means that sometimes, even when you have a great idea that could be really powerful, you have to either ignore it and move on for the sake of fitting that vision, or find a way to seriously balance it out.

Although, perhaps I overestimate the effect the ASM-12 would have on warfare. As a matter of fact, I should probably just announce right now that from now on, every DI ship (or rather, those meant for DI's asset protection force, not those meant for the market) will now be supplied with an antimatter payload, which can be armed and then detonated if the need ever arises. You DID say they were cheap, after all.

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

@Supe: Ahh, I see. TBCH, I have no idea what the PCG-verse is, so your explanation helped me quite a bit. xD Still, balance over practicality is a concept I have yet to grasp, but I guess I'll just temporarily give up.

As for overestimating it, take it as you will. In fact, considering that many ships use antimatter for a power source (at least I'm assuming), it's probably a good idea. Concerning cheapness; if you have a great way to produce it, then it's cheap (like anything else). And as I said earlier, money isn't exactly an issue in the era of modern molecular assemblers, subatomic assemblers, nanufactories, and replicators. PXE's massive demand requires more supply, and MCEG's are probably the most common repetitive sites basically anywhere. PXE warships are a good way to take as many enemies out as possible upon destruction, where the EMSF's are deliberately deactivated to detonate the AM. Essentially kamikazes, on a much larger, much more devastating scale.

I will however point out that producing AM is much easier than actually storing it. If you don't want your ships randomly blowing up, I'd suggest using both EMSF's, fullerenes, and Penning traps. Antimatter is volatile, so storage is key, as PXE learned the hard way in the late 26th century towards the very early years of the 27th.

[Andre TholvelCEO]

I don't think we have an exact definition, to be honest. Several have tried to outline the history/timelines, but I don't think anyone's gotten it put down in stone... The only thing I'm sure of is that we're based in the ST "universe," as a sort of starting point for our tech and premise for our actions. However, not only do we use elements of many science fictions (especially SW), but it seems that anything put down in a roleplay or story by a member of our universe, whether posted or not, is ALSO considered PCG canon.

It occurs to me that your AM is not far off from the old Omega Particles that made a splash in the PCG back on the LUCL. I wish I knew how that had been resolved. xD

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Oh boy.... well, I don't think you're actually at each other's throats, just at each other's tech's throats'.


Okay... I'm going to try to keep this short.


1: Antimatter weapons have existed in Trek (and Trek/Lego are the MAIN elements of the PCG-verse) since before Captain Kirk's time. My guess as to why it's not en end all weapon is that antimatter powered shields are probably pretty powerful too. (Fed ships use matter/antimatter powered warp cores) That, and it's a plot piece. So there is an absolute 0% chance of any convention banning them. EVERYONE has them, except those that have something better. Such as (the following are all ST canon weapons) quantum torpedoes, gravimetric torpedoes, transphasic torpedoes, subspace weapons, or tricobalt weapons.


2: Advancement. Supe, you have a major fallacy in your argument. You use a fictional universe as factual evidence against time creating advancements in tech. If you look at the real world, you will see that the more advanced tech gets (often through war) the faster tech advances. The "well the SW-verse is 15,000 years old and it's tech hasn't changed" is meaningless here because we are NOT in the SW verse. And that aspect of the SW verse comes from writers wanting to use the SW movie tech for distant past, or future, stories. Tech just doesn't stay the same in the real world. Two hundred PLUS years of advancement would mean VERY significant advancement in technology.


3: There is a precedent for self powered, AI controlled super weapons in the Trek-verse. Although the Trek verse is not the ONLY universe included within the PCG-verse, in my understanding, everything Trek is canon here. Granted, the Trek versions were both less than a hundred meters in length, but it is quite possible. The tech is possible in the universe we exist in.


4: There comes the question: "is it realistic within this universe." Some things never change, but others do based on what's considered "normal within the suspended belief reality that is present in this particular fiction." Wiping out entire fleets seems... pretty insanely O. But there ARE other PCG-verse canon technologies that are capable of doing this. EG, subspace weapons, red matter, WAVE Motion Cannon, Omega Molecules (those are canon Trek BTW, I think that "Omega Particle" is just another name for Omega Molecules. Omega is so powerful in canon Trek, that the use of it is banned by ALL major factions. It is HIGHLY unstable, and can prevent warp over a MASSIVE area of subspace if it explodes. Only Captains and above even KNOW it exists. And it MUST be destroyed by experts if found. S-H turned it into a clean super energy source of sorts, and one that could be "safely" used... by a VERY select few people as it is RARE.)
So, as with any super-weapon, it ultimately comes down to writing/numbers used. If the PCG used a hundred Wave Motion cannons to obliterate every enemy vessel in existence... it MAY be physically possible within this reality, but it would make for a poor story as it avoids the use of tactics. However, the strategic use of a COUPLE wave motion cannons can really spice up a story, but it has consequences. Other factions become angry, and it could trigger a super weapon war that could wipe out all life in the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The same exact thing could be said of the ASM-12, or any other mega weapon. It really comes down to how well the weapon is handled by the author. I personally think that a dozen or so ASM-12's could add a lost of interest to the conflict. But a thousand of them would be something of an insta-win button, just like AA can't, in good sport, use a thousand mega subspace weapons. Because I don't believe that these are outrageously, noobishly OP, only borderline insane OP, I'm not going to ask Mirage to tone them down... yet. If they become the Staples That Was Easy I just fired a hundred mega missiles button... well... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I hope we don't come to it though.


5: The idea of "balance" is not that all sides have the same tech/weapons/money. Rather, it is that everyone is constrained by the same limitations so that no one becomes the unrealistically overkill faction. The real world isn't fair, but everyone can use/acquire/build/steal the same tech, under the same laws of physics. Armies are made up of different numbers of differently trained, funded, equipped, armed troops. But they're all human.



So much for this being short.



As for the model/design/idea... I really like it! It's a great build. Using it against ANY serious faction would likely trigger a war that would kill everyone (in all factions) because of massive retaliatory/counter retaliatory/counter counter retaliatory/counter counter counter retaliatory/etc super weapon use. And any faction that learns of its existence will likely enter an arms race with PXE immediately, but it is undeniably a DEVASTATINGLY POWERFUL weapon, and a good design. Is it OP? Yes. Is the atom bomb out of the secret testing? Yes. Was this the first insanely OP PCG-verse super weapon ever? No. Will it be the last super weapon? Not if I have anything to say about it... the arms race has begun... in secret of course probably not. Would I ever want to see it used? No. But is is a big stick? Yes. And big sticks can be good, so long as the aren't a seventy pound/31 kg ninety year old woman wielding a Giant Redwood, big sticks. Overall, I cannot say "great work" because no such weapon can be great, but I cannot say that it is "terrible" either, because no such art in bricks can be terrible. So I will only say that is is... impressive and utterly powerful.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

The idea of "balance" is not that all sides have the same tech/weapons/money. Rather, it is that everyone is constrained by the same limitations so that no one becomes the unrealistically overkill faction. The real world isn't fair, but everyone can use/acquire/build/steal the same tech, under the same laws of physics. Armies are made up of different numbers of differently trained, funded, equipped, armed troops. But they're all human.

...I have to write that down...

I should probably write some kind of mini-essay about my "balance", just so people know what I'm talking about.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

I have no idea if that means that you approve or are just annoyed by what I consider a balanced playing field.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

Yeah, I was kinda vague. Essentially, I agree with the general gist of what you're saying, but perhaps not so much as the specifics.

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