Projectile weapons Still the most common anti-individual weapons, employing chemicals or electromagnetism to accelerate projectiles to high velocities. Larger forms, especially mass-drivers, are used in interplanetary fighting. The largest projectile weapons are asteroids (which have occasionally been used against planetary targets) and relativistic rocks, projectiles launched using drives that send them into their targets near lightspeed after a long period of acceleration.
Beam weapons Doing damage using
radiative energy or particles is much
harder to make practical in planetary environments than projectile
weapons, and the energy demands require either bulky generators or
photonanotech "light batteries" that can convert stored energy
directly into laser light. Beams are the most common form of
ship-to-ship weapons, although many of the particle-beam type weapons
blur the border between projectiles and beams.
more on
Beam Weapons
Nanoweapons Among the most insidious, versatile and feared types of weapons. The smallest are single nanodevices infiltrating environments, machines or humans, doing subtle manipulations or not-so-subtle replication attacks. The feared goo nanoswarms consist of nanomachine masses (quasi-liquid, dustlike or gaseous) that consume other material to power themselves and multiply - long after the lessons of the solar system Dark Ages many worlds have been devastated by the use of replicating nanoweapons.
Picotech weapons Picotechnology did not produce many anti-individual weapons, but plenty of weapons of mass destruction. Antimatter is widely feared - it makes some very portable and potent bombs, and with a state of the art containment system a multi megaton charge can be hidden in a pocket. Strange matter viruses are capable of imploding planets and entire stars into nuclear density, producing some of the most devastating effects ever used in actual warfare. Wormhole infiltrators consist of microscale wormholes that can be smuggled into enemy territory and be used to insert nanomachines, picotech or suddenly expanded into macroscale wormholes to let through major weaponry or space fleets.
Femtotech weapons Femtotech weapons are the most powerful strategic weapons in existence, able to wipe out entire planets. Fortunately access is limited to the major AI empires, although several of the new groups are becoming capable in this respect. Zero point field bombs exploit zero point energy to do damage, converting everything within their range into an ultra-radioactive quark plasma (which tends to further spread the devastation). Singularity bombs involve the deliberate creation of small black holes, able to tidally disrupt targets or (over longer time) consume planets or stars.
Biotech weapons Biological warfare is an ancient but popular strategy - designer diseases, bionanotech infections targeting only certain species, groups or individuals and genetic tampering sterilising or reprogramming germ cells have all been used. Macroscopic bioweapons like genetically engineered predators have been rarer, but still occur here and there.
Intelligent weapons Bots of various kinds can easily be equipped with weaponry, although programming them to become good fighters is harder. There exist military bots ranging from the nanoscale to systemwide defences networks, and they often integrate cyborgisation or AI on various levels. The most dangerous and risky intelligent weapons are Turing-grade or beyond, making them not just tools but fighters in their own right. Especially dangerous are intelligent replicator weapons, able to build more of themselves and even improve the design.
Information weapons Hacking, cracking and computer viruses are part of the normal arsenal of all powers. Viruses range from mere pieces of scripted code over sophisticated agents to intelligent beings in their own right, able to infiltrate, pervert and possess other systems.
Psychological weapons One of the effects of transhuman intelligence and empathy is the proliferation of mental manipulation intended to coerce or weaken enemies. The weapons range from the subtlest forms of propaganda, media manipulation and meme design to direct mental reprogramming and Gvdel bombs. Especially when applied to the governing AIs psychological weapons can be far more devastating than physical weapons, as demonstrated by the Geteche disaster.
In general, most civilised societies realise the danger weapons of mass destruction or mass manipulation pose, and take steps to limit them. This is one area the high toposophic archailects have apparently settled: most of the truly powerful weapons are kept out of the hands of bionts or vecs, and some of the most awful stuff such as strange matter viruses are apparently outlawed by a kind of "gentlebeing's agreement" (the use of strange matter viruses by the Sagittarius Sphere in the Version War was likely a reason it was dissolved - it is commonly believed that the major AIs behind the Sphere were destroyed by the others for the act). Outlaw empires might of course have at least some such weapons, but know they will be fiercely attacked by an unified front if they use them - obviously, at least.
Aron Tech VX12 Trans-atmospheric Fighter - popular nanotech fighter first created by Aron Tech
AW or AutoWar seed - a missile launched into an opponent's solar system, often without eir knowledge. The emergence of the autowars is sometimes aligned with the arrival of an extra-stellar invasion fleet, but especially against foes of lower tech level autowars are quite capable of taking over or eradicating a system entirely on their own
Boostbombs and Total Conversion bombs Monopole catalysed weaponsElectro Magnetic "Quadrail" Muskets rugged and flexible ballistic weapon with smoothbore or caged barrel versions
Hand Held Lasers -with a description of a 'Battle Laser' handheld model
Hellbore - monopole catalysed plasma beam weapon
Laser Weapons - Types, usage and technical details
Limitations of Nanotech Weapons
MASS: Multimodal Antimatter Strike System - antimatter missiles/x-ray laser weapons
Melee/Close Combat Weapons - A review of some of the different types of Melee or Close Combat Weapons that may be found throughout the terragen sphere
Metric Bombs - powerful and tiny weapons capable of destroying or disrupting a planet or star; rarely used
NCCV: Neutronium Core Combat Vehicle - Ultratech/Transapientech combat swarm weapon employing a stabilized neutronium structure and secondary femtotech weapons.
Optical Phased Array - a technology which can be used for information display and lightshows, as well as for invisibility and a powerful weapon
Particle Beam Weapons - weapons using relativistic streams of subatomic particles
Personal Weapons - Miscellaneous notes on personal weapons available to ordinary sophonts
Plasma Weapons - overview of weapons using plasma
RKKS - the Relativistic Kinetic Kill System
Squirts: Weaponized squirtguns - uses a stream of heavy magnetically projected liquid ejected at high velocity
