The Biphase Charged Particle Cannon
This hull mounted BCPC turret contains a pair of linear accelerators
and an independent drive system for rapid deployment
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The Biphase Charged Particle CannonThis hull mounted BCPC turret contains a pair of linear accelerators and an independent drive system for rapid deployment |
The Biphase Charged Particle Cannon (BCPC or colloquially "BeakPeak" or "BeakPeck", depending on who you ask) is a medium tech, moderate range, cheap energy weapon. It is based on four primary systems: A targeting mount, which controls two linear accelerators linked to opposite feeds on a positron/electron pair generator. The device is capable of firing a tightly coupled stream of alternating charges, with a net 4-radius gap between particles at near light speed. The alternating charges help greatly in maintaining stream coherency on longer-range shots.
Note that the targeting software must take into account local magnetic fields in longer-range aiming, which means that unsurveyed regions can cause the weapon to lose significant amounts of range between a force knowledgeable of local magfield strengths and a interloper force without that knowledge.
These weapons can also be useful in mapping magflux over long distances, but care must be used that a suitably discardable and resilient target be used to prevent secondary damage.
The weapon is not recommended for use against magshielded targets, for obvious reasons.
A more primitive Biphase particle cannon, using electron and proton beams, was developed in the period before interstellar flight in Old Sol System; this weapon was powerful but unbalanced and difficult to use with accuracy.
