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Weapon Types
Machine Gun: Machine Guns sometimes have 1 barrel, like those carried by ground troops, and sometimes they have multiple barrels, like those on vehicles, but they basically all end up doing the same thing: hurling metal bullet at high velocities towards a target.
Laser Rifle: A Laser Rifle focuses a beam of light into a much tighter and condensed beam. When the beam of light exits the firing tube whatever it touches will immediately be burned. Laser Weapons can pierce metal with ease. Their only downfall is that they require several seconds of charge time between each shot. (Extremely rare in the UNSC, typically only used by special OPs units)
Cannon: Cannons are essentially a gun on a larger scale and they only have 1 shot before they have to reload.
Homing Missile: A smaller Missile equipped with a DRADIS that allows it to chase it's target. Homing Missiles are powerful enough to take down lightly armored vehicles and aircraft.
Concussion Missile: A Concussion Missile is a larger Missile and also has a DRADIS, but has a longer range and more hitting power than a Homing Missile.
Rail Gun: Rail Guns use magnets to accelerate a round ring of metal to very high velocities. Rail Guns have greater range, accuracy, hitting power, and rate of fire than normal Machine Guns, but they take are larger too.
Laser Cannon: A Laser Cannon is just like a Laser Rifle, except on a much larger scale, and thus more powerful.
Lance: A Lance is another kind of Laser Weapon, but while Laser Cannons fire a small ball-like beam of light, Lances fire a line of Light. Lances are superior at piercing metal, and do much more damage to their target, but they also require more energy than other laser weapons, and so they are usually only used as artillery for vehicles and starships.
MAC Cannon: MAC Cannons are similar to other Cannons, except they are much more powerful. Most MAC Cannons are on board ships and use magnets to accelerate a projectile the size of garbage truck towards it's target. Shields have limited to no effect against these weapons, but they also come with a price: their recharge time between each shot is 5 minutes as they require a lot of power.
Nuclear Warhead: Nuclear Warheads are the same size as Concussion Missiles, but they have no DRADIS and instead that extra space is used for the larger explosive device and for a larger engine to traverse longer distances.

Other Technology
Space Mine: Some mines have normal explosives while others have Nuclear Warheads on board. But they all have a few things in common: they all have a DRADIS for detecting targets, they have a Radio to deactivate if someone sends a special code (some people remove this part though), and they all have powerful maneuvering thrusters to move themselves into position to destroy the target. Also, if there are many Mines together their computers can be networked together to coordinate their attacks and to maximize damage. They look like this:

UNSC ships have Hyperdrives and Shields on all of them except fighters and drop ships. Their Shields are strong on larger ships and moderate on smaller ones, but they all have a slow recharge time. Their Hyperdrives have a slow recharge time, especially on older ships. The only UNSC ships that can enter and fly in an atmosphere are fighters, drop ships, and troop transports. Finally Humans feel that they should put normal armor on their starships as well, and so when their Shields fail they still have something to fall back on for a bit.

Name: Starfury Attack Fighter
Appearance:
Weapons: 2 Machine Guns, 12 Homing Missiles
Description: Starfurys are the basic fighter of the UNSC. They combine good speed and maneuverability with lots of missiles.

Name: Starviper Interceptor
Appearance:
Weapons: 2 Machine Guns, 6 Homing Missiles
Description: Starvipers are the Interceptors of the UNSC fighter corp. Their armor and weapons are minimal, but they have incredible speed and maneuverability that is unmatched among human aircraft.

Name: Valkyrie Bomber
Appearance:
Weapons: 3 Machine Guns, 4 Concussion Missiles, 4 Homing Missiles, Bombs
Description: Valkyries are small bombers that pack a heavy punch. They are deployed from carriers to devastate key points on enemy ships and bases. They also have a rear gunner seat manning a machine gun to provide extra protection.

Name: Longsword Strategic Strike Fighter
Appearance:
Weapons: 4 Machine Guns, 8 Homing Missiles or 8 Nuclear Warheads
Description: The Longsword has been in development as a long range fighter with Hyperdrive capabilities. It also has DRADIS absorbing materials which make it more difficult to detect. It's missions would be to exit Hyperspace on the edge of a system and then make a series of surgical strikes before jumping away. In theory the enemy would not know what hit them until it was over. The Longsword is not very nimble and as such it is ineffective in dog-fighting.

Name: Drop Ship
Appearance:
Weapons: 2 Machine Guns
Description: UNSC Drop Ships are big and slow making them very vulnerable to anti aircraft defenses. They do have heavy armor, but that usually isn't enough, so it is custom to destroy as much of the enemy anti air defenses as possible, and then send in Drop Ships with a fighter escort. Drop Ships are capable of carrying Pumas and Scorpion Tanks.

Name: Troop Transport
Appearance:
Weapons: 4 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles
Description: Troop Transports carry large groups of soldiers and artillery to a planet and then serve as bases and supply depots during the ground campaign.

Name: Athena Class Cruiser
Appearance:
Weapons: 18 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles, Nuclear Warheads, 4 Lances, 4 Laser Cannons
Description: Athenas are the apart of a new generation of Capital Ships that carry Energy Weapons. They have good shields, armor, and speed. They also have a pair of hangars that allow them to deploy aircraft during a battle.

Name: Leviathan Class Battleship
Appearance:
Weapons: 34 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles, Nuclear Warheads, 8 Lances, 8 Laser Cannons, MAC Cannon
Description: Leviathans are powerful Battleships. They have a large arsenal of both traditional and next-gen Energy Weapons. Their armor and shields can take quite a beating before they are penetrated but these ships are also quite slow and bulky. They also have a hangar to deploy fighters.

Name: Behemoth Class Carrier
Appearance:
Weapons: 6 Lances, 8 Laser Cannons, 46 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles, Nuclear Warheads
Description: Behemoths are named because of their immense size. These ships can carry up to 200 fighters in their well protected hull. Behemoths are the slowest ships in the modern UNSC Navy, but faster than the older Battlestars.

Name: Spartan Class Super Carrier
Appearance:
Weapons: 50 Lances, 100 Laser Cannons, 400 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles, Nuclear Warheads
Description: The Spartan Super Carriers have been years in the making. They are designed like a Spartan, where one can hold off many ships on it's own. Their fighter compliment is 1000 and they also have a large compliment of ground forces to land on planets. These ships are very expensive to produce so only a few are scheduled for development.

Name: Starbase
Appearance:
Weapons: 300 Rail Guns, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles
Description: Starbases were built as primarily as space colonies for Human Colonists and because they are colonies they are not permitted to be heavily armed. They do have incredibly powerful shields and thick armor though that can protect them from several direct Nuclear or MAC Cannon hits. The top most section of the Starbase is a large open area with an artificial environment complete with parks, towns, a small city, and anything else people could ask for.




Name: Viper Attack Fighter
Appearance:
Weapons: 2 Machine Guns, 4 Homing Missiles
Description: For many years the Viper was the staple of the UNSC Fleet, but it is now outdated and is only used by backwater worlds, private companies and pirates. It is still an effective fighter though. It's best feature is that it's landing gear is magnetic which allows it to stick onto the hull of a larger ship and travel with it as it jumps into Hyperspace. This is great for a fast attack or getaway.

Name: Raptor Attack Shuttle
Appearance:
Weapons: 2 Machine Guns, 4 Homing Missiles
Description: Raptors are small ships that can carry a pilot, copilot, and a few passengers. They also have the feature that allows them to clamp onto the hull of starships.

Name: Battlestar Class Carrier
Appearance:
Weapons: 80 Machine Guns, 2 MAC Cannons, Homing Missiles, Concussion Missiles, Nuclear Warheads
Description: Battlestars were (and still are) one of the most loved ships to ever be used by the UNSC. They have incredibly thick armor because they were first built in a time with no shields, and once they were upgraded with shields almost nothing was able to stop them. Their hangars can carry 200 fighters and they have an on board fighter production factory (it can only make older fighters like Vipers and Raptors). But, sadly they were retired because of rising costs for maintaining them, their slow speeds, and their slow Hyperdrive recharge time. Battlestars can still be found though, often being used by back water worlds militias and pirates and especially by rebel forces.