Plasma Weapons

Plasma-based weapon has been the mainstay of firepower in all of Terran Controlled space for the better part of three millennia. The basis for all forms of the weapon is the use of sub-fusion plasma in a contained sphere which is accelerated out of the barrel of the weapon towards a target upon which the sphere ruptures on contact, releasing the store of plasma in the form of a small explosion. While the effect of this system against electromagnetic-based shielding is almost completely nullified, there is still a strong EMP effect with these weapons that can wreak havoc on unprotected electronics.

Early versions of the weapons were nearly as dangerous to the user as they were to the enemy. Problems with loading the spheres combined with poor propulsion of them lead to many of the operators being killed. Jamming a round was possibly the worst outcome since the next one that was fired would cause both to explode inside of the gun, also causing the energy cell to rupture as well a fair majority of the time.

Early adaptations to combat the jamming problem made the gun bulkier, and less viable as an infantry weapon. Others, simply made the gun unable to chamber a round if it jammed, rendering it useless. And yet other failed adaptations included complex cooling systems which proved prohibitively costly, to allow the gun to be safely unjammed by the user, clearing rods, which often melted and made the problem worse, and many other bizarre ideas.

This problem was solved with the creation of the Fuerst receiver, named after it's creator Albert Fuerst. With limited action within the gun, a sphere is loaded and primed with plasma. Instead of using a secondary charge or magnetic firing system a small portion of weapon plasma is vented and used to accelerate the round from the gun. This had the advantage of making the weapon much simpler to manage and mass production of the projectiles became the easier step to focus on.

Even at over 27 hundred years after its creation, the Fuerst receiver is still used in every plasma weapon design to this date. Several attempts have been made to replace it but none have ever been able to surpass it in any way useful enough to supersede the original design. Improvements in materials science as well as small innovations have brought the design along to the modern day. However, with nothing to challenge the reign of this design it will take a major breakthrough for any improvements to ever come about in the design or demise of plasma weaponry.

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