Guide to Gunnery

Overview

Welcome, Horizon crewmember! If you are reading this guide, it is probably because your job has duties or responsibilities regarding the Horizon's Weaponry, which consists of a 406mm Longbow howitzer, a Grauwolf Flak Battery, and the deadly (and experimental!) Leviathan Zero-Point Cannon. The Intrepid is also been outfitted with a 40mm rotary autocannon named The Francisca. Operation of these weapons requires crew cooperation, between Operations personnel, the bridge crew, and for the Leviathan, the engineering staff.

The Guns

The Horizon has three weapon systems installed into its hull, with another installed aboard the Intrepid. Each requires different ammunition and maintenance for it to properly function, and has a different role. While these weapons require coordination between departments, the actual firing of all weapons is limited to those occupations who undergo mandatory gunnery training, such as Bridge Crewman, Executive Officers, and Captains. No other members of the Horizon Crew are trained to fire any weapon systems. All warheads and ammunition for the guns can be found in a locked room next to the Operation Managers Office, where it should always be safely stored unless in use.

The Francisca

The Francisca a 40mm rotary autocannon mounted to the front of the Intrepid, designed primarily as a self-defense weapon, rather then a proper offensive armament such as the Longbow. It has two primary ammunition types, which do not require assembly, 40mm FMJ which will shred through lightly armored ships, and 40mm AP designed to punch through medium armor plating. This ammunition can be loaded by simply clicking on the ammunition loader with the relevant box in hand, and should be done by Hanger Technicians. It is at it's most effective engaging small, lightly armored vessels, where it's high rate of fire can shred bulkheads apart. When facing bigger ships with heavier armor it tends to become more of an annoyance to it's target rather then a true threat, but with the Intrepid's small size and quick speed, can still be used to some effect in harassing hit and run attacks. Additional ammunition can be ordered via Operations.

The Longbow

The Longbow is the primary offensive armament installed aboard the Horizon, firing 406mm customizable shells that can deal significant damage, even to larger ships. The Longbow can be found on Deck Three, just to the east of the bridge control room, past the staircase down to the kitchen. It is best used as a medium to long range offensive armament against large/armored vessels, and takes a significant time to load.

Ammunition types and loading:

The Longbow's shells start disassembled at the beginning of every shift for safety purposes, as the explosive compounds used in both the warheads and primer are unstable. Each shell is comprised of three parts, a warhead, casing, and primer. The casings and primers are stored in the same room as the weapon itself, with two specialty primers, low power and high power. The specialty primers change the speed of the warhead as it travels through space, with high power making it faster, and low power making it slower.

There are three possible warheads for any shell; High Explosive Warheads, Armor Piercing Warheads, and Bunker Buster Warheads. High Explosive warheads do little against armor but will cause extensive damage to unarmored hulls or already weakened sections. Armor Piercing Warheads, as the name suggests, are designed to punch through armor plates, but have less explosive power compared to HE warheads. The Bunker Buster Warhead is a pure armor piercing shell, with no explosive power at all, however, it can punch through nearly any plating in the spur. These shells can be assembled by taking a primer and using it on a casing, before doing the same with your warhead of choice. Due to the weight and size of the shells, they must be loaded with the Mech located in the Longbow compartment. The assembling of and loading of Longbow shells should be done by Bridge Crewman. TREAT LONGBOW WARHEADS, PRIMERS, AND SHELLS WITH CARE, THEY ARE PRONE TO EXPLODE IF THROWN OR OTHERWISE MISMANAGED.

The Grauwolf

The Grauwolf is a multi-barrel flakbox installed on the Horizon for area denial and close combat. It has a extreme rate of fire, and can fill grid squares in front of the Horizon with flak. The Grauwolf can be found just south of Tech Storage on deck two, past the Operations front desk in the starboard side of the ship. It has two types of ammunition, regular flak and armor piercing flak. It is best used to keep vessels away from the Horizon, or if they are already too close, rip them to shreds. As it's ammunition is small, it has a tough time getting through armor, but makes up for it in pure volume of fire. It can be loaded by clicking the loader with a flak bundle in hand, and should be loaded by Hanger Technicians.

The Grauwolf is also very effective at clearing any environmental blockers in the way of the Horizon.

The Leviathan

The Leviathan is the end all be all of the Horizon's Weaponry, an experimental wave particle gun that can decimate even the most well armored of ships. The Leviathan can be found in maintenance on the port wing in deck two. The entrance is guarded by turrets and requires either Engineering or Command access to enter. It's specifics are classified, only known to members of Engineering and those directly employed by the SCC under a strict NDA. It does not use physical ammunition, instead relying on a super powerful SMES to hold power before discharging it. In total, each shot requires at least 30MW of stored electricity in SMES, and it is the responsibility of engineering to ensure that enough power is allocated to the system, as well as maintain the weapon.

Firstly, two heads of staff must swipe on the keycard authentication device in order to engage the Leviathan's systems. Next, a boxed key from the Captain's office desk must be retrieved and inserted in to the Leviathan Activation Terminal next to the targeting computer, then clicked again to twist it. Before targeting can begin however, an engineer or head of staff must pull the activation lever located in the room itself. Pulling this lever will begin to drain the SMES by 100kw a tick, so ensure everyone is ready before doing it. Once that is complete, pressing the button next to the Targeting Console titled Leviathan Control will bring up an entry point menu, pick one corresponding to your direction of fire, click okay, and the gun will open fire.

The Crew Required

Here we will go into more detail about the exact roles of each part of the weapon firing system.

Bridge Crew/Captain/XO

Bridge crew, the Captain, and XO are the only three occupations aboard the Horizon trained in targeting and firing the ships weapons. Because of this, they are the ones in control, so to speak, whenever combat occurs and should be ensuring the safety of the Horizon through the damage or destruction of it's opponent(s). Doing anything else during a combat situation would be a waste of your unique training, and better off being shoved to someone else. Bridge Crew are also responsible for loading and assembling Longbow shells.

Operations

Operations is responsible for securing ammunition, and ensuring that ammunition is properly distributed. Hanger Techs should constantly be aware of what the Bridge Crew need, and move to fulfill their requests. When not in a combat situation or preparing to use a weapons system, Operations should ensure that all warheads and ammunition are properly stored within their department, in Secure Ammunition Storage. They are also responsible for replenishing the Horizons ammunition supplies post-combat.

Engineering

Engineering has 2 primary roles when it comes to the weapons system. One is the Leviathan; as talked about above, Engineering needs to ensure that at least 30MW of power is stored within the Leviathan SMES before firing, and be involved in the process. Their second role is to maintain the weapons systems incase of battle damage or misuse. This can be done with a welding tool and more then 20u of welding fuel, like you would repair a wall.

How to Actually Fight

There are two very important parts to actually fighting against a hostile ship and they are doing damage to it, and protecting yourself from damage. This section will go into both aspects, titled Targeting and Defensive Maneuvers.

Targeting

Targeting is done on Targeting Consoles, which can be found aboard the Bridge. Here you can select the weapon you want to slave to the target from a drop down menu, before clicking the VIEW TARGETING GRID button located at the top of the pop up. Once on that grid, you can click the ship or grid square you wish to target, and after a few seconds, a red diamond will appear around it with the broadcasted transponder above it. Seeing this diamond means you are now targeting that vessel. Close out of the targeting grid, and you will have some more information including distance to target, and another empty drop down menu. The second drop down menu will have entry points for the targeted vessel, and essentially, you pick the one you want to hit. It is important to keep in mind that you need to pick a entry point that corresponds to the direction you are firing. As an example, if you were in front of the Horizon and picked the Aft Entry point as your target, all your shots would miss because you are not behind the Horizon. Once that is done, and you have ensured your gun is loaded and ready, you can click the fire button, and let loose at your target. If you are successful, the console will give you a hit report informing you of the damage done, as long as you are within 2 tiles of it.

Scoring Hits

How to actually hit stuff, and not just miss.

Defensive Maneuvers

Defensive Maneuvers are any maneuvers which will help you and your vessel avoid getting hit by enemy fire. For this purpose, there are 4 buttons below the normal manual flight controls, under the obvious heading of, maneuvers. Maneuvers can be done by anyone who is a trained pilot, and are not limited to BC/Captain/XO like targeting. The top two buttons will turn the Horizon 45 degrees either west or east of the current heading respectively, as the arrows indicate. These maneuvers are the "safe" ones, and will only knock standing people to the ground. There is a 20 second cooldown in-between these maneuvers, for both the Intrepid and Horizon. The bottom two are emergency dodges, and will move the ship 1 tile east or west of the current heading respectively. These dodges are dangerous, as if people are not buckled in, they will get thrown around into walls, windows, or off of railings. So as the name implies, save these for emergencies. Emergency dodges have a 100 second cool down on the Horizon, and a 50 second Cool down on the Intrepid.

How to Properly Dodge

You don't need the maneuvers to dodge if your enemy is firing from far enough away you silly goose.