Okay, I'm seeing 2 turret mounted lasers to protect against pirates. Especially for those long runs hauling supplies out to research stations on Titan.

Ship's Lasers (2)
Post-Atomic Era Weapon 36
Late Era 2
Easy tech 3
8 Hx weapon 9
Increased Range -12
Vehicle Weapon 0
360 turret -9
Mod total = 29 [b]9d+2 Lethal[/b]]

I see them being powered by Power Cells

Power Cells (2)
Post-Atomic Era Power Cell 36
.12 Hx power cell -9
Touchy 3
Not air breathing -3
Hazardous fuel 3
Battery -3
x 1/8 fuel efficiency 9
Mod total = 36 [12d+0 rechargeable]

Strength Difference is 5 [b]1,125 shots per fully charged power cell[/b]]

Total volume of lasers is 16 Hexes for 2 lasers (12 m^3)
Total volume of power packs is 0.5 Hexes for 2 power packs. (0.4 m^3)


Comments/Questions:

I selected "easy" tech, because when the military is packing masers and particle beam weapons (restricted from civilian use), laser technology that has been around for nearly 4 centuries would probably qualify.

The power packs seem a bit small to me to pack that many shots.

As a general question, how powerful should a ship's weapon be in relation to its own armor?

What technology do they use for arming the infantry? Lasers and particle beams?

Infantry hasn't been used for awhile. There is a large multi-governmental peacekeeping force, but it's primarily a fleet of ships. Most skirmishes have also been between ships. Most infantry-like action involves boarding parties or special-ops teams.

The most common shipboard weapon is a plasma weapon, similar to those seen in Babylon 5. They damage people, but hardware not so much. When damaging hardware is called for, they do use lasers and particle beams. (Unlike projectiles, those don't ricochet.)

I haven't had to flesh out that particular detail of the setting, which has been more intrique and conspiracy-oriented.

Well shoot. I replied to this and the forum ate it. Try again.

Remember that your actual laser size is about an eighth of the total turret, so the power pack is larger in proportion. Also, energy banks do not power weapons directly, they recharge them. So, the mass of your "shots" for individual power pulses needs to be part of the weapon mass.

If you only want to fire one shot at a time, no big deal. If you want to rattle of a 100-round burst of laser autofire, that's another matter.

Since it looks like you have a civilian hull, it will probably have minimal armor (armor weight subtracts from profitable cargo weight), so any weapon will probably be large in comparison.

Okay, I was just thinking about what wpns the players will use.
In a not-so-distant future a projectil weapon, which don't use shells could be a good idea.
But of course, in a 10 meter radius the knife is the deadliest weapon...