Babylon 5 Ballistic Weaponry

Like the slugthrowers of old Earth, ballistic weaponry uses a solid projectile hurled at massive speeds through internal combustion. Unlike matter weaponry, which uses magnetic coils to speed its payload to the target, ballistics have a preset charge or similar force that send a dense slug, or stream of slugs, toward the target. Since all of the energy for propulsion for a ballistic weapon is found as part of the ammunition itself and not siphoned off from the ship’s energy cells or fusion reactor, there is very little drain to the ship at all. This leaves energy to be routed to other systems, like engines or steerage.

Originally created by a dozen different races, it was the Hurr who stayed with the idea of ballistic science, as they loved the ringing sound in their ears from long durations of being in the gunnery turrets. They created many different scales of these weapons, and while they lack the punch of most energy weapons and are expensive to maintain and continually reload, they are a solid weapon technology for the shipbuilder looking for more bang for less credits.

Name	Scale	Space Range	Atmosphere Range	Rate of Fire	Damage	Notes
Light Ballistic Gun	Starfighter	1-3/12/25	10-300/1,200/2,500 m	3	3D+2
Ballistic Gun	Starfighter	1-3/12/25	10-300/1,200/2,500 m	3	4D+2
Ballistic Cannon	Capital	1-15/35/75	2-30/70/150 km	1	4D	Attack -0D+2