Just about every vessel run down a slipway in the last century carries offensive armament. It's a matter of course for military vessels, but even the most innocuous ore hauler or tramp freighter carries basic means of self-defense. Piracy flourished in the long, dark years of the Second Galactic War, and the Concord is just beginning to suppress piracy in the Stellar Ring. Regions beyond the Ring (such as the Verge) are constantly plagued by rogues, criminals, and other threats.

As shipboard weapons outpace the advancement of personal firearms, the decline of projectile weapons is more apparent in ship-to-ship combat. The principal projectile weapon is the rail cannon, using an electromagnetic accelerator to hurl small projectiles at relativistic velocities. Power-hungry and inaccurate, they can nevertheless be deadly at close ranges. Missiles are a mainstay, one of the oldest, most reliable weapons systems in use. Various warheads and guidance systems are available; most use conventional high-explosive or nuclear pay- loads. The ordnance of choice is the matter reaction warhead.

Energy weapons came into use not long after ships colonized the Sol system. With ships capable of traveling a measurable percentage of the speed of light, lasers proved necessary to strike any distant target. Lasers are accurate and have good range and a quick rate of fire, but they don't deliver a hard punch. Today, lasers are a little outdated, but sometimes independent captains can't spare the funds for anything more advanced. Variations include infrared and x-ray lasers, both of which perform slightly better than the basic model.

The next generation of energy weapons proved much more effective: particle beams, plasma cannons, matter torpedoes, mass cannons, and mass converters. Particle beams are linear accelerators firing bursts of subatomic particles. They consume a lot of power, but are accurate and hard-hitting. Plasma cannons convert an electrochemical projectile into white-hot plasma. The plasma superheats and explosively vaporizes when it contacts a target. Matter torpedoes are charged darkmatter warheads flung at a target by a simple accelerator. Though they are limited in range and require lots of power, they are immensely damaging. Matter torpedoes are strictly military ordnance. Mass cannons fire powerful ripples of intense gravity waves. State-of-the-art weapons, they can be found only on front-line military vessels or the most lavishly equipped private vessels. Finally, the rarest and most advanced weapons of the day are mass converters. They strip a targets atoms of particles; a targets substance corrodes to a useless, dusty husk.