Railgun
The Railgun is a powerful Tau Rail Weapon used on Battlesuits, vehicles and starships.
Overview
At its most basic form the railgun is a linear accelerator using standing wave acceleration along a number of cylindrical superconductive electrodes surrounding a barrel.[5b] For suits like the Broadside Battlesuit and vehicles like the Hammerhead Gunship, this technology is used to propel a solid slug at hypervelocity, capable of penetrating even the toughest enemy armour.[1][5a]
Hammerhead Railguns are also capable of firing a special bundle of sophisticated submunitions useful against large groups of enemies.[1][5b] The solid slug fired by these weapons will easily punch through the armoured front glacis of a Space Marine Predator[2a] but will not penetrate the same spot on a Baneblade, though multiple hits are capable of causing some damage to the side armour.[2b]
The Heavy Railguns found on Mantas and Tiger Shark variants are terrifying weapons, capable of taking out Super-heavy vehicles and even Warhound Scout Titans. They are also capable of firing a special submunition round, guided by a Drone-level intelligence and fitted with stabilising fins for extra lift and range in an atmosphere. While useful against ground targets, their primary purpose is for targeting the weakspots in enemy starship armour since they lack the same penetrating power as the standard slug.[3a][3b]
Despite Tau advances in superconductor technology, Railguns mounted on Tau Starships are of such monstrous size and require such large amounts of energy to fire that they are grouped into batteries and fired one barrel at a time sequential order, ensuring the first barrel is loaded and ready before it is charged again. They are considered comparable to Imperial Weapons Batteries.[4]
Patterns
- Rail Rifle - Infantry-sized weapon used by Pathfinders and Sniper Drones[6]
- Heavy Rail Rifle - Used by Newer Generation Broadside Battlesuits[8]
- Railgun - Found on Hammerhead Gunships and Broadside Battlesuits.[1]
- Heavy Railcannon - Founded on KX139 Ta'unar Battlesuits[7]
- Heavy Railgun - Found on Mantas and Tiger Sharks[3a]
- Starship Railgun Batteries - Large version found on Tau spacecraft[4]
- Heavy Starship Railguns - Largest version mounted on larger Tau spacecraft[10]
Images
Broadside Battlesuit with twin-linked Railguns
Hammerhead Gunship with Railgun
KX139 with Heavy Rail Cannon
XV88 Broadside Battlesuit with twin-linked Heavy Rail Rifle[8]
Twin Railgun Starship Battery[10]
Heavy Starship Railgun[10]
Related Articles
Sources
- 1: Codex: Tau Empire (7th Edition), pg. 117, Rail Weapons
- 2: Courage and Honour (Novel)
- 3: Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign
- 4: Battlefleet Gothic Armada, Pg. 98
- 5: Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition)
- 5a: [Needs Citation]
- 5b: pg. 30
- 6: Codex: Tau Empire (7th Edition), pg. 117, Ranged Weapons - Rail Weapons
- 7: Forgeworld (last accessed 10/14/2020)
- 8: Games Workshop
- 9: Codex: Tau (3rd Edition), pg. 18
- 10: Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2
External Links
- Railguns in the real world.
| Projectile Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Slug-Throwers | Stub gun • Hand Cannon • Stub Rifle • Heavy stubber • Shotgun • Ripper Gun |
| Auto-Weapons | Autopistol • Autogun • Autocannon • Assault cannon • Macro cannon |
| Ork | Grot Blasta • Slugga • Shoota • Big Shoota • Supa-Gatler • Gigashoota |
| Eldar | Shuriken Weaponry • Shrieker Cannon • Death Spinner • Shadow Weaver |
| Dark Eldar | Splinter Pistol • Splinter Rifle • Splinter Cannon |
| Tau Empire | Kroot Bolt Thrower • Kroot rifle • Kroot hunting rifle • Kroot gun • Rail Rifle • Railgun |
