Ultra-small-caliber weapons for firing atoms, beam weapons. Electron and ion guns How the ion gun was created

Self-guided particle accelerator. Boom! This thing will fry half the city.
Corporal Hicks, feature film "Aliens"

Fantasy literature and cinema use a variety of yet existing types. These are various blasters, and lasers, and rail guns, and much more. In some of these areas, work is currently underway in various laboratories, but so far no special success has been observed, and mass practical use such samples will begin at least in a couple of decades.

Among other fantastic classes of weapons, the so-called. ion guns. They are also sometimes called beam, atomic or partial (this term is used much less often due to the specific sound). The essence of this weapon is to accelerate any particles to near-light speeds with their subsequent direction towards the target. Such a beam of atoms, possessing colossal energy, can cause serious damage to the enemy even in a kinetic way, not to mention ionizing radiation and other factors. Looks tempting, doesn't it, gentlemen of the military?

As part of the work on the Strategic Defense Initiative in the United States, several concepts for intercepting enemy missiles were considered. Among others, the possibility of using ion weapons was also studied. The first work on the topic began in 1982-83 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory at the ATS accelerator. Later they began to use other accelerators, and then the Livermore National Laboratory was also occupied in research. In addition to direct research on the prospects ion weapons, in both laboratories they also tried to increase the energy of particles, naturally with an eye on the military future of the systems.

Despite the investment of time and effort, the Antigone beam weapon research project was withdrawn from the SDI program. On the one hand, this could be seen as a rejection of an unpromising direction, on the other hand, as a continuation of work on a project that has a future, regardless of a deliberately provocative program. In addition, in the late 80s, Antigone was transferred from the strategic missile defense to the ship: why they did this, the Pentagon did not specify.

In the course of research on the effects of beam and ion weapons on the target, it was found that a particle beam / laser beam with an energy of the order of 10 kilojoules is capable of burning anti-ship missile homing equipment. 100 kJ under appropriate conditions can already cause an electrostatic detonation of the rocket charge, and a beam of 1 MJ literally makes a nanosieve out of the rocket, which leads to the destruction of all electronics and to the explosion of the warhead. In the early 1990s, an opinion appeared that ion guns could still be used in strategic missile defense, but not as a means of destruction. It was proposed to shoot particle beams with sufficient energy at a "cloud" consisting of warheads of strategic missiles and decoys. As conceived by the authors of this concept, the ions were supposed to burn out the electronics of the warheads and deprive them of the ability to maneuver and aim at the target. Accordingly, according to drastic change the behavior of the mark on the radar after a salvo, it was possible to calculate warheads.

However, in the course of the work, the researchers faced a problem: in the accelerators used, only charged particles could be accelerated. And this "small fry" has one inconvenient feature - they did not want to fly in a friendly bunch. Due to the charge of the same name, the particles repelled and instead of an accurate powerful shot, a lot of much weaker and scattered ones were obtained. Another problem associated with firing ions was the curvature of their trajectory under the influence of magnetic field Earth. Perhaps that is why ion guns were not allowed into the strategic missile defense system - it required firing at long distances, where the curvature of the trajectories interfered normal operation. In turn, the use of "ion throwers" in the atmosphere was hampered by the interaction of the fired particles with air molecules.

The first problem, with accuracy, was solved by introducing a special reload chamber into the gun, located after upper stage. In it, the ions returned to a neutral state and no longer repelled each other after leaving the "muzzle". At the same time, the interaction of bullet particles with air particles has slightly decreased. Later, during experiments with electrons, it was found that in order to achieve the lowest energy dissipation and ensure the maximum firing range, it is necessary to illuminate the target with a special laser before firing. Due to this, an ionized channel is created in the atmosphere, through which electrons pass with less energy loss.

After the introduction of the reload chamber into the cannon, a slight increase in its combat qualities was noted. In this version of the gun, protons and deuterons (deuterium nuclei consisting of a proton and a neutron) were used as projectiles - in the recharging chamber they attached an electron to themselves and flew to the target in the form of hydrogen or deuterium atoms, respectively. When hitting a target, an atom loses an electron, scatters the so-called. bremsstrahlung and continues to move inside the target in the form of a proton/deuteron. Also, under the action of the released electrons in a metal target, eddy currents may appear with all the consequences.

However, all the work of American scientists remained in the laboratories. Approximately by 1993, preliminary designs of anti-missile defense systems for ships were prepared, but things never went beyond them. Particle accelerators with combat-grade power were of such a size and required such an amount of electricity that a beam gun ship had to be followed by a barge with a separate power plant. A reader familiar with physics can calculate for himself how many megawatts of electricity are required to give even 10 kJ to a proton. The US military could not afford such expenses. The Antigone program was suspended, and then completely closed, although from time to time there are reports of varying degrees of reliability that talk about the resumption of work on the topic of ion weapons.

Soviet scientists did not lag behind in the field of particle acceleration, but they did not think about the military use of accelerators for a long time. The defense industry of the USSR was characterized by constant looking back at the cost of weapons, so the ideas of combat accelerators were abandoned without starting work on them.

On this moment there are several dozens of different charged particle accelerators in the world, but among them there is not a single combat one suitable for practical use. The Los Alamos accelerator with the recharge chamber lost the latter and is now used in other studies. As for the prospects for ion weapons, the very idea will have to be shelved for the time being. Until humanity has new, compact and super-powerful energy sources.

Symbiont Silencer

This device was used during the Clorel triad. The silencer allows the person in whose body the Goa "Uld lives to speak without the influence of the Goa'uld. The color signal in front of the device shows who is currently speaking: Goa'uld (red) or human (blue).

Holographic recorder

This small device fits in the palm of a person and can record and play back the 3D figure of a person in motion. Narim gave one of these devices to Samantha Carter, warning her of a conspiracy in the Tollan Curia that could threaten Earth.

Starships

Tollan has ships that can move faster speed of light, but their armament and protection are no match for those of the Goa'uld. When Narim was on Earth for the first time, he claimed that it would take many decades for a Tollan ship to reach Earth, while Goa'uld ships could cross the galaxy in a few months. This fact was confirmed in the Tangent series.

Star Gates

Tollan's new world, Tollana, did not have its own stargate, so the Tollane created their own gate with the help of the Noxes.

The Tollan Gate was smaller and thinner than the Ancient Gate and was a pale white color. No dialer was visible near them. Jack O'Neill was sarcastic about the Tollan gate, "Ours is bigger."

IN last post from Narim, he said that the Goa'uld destroyed the gate with orbital bombardment.

health implant

Each Tollan has a small implant in his body that monitors human health. In case of a serious problem, the implant automatically calls ambulance. Usually, the deadline for the arrival of help is five minutes. Also, this device can be used to track the location of a person, but this is prohibited by Tollan laws. To check their own health, a person can use a special scanner. By the way Narim is holding it, it can be assumed that the implant is implanted in the arm.

ion cannon

These ion cannons were among the most powerful weapons in the Stargate universe. Tollana was protected by this weapon, and it was their only measure against the Goa'uld. A single shot from this cannon could destroy a Ha'class ship. Goa'uld Zipakna once tried to mark all these cannons so that Ha'tak in orbit could destroy them with one salvo. hid one of the cannons, which then destroyed the firing Ha'tak. These guns had automatic and manual firing modes.

Unfortunately, the Goa'uld Anubis was eventually able to develop energy shields capable of withstanding ion cannons. Since the Tollan had no other means of defense against the Goa'uld, their civilization was destroyed.

Weapon Disposal

This device disables any detected weapons by anyone who passes by (with the exception of Tollan stunners). Usually, this device is installed at the entrance to important government buildings.

In Shades of Grey, O'Neill stole one of these devices to infiltrate Harry Maybourne's secret NID faction that was stealing alien technology. General Hammond returned the stolen goods to the Tollans.

FTL communications device

In the th year, the NIDs were going to interrogate them for the secrets of their technology. SG-1 helped the Tollans escape and contact the Knox using this device.

This device does not warp space, as Daniel Jackson theorized, and does not require a stargate, although the coordinate system for it is the same. Omok showed the principle of operation of the device on the example of a stick that its two ends are far away until this stick is bent, but he did not say more than that.

One of these devices was given by the Tollans to their Tok'ra allies, who in turn gave it to the SGC to communicate with the Tok'ra. In return, the Tollans received their personal GDO from the Tau'ri.

force fields

Important Tollan government buildings, such as High Chancellor Travell's office, were protected by powerful force fields. When touched, the field painfully shocks the touched.

stunner

A triangular-shaped weapon used by the Tollan security forces. This weapon was the color of gray steel and emitted a thin ribbon of purple energy. Stunners don't kill people, they only temporarily stun them. This is the only weapon that is not affected by the weapon disable.

Phase weapon

After Anubis developed energy shields capable of withstanding the Tollan ion cannons, the Curia had to go along with the demands of Anubis' assistant Tanit and develop a new weapon in exchange for the survival of the Tollan civilization.

These weapons mass destruction could destroy vast areas on the surface of the planet. Also, they had the same phase devices built into them that allowed them to pass through walls.

Anubis was going to have Tollan send one of these weapons to Earth so that the Asgard could not interfere (Earth was included in the Protected Planets Treaty). But Nareem destroyed existing weapons with the help of SG-1. In retaliation, Tanith attacked Tollana.

Phase device

These small devices were worn on Tollan's wrist and allowed them to pass through solid objects. This phase shift effect could be transmitted to another person by holding hands. Narim used this device to pass through the earth's iris.

Emotion Guardian

The device used by Nareem in 1998 when he, along with other members of his group, ended up on Earth. He recorded his feelings for Samantha Carter on this device and gave it to her as he couldn't put it into words.

Beam weapons - how real is it?

Beam gun reload chamber.

("Cruise missiles in naval combat" by B.I. Rodionov, N.N. Novikov, ed. Voenizdat, 1987.)

Beam weapon

So we got to the notorious ion cannon. However, a beam of charged particles is not
necessarily ions. These can be electrons, protons, and even mesons. can be accelerated and
neutral atoms or molecules.

The essence of the method is that charged particles with rest mass are accelerated in
linear accelerator to relativistic (of the order of the speed of light) speeds and turn into
a kind of "bullet" with high penetrating power.

Note: the first attempts to adopt beam weapons date back to 1994.
The US Naval Research Laboratory conducted a series of tests, during which it turned out that
that a beam of charged particles is capable of penetrating a conducting channel in the atmosphere without any special
losses propagate in it at a distance of several kilometers. It was supposed
use beam weapons to combat homing anti-ship missiles.
With a “shot” energy of 10 kJ, the targeting electronics were damaged, an impulse of 100 kJ
undermined the combat charge, and 1 MJ led to the mechanical destruction of the rocket. However
the improvement of other ways to deal with anti-ship missiles made them
cheaper and more reliable, so beam weapons did not take root in the fleet.

On the other hand, researchers working within the SDI have paid the closest attention to it.
However, the very first experiments in vacuum showed that a directed beam of charged particles
cannot be made parallel. The reason is the electrostatic repulsion of the same name
charges and curvature of the trajectory in the Earth's magnetic field (in this case, it is the Lorentz force).
For an orbital space weapon, this was unacceptable, since it was a question of transferring
energy over thousands of kilometers with high accuracy.

The developers went the other way. Charged particles (ions) were accelerated in the accelerator, and
then in a special recharging chamber they became neutral atoms, but the speed
while practically not lost. A beam of neutral atoms can propagate arbitrarily
far away, moving almost parallel.

There are several damage factors for a beam of atoms. As accelerated particles are used
protons (hydrogen nuclei) or deuterons (deuterium nuclei). In the reload chamber they become
hydrogen or deuterium atoms flying at speeds of tens of thousands of kilometers per second.

Hitting the target, the atoms are easily ionized, losing a single electron, while the depth
particle penetration increases by tens and even hundreds of times. As a result, there
thermal destruction of metal.

In addition, during deceleration of the beam particles in the metal, the so-called "braking effect" will arise.
radiation” propagating in the direction of the beam. These are X-ray quanta of the hard
range and x-ray quanta.

As a result, even if the hull skin is not pierced by the ion beam, bremsstrahlung with
with a high probability will destroy the crew and disable the electronics.

Also, under the influence of a high-energy particle beam, vortex waves will be induced in the skin.
currents that give rise to an electromagnetic pulse.

Thus, beam weapons have three damaging factors: mechanical
destruction, directed gamma radiation and electromagnetic pulse.

However, the "ion gun", described in science fiction and appearing in many computer
games is a myth. In no case will such a weapon in orbit succeed
break through the atmosphere and hit any target on the surface of the planet. As well
its inhabitants can be bombed with newspapers or rolls toilet paper. Well, unless
the planet is devoid of atmosphere, and its inhabitants, who do not need to breathe, freely roam the streets of cities.

The main purpose of beam weapons is rocket warheads in the atmospheric area, shuttle
ships and aerospace planes of the Spiral class.

BEAM WEAPONS

The damaging factor of a beam weapon is a sharply directed beam of charged or
high-energy neutral particles - electrons, protons, neutral hydrogen atoms.
The powerful flow of energy carried by the particles can create an intense energy in the target material.
thermal impact, shock mechanical loads, initiate x-rays.
The use of beam weapons is distinguished by the instantaneous and suddenness of the damaging effect.
The limiting factor in the range of these weapons is the particles of gases,
located in the atmosphere, with atoms of which accelerated particles interact, gradually
losing your energy.

The most probable objects of destruction of beam weapons can be manpower,
electronic equipment, various weapons systems and military equipment: ballistic and
cruise missiles, aircraft, spacecraft and so on. Work on the creation of beam weapons
received their greatest scope shortly after the proclamation by US President Ronald Reagan
SOI programs.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has become the center of scientific research in this area.
Experiments at that time were carried out on the ATS accelerator, then on more powerful accelerators.
At the same time, experts believe that such particle accelerators will be a reliable means of
selection of attacking warheads of enemy missiles against the background of a "cloud" of decoys. Research
beam weapons based on electrons are also being conducted at the Livermore National Laboratory.
According to some scholars, there have been successful attempts to obtain a flow
high-energy electrons, exceeding hundreds of times in power obtained in
research accelerators.

In the same laboratory, within the framework of the Antigone program, it was experimentally established that
that the electron beam propagates almost perfectly, without scattering, through the ionized
channel previously created by a laser beam in the atmosphere. Beam weapon installations have
large mass-dimensional characteristics and therefore can be created as stationary or
on special mobile equipment of high carrying capacity.

PS: by chance in a well-known community science_freaks dispute over reality
systems of beam weapons, moreover, opponents more and more advocated precisely for its unreality.
Having rummaged in the sources open to the entire Internet, I dug up a lot of information, some of which I cited
higher. Interested in who can say what is reasonable in terms of the presence of existing and prospects
development of new weapons systems classified as beam weapons?

The impact on the surface with electrons and ions is carried out using devices called, respectively, electron guns (EP) and ion guns (IP). These devices form beams of charged particles with specified parameters. Main General requirements, imposed on the parameters of electron and ion beams intended for impact on the surface for the purpose of its analysis, are as follows:

• 1) minimum energy spread;
• 2) minimal divergence in space;
• 3) maximum stability of the current in the beam with time. Structurally, in EP and IP, two main blocks can be distinguished:

emission unit(in electron guns) or ion source(in ion guns), designed to create the charged particles themselves (cathodes in the EP, ionization chambers in the IP), and beam forming unit, consisting of elements of electronic (ionic) optics, designed to accelerate and focus particles. On fig. 2.4 shown the simplest circuit electron gun.

Rice. 2.4.

Electrons emitted from the cathode are focused depending on their initial speeds departure, but all their trajectories intersect near the cathode. The lens effect created by the first and second anodes gives an image of the point of this intersection at another distant point. A change in the potential at the control electrode changes the total current in the beam by changing the depth of the space charge potential minimum near the cathode). As cathodes for low-power electron guns, refractory metals and oxides of rare-earth metals (operating on the principles of obtaining electrons by thermionic and field emission) are used; to obtain powerful electron beams, the phenomena of field electron and explosive emission are used. To diagnose the surface, IPs with the following methods of obtaining ions are used: electron impact", vacuum spark method, photoionization", using strong electric fields", ion-ion emission; interaction laser radiation with a solid body; as a result of the attachment of electrons to atoms and molecules (to obtain negative ions); due to ion-molecular reactions; due to surface ionization.

In addition to sources with the listed ionization methods, arc and plasma ion sources are sometimes used. Sources are often used in which field ionization and electron impact are combined. The scheme of such a source is shown in fig. 2.5. The gas enters the source through the inlet tube. The current leads of the emitter and the ionization chamber are fastened on a ceramic washer. In the electron impact ionization mode, the cathode is heated and the electrons are accelerated into the ionization chamber due to the potential difference between the cathode and the chamber.

Rice. 2.5. Scheme of an ion source with field ionization and electron impact:1 - current leads;2 - tube for gas inlet;

• 3 - ceramic washer; 4 - emitter;
• 5 - cathode; b - ionization chamber;
• 7 - pulling electrode;8 - focusing electrode; 9, 10 - corrective plates;11 - collimating plates;12 - reflective electrode; 13 - electron collector

The ions are drawn out of the ionization chamber by means of an extraction electrode. A focusing electrode is used to focus the ion beam. The beam collimation is carried out by collimating electrodes, and its correction in the horizontal and vertical directions - by corrective electrodes. The accelerating potential will be applied to the ionization chamber. During ionization by a high-voltage field, an accelerating potential is applied to the emitter. Three types of emitters can be used in the source: tip, comb, filament. For example, we will give specific voltage values ​​used in a working IP. When working with a thread, the typical potentials on the electrodes are: +4 kV emitter; ionization chamber 6-10 kV; pulling electrode from -2.8 to +3.8 kV; correction plates from -200 to +200 V and from -600 to +600 V; slotted diaphragms 0 V.

Some ion gun particles have potential practical applications, such as anti-missile system defense or defense against meteorites. However, the vast majority of the concepts of these weapons belong to the world of science fiction, where such guns are present in great abundance. They go by many names: phasers, rarefied particle cannons, ion cannons, proton beam cannons, beam cannons, etc.

Concept

The concept of partial beam weapons comes from sound scientific principles and experiments that are currently being carried out around the world. One efficient process causing damage or destroying the target - just overheat until it disappears in an instant. However, after decades of research and development, partial beam weapons are still at the research stage, and we have yet to test in practice whether such guns can be used as effective remedy defeat. Many people dream of assembling an ion gun with their own hands and testing its properties in practice.

Particle accelerators

Particle accelerators are a well-developed technology that has been used in scientific research for decades. They use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and direct charged particles along a predetermined path, and electrostatic "lenses" focus these streams into collisions. The cathode ray tube found in many 20th century televisions and computer monitors is a very simple type of particle accelerator. More powerful versions include synchrotrons and cyclotrons used in nuclear research. Electron Beam Weapons are an advanced version of this technology. It accelerates charged particles (in most cases electrons, positrons, protons, or ionized atoms, but very advanced versions can accelerate other particles such as mercury nuclei) to near the speed of light, and then releases them at the target. These particles have enormous kinetic energy, with which they charge the matter on the surface of the target, causing almost instantaneous and catastrophic overheating. This, in essence, is the basic principle of the ion gun.

Physical Features

The main capabilities of the ion gun still come down to the instantaneous and painless destruction of the target. Charged particle beams diverge rapidly due to mutual repulsion, so neutral particle beams are most often proposed. Neutral particle beam weapons ionize atoms by stripping an electron from each atom, or by allowing each atom to capture an additional electron. The charged particles are then accelerated and neutralized again by adding or removing electrons.

Cyclotron particle accelerators, linear particle accelerators, and synchrotron particle accelerators can accelerate positively charged hydrogen ions until their speed approaches the speed of light, and each individual ion has a kinetic energy of 100 MeV to 1000 MeV or more. Then the resulting high-energy protons can capture electrons from the electron of the emitter electrodes and thus be electrically neutralized. This creates an electrically neutral beam of high energy hydrogen atoms that can flow in a straight line near the speed of light to smash its target and damage it.

Overcoming speed limits

The pulsating particle beam emitted by such a weapon can contain 1 gigajoule of kinetic energy or more. The speed of the beam approaching the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s in vacuum) combined with the energy created by the weapon negates any realistic means of protecting the target from the beam. Target hardening by shielding or choice of materials would be impractical or inefficient, especially if the beam could be maintained at full power and accurately focused on the target.

In the US Army

The US Defense Strategy Initiative has invested in the development of neutral particle beam technology to be used as a weapon in outer space. Neutral beam accelerator technology has been developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A prototype neutral hydrogen beam weapon was launched aboard a suborbital sounding rocket from the White Sands Missile in July 1989 as part of the Beam Experiments Aboard Rocket (BEAR) project. It reached a maximum altitude of 124 miles and successfully operated in space for 4 minutes before returning to Earth. In 2006, the recovered experimental device was transferred from Los Alamos to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. However full story development of the ion gun is hidden from the mass layman. Who knows what other weapons the Americans acquired for Lately. The wars of the future may surprise us greatly.

In the Star Wars universe

In Star Wars, ion air cannons are a form of weaponry whereby ionized particles capable of destroying electronic systems can even disable a capital ship. During the Battle of Sikka Island, continued fire from these guns from several ships caused significant damage to the hull of at least one Arquitens-class light cruiser.

The Eta-2 class light interceptor used the same cannons, which belched plasma, which could cause temporary electrical failures in the mechanism upon impact.

Y-wing fighters were also equipped with these cannons, primarily those used by the Alliance Gold Squadron. Although their field of fire was somewhat limited, the ion cannons were powerful enough that three explosions were enough to disable an Arquitens command cruiser, and only one to completely disable a TIE/D Defender fighter. This was demonstrated during a firefight in the Archeion Nebula.

At the start of the Clone Wars, she equipped the massive heavy cruiser Sujugator with huge ion cannons. Under the command of General Grievous, this cruiser attacked dozens of Republic warships and made them feel the destructive power of ion weapons. After the Battle of Abregado, the Republic learned of them.

Fury's ion cannons were disabled by Republic Shadow Squadron during a battle near the Caliida Nebula. The giant cruiser was later destroyed when Jedi General Anakin Skywalker captured the ship from the inside and caused it to crash into the Dead Moon of Antar.

During the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, Gold Squadron's bombers were equipped with ion cannons. The MC75 cruisers used by the Rebel Alliance were armed with heavy ion mounts.

During the Galactic civil war The Rebel Alliance used a stationary ion cannon to disable Death Squadron's Star Destroyers during the evacuation of Echo Base.

Program for DDOS

Low Orbit Ion Cannon is an open source network utility and denial of service attack application written in C#. LOIC was originally developed by Praetox Technologies but was later released to the public free of charge and is now hosted on several open source platforms.

LOIC performs a DoS attack (or, if used by multiple parties, a DDoS attack) on a target site by targeting the server with TCP or UDP packets to disrupt the service of a particular host. People have used LOIC to join volunteer botnets.

Software inspired an independent JavaScript version called JS LOIC, as well as a web version of LOIC called the Low Orbit Web Cannon. It allows you to perform a DoS attack directly from a web browser.

Protection method

Security experts cited by the BBC have pointed out that well-designed firewall settings can filter out much of the traffic from DDoS attacks through the LOIC, thus preventing the attacks from being fully effective. In at least one case, filtering all UDP and ICMP traffic blocked a LOIC attack. Because ISPs provide less throughput for each of its clients to provide guaranteed levels of service to all of its clients at the same time, these types of firewall rules are more effective if they are implemented at a point upstream of the application server's Internet upstream. In other words, it is easy to force an ISP to reject traffic destined for a client by sending more traffic than it is allowed to, and any filtering that occurs on the client's side after traffic traverses that link cannot prevent the ISP from rejecting excess traffic. intended for this user. This is how an attack is made.

LOIC attacks are easily identified in system logs and the attack can be traced back to the IP addresses used.

Anonymous's main weapon

LOIC was used by the Anonymous group during Project Chanology to attack the Church of Scientology websites, and then successfully attacked the Recording Industry Association of America website in October 2010. The application was then used again by Anonymous during their Operation Occupy in December 2010 to attack the websites of companies and organizations that opposed WikiLeaks.

In response to the shutdown of the Megaupload file sharing service and the arrest of four employees, members of the Anonymous group launched DDoS attacks on the websites of Universal Music Group (the company responsible for the lawsuit against Megaupload), the United States Department of Justice, the United States Copyright Office , the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the MPAA, Warner Music Group and the RIAA, as well as HADOPI, on the afternoon of January 19, 2012 - through the same "gun" that allows you to attack any server.

The LOIC app is named after the ion cannon, a fictional weapon from many science fiction works, video games, and in particular the Command & Conquer series of games. It's hard to name a game that doesn't have a weapon with that name. For example, in the game Stellaris, the ion cannon plays an important role, despite the fact that this game is an economic strategy, albeit with a space setting.