BBlue
| The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe. |
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The Ice Queen Heavy Beam, also known as the BBlue, is a heavy beam cannon used by the GTVA in the FreeSpace 2 mod Blue Planet. Three Ice Queen beams form the primary forward armament of the Titan-class destroyer, and a single Ice Queen is mounted alongside two Aurora Wake medium beam cannons on the Bellerophon-class corvette. The Ice Queen is one of the most powerful beam weapons ever made by the GTVA, with an effective range and damage output that far exceeds the venerable Crypt Hammer without sacrificing refire rate or beam lifetime. Its main drawback lies in that its beam emitter is extremely fragile and easily destroyed, although it is just as easy to repair.
Contents
Description
Blue Planet Tech Room Description
The Titan-class destroyer and Bellerophon-class corvette mount three 'Ice Queen' heavy beams on spinal mounts. These systems have the ability to decimate destroyer-class targets in only a few salvoes. Drawing massive amounts of power from dedicated meson reactors, the Ice Queen offers an overwhelming direct-fire solution to targets in the frontal arc. The system's beam emitters are easily damaged, but they can be replaced in days.
Performance
Statistics
| Range | 8 250 m |
| Recharge Time | 30 s |
| Beam Lifetime | 4 s |
| Type: | Direct |
| Shots | 1 |
| Damage per second | 8 250 |
| Damage per second (sustained) | 1 100 |
| Damage per pulse | 33 000 |
Notes
- Weapon is a beam cannon (beam)
- Weapon is capable of easily damaging large vessels (Huge)
- Weapon cannot be mounted on small ships (Big Ship)
- Weapon refire rate is the same on all difficulty levels (same turret cooldown)
Veteran Comments
I have to disagree somewhat with the above comment in that the HBlue does much more than a 'marginal' amount of increased damage over the BBlue. The HBlue has 1.5 kilometers more range, does roughly 41,000 damage to the BBlue's 33,000, and its turret mount is not quite as fragile, as memory serves. The key difference between the two beams is actually their commonality--a Bellerophon has a BBlue in addition to its two MBlue's and a Titan has three forward-mounted BBlue's, while the HBlue is only seen on a Raynor-class destroyer, and then only as its sole forward beam cannon. One of the only times you see the HBlue in action--a certain dream-sequence mission in Age of Aquarius--is actually a BBlue in the HBlue's place, done via FREDding for story/drama purposes. Unlike the BBlue, a single HBlue is a major threat to anything short of a juggernaut, all by itself, both because of its impressive range and awesome damage output.
A Titan mounts three of these as its forward armament, and the turrets themselves are surprisingly hard to hit. That is very bad news for the UEF, as its three-cannon forward armament alone can kill a Solaris destroyer in two salvos from a range of 8.25 kilometers. One salvo would bring a Solaris from full hull integrity (180,000) to 81,000---from the time of jumping in (within range), it would take about 38 seconds to outright kill a Solaris.
