abstract
| - It then passed through a set of galven coils located in the turbolaser's barrel, even further increasing the beam's power, and allowing it to pierce the defenses of heavily protected targets. Because these weapons required extra time to build up energy for their powerful blasts, they tended to have a slightly slower rate of fire than their weaker brethren (usually around one to two seconds between volleys, depending on the type of turbolaser and what power setting it was on). The risk of overheating was high due to this massive energy buildup, and many turbolaser models were protected with complex cryosystems and a powerful cooling sleeve on the barrel. Turbolasers were the primary weapons of capital ships. They were used for ship-to-ship combat or, in some cases, planetary bombardment. A single blast from a turbolaser could completely incinerate a fully shielded starfighter; however, due to their slow turret traverse and an equally slow period of charging up and cooling down, using turbolasers against fighters proved to be highly ineffective because fighters were too fast and small for a good target lock due to a slower rate of fire than point-defense cannons. Turbolaser turrets installed on the first Death Star were unable to hit the nimble Rebel starfighters that were attacking the station during the Battle of Yavin, although they could hit starfighters that were following predictable trajectories, such as straight lines. Thousands of years earlier, turbolaser batteries were used against the Beast Riders of Onderon by Queen Amanoa's contingent of Onderonian Wave gunners. These batteries were mounted inside of the defense towers that lined the walls of Iziz, Onderon's single great city. Along with ion cannons, the turbolaser batteries were designed to combat the flying beasts used as war mounts by the Beast Riders. A twin turbolaser cannon on a Munificent-class star frigate was powerful enough to melt an ice moon measuring 1,000 km in diameter, or pierce the shields of a 10km wide Grade III battle station, and four star frigates could easily outgun a Venator-class star destroyer. Commonly, turbolasers were arrayed along the length of capital warship hulls, and linked to advanced fire-control systems to coordinate the cannon batteries for sustained, organized volleys of fire. The Grand Army of the Republic deployed turbolaser cannons mounted atop a heavy all-terrain drive unit during the Clone Wars. These SPHA-T walkers proved instrumental in taking down numerous Lucrehulk-class core ships during the First Battle of Geonosis, and these turbolasers were later installed inside the hangar bays of Venator-class Star Destroyers for effective ship-to-ship broadsides. The CIS created an upgraded turbolaser known as the "Agrocite cannon", this used rare Agrocite to greatly enhanced the cannon's power, the cannon was so powerful it could destroy a Venator-class Star Destroyer in a single shot, 3 of these cannons were used during the Battle of Khorm. Once strictly controlled by Imperial law, turbolaser technology was advanced following the Galactic Civil War when New Republic-contracted military designers created the quick-recharge turbolaser. This variant proved effective during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Following the war, a variety of long-range turbolaser was produced, with an even longer range than the standard type, though at the expense of even greater power drain; even when mounted on an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, the drain was noticeable. This limited their deployment to a number of Hapan Battle Dragons and the Star Destroyer Anakin Solo. Darth Caedus fired the turbolasers on the latter during the Battle of Kashyyyk, causing forest fires on the planet's surface.
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