Standard‑Body Disclaimer
This document follows the ISA Armaments Register, Edition CY 2689. Local jurisdictions may impose tighter restrictions than theL/Rscheme described here.
It is nearly impossible to find a space‑faring hull that isn't armed. Even civilian freighters mount point‑defense or low‑grade turrets, because shipping lanes in the Requiem for Innocence (RFI) setting are rarely safe. To tame the chaos of multiple species and manufacturers, the Interstellar Ship Authority (ISA) maintains a single cross‑compatible Armament Standard. All weapons referenced on the wiki conform to that standard.
Spaceborne weapons have been produced for centuries by different races and companies. The naming and classification of these weapons had been anything other than standardized, often with weapons being released with model numbers making them sound like new weapons, while in fact, they're the same junk they've been selling for two decades, with a shiny new name. It was difficult to compare two models of the same type of weapon from the same manufacturer, let alone compare two weapons across two different manufacturers or races.
The Interstellar Ship Authority has created a standardized weapon categorization standard, and does independent testing and rating of ship armaments that they publish bi-annually. However, that's just the weapons they certify; anyone can use the notation to help customers understand how weapons relate to each other. (This standard is so popular, both the League and Terran militaries have adopted it as their official standard.)
Note: All ships on this wiki will have their armaments listed in the ISA standard.
The ISA standard for ship weapon classification is as follows:
<Weapon-Type> <Variant> Grade <Grade Number>[L | R]
Weapon‑Type — Grazer, Railgun, Plasma, etc.
Variant — Turret (default), Lance, Spinal, Spinal Lance. ("Cannon" is an older, deprecated synonym for Lance—both denote a fixed, narrow‑arc mount.)
Grade Number — based on Nominal Aperture Diameter (NAD) (see § Grade).
Suffix — ownership legal‑status bookkeeping only.
Grazer Turret Grade 3 (active corvette gun)Grazer Turret Grade 3L (civilian‑licensed)Grazer Lance Grade 7 (battleship main)Grazer Turret Grade 4R (ex‑cruiser gun)Grazer Spinal Grade 8R (dreadnought spinal ‑ always R)The ISA officially recognizes the following weapon type names:
Note: Projectile weapons (missiles, torpedoes, KKVs, etc) are often fired from launchers, which are considered weapons, but not listed as a recognized weapon type. The reason for this is because the delivery mechanism can be varied enough that it warrants separate classification.
The ISA recognizes the following warhead types as valid designators for projectile weapons. New types must be petitioned through the Standards Office before commercial sale.
| Warhead Type | Code | Primary effect | Civil legality |
|---|---|---|---|
| High‑Explosive | HE | Chemical shaped‑charge or fragmentation | Legal ≤ Grade 2, license required above |
| Kinetic Impactor | KE | Pure mass–velocity kill (no explosive) | Legal ≤ Grade 2, license required above |
| Nuclear Fission | NU | Kiloton‑range nuclear blast | Restricted‑only (R) |
| Fusion / Thermonuclear | FU | Megaton‑range staged fusion | Restricted‑only (R) |
| Electromagnetic Pulse | EM | Non‑nuclear EMP warhead | Legal ≤ Grade 2, license required above |
| Antimatter | AM | Annihilation reaction, extreme yield | Restricted‑only (R) |
| Plasma | PL | Magnetically confined plasma discharge | Legal ≤ Grade 2, license required above |
| Gravitic Plasma | PG | Gravitically confined plasma discharge | Legal ≤ Grade 2, license required above |
Note: Other weapon types may be used (especially for Sooni and Grey weapon systems). However, those are unofficial designations and may be subject to change, or inconsistent in their usage or meaning.
The ISA recognizes the following weapon variant specifiers as being allowed in conjunction with the weapon name:
| Variant | Mount / firing arc | Civil legality |
|---|---|---|
| Turret | Traversing mount | Legal ≤ G3, otherwise license required |
| Lance / Cannon | Fixed forward, narrow arc | Legal ≤ G3, otherwise license required |
| Spinal | Fixed, keel‑integrated | Restricted‑only (R) |
| Spinal Lance | Forward spinal, Grade 8+ | Restricted‑only (R) |
These weapon variants are viewed as modifying the base weapon type significantly enough that specification is not just allowed but required.
It should be noted 'Spinal' and 'Spinal Lance' variants are outlawed on civilian registered ships without special licensing. 'Lance / Cannon' variants are allowed as long as they are Grade 3 or lower.
Projectile weapons use launcher classifications based on throw‑mass capacity rather than mounting variants. Launchers are typically either internal tubes or external pods, with the specific configuration being less important than the throw‑mass capacity.
| Class | Max throw‑mass | Civil legality |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.05t | Legal ≤ G3, otherwise license required |
| 1 | 0.25t | Legal ≤ G3, otherwise license required |
| 2 | 1t | Legal ≤ G3, otherwise license required |
| 3 | 4t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 4 | 10t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 5 | 25t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 6 | 50t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 7 | 100t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 8 | 200t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 9 | 400t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 10 | 800t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 11 | 1,600t | Restricted‑only (R) |
| 12+ | ≥3,200t | Restricted‑only (R) |
Weapon grades are an integer number starting at 1 with no upper bound. They serve as a rough approximation of how "powerful" a weapon is. This rating is relative to the weapon type, and not necessarily comparable across weapon types. For example, a Grade 3 grazer is not equivalent to a Grade 3 plasma weapon.
Weapon grade is derived from the Nominal Aperture Diameter (NAD)—the width, in centimeters, of a weapon's destructive core measured at its ISA‑defined optimal test range.
For grazers, lasers, and particle lances, the ISA plots beam intensity across its diameter 100 000 km from the emitter:
FWHM ignores faint fringe spill and captures only the core that actually vaporizes armour.
Plasma bolts never form a tidy beam. Instead, the ISA cameras track the mag‑confined bolt core at the designated test range—10 km for classic plasma or 50 000 km for gravitic plasma. The outer bloom mostly scorches; the core is what punches through plating, so that diameter is recorded as the NAD.
The table below lists the official test ranges, optimal ranges, and broader operating envelopes for each family.
| Weapon family | Test range (km) | Optimal combat range | Typical operating envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasma | 10 | 10km | Knife‑fight ≤ 500km |
| Gravitic Plasma | 50,000 | 50,000km | 10,000–75,000km |
| Grazer / Laser / Particle | 100,000 | 100,000km | 50,000–300,000km (can stay coherent > 500,000km vs. stationary) |
| Railgun / Grav‑rail | Bore dia. | ~25,000km | 10,000–75,000km |
| Missile | 100,000km | 1,000–250,000km | Sprint <120s; effective to ~300,000km |
| Torpedo | 100,000km range | 50,000–500,000km | 10,000–1,000,000km; flight time 2–10min |
| Grade | NAD band | Typical carrier hull |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ≤ 25cm | Fighters |
| 2 | 26–50cm | Heavy fighters / corvettes |
| 3 | 51–75cm | Corvettes / destroyers |
| 4 | 76–100cm | Frigates / light cruisers |
| 5 | 101–125cm | Cruisers |
| 6 | 126–150cm | Battlecruisers |
| 7 | 151–175cm | Battleships |
| 8 | 176–200cm | Dreadnoughts |
| 9 | 201–225cm | Super‑dreadnoughts |
| 10 | 226–250cm | Ultra‑heavy mobile capitals |
| 11 | 251–275cm | Mobile siege / fortress‑ship spinals |
| 12+ | > 275cm | Station‑class spinals |
Grades continue in 25cm increments beyond 12.
While energy weapons use Nominal Aperture Diameter (NAD) for grading, projectile weapons use Nominal Destructive Yield (NDY) - the total energy delivered inside a 100 m sphere at detonation, stated as TNT equivalents. The ladder rises by full decades so a one‑grade jump always feels frightening, allowing direct comparison between projectile and energy weapon lethality.
| Grade | NDY band | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ≤1t | Swats fighters, drones |
| 2 | 1–10t | Spoofs frigate PD, cracks gunboat hulls |
| 3 | 10–100t | One‑shot corvette / destroyer kill |
| 4 | 100t–1kt | Vaporizes frigate armour or guts a light cruiser |
| 5 | 1–10kt | Cruiser kill – comparable to ten simultaneous Grade‑5 plasma bolts |
| 6 | 10–100kt | Battlecruiser kill; blast radius 500–1,000m in vacuum |
| 7 | 100kt–1Mt | Battleship kill; multi‑kilometer ablative flash |
| 8 | 1–10Mt | Dreadnought kill; rips open fortress decks |
| 9 | 10–100Mt | Super‑dreadnought / hardened station |
| 10 | 100Mt–1Gt | Heavy orbital foundry or small moon outpost |
| 11 | 1–10Gt | Planetary crust‑buster |
| 12 + | ≥10Gt | Strategic deterrent, banned in most treaties |
A Grade‑5 missile (1–10kt) outclasses a Grade‑5 grazer shot (~10t) by two orders of magnitude, which is why navies still bother hauling magazines of chemical ordnance despite the logistical burden.
The term 'energy weapons' refers to any weapons that take energy in place of ammunition. This does not mean that they don't require a 'fuel' (such as plasma), but rather they aren't typically limited to ammunition stores and their "fuel" can be generated by the ship (subatomic particles, hydrogen, etc).
Main article: Grazers
Gravity-assisted gamma ray particle accelerators. The dominant energy weapon of the modern era — precise, efficient, and devastating over cumulative fire. No ammunition required, near-instantaneous hits, and scalable from fighters to super dreadnoughts. Low single-hit damage compared to plasma, but the ionizing effect compounds with every shot.
Main article: Plasma
Magnetically confined plasma discharge. The old king of space combat — devastating area-of-effect damage at knife-fight range. Fell out of favor as grazers extended engagement ranges well beyond what plasma could reach, but nothing matches it at close quarters.
Main article: Gravitic Plasma
Plasma weapons using gravitic containment to extend range by orders of magnitude. Still considered experimental. Delivers plasma-level devastation at near-railgun ranges, but complex, power-hungry, and under-researched because grazers are considered good enough.
Note: It is possible to fire a traditional plasma weapon into a subspace bubble, allowing for it to achieve literal astronomical distances, however, that would be considered a subspace weapon, and is banned by the Charlemagne Accords.
Advanced weapon technologies are rumored to be in development by several species which utilize exotic matter states and gravitational manipulation techniques. These experimental systems achieve destructive yields far exceeding conventional energy weapons through neutron-degenerate matter projection and gravitational field weaponization, but remain largely theoretical or restricted to prototype installations.
Main article: Railguns
Electromagnetic launchers that hurl solid penetrators. Simple, reliable, and devastating against physical structures. Damage scales with power input, variable ammunition types provide tactical flexibility, but dependent on magazine logistics.
Enhanced rail launchers using gravitic rails to achieve extreme velocities, increasing kinetic punch and range. Covered in detail on the Railguns page.
Self-propelled munitions — from sprint missiles to autonomous torpedoes. These weapons share the same Grade ladder as energy weapons, allowing bridge crews to compare lethality at a glance.
Main article: Missiles
The bullets of space combat. Cheap, fast, semi-autonomous sprint weapons fired in swarms to overwhelm point defense. A Grade‑5 missile outclasses a Grade‑5 grazer shot by two orders of magnitude — which is why navies still bother hauling magazines.
Main article: Torpedoes
The scalpel. Fully autonomous, AI-guided strategic weapons that carry their own point defense and ECM. Strategic magazines rarely exceed a handful per capital hull. Includes plasma and gravitic plasma torpedo variants.
A bus that releases smaller seekers, decoys, or mines. Ideal for soft‑kill saturation or coordinated multi‑vector nuclear strikes. Always classified R due to autonomous targeting algorithms that make them unsuitable for civilian deployment.
Carries no warhead — only a smart guidance package and dense alloy core. Legal ≤Grade 2 for private security ships; higher‑grade penetrators are restricted as de facto strategic weapons.
| Class | Max throw‑mass | Civil legality |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.05t | Legal ≤ G3 |
| 1 | 0.25t | Legal ≤ G3 |
| 2 | 1t | Legal ≤ G3 |
| 3 | 4t | Restricted (R) |
| 4 | 10t | Restricted (R) |
| 5 | 25t | Restricted (R) |
| 6 | 50t | Restricted (R) |
| 7 | 100t | Restricted (R) |
| 8 | 200t | Restricted (R) |
| 9 | 400t | Restricted (R) |
| 10 | 800t | Restricted (R) |
| 11 | 1,600t | Restricted (R) |
| 12+ | ≥3,200t | Restricted (R) |
| Type | Code | Effect | Civil Legality |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-Explosive | HE | Shaped-charge / fragmentation | Legal ≤ G2 |
| Kinetic Impactor | KE | Pure mass-velocity kill | Legal ≤ G2 |
| Nuclear Fission | NU | Kiloton-range blast | Restricted (R) |
| Fusion | FU | Megaton-range staged fusion | Restricted (R) |
| EMP | EM | Non-nuclear EMP | Legal ≤ G2 |
| Antimatter | AM | Annihilation reaction | Restricted (R) |
| Plasma | PL | Magnetically confined plasma | Legal ≤ G2 |
| Gravitic Plasma | PG | Gravitically confined plasma | Legal ≤ G2 |
Note: Other weapon types may be used (especially for Sooni and Grey weapon systems). However, those are unofficial designations and may be subject to change, or inconsistent in their usage or meaning.
Grade ratings remain constant across technological generations. A Grade 5 grazer built three centuries ago and one fresh off a slipway both punch a ~125 cm core at 100,000 km. Similarly, a NU Missile Grade 5 from any era yields 1–10kt at the target.
New models may weigh less, draw fewer megawatts, cycle faster, spoof defenses better, or sprint faster—but Grade never changes with age. The ISA rating system tracks raw destructive capacity only. Improvements in efficiency, guidance, propulsion, or other performance metrics never alter the headline classification, maintaining consistent tactical assessment across generations of technology.
This is a section I had ChatGPT whip up to help us when trying to figure out the size magazines to give a ship. This really only works out for capital ships, but it's good enough I wanted to preserve it.
"How many boom-sticks fit in the hull?"
| Symbol | Meaning | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| L × W × H | Bounding-box dimensions (m) | Ship stats / 3-D model |
| class | ISA launcher class (0–9) | Table below |
| code | Warhead code (HE, EM, NU, …) | Table below |
| f_ammo | Magazine fraction by role | Presets below |
V_eff = V_class × k_warhead
N = floor(0.20 × f_ammo × L × W × H / V_eff)
(0.20 = C_b 0.50 × η_int 0.40. Adjust if your hull layout differs.)
| Class | V_class (m³) | Typical round |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.05 | PD dart |
| 1 | 0.25 | Micro-missile |
| 2 | 1 | Cruise missile |
| 3 | 4 | Heavy AS |
| 4 | 10 | Corvette-killer |
| 5 | 25 | Cruiser-killer |
| 6 | 50 | BC-buster |
| 7 | 100 | BB-breaker |
| 8 | 200 | Dread-cracker |
| 9 | 400 | Super-dread |
| Code | k_warhead | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HE | 1.00 | Baseline |
| EM | 1.25 | Capacitors & coils |
| NU | 0.70 | Very high energy density |
| FU | 0.85 | Extra staging |
| AM | 1.50 | Magnetic bottles |
| KE | 2.00 | Dense penetrator + booster |
| CL | 1.10 | Dispenser hardware |
| SB | 0.40 | Micro-dart racks |
| Ship role | f_ammo |
|---|---|
| Escort / Carrier escort | 0.005 |
| General-purpose warship | 0.01 – 0.02 |
| Arsenal / Missile boat | 0.03 – 0.06 |