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Homeworld
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Within Homeworld, there are a variety of principles for conducting catastrophic levels of energy toward a target. Multiple weapon types, ranging from simple projectiles to massive ion beams, can be researched and built into different classes of ship. At the same time, armor technology upgrades are also available as technology improves. Both weapon types and armor class are frequently dependent upon ship class, with more powerful armaments available only on larger Capital-class vessels.

Weapons

Particle Weapons:
Space-based cannons use spheres of heavy elements covered in a superconductive shell and fired from a fairly simple magnetic accelerator known as a mass driver. Speeds of almost 10,000 kloms per second are possible, and there are plans on the board for larger ship's guns that could fire 100 k-weight projectiles. Currently, fighters carry small, rapid-fire mass drivers in a multiple rotating-barrel configuration, while Corvettes mount the same class of weapon on small turrets.

Ion Cannons:
Ion Beam weapon technology is the focused direction of high-energy particles. These weapons are capable of delivering incredible levels of energy to a small area, literally slicing a target while simultaneously blowing it apart with the force of the instantaneous expansion of matter vaporized into plasma.

Missile Weapons:
The ranges and velocities of space combat have made missile technology difficult to obtain. The task of delivering explosive payloads against vessels or structures requires a quantum leap in missile speed and intelligence research, since most ships are capable of either maneuver or point defense from rapid-fire mass drivers. This weapons system can only be installed on the Super Capital Ship level. Using a variant of the stored plasma warhead, the guided missile actually draws superheated plasma into its internal magnetic containment field. When the missile is launched, this field is then shaped and vented to simulate a traditional chemical rocket exhaust in order to give the missile the high speed and maneuverability necessary to engage a fusion-powered vessel. While of limited use against heavily armored Capital Ship hulls, guided missiles are extremely effective against smaller Strike Craft.

Plasma Bombs:
One of the benefits of a larger Fighter frame is the ability to modify a Strike Craft to carry powerful directed-energy payloads. The plasma bomb system draws high-energy plasma from the Fighter's fusion torch drive and vents it into a small magnetic containment sphere mounted aboard a direct-fire missile. The plasma venting occurs in the split second between the pilot firing the bomb and the bomb actually leaving its cradle. Upon impact with the target, the bomb's containment sphere ruptures and releases the near-fusion plasma in a single massive burst. While the missile is unable to accurately target fast-moving Strike Craft, it can be devastating to slower-moving Capital Ships. This ornate and powerful weapon system leaves a Strike Craft without any room to mount other weapons.

Mines:
When scientists tried applying Plasma Bomb-launcher technology to the larger Corvette hulls, they discovered the extra room and access to a more powerful fusion drive allowed them to experiment with the size of the plasma bomb containment field and new deployment methods. The development of super-dense plasma injectors made it possible to create a mine dispenser that would fit inside a Corvette hull and still be able to produce dozens of small plasma warheads designed to detonate on near contact with enemy hulls. With this technology, fleet commanders are able to create minefields on their vulnerable flanks with a moment's notice.

Defense Lasers:
Using a modified version of a Fighter-class vessel mounted with a large Dome Array, Defense Laser technology is used primarily to shoot down incoming enemy fire. This makes the Defense Fighter an excellent mobile protective force, especially when used with other Fighter craft.

Armor and Defensive Systems
Survival in space, through the preservation of pressurized crew areas, is the highest priority of ship designers. Whether considering theoretical enemy action or disastrous encounters with natural phenomena, ship hulls are designed to survive, with multiple layers of redundancy to compensate for a variety of effects. Combat vessels are equipped with an initial ablative layer designed to vaporize instantly at the point of contact with either kinetic or photonic weapons. The high-speed cloud of vapor serves to either deflect the rest of an armor piercing round or cause interference with a particle beam and bleed off its power. Beneath this ablative layer is a thin, highly reflective super-conducting layer, designed to deflect a beam weapon and, should the beam prove too powerful, conduct a large portion of the damaging energy away to heat sinks mounted outside the hull. And finally, the last layer protecting a ship is a thick crystal-polymer composite, interwoven with depleted uranium. This armor is the strongest material yet developed, but it is capable of flexing under radical impacts. Cockpits are double layered with this kinetic armor.

Turrets
Advances in weapons and information systems have combined to allow for multiple turret technologies to be deployed throughout the armada. In an attempt to increase fleet defense against high-speed Fighter attacks, research was conducted that led to breakthroughs in both computerized tracking systems and high-speed magnetic couplings. Engineers combined these into a new series of fast-tracking turrets that can be mounted in multiple configurations on hulls as small as Corvettes. This ability to track multiple targets and engage them with separate turrets has allowed the creation of small gunships that can serve effectively in the anti-Fighter role. In equipping larger elements of the fleet, multi-target tracking capability also is deployed among Super Capital ships to effectively deal with Frigate elements in intense combat situations.