NRM-220 "Rods from God" Orbital Bombardment Painter

Manufacturer: Olympia Design Labs

Primary Fire: Paint target for orbital bombardment. (Instant kill to anyone caught in the blast, shrapnel deals ~80 damage.) Single use.

Alt-Fire: Fire laser strike tracking dart. (60 damage every three seconds, neutralised by going under cover.) 10 ammo.

Description: Sometimes ground-based artillery isn't enough. Olympia Design Labs came up with a solution; a battlecruiser-mounted mass driver system, firing tungsten steel rods at speeds in excess of several hundred metres per second. Ground personnel equipped with the required laser targeting device are capable of calling in such an attack from an orbiting vessel. When a target is acquired, the ship takes a few moments to align the weapon before firing. Travel time from space to ground is roughly five seconds, so one would imagine it would be ineffective. However, during re-entry the rods heat up a tremendous amount, until eventually, near ground zero, they shatter, sending white-hot shrapnel flying throughout the area. The heat is so intense that it ignites the surrounding air, creating a short-lived but intense firestorm that devastates organic and armoured targets caught in the blast.

The painter also has an alternative function. It can fire a high-speed tracking dart that can easily pierce body armour and embed itself in the victim's flesh. Once in place, the dart sends a signal to the orbiting cruiser, which responds with a barrage of anti-ground laser fire. The dart has a short battery life, so going under cover can protect the target until the dart fails. However, the battlecruiser continues firing regardless of the target's location, so personnel located above ground and in the vicinity of the target are at risk.

Kill Messages

-Explosion-

Brock had his flesh stripped from the bone by a BloodStone's firestorm.
Brock suddenly resembled an overcooked turkey thanks to BloodStone's orbital strike.
BloodStone smote Brock with a rod from God.

-Shrapnel-

Dominator was ripped to tatters by BloodStone's white-hot shrapnel.
BloodStone's rod from God shattered in Dominator's face.
Dominator fell to the ground with a chunk of steel jammed through his chest.

-Laser-
Xan was lasered to death by BloodStone's buddy high in the sky.
A laser came out of nowhere and turned Xan into a pile of ash.
Xan didn't pull out BloodStone's tracking dart fast enough.

-Suicide by Explosion-

BloodStone got decimated by his own rod from God.
BloodStone forget where he targeted his orbital strike.
BloodStone got a little too close to his own firestorm.

-Suicide by Laser-

BloodStone zapped himself with a laser from above.
BloodStone's target ran up in his face while they were getting shot with an orbital laser.
BloodStone was a victim of his own battlecruiser's friendly fire.

This sounds like fun to design (oh, and use)! I wonder what kind of design this should have when making a model of the weapon the infantryman carries...?

Awesome, well done.

I like it man. Especially the death strings XD.
Nah of course the gun itself would be bad ass too

I didn't take a look here but ultimate weapons can add some fun ^^

Ingenious- BW has no super-super weapon- this will fill the gap. To make it non-ridiculous, it should have three darts, and one laser ammo. To do it- take the code from the target painter, and reskin a M50 dark green, with the tv screen replaced by an uplink picture (little dish with cell phone bars under it. The dart is easy to program(standard bullet), and the explosion/lasers will just be projectile modifications on the ion cannon. Each mag will hold 1 dart.- and should probably be reskinned to look like some sort of computer-y device.

Firemode Improvement
Primary-Fire Laser
Secondary-Fire Dart
Special- Charge bar fills after successful dart tag, and press special fire to commence bombardment

As for the name, Rods from God is the modern name for the military program, and sounds cool by itself, but what about just orbital bombardment painter?