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Disruptors rely
heavily on technology similar to
phasers, and are utilized by many different governments
and groups throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
Disruptors find their name from the effect that they have on
matter.
Like
phasers, they rely on rapid nadions, which disrupt the
Strong Nuclear Force that binds the protons and neutrons of
atomic matter together. And like
phasers, they cause matter to decouple in an explosive
manner. |
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But disruptors rely much more
on brute force to get the job done than
phasers do; where
phasers take extra care to evenly energize their boronite
crystals, disruptors simply shunt a predetermined amount of
energy into the crystal chamber, and force the ensuing beam
through a focusing artifice. The individual energy states of
each nadion expelled from the focusing artifice can vary by a
wide degree, causing haphazard distribution of energy among an
impacted target. The
advantage this provides over
phasers is that complicated systems are not needed to
ensure the regulated ejection of nadions, and more room
remains for additional power systems, boosting the overall
destructive force of the weapon. |
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However, the use of disruptors
is by no means an exact practice. Stun settings, when
available, can sometimes be quite deadly, and the weapon
itself falls far short of a
phaser in terms of practical usages outside of pure
weaponry. There is, also, a much greater risk of "chamber
fire," a misfire of the nadion pulse, resulting in an
explosive vaporization of the weapon's chassis, power cell,
and the user. Most disruptors come
in a pulse design, where the boronite chamber actually seals for
short intervals, building up nadion energy before releasing it.
This is common aboard starships which mount disruptor cannons, but
sustained-fire disruptors are also used, producing beams of a
similar appearance to
phaser banks. |
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Disruptors find
limited use within the fringes of the Galactic Empire, as such
weapons are a favorite among bounty hunters and assassins; the
Tenloss model disruptor was one of Boba Fett's weapons of choice.
Outlawed by the Old Republic, such weapons have been largely
forgotten by mainstream weapons developers, as they are considered
unstable and dangerous to operate. |
