9a. Primus battle lasers
"Finally, I would also like to point out that arguing that the weapons on the
Primus are not correct is in truth a losing proposition. Sometime ago we
created a ship, specifically because of arguments from this newsgroup, to
more closely ape the ship as seen in the show. It is the Secundus. As we had
not seen it fire the lasers, we removed them, and replaced them and some TAs
with the heavy arrays. As no fighter was ever seen with these ships, we also
removed the fighters. In both cases that are generally sited from the show,
the Centauri ship was going to be boarding enemy vessels. Thus, we made it an
assault ship and added the assault shuttles and the ability to carry breaching
pods. The Primus is simply the original version of this ship. If the
argument is going to extend to all Centauri lasers I will say I see absolutely
no basis for this argument. Nearly every race utilises one sort of laser or
laser-type weapon or another as their long range firepower. The only
exceptions I can think of are the Pak'Ma'Ra, Drazi and Vree who each have
their own specialised weapon systems. There is simply no weapon that is
better for long range firepower. It only makes logical sense for the Centauri
to utilise a good long range laser to complement their excellent sensor
suites." (Robert Glass)
"I have a wireframe of the Primus battlecruiser that clearly shows two long,
thin gun barrels under each wing. The laser emplacements on the Narn ships
are long and thin there by indicating that this a standard configuration for a
laser weapon. All pulse weapons are short and stubby. The only exception to
this rule is the Earth heavy laser. Even it, though is longer than their
SPBs. Minbari neutron lasers further point to long thin weapon systems being
laser-type weapons. The Narn stole most of their technology from the
Centauri. In some cases, they re-engineered them to something more to their
liking. Thus, the heavy laser from the battle laser." (Robert Glass)
"I have looked at the original drawings at the Babylonian Studios. On these
drawings the four laser barrels are clearly shown and called out. This, of
course, is the most overriding argument and was what I stated about them to
several people originally when this argument was first broached." (Robert
Glass)
