Lance

A Lance is a large, spaceship mounted weapon, often seen on various Imperial Navy vessels as well as on ships from other factions. The ability to efficiently produce long-range lance weaponry by Mars is perfected in late M37.¹

The principle of such a weapon is an extremely high-powered energy beam; the efficiency of a Lance turret is increased by the incorporation of several smaller beam projectors into a single, focused beam. The resulting weapon is capable of incinerating straight through the armoured hulls of other vessels as if it was irrelevant.

Types of Lance Weaponry

Imperial

• Godsbane Lance: Ancient weapons of high technological demand and only older Grand Cruisers possess the requirements to mount them. These weapons are extremely long range, to the point that the beam dispersion becomes a problem.They are also often found on Chaos vessels.^2a
• Mezoa Hybrid Lance': A recent development from the world of Mezoa which is controversial. It sacrifices range substantially but increases damage potential by integrating an emitter into the lance design.^2a
• Voisunder Lance: Commonly mounted on Light Cruisers. It sacrifices flexibility for raw power.^2a
• Las-burner: Scaled-down version of true lances, utilizing focused, high-power laser beams to cut through a ship's defenses. Though these weapons do far less damage then standard Lances, their size means smaller ships may carry them.^2a

Eldar

• Pulsar Lance: Fires a burst of high-intensity laser bolts. The energy requirements for the weapons are tremendous, but a single Pulsar can strike multiple devastating blows.^2b
• Phantom Lance: Used on smaller Eldar and Dark Eldar vessels. They are similar in design to Human lances but smaller and require less energy to power.^2b

List of vessels mounting Lance weaponry

Imperial Navy

• Apocalypse Class Battleship
• Mars Class Battlecruiser
• Oberon Class Battleship
• Overlord Class BattleCruiser
• Retribution Class Battleship
• Vengeance Class Grand Cruiser
• Armageddon Class Battlecruiser
• Gothic Class Cruiser
• Lunar Class Cruiser
• Dauntless Class Light Cruiser
• Endeavour Class Light Cruiser
• Firestorm Class Frigate
• Nova Class Frigate

Chaos Renegades

• Planet Killer
• Desolator Class Battleship
• Executor Class Grand Cruiser
• Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser
• Retaliator Class Grand Cruiser
• Acheron Class Heavy Cruiser
• Hades Class Heavy Cruiser
• Styx Class Heavy Cruiser
• Devastation Class Cruiser
• Murder Class Cruiser
• Slaughter Class Cruiser
• Idolator Class Raider

Sources

• ¹:Ships of Mars,pg.2
• ²:Rouge Trader: Battlefleet Koronus
  • ^2a: pg.34-35
  • ^2b: pg.85