Rapidfire Stone Render

Summary

Although there is some debate whether the Rapidfire model of the Stone-Render is truly a variation of the weapon, as there are no modifications made to the guns (which are simply mounted on a specialized platform), it is typically classed as such due to it's considerably advanced firing capabilities. The majority of standard Stone-Renders constructed made use of this modification, and by the end of their construction only two Stone-Renders were not capable of rapidfire or Artillery.

Description

These weapons differed from standard models through their use of front facing rotating platforms.

Utility

These weapons supported standard cluster-fire, but were also capable of five-round burst fire. Upon firing the barrels of the cannon would jolt back and strike a lever on the rotating mechanism, causing it to rotate the barrels. When the barrels were emptied they would naturally not fire again, and as such would remain still for loading. To fire in a burst one barrel position was chosen (typically the one that was in the most convenient position for it's current use), then a heating rod lined up with the outside of that barrel.
Once the heating rod caused the shot to fire, the cannon would be sent back, rotating the next barrel into firing position. The next barrel would fire automatically as the next heating rod would be lined up already. These weapons were easily differentiated from the un-modified version of the Stone-Render as even after a cluster shot they would spin once due to the cannons recoil causing it to strike the rotation lever.
One common use for the Rapidfire modfication was to quickly fire the rounds across a long stretch of a wall or fortification by firing the weapon as the ship moved at high speeds. This was most often seen on the Silver Wings of Renic when it fired it's flanking guns. This fire rate was also used on Splinter class vessels to fire at multiple lined up ships, as the slight delay would allow each successive cannonball to fire after the target was destroyed.

History

This was the first modification made to the Stone-Render design, as it didn't impede any possible function of the gun and was used to match the variety of firing options seen on Felsaed ships.