Alternate rules for Necron Doomsday Cannon

As you know if you have ready my blog, I'm not exactly happy with the Doomsday Cannon.  Not only does it fail to live up to its name but it doesn't have a very clear role in most armies.  Don't let the AP1 fool you, it lacks 'ordinance' so you don't get the extra die roll on armor penetration.  It can be useful as an anti-elite weapon, but is arguably less effective than the Medusa (ST10, AP2), albeit only 36" range.  The AP2 on the Medusa still ignores FNP but the ST10 allows instakills for baddies like an Ork Warboss.  The Medusa weighs in at 135 points whilst the Doomsday Ark breaks the scale at 175.

In true GW spirit, the November 2011 issue of White Dwarf had this to say about the Doomsday Cannon.

In aspect, the Doomsday Ark appears deceptively fragile; its structure is skeletal and lacks the armor plates of more conventional battle vehicles.  But to obsess on this apparent fragility is to overlook the Doomsday Ark's true purpose and potential.  It is not a battle tank, intended to sit in the midst of a battle line, to give and receive punishing blows.  Rather, the Doomsday Ark is nothing less than  an enormous self-propelled doomsday cannon - a weapon that can win a battle with but a single shot.  The cannon itself is a wonder of super-technology, easily eclipsing the primitive energy weapons of the Imperium.  Even fired at low power the doomsday cannon is a fearsome weapon; when firing at full effect, its searing energy beams burn brighter than any kind of plasma weapon.

Well GW, I think you missed the mark a little.  Though the Doomsday Cannon boasts incredible range (72"), it definitely falls short of "eclipsing the primitive energy weapons of the Imperium".
In the same issue of White Dwarf, Mat Ward adds insult to injury in a story told by Tom Walton, one of the Citadel designers.

On the Doomsday Ark ... there is an enormous energy source mounted beneath the main barrel to power the primary weapon.  In fact, when Mat first saw the sheer size of the doomsday cannon I was designing, he decided to make its rules even more powerful!

Soo, did Mat consume too much Bugman's Ale and forget to make those rule changes? ...Or perhaps the first version was no better than a typical battle cannon.  Only the Bugman knows for sure.


So what should the rules look like for the Doomsday Cannon?  I've been thinking about this for some time and although I would not expect any players to adopt these as house rules (nor am I likely to find anyone that allows me to use these for myself), it is fun to dream.

Weapon	Range	Str	AP	Type
Doomsday Cannon MkII	72”	10	-	Heavy-5, Tesla, Arc
Doomsday Cannon MkIII      Stationary      Combat Speed	72” 24”	10 7	1 3	Heavy-1, Large Blast, Null-space Heavy-1, Blast, Null-space
Doomsday Cannon MkIV      Stationary      Combat Speed	72” 24”	10 7	1 3	Heavy-1, Large Blast, Dissonance Heavy-1, Blast, Dissonance

In the MkII variant, I explored of a true Tesla horror.  Though it moves away from Blast, it makes up for it with 5 shots of ST10 Tesla goodness with the ability to Arc..  Damn nasty.  Damn fun!  It is probably a bit much to ask for ST10, but I thought it would be very useful (even with AP-) against vehicles if there was a chance of an Arc.


In the MkIII variant, I improved the ST to 10 and increased the AP of the combat speed firing version.  In addition, I added "null-space" to the weapon type.  This gun really lives up to the "super-technology" comment made by GW.  Null-space weapons do the same level of damage to vehicles regardless of where the blast marker lands.  For example, if the blast template drifts such that the center is no longer over the tank, it still does full damage as the null-space technology affects the entire blast range equally (unlike primitive explosive/blast weaponry).


In the MkIV variant, I simply replaced Null-space with Dissoance (which offers Entropic Strike) but otherwise it's similar to MkIII.  This allows the gun to "soften" tanks as they fire.  Small change, but very deadly.  If you miss your mark a little, no problem since it will strip some of the armor away each time.  In this way, it acts like the Harp of Dissonance.


I honestly think that any of these variations would be a nice addition to the 6e version of the Necron codex.. allowing the Doomsday Cannon to truly live up to its name.