Well, I took size restrictions for granted. Which with 'wavium probably is not al that safe, assumtions and all.
Lets see. The standard Ariete cannon is, say, five meters lond and one meter wide, mounted on roof (at the back, because else it will be destroyed once the front has crashed into a ship). It needs a (censored) amount of energy, so the ship's lights will flicker when shot. Well, this happens no matter how poweful the power station is, so probably is a quirk.
It will stop anything up to (checks ship stadistics) 100 m. or so; it would only slow a luxury cruise ship ( the Pearl Starways is 178x30 m.), and be a minor inconvenience to a Gagarin class ship (133x228x20). For some reason, this is a case of Size Matters: A dense iron-nickel asteroid and an space zeppeling full of helium the same lentgh will stop the same way.
Bigger ships, of course, are slower, so there is not much need for the cannon.
Oscar also had cannons twice the size installed in Marduk outer walls during the war, wich stop proportionally bigger ships (and made the lights of the entire city flicker), but they have never been used except for trials. The Federation thenselves have both smaller and bigger cannons (it is said then Starbase 1 has cannons able to stop any ship in fenspace)
Lets see. The standard Ariete cannon is, say, five meters lond and one meter wide, mounted on roof (at the back, because else it will be destroyed once the front has crashed into a ship). It needs a (censored) amount of energy, so the ship's lights will flicker when shot. Well, this happens no matter how poweful the power station is, so probably is a quirk.
It will stop anything up to (checks ship stadistics) 100 m. or so; it would only slow a luxury cruise ship ( the Pearl Starways is 178x30 m.), and be a minor inconvenience to a Gagarin class ship (133x228x20). For some reason, this is a case of Size Matters: A dense iron-nickel asteroid and an space zeppeling full of helium the same lentgh will stop the same way.
Bigger ships, of course, are slower, so there is not much need for the cannon.
Oscar also had cannons twice the size installed in Marduk outer walls during the war, wich stop proportionally bigger ships (and made the lights of the entire city flicker), but they have never been used except for trials. The Federation thenselves have both smaller and bigger cannons (it is said then Starbase 1 has cannons able to stop any ship in fenspace)