 October 18, 2011 - 5:16am | I'm working on stats and descriptions for Gauss weapons. I don't think they've been done before? Not making these rail guns because of the inherent draw backs real world science has found in those. Now my read on what an actual military spec Gauss weapon would do is that it would possibly be one hellacious weapon: high kinetic impact, high range. So I'm thinking that the range should possibly exceed that of the autorifle and pistol. and that the damage should be one of the highest for non beam weapons. My typical approach the "super weapons" is there should be some sort of draw back to balance it. That said a Gauss gun will need 2 clips one for ammo and one for power. This will also make the gun heavier and a Gauss pistol should have an additional -1 initiative modifier over other pistols when trying to draw it from a hostler and fire in the same round. That right there makes for "natural" draw backs that are not contrived and should prevent the weapon from totally unballancing the system. Also the two clips is a bad news when it comes to reloading- by rights it should be 2 turns to reload. One benefit is that Gauss ammo is case less so a clip should hold more - I was leaning toward 30ish for the rifle 20ish for the pistol and rather than track SEU usage you just change out a 20 SEU clip with every clip of ammo.The 2 turn to reload is going to be a real pain but that will also be off set by the fact that the ammo clips hold more. Perhaps the rifle should have 40 and the pistol should have 30 rounds. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 18, 2011 - 5:50am | Now that brings me to another bit of real world tech: the plasma window http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_window basically the plasma window creates a miniature "force field" effect (not really a force field but acts like one) at the end of the barrel allowing the barrel of the weapon to be maintained with a vacuum. Vacuum is good for the opperation of the weapon and acceleration of the round. As I considered game balance while working on this weapon I thought that the plasma window could be one way to balance the weapon. One turn for the weapon to generate the plasma window and pump out the air in the barrel this creates a delay of one turn before the weapon can be employed in combat if you were surprised - alert and suspicious characters will no doubt charge the weapon at the first hint of impending combat. For color we can make it that charging the weapon has tell tale sound like a low whine. capacitors in the weapon bleed off and hold just enough power from the power clip to maintain the plasma window during the two turn clip reload. Combat in vacuum eliminates the need to charge the weapon. Note the SEU clip is responsible for charging the weapon, firing the weapon and charging the capacitor to maintain the plasma window inbetween reloads so I want to avoid tracking the SEU usage and just require swapping out a SEU clip with the ammo clip. but what if a character wants to power the weapon off a power belt? then he'd get a one turn reload and would mark off 20 SEU from the belt with each clip. RATE of fire is another issue: I'm leaning toward 2, combine that with 2d10 damage and you have your high damage output but the weapon is still in line with other weapons in the game. And range? give it the effective range of the laser rifle. 3 types of weapon: pistol, rifle, and TOW ( but the hvy version will be so bulking and heavy that not even a character with high STR can lug and employ it in combat effectively- it truly must be a team opperated weapon with a tripod or vehicle mount) Thoughts? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 18, 2011 - 6:56am | Content of Star Frontiersman project Gauss accelerators The latest technology utilizes a pulsing inertia field that
pushes the projectile. The hardened projectile reaches
extreme velocities. This advancement made the concept of
accelerators much more reliable and efficient. In addition
the repulsor force field spins the projectile for stability. The advantage of gauss rifles is that they have virtually no
recoil and a very high velocity. Up to 5,000 meters per
second, many times faster than conventional rifles. The
disadvantage is that the weapons require nearly as much
power in SEU to operate as a laser weapons, and still need
caseless projectiles. The gauss rifle fires a small caseless projectile, 5mm.
which allows a high capacity clip. Due to the need for
ammo and a separate power source, there high cost and
being unreliable, gauss accelerator guns never reached
widespread use throughout the Frontier. They have seen
limited use by UPF marines.
When a gauss rifle fires there is no explosion of
gunpowder. Just a sharp crack as the bullet breaks the
sound barrier. Due to the hyper acceleration, the air that
is displaced is turned to plasma by the bullet. This effect
leaves a short red or blue streak trailing the projectile. In spite of its drawbacks, gauss rifles are still encountered,
mainly used by collectors or eccentric sportsman. Their
armor penetration is unrivaled. Note: a gauss rifle won’t fire from within an activated
gauss screen! GAUSS ASSAULT RIFLE Cost: 1500Cr Weight: 4kg Damage: 3d10 / 10D10 Rate: 3 (1) Defense: Inertia Range: 10/40/100/300/600 Ammo: 20 SEU/ 100 SHOTS CASELESS (50Cr) Skill: Beam Weapons Description: The gauss assault rifle uses 1 SEU per shot as well as a
bullet. Though it holds a 20 SEU clip, it is commonly used
with a SEU belt pack or a backpack. The magazine is
located rear of the trigger and handle, and is packed with
100 long, thin projectiles. The rifle can fire up to three
single shots per turn, fired independently (3d10 per
bullet), and can also fire bursts of ten bullets (which cause
10d10 and follow all the normal rules for firing bursts).
The scope mounted on it takes into account the ranges
given, so no bonus for scope.
On a roll of 96-00 the rifle has overheated and will not fire
for 1 turn. When firing a burst, the rifle’s coils overheat
on a roll of 90-00. GAUSS SNIPER RIFLE Cost: 2000Cr Weight: 5kg Damage: 4d10* Rate: 1 Defense: Inertia Range: -/70/200/500/1000 Ammo: 20 SEU/ 10 SHOTS CASELESS (5Cr) Skill: Beam Weapons * In the hands of a skilled character, a sniper rifle can be even more deadly. Military PSA characters can multiply their rolled damage by their Beam Weapons skill level, but only if two turns are spent aiming. Description: The sniper rifle uses 2 SEU per shot as well as a bullet.
The sniper rifle holds a 20 SEU clip. It is does not have an
outlet for an SEU pack. The silent nature of the gauss
acceleration helps to keep the sniper hidden while
performing his art. The scope mounted on it takes into
account the ranges given, so no bonus provided for the
scope.
On a roll of 96-00 the rifle has overheated and will not fire
for 1 turn. |
 October 22, 2011 - 5:25pm | Hey guys, I like to see you are keeping things going. As for gauss weapons, do a search for how to make gauss weapons/guns in google especially for videos. You will be very suprised on how many designs there are really out there. I think the gauss weapons ARE going to be the first popular "high-tech" weapon to become popular. |
 November 29, 2011 - 9:08pm | I am working on this one too. I agree that every common weapon should have advantages and drawbacks or they would have left common use. I see it more of a game balancing act than a technological hard-science rule. I actually had a guy in my electronics course that built a gauss gun as a project. It fired aluminum discs of all things. It had to "warm up", but by the 3rd shot, it stuck in wall. Professor made him stop after that. Really cool, and that was over 15 years ago. |
 November 30, 2011 - 12:10pm | Fight me on this but I always thought gauss weapons were included in 80s games because they were thought to be the weapon of the future and much like jet packs and hover cars things have just not worked out for them. Now maybe they will get there but I am not holding my breath. I believe the current technology is still with us because of a lack of effort to try and change things and only a dramatic events force a change. Case in point the current movie War Horse about a horse dragged off to WWI when clearly the days of horse mounted cavalry had ended. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 January 15, 2012 - 2:44pm | Just gotta say one thing --- Greymyst , I love that Dirk the Daring avatar. I lost a lot of quarters playing Dragon's Lair (and Space Ace as well)... |
January 16, 2012 - 4:58am | Your right about the forced change of things. The Russo-Japanese War of 1912 showed where warfare was going but no one participating in WWI took the hint. Not even the Russians. So what didn't the UPF learn from SWI before they went into SWII? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 16, 2012 - 6:37am | Your right about the forced change of things. The Russo-Japanese War of 1912 showed where warfare was going but no one participating in WWI took the hint. Not even the Russians.
That is an excellent question! We should start a thread on that. However we also need to understand what equipment and assets were used by the sathar as well as extrapolate probable doctrines they would have used. No doubt SF-2 will be a mine of information in this as the volturnus campaign will be fairly close in time to SW2 and their doctrines will not have changed all that much. And since they were a space faring race 900 years ago when the destroyed Volturnus' society the first time their equipment does not change much or if it does it changes at glacial speedsSo what didn't the UPF learn from SWI before they went into SWII? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 21, 2012 - 7:54am | Shadow Shack - They have re-released it. Just for nostalgia's sake. I, too, lost many a quarter in those games, but we reveal our ages by that...  Actually I'm taking the tactic that humans did not pursue the technology, but Vrusk did. It goes along with mt "technological histories" of the races. I put that Vrusk developed on a world with little or no volitile chemicals, so what would they develope? Their world is highly magnetic (floating islands and such) and that made them experts at manipulating magnetic fields. Trying to give the other races a little more flavor than just different looking beings with the same guns. |
