Automatic Pistol. An automatic pistol is a refined version of the submachine gun. It looks like a heavy pistol, with a folding metal wire stock. The gun can be fired like a pistol when the stock is folded, or fired from the shoulder when the stock is extended. An automatic pistol can be set to fire single shots or bursts. Up to three single shots or one burst can be fired in a turn. A single shot causes 1d10 points of damage. A burst fires 10 bullets, and has a +20 modifier to hit. It can be aimed at up to five adjacent targets in a 10-meter wide area. A burst causes 5d10 points of damage, plus 1d10 for every additional target after the first. Only one roll is needed to hit all the targets, but any negative modifiers that could apply to one target apply to the entire group. For example, if one target has soft cover, all of them are considered to have soft cover. The damage from a burst is divided as evenly as possible between all the targets. Skeinsuits and inertia screens reduce bullet damage by half. If a skeinsuit and an inertia screen are used together, damage is reduced to one-fourth the amount rolled.
Automatic Rifle. An automatic rifle is similar to the automatic rifles being used today. It is basically a heavier, longer version of the automatic pistol. It can fire up to three single shots or one burst.
Needler Pistol. A needler pistol is a handgun that uses an upright disc c!ip. It makes only a very soft, coughing noise when it is fired. Needler pistols magnetically propel a cluster of needles at high speed. Two types of needles can be used: barbed needles that cause 2d10 points of damage per shot, and anesthetic needles that cause only 1d10 points of damage but can put the victim to sleep for d100 turns. An individual can resist the anesthetic by passing a current Stamina check. Needles will not penetrate skeinsuits or inertia screens. Neither the suit, screen, or individual is damaged.
Needler Rifle. A needler rifle is a rifle-sized version of a needler pistol. It has a longer range than a needler pistol and its barbed ammunition does more damage (the longer barrel gives the needles more velocity).
Machine Gun. A machine gun is a fully automatic heavyweapon that must be mounted on a tripod or a swival mount to fire. A burst fires 20 bullets. Except for its greater damage and range, it operates just like an automatic pistol.
Recoilless Rifle. A recoilless rifle is a heavy weapon that must be mounted on a tripod or a swival mount to fire. It fires an exploding shell that causes 12d10 points of damage if it hits. Only one shell can be fired per turn, and loading another shell takes one turn. Inertia screens and skeinsuits halve the damage.
(Star Frontiers: 25th Anniversary Edition)
