Holdout weapons in FF&S

[Icosahedron]

I've been trying to design some small guns in FF&S (the T4 version - is that FF&S2?)

I've noticed the rules seem to break down for very small weapons. If I try to design a Body Pistol, for example, the rules insist that for a Box Magazine, the receiver must be 150mm longer than the cartridge, so for any reasonable ammo you have a minimum 7 inch weapon.
I'd figured a body pistol at under 6 inches, maybe down to 4.
The problem is compounded by the energy and range limits of short barrels. By FF&S rules, a derringer can't punch its way out of a paper bag -unless I'm doing something wrong.
As for a shotgun pistol, you could do more damage at a greater range by throwing it!

What do you think of FF&S for holdout weapons?
Do you fix it? If so, how?

 

[robject]

Have you tried using the FFS2 Gunsmith Spreadsheet, just to double check?

It's located here:

http://www.downport.com/amv/software/software.html

It can model a pistol with an 8cm barrel, a 1cm receiver, that measures in at 9cm (i.e. 3.75 inches). It apparently has a DV of 2, and a range of Very Short of course.

Don't know how realistic that is.

 

[ditzie]

I suggest adding a grenade adapter to that body pistol.

 

[Icosahedron]

Originally posted by robject:
Have you tried using the FFS2 Gunsmith Spreadsheet, just to double check?

It's located here:

http://www.downport.com/amv/software/software.html

It can model a pistol with an 8cm barrel, a 1cm receiver, that measures in at 9cm (i.e. 3.75 inches). It apparently has a DV of 2, and a range of Very Short of course.

Don't know how realistic that is.

Yes, I'm using Gunsmith, thanks.

Not sure how you got that. What ammo does it use?
Must be pretty small stuff to fit in a 1cm receiver.

For my Body Pistol, I'm using 5.5x11mm caseless, energy 140, carrying 6 rounds in a hollow grip at TL9, and the sheet insists on a minimum receiver length of 16.65cm!
Presumably that's 1.65 plus that infernal 15cm that I'm just going to ignore if there's no way round it. I really want 2cm plus a 6cm barrel.
Add in a detachable silencer, and the whole thing weighs in at around 0.4kg.

 

[Icosahedron]

Originally posted by Ditzie:
I suggest adding a grenade adapter to that body pistol.

Ouch! No thanks, that's gonna hurt when I sit down!

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I don't think FF&S1 has that restriction. 3G3 says a minimum length of 4 x bullet length.

 

[Icosahedron]

A canon source that ignores it?
Right - it's gone!
I'll probably house-rule it to twice the bullet length. I don't like restrictions.

 

[ditzie]

Originally posted by Icosahedron:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ditzie:
I suggest adding a grenade adapter to that body pistol.

Ouch! No thanks, that's gonna hurt when I sit down! </font>[/QUOTE]Sit down...? Oh, you mean you're not going to use it all the time? Ha! This is High-Impact Twaveller, not some sit-down game...

 

[ditzie]

Maybe set "Action Type" to "Percussion", or "Snaphaunce", or "Wheelock" etc..?

 

[ditzie]

Seriously, though, your minimum receiver length depends mainly on the square root of your rated energy. So a pistol at 500 joules has a receiver length of at least 12cm (5"), and at TL10 has to be at least 8.9cm (3.7").