Hi Everybody!
Yes, I'm bored. Off work with an injury and I had nothing better to do than to go through all of my Traveller books to find references to the Plasma Gun. Well, I would probably do it if I was working, too! Anyways, I've updated some of the ideas and made it a more surroundings-friendly type of weapon. Stats are for T20. I'd say I'd put this between TL 15 and TL 16. I hope you like it.
Scout
PLASMA CANNON - MAN PORTABLE
The Imperial designated weapon fS1055 is a fearsome weapon. Common military slang uses the Second Imperium abbreviation style - PCMP (or sometimes PGMP, MPPC, or more informally BFG). Increases in power storage technology combined with known advances in material science and increased efficiency contragrav allows a self-contained weapon with its own recoil compensation, motion stabilizers and side-blast reduction, allowing use by unaugmented troops. High-energy weapons, such as these, fire beams of super-heated plasma at their targets and cause damage by their intense heat and kinetic energy. Exact details are unavailable from the manufacturer for security reasons, but unclassified records and photographs of the units allow reasonable estimates of the technology involved.
In the case of the fS1055 weapon unit, hydrogen is stored in a cartridge that can hold 1 kilogram (1000 grams) of hydrogen. The cartridge is loaded into the weapon in a detachable cylindrical magazine. These cartridges are easily replaceable in the field, taking only 1 round to do so. Each Plasma Gunner in a platoon would usually carry one extra cartridge, allowing a firing of 2000 rounds on the lowest setting.
The hydrogen is fed into an ignition chamber (at a maximum rate of 10 grams per round), which has a metastable magnetic containment field. The fusion power pack powers an eximer laser igniter, through a high-density superconducting cable, to heat the hydrogen to a point where it reaches an excited super-hot state of matter known as Plasma. Current technologies allow for an energy density sufficient to realize near-fusion temperatures.
When it reaches maximum energy, the plasma then moves through the plasma shunt to a flux aperture. When the aperture opens, the plasma is then released through a magnetically focused field along the weapon's barrel, which is maintained at near vacuum by electrostatic fields, so the magnetic field can accelerate the plasma to incredible speeds (in excess of 8600 meters per second). The high initial velocity plasma bolt is approximately 1cm in diameter per gram of hydrogen used, but it begins to dissipate immediately.
Part of the energy of the explosively expanding plasma is bled off to pump a homopolar generator which in turn powers a "pilot" laser. The pilot laser vaporizes a tunnel through the atmosphere through which the plasma bolt is discharged. (without the pilot laser the plasma bolt dissipates far too quickly.)
When the Plasma Bolt strikes an object, after a lightning-like flash along the projectile's path, and a large thunderclap a fraction of a second later, the velocity-based kinetic energy of the few grams of plasma combines with its extremely high temperature to blast a hole in the target, and incidentally spray white-hot plasma and fragments of the target in all directions.
Plasma splatter has a primary burst radius of five meters. All characters within the primary and secondary burst radii are subject to hits by fragments of plasma, including the target. Plasma fragments are the equivalent of white phosphorus fragments for damage purposes.
Due to the heaviness of the weapon and the energies involved, a compensator package is used. A gravity field generator is included to allow the weapon to move weightless, a gyroscopic inertial compensator to negate recoil, and an energy dampener around the muzzle to reduce the possibility of flash-burns. The weapon's computer system automatically biases the field to provide near total recoil compensation.
The power pack has sufficient energy to allow 10 days of continuous use before recharging is necessary. A quick-shot capacitor holds the energy to heat up to 10 grams of hydrogen, allowing the fusion pack to be turned off when the weapon is stored. The fusion pack is automatically started when the gun is fired, and takes one round to "warm up". Recharging the power pack takes approximately 2 hours from a starship or similar power reactor.
The PCMP has six firing settings (only one can be used per round - it takes one round to change to a new setting) which can be used in a multitude of environments. On Setting A, a single Plasma Bolt is fired using only one gram of hydrogen (Damage 1d10+10). Firing Setting B allows a burst of 10 Plasma Bolts and uses one gram of hydrogen per Bolt (Damage 1d10+10 per Bolt). Setting C fires a burst of 3 Plasma Bolts and uses 3 grams of hydrogen per Bolt (Damage 3d10+30 per Bolt). Setting D sends 2 Plasma Bolts flying and uses 5 grams of hydrogen for each Bolt (Damage 5d10+50 per Bolt). Setting E fires one Plasma Bolt using 10 grams of hydrogen (Damage 10d10+100). The final Setting X is a weapon of last resort. It is a timed detonation of the weapon. On a 60 second duration, the weapon expends all remaining fuel and overloads the fusion power pack. It produces grenade damage of 10d10 (x10) points in a 50-meter blast radius. This setting cannot be used if less than 50 grams of fuel are left.
The fS1055 has a computer link data socket which can be used to augment the targeting of the weapon. When used in conjunction with Battle Dress, the computer link engages the combat armor's helmet-mounted holographic heads-up display and projects crosshairs on the faceplate for targeting, which activates the armor's computer-assisted threat analysis program that highlights targets by their appraised level of lethality. (+2 to hit)
The weapon may be fired every combat round. It can also be mounted on a tripod for better efficiency. (+1 to hit)
Yes, I'm bored. Off work with an injury and I had nothing better to do than to go through all of my Traveller books to find references to the Plasma Gun. Well, I would probably do it if I was working, too! Anyways, I've updated some of the ideas and made it a more surroundings-friendly type of weapon. Stats are for T20. I'd say I'd put this between TL 15 and TL 16. I hope you like it.
Scout
PLASMA CANNON - MAN PORTABLE
The Imperial designated weapon fS1055 is a fearsome weapon. Common military slang uses the Second Imperium abbreviation style - PCMP (or sometimes PGMP, MPPC, or more informally BFG). Increases in power storage technology combined with known advances in material science and increased efficiency contragrav allows a self-contained weapon with its own recoil compensation, motion stabilizers and side-blast reduction, allowing use by unaugmented troops. High-energy weapons, such as these, fire beams of super-heated plasma at their targets and cause damage by their intense heat and kinetic energy. Exact details are unavailable from the manufacturer for security reasons, but unclassified records and photographs of the units allow reasonable estimates of the technology involved.
In the case of the fS1055 weapon unit, hydrogen is stored in a cartridge that can hold 1 kilogram (1000 grams) of hydrogen. The cartridge is loaded into the weapon in a detachable cylindrical magazine. These cartridges are easily replaceable in the field, taking only 1 round to do so. Each Plasma Gunner in a platoon would usually carry one extra cartridge, allowing a firing of 2000 rounds on the lowest setting.
The hydrogen is fed into an ignition chamber (at a maximum rate of 10 grams per round), which has a metastable magnetic containment field. The fusion power pack powers an eximer laser igniter, through a high-density superconducting cable, to heat the hydrogen to a point where it reaches an excited super-hot state of matter known as Plasma. Current technologies allow for an energy density sufficient to realize near-fusion temperatures.
When it reaches maximum energy, the plasma then moves through the plasma shunt to a flux aperture. When the aperture opens, the plasma is then released through a magnetically focused field along the weapon's barrel, which is maintained at near vacuum by electrostatic fields, so the magnetic field can accelerate the plasma to incredible speeds (in excess of 8600 meters per second). The high initial velocity plasma bolt is approximately 1cm in diameter per gram of hydrogen used, but it begins to dissipate immediately.
Part of the energy of the explosively expanding plasma is bled off to pump a homopolar generator which in turn powers a "pilot" laser. The pilot laser vaporizes a tunnel through the atmosphere through which the plasma bolt is discharged. (without the pilot laser the plasma bolt dissipates far too quickly.)
When the Plasma Bolt strikes an object, after a lightning-like flash along the projectile's path, and a large thunderclap a fraction of a second later, the velocity-based kinetic energy of the few grams of plasma combines with its extremely high temperature to blast a hole in the target, and incidentally spray white-hot plasma and fragments of the target in all directions.
Plasma splatter has a primary burst radius of five meters. All characters within the primary and secondary burst radii are subject to hits by fragments of plasma, including the target. Plasma fragments are the equivalent of white phosphorus fragments for damage purposes.
Due to the heaviness of the weapon and the energies involved, a compensator package is used. A gravity field generator is included to allow the weapon to move weightless, a gyroscopic inertial compensator to negate recoil, and an energy dampener around the muzzle to reduce the possibility of flash-burns. The weapon's computer system automatically biases the field to provide near total recoil compensation.
The power pack has sufficient energy to allow 10 days of continuous use before recharging is necessary. A quick-shot capacitor holds the energy to heat up to 10 grams of hydrogen, allowing the fusion pack to be turned off when the weapon is stored. The fusion pack is automatically started when the gun is fired, and takes one round to "warm up". Recharging the power pack takes approximately 2 hours from a starship or similar power reactor.
The PCMP has six firing settings (only one can be used per round - it takes one round to change to a new setting) which can be used in a multitude of environments. On Setting A, a single Plasma Bolt is fired using only one gram of hydrogen (Damage 1d10+10). Firing Setting B allows a burst of 10 Plasma Bolts and uses one gram of hydrogen per Bolt (Damage 1d10+10 per Bolt). Setting C fires a burst of 3 Plasma Bolts and uses 3 grams of hydrogen per Bolt (Damage 3d10+30 per Bolt). Setting D sends 2 Plasma Bolts flying and uses 5 grams of hydrogen for each Bolt (Damage 5d10+50 per Bolt). Setting E fires one Plasma Bolt using 10 grams of hydrogen (Damage 10d10+100). The final Setting X is a weapon of last resort. It is a timed detonation of the weapon. On a 60 second duration, the weapon expends all remaining fuel and overloads the fusion power pack. It produces grenade damage of 10d10 (x10) points in a 50-meter blast radius. This setting cannot be used if less than 50 grams of fuel are left.
The fS1055 has a computer link data socket which can be used to augment the targeting of the weapon. When used in conjunction with Battle Dress, the computer link engages the combat armor's helmet-mounted holographic heads-up display and projects crosshairs on the faceplate for targeting, which activates the armor's computer-assisted threat analysis program that highlights targets by their appraised level of lethality. (+2 to hit)
The weapon may be fired every combat round. It can also be mounted on a tripod for better efficiency. (+1 to hit)
