Plasma Rifles

[Dragoner]

Likewise, and no apologies necessary. All in the (mostly ) civil interplay of ideas!


I think we have greatly enriched Jame's thread, though! :rofl:

It all goes to the ecology of the battlefield, which fascinates me. Just how much does one weapon system, like the Plasma Rifle change everything? A few numbers make a huge difference.

I could write about the theory all day long, I don't think it would help Jame's thread though.

I see the Plasma Rifles as an important intermediary step, especially if at a higher TL, personal repulsor fields become standard, negating much of the power of slug throwers like Gauss Rifles.

 

[mike wightman]

Wouldn't a personal repulsor field also work against a plasma bolt since they have mass too?

 

[Dragoner]

It has nuclear fire and photonic energy as well I would guess. Next up, the Meson Rifle.

 

[aramis]

Wouldn't a personal repulsor field also work against a plasma bolt since they have mass too?

It should; it would be better if it were off angle, tho, to force a miss. A direct up-the-beam would spread the energy density out. The question is, "Will it have enough effect in time to matter." And at TL≤18, probably not

 

[Jame]

SOLD!!

I think this fits rather well with what is already out there. Thanks for this, Jame. I think as modified it works for MTU.

Pleasure doing business with you, my friend.

Edit: Come to think of it, I may go back and re-re-re-reedit it so that *at TL 16,* the rule of needing to wait a round or two before taking another two or three shots is negated, and at TL 15 is simply reduced to "may take five shots in sequence, and then must wait two rounds to cool the weapon, unless a special coolant is used; noting that the special coolant is not very expensive but is quite rare."

 

[BlackBat242]

Cooling system adds weight & cost.

 

[sabredog]

Pleasure doing business with you, my friend.

Edit: Come to think of it, I may go back and re-re-re-reedit it so that *at TL 16,* the rule of needing to wait a round or two before taking another two or three shots is negated, and at TL 15 is simply reduced to "may take five shots in sequence, and then must wait two rounds to cool the weapon, unless a special coolant is used; noting that the special coolant is not very expensive but is quite rare."

I'd make the coolant work like this:

1) I'd make the cooling time 2-3 rounds instead of just 1-2.

2) The coolant comes in pressurized bottles that are good for 10 shots, then changed out. Takes 1 round to change a bottle. The bottles are highly pressurized and the gases have a corrosive component if vented to outside air (or at least in the presence of a lot of oxygen).

3) Bottles are not common in some markets because the gasses and whatnot used to cool the gun are the same ones used for servicing fusion plants so you either buy it in bulk at a lower price - but need some skill rolls to refill your own bottles for the rifle...or you pay a substantially higher price for the manufacturer's bottles. In some places it can only be found in bulk, in others not at all due to local demand (or lack thereof).

4) Coolant bottles sometimes fail: every 8 shots roll one die: 1-5 the bottle is fine...6 means the thing pops off or blows a seal - jamming the gun and rendering it useless till serviced. If the bottle is one refilled by a player character then the failure rate goes up or down depending on how much you want to annoy the players - I'd say once every 5 shots roll for failure. Failure might also cause problems for the operator if those gases spray his face or exposed skin.

5) The military has large backpack-type ammo cases that are combined with a coolant reservoir so the rifle is far more reliable and the operator doesn't have to keep swapping out bottles. Say, about the size of a laser carbine of rifle backpack? Naturally these are not easy to find on the civilian market.

6) At TL-16 materials technology has advanced to reduce the need for cooling the weapon such that the coolant is either not needed, or, an integral part of the ammunition source and no longer an inconveniance.

Well, those are my thoughts, anyway.

 

[Jame]

I'd quite happily, and indeed automaticaly, adopt 1, 3, 5 and 6. 2 and 4 are under consideration, for me more as "player annoyance" factor. :devil: But good ideas.

 

[DaveChase]

This last suggestion (which is good) reminds me of Hammer Slammers' power guns.

Dave Chase

 

[sabredog]

This last suggestion (which is good) reminds me of Hammer Slammers' power guns.

Dave Chase

It's similar to my "power guns" which, while inspired long ago by the Slammer P-guns (more compact and easier to supply plasma weapon)they are more like the plasma rifle here in function and design and less elegant than Drake's weapon. They use a slug of fuel material (handwavium) that forms the plasma in a laser-fired collimator chamber, then shot down a magnetic field in the barrel. I figured the magnetic field might help keep the barrel cooler at lower tech levels than a plasma rifle would be available at. After the shot cooling gas is injected through the chamber and barrel as the next slug is fired up.

At TL-13 they are clunky, single-shot, unreliable, and kick like a mule but have potential...at TL-15 they are still heavy and kick like mules but more reliable and have reached the limit of their potential - the FGMP-15 is better for a battlefield if you can afford them, but powerguns are ok as a cheap but potent alternative that might help you level the odds against BD-equipped troops.

Not as powerful as this plasma rifle in some ways (prone to jamming from heat, relatively short range, heavy), and more so in others (TL-15 version has burst mode but must use bulkier cooling system, TL-15 rifle does 8D6 damage). They are right between a laser rifle at TL-13 and the high energy weapons as far as ranges, handling, and penetration goes. And since they don't have the spillover damage at impact, or are as powerful as the energy weapons they are more popular for close combat inside ships or buildings.

Yet another example of different solutions to the same problem.