The Future of Small Arms

[patrick]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

On a side note...

 

How about Star Trek Phasers? An energy weapon with settings from non-lethal stun to disintegrate. Possible in 300 years or just a silly fantasy from a disturbed mind?

[Metaphysician]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Not with the SFX phasers use, probably. OTOH, electrical-based weapons could conceivably be variable output.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Massdriver anti-tank weapons! Infinite Repeaters! Particle Projection Cannons! Radium Guns! Mercury Loads! Plasma Rifles! Thud Guns!

 

Combat is so much cooler in the future -- especially if I'm not fighting it.

 

Matt "Dedicated-spectator" Frisbee

[arcady]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

My favorite sci fi combat was the old Albedo RPG and the comic behind it.

 

Mass driver ship to ship combat at near light speed - you come in system and start to decelerate and the Independent Lapine Republic's ships are there - you and they fire off your weapons... and due to the acceleration / deceleration / time dilation after jump, you have upwards of a 3 month wait before impact... But you know within second if you will hit or be hit, and if you will be hit, death is near certain...

 

Can make for a great mini campaign startup - day one of the game begins with launch of mass and determination that you are fated to die. The ship's engineer tells you the exact second the ship will be destroyed. At the speed's your at, lifeboats won't survive leaving, or could trap you in eternal near light speeds if you flee... what to do with your remaining time.

 

Now in real physics, you might be able to turn out of the way, even at those speeds. I ran the notion past a physicist friend once and that was his first guess, but he never sat down to think about it. And it's been almost a decade and a half since I looked at the explanation for while it was so unavoidable... but plot wise the idea is interesting.

[ghost-angel]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Future speculation is always part What Could Be Real and part F- It, I Want A 75 Ton Mech.

[Brother Jim]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

I want a 150 ton Iridium hulled hovertank with a 200mm Powergun.

[Sundog]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

I want a 150 ton Iridium hulled hovertank with a 200mm Powergun.

 

Feh. You're thinking small.

 

Give me a nice MK XXVIII Bolo, thanks.

[Metaphysician]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Your all thinking small. Gelsuit linked to a combat drone, with a ROU waiting in nearby hyperspace.

[Old Man]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

I'll just take Buster Machines #1 and #2, thanks. (With the crew. )

[ghost-angel]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Or something like this

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Nah, ghost-angel -- that's still too small. I'll take the SDF-1 or Metroplex.

 

Matt "Overkill" Frisbee

[patrick]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

So much for small arms Will all these still be protected by the 2nd Amendment?

[Nyrath]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

How about Star Trek Phasers? An energy weapon with settings from non-lethal stun to disintegrate. Possible in 300 years or just a silly fantasy from a disturbed mind?

Try making a phaser in the Hero system and you will be appalled at the active point cost.

[Vestnik]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Speaking of Bolos -- has anybody ever statted out an Ogre from the classic wargame, or any of the GEV stuff?

[Nyrath]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

No, but I probably should.

[Vestnik]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

No' date=' but I probably should.

 

You're the Ogre guy? Kewl!

[Metaphysician]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Try making a phaser in the Hero system and you will be appalled at the active point cost.

 

No kidding. Even just assuming the combat options, your looking at an NND, an NND Does Body, and an RKA ( and maybe an EB, as well ). And the NNDs might actually be AVLDs. And its capable of wide angle ( any of the above + Area Effect ). And preprogramming ( Triggered? ). And self-destruct ( fairly mondo big Explosion ).

 

The phaser isn't a gadget or weapon. It a Focus that lets Void Engineers use their Forces sphere ( WoD1.0 ).

[Tom Carman]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

No kidding. Even just assuming the combat options, your looking at an NND, an NND Does Body, and an RKA ( and maybe an EB, as well ). And the NNDs might actually be AVLDs. And its capable of wide angle ( any of the above + Area Effect ). And preprogramming ( Triggered? ). And self-destruct ( fairly mondo big Explosion ).

 

The phaser isn't a gadget or weapon. It a Focus that lets Void Engineers use their Forces sphere ( WoD1.0 ).

 

Just an idle thought, and I have no intention of trying to stat it out at work ... I wonder how close I could come if I ignored the MP approach and just modeled it as a really big EB with Variable Advantage, maybe Variable Limitation, powered by a Boostable Fuel Charge. Not bothering with fancy stuff like NND or AVLD, just make it a BIG Energy Blast.

[Metaphysician]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Not a bad idea, necessarily. The main obstacle is, when set to disintegrate, the effect seems to be "X kilograms of matter vanishes," with X being more than enough that any person is gone, instantly. Instant kills are never cheap in Hero.

[Tom Carman]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Not a bad idea' date=' necessarily. The main obstacle is, when set to disintegrate, the effect seems to be "X kilograms of matter vanishes," with X being more than enough that any person is gone, instantly. Instant kills are never cheap in Hero.[/quote']

 

SFX

 

As long as it does enough Body damage to destroy something, why worry?

[lloydmperrin]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

I beleive another aspect of small arms will be in the area of augmenting the shooter, even now we find greater effectiveness with low light scopes, There will come a time of self targeting analysis, weapon aiming stabilization and even auto feeding (changing to reserve ammo) for small arms, of course the auto-ranging by sonar/radar like methods, and even silohouette analysis input to a weapons database for finding vital spots to target.

[Metaphysician]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

SFX

 

As long as it does enough Body damage to destroy something, why worry?

 

Because it takes at least 20 Body damage to kill the average person in one shot. Thus, your looking at a 6d6 RKA, bare minimum. Given I'm pretty sure even people like Worf or Data are supposed to die in one hit on disintegrate, it probably would look more like 40 Body and 12d6 RKA.

[Intrope]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

For in-station/in-spaceship use: Why not a paintball gun with explosive rounds that are computer-controlled to only detonate on hitting 'valid' targets? That would seem simpler to me than a rocket projectile: if it's done right, the computer has to actively be sure that what it's hitting is safe to blow up--otherwise, it'd just be like hitting it with an ordinary paintball (more or less; the explosive might be stiffer than an ordinary paintball, but that's probably not too serious).

 

And indoors, the loss of range from a paintball gun v. the real thing isn't a big issue.

 

For more lethal combats, I definitely forsee guided projectiles in small arms: this may come about in a couple decades (they'd be guided bullets rather than missiles, though). They already do this for some artillery weapons.

[Tom Carman]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

Because it takes at least 20 Body damage to kill the average person in one shot. Thus' date=' your looking at a 6d6 RKA, bare minimum. Given I'm pretty sure even people like Worf or Data are supposed to die in one hit on disintegrate, it probably would look more like 40 Body and 12d6 RKA.[/quote']

 

Again... so? NND is +1, Does Body is another +1, so you've tripled the Active cost there. You might just as well spend that extra cost buying your extra damage straight up. The disintegration effect takes more power than other attacks, so Boostable Charges is a good way to exceed the weapon's normal damage output instead of making the Energy Blast too ridiculous.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: The Future of Small Arms

 

For in-station/in-spaceship use: Why not a paintball gun with explosive rounds that are computer-controlled to only detonate on hitting 'valid' targets? That would seem simpler to me than a rocket projectile: if it's done right, the computer has to actively be sure that what it's hitting is safe to blow up--otherwise, it'd just be like hitting it with an ordinary paintball (more or less; the explosive might be stiffer than an ordinary paintball, but that's probably not too serious).

 

And indoors, the loss of range from a paintball gun v. the real thing isn't a big issue.

.

 

Better still, how about Paint-ball rounds filled with a deadly nerve toxin that requires only the slightest touch to kill an opponent, or render them paralyzed.

 

Or perhaps the "paint" is actually a colony of Nanites designed to slip between the molecuse of body armor, then re-group within the opponents body, then detonate with the explosive force of 1lb of TNT!