CorpCommander

Make it Relevant An exacting rule on how long it takes to get dressed/armored up isn't really worth the space in the rules, IMHO becuase it almost never is a factor in gaming. However, you could make it a factor in a roleplaying sense. Have the players describe the usual routine at their base. If they have armor and all, they can't be getting much needed R&R while wearing it so tell them specifically they have to not be wearing it at all times. Then attack the base as the worst possible instant and let the players figure out how to get from whatever R&R they were doing to getting suited up to becoming involved with the ongoing combat. Make a big deal about timing. Find ways of tripping up the players. Role Playing comes when you can't just say "I do this." It comes when the player has to do X,Y and Z in the right order and they aren't sure what Y even is! My $0.02

I'm not a physisist but I played one in Undergraduate School The easiest way to destroy the earth for the least points is to Change Environment the core to lack the effect of gravity. Gravity is one of the weakest forces going so it fall in with the notion of it being a "minor" change. You'd need to double the radius several times so that the part of the Earth is not effective. This will cause massive destruction as the outer shell starts to slough off. Then as the planet rotates faster (you are changing it's overall mass so it would have to) you then start to shrink your area of effect until finally you have one hex square worth of earth left. If you have high enough strength and enough life support I suppose you could rule this very hot and glowing play thing. If your GM disallows the use of Change Environment to totally affect gravity then you have another option. Buy a flying character with enough strength to push the moon into the Earth. make sure they have a high enough OCV to hit the planet. A near miss would only be catastrophically devestating to the surface!

Re: Re: Re: Re: Kick and shots per minute Uh you DID say the 17th Century in your first post. The 17th Century starts in 1601 and ends in 1700. So You were thinking the 18th Century. This is the 21st century we're living in. I can understand the confusion - where's the flying cars popular science promised us back in 1962? Anyway, what you really want is 18th century guns which aren't ancient at all in comparison to what had come before. I've enjoyed this thread.

Re: Re: Kick and shots per minute Yeah, some specific weapons were certainly less capable of absorbing recoil. I've used .58cal weapons (19th century standard) and the recoil is nothing to be afraid of. I can see the larger guns causing trouble. I'll search my ECW resources for the 17thC guns the original poster was looking for and see what I can find. One should further note that guns during those times had stands due to weight that helped keep up the accuracy and minimize the effects of recoil. The stand was basically a pole that was about 4' tall that dropped below the gun and allowed the gun to be fired from what was essencially a braced position. In addition to the musket, many men would carry a secondary weapon, such as a sword or axe for close-quarters fighting. They did not get involved in fencing duels like you might see in some movies. The musketeers wore twelve wooden cases, often refered to as the "twelve apostles", worn on a belt over the shoulder. These would each contain enough powder to charge the musket. In addition to these, a primer with powder for the pan would be attached to this belt. Typical problems were tangling of the belt whilst on the move. The sound as the boxes banged together made hearing orders as a regiment more difficult. A later innovation was paper wrapped charges which eliminated these problems, and sped up the rate of fire. Ugh, no doubt. "Son, looks like you need to bleed a little in order to get better! Here, let me apply these giant river leaches..." Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Kick and shots per minute 17th century guns while shooting large rounds did so at subsonic speed and were heavy so the kick was pretty much absorbed by the gun. 2 shots per minute sounds right. It gets to 3-4 shots in the 19th century until repeaters come out then you see much higher rates of fire. As a side note - because the shots are sub-sonic they tend to NOT cauterize the wound and actually are more capable of later killing someone of disease! The disease usually is on the soldiers clothing (staphalencocus if they have passed through farmland, for example.) I think the majority of deaths during the Civil War were caused by disease and not because the wound recieved was fatal.

How ancient are we talking? Ancient fire arms go back a long way. Gunpoweder was known throughout the world by the middle ages. The Chinese were using black powder as far back as 11th century when the Sung Dynasty was using explosive projectiles in their "sitting tiger" artillery pieces. The earliest man held guns go back to at least the middle ages. I've seen drawings from 1480 showing handgunners protecting castle walls. Back then you had a tube with a stock that was held on the shoulder (like a bazooka) while another fellow pressed a match into the vent hole to set it off. As ingenuity and production inovations took hold eventually the match lock gun was invented. During the English Civil War matchlocks were common. Basically what you had was a trigger mechanism attached to a spring loaded arm that held a burning slow match. Pulling the trigger swung the match to the primer pan, setting off the weapon. These were really susceptible to all sorts of problems. "Sleeves" of shot units were often paried up with Pike units to cover the deficiencies in the other's arm. The Shot elements would fire upon charging enemies then fall back to allow the Pike elements to take the charge. By the time of the American Civil War three other innovations came into play. Flint replaced burning matches. This was easier to use, more able to work when wet and less susceptible to failure (I'd give matches an activation check just to see if they worked!) Another innovation of this period was standardized production. prior to this all guns were unique works, the parts of one not able to be used in another weapon. Now one could mass produce weapons and if there was a problem get a spare part. (Quarter Masters from then on had nothing but work, work, work!) Finally, rifling was sucessfully implemented. Rifling allows one to use elongated bullets rather than just balls. Rifling imparts spin which develops torque which keeps the flight of the bullet true. Rifling also makes the bullet harder to load and thus the weapon is a bit slower. Later during the American Civil War as the transition from Smoothbore to Rifle was made it was discovered that units with smoothbores were able to produce more firepower than units with rifles. Just prior to the American Civil War the invention of the percussion cap was made and applied to almost all gun designs. The percussion cap is a small capsule that goes on the firing pan. The hammer comes down and kicks off the charge behind the round. It required no maintenence like the flint in flintlocks required. During the American Civil War the cartridge was invented. This combined the round and the gunpowder into one package greatly improving load times. Also invented was the Minne Ball which was shaped in such a way as to form a gas seal in the barrel thus capturing more energy from the expanding black powder. Another invention was the repeating rifle - a weapon able to fire several times before reloads. Rounds were put into firing position by a lever mechanism. One report I read commented that Green Units with repeaters had as much fire power as Veterna Units with standard rifles. after that guns start to become much more like our modern ones. I hope this helps you design your gun rules. Seeing how technology progresses over centuries gives you a better feel, I think, for how to model stuff like this. Good luck, let us know what you come up with.