Roleplayer #23, May 1991
"Lasers? We don't need no stinkin' lasers!"
Ultra-Tech
Slugthrowers for GURPS Cyberpunk and Space Campaigns
by C.J. Carella
Will lasers rule tomorrow's battlefield? Maybe . . . and maybe not. Described
below are some projectile weapons and ammunition for futuristic campaigns.
Some of them are found in science fiction, while others represent current
military research. These weapons will add variety to a Cyberpunk
or militaristic Space
campaign. They can also form the basis for a game world where beam weapons
are rare or non-existent.
TL7: Assault Rifles of Tomorrow
As the century draws to a close, several new assault rifles are on the drawing
boards of military researchers. Outlined below are two existing prototypes
of Advanced Combat Rifles (ACRs) currently under evaluation by the U.S.
Army and NATO. Other ACR models include a M-16 variant that fires duplex
ammunition (see below). These guns may be used in a Cyberpunk
or Autoduel campaign set in the near future. By then, the underworld might
have access to those "outdated" weapons.
Duplex Cartridge: Colt ACR
This descendant of the M-16 adds few innovations, concentrating instead
on improving existing designs. It does use a novel round, the Duplex Cartridge
(see below). The goal of its designers was to double the performance of
the old M-16 rifle. The end result is a more accurate and reliable rifle
that does not differ much from its predecessor.
This weapon can also use standard 5.56mm ammo, as per already-published
stats.
Caseless Gun: The G-11
The G-11 is manufactured by Heckler & Koch. It was developed during
the 1980s, and may become the new weapon of Western armies. It is designed
to greatly increase hit probability, and to be used as an all-purpose weapon
that can serve as an assault rifle, a submachinegun and even a light machine
gun.
The rifle uses a caseless round (see p. UT17), which eliminates the need
for an ejection port and makes the gun less likely to malfunction. The G-11
has three different firing modes. Besides the standard semi-auto and full
auto settings, the rifle can fire a three-round burst at an extremely high
rate (2,200 rounds per minute -- a RoF of 36!). All three shots leave the
gun before the user feels the recoil. For gaming purposes, treat this setting
as a normal burst (see p. B120), with two differences. Add 3 to the attacker's
skill to determine the number of hits in the burst, and there is no "automatic
fire" recoil penalty for the shots within the burst. However, the recoil
is still there! If the shooter fires more than one of these bursts per second,
recoil penalty is doubled for successive burst. For the G-11, for instance,
the first burst has no recoil penalty, the second burst has a -2, and the
third has a -4.
This setting does not allow the user to "hose" targets, however
(see Aiming for Successive Groups and Area Effect, p. B121). The gun can
fire three bursts per turn in this setting.
Additionally, the G-11 has an integral scope, with a 3.5 x magnification
(+1 Accuracy for aimed shots, + 3 for aimed and braced shots) for targets
beyond 300 yards. The gun has a length of less than 30 inches, making it
as compact as a submachinegun.
Flechette Rifle: Steyr ACR
This Austrian weapon uses saboted flechettes instead of normal ammunition
(see below). Unlike most TL7 assault rifles, it does not have automatic-fire
capability; instead, it fires either single shots or three-round bursts,
as described for the G-11, above. The Steyr still uses normal cartridges,
with a bullpup configuration that keeps the gun's length at about 30 inches.
Note that this is not the same weapon as the Steyr AUG, and ammunition
is not interchangeable.
TL7-8: Exotic Ammunition
GURPS
Ultra-Tech describes some types of ammunition for the
slugthrowers of the future. Other ammo types will include:
Flechette Rounds: this TL7 bullet is a very thin dart encased in
a sabot roughly the shape of a normal rifle round. This "flechette"
should not be confused with TL8+ Flechette Guns (see below). When fired,
the sabot is discarded and the dart is launched at higher velocities than
normal ammunition. This round has good range and penetration. TL7 guns with
flechette rounds do +1 damage for every two dice of normal damage; halve
the DR of any target. After armor is penetrated, a flechette round does
half damage.
Multiple Projectile Rounds: Some military gun manufacturers are
currently experimenting with duplex cartridges, rifle rounds that
have two slugs in them. They have occasionally been available for military
rifles since the 1960s; the U.S. issued 7.62mm duplex cartridges in Viet
Nam, but they have always been rare. Exotic three-slug ammunition is already
being sold for revolvers.
Duplex cartridges do -1d damage but double the RoF of an assault
rifle. Single shots are treated like a two-round burst; the attacker is
at +1 to skill to determine the number of rounds that hit. At TL7, reduce
the Malfunction number of the gun by 1, unless the rifle has been purposely
designed to work with this type of round (like the Colt ACR, above). Halve
the 1/2D and maximum ranges. Duplex cartridges, when available, will probably
be Legality Class 1 or 0.
Three-projectile bullets are available for most revolver rounds at TL7;
at TL8 there may be three-round cartridges for most types of pistols and
submachine guns. Each slug does half the damage of a normal bullet (rounded
down), and has 1/3 of the normal range for that gun. Single shots are treated
like a 3-round burst, at +1 to user skill for number of hits. For automatic
weapons, RoF is tripled, but the Malf. number is reduced by 2.
Ramjet Rounds (TL8): This is a bullet round that turns into a mini-rocket
in midair, giving much greater range and penetration. Unlike Gyrocs (see
p. UT20), a ramjet bullet cannot carry a payload. The ramjet is a bullet
filled with solid rocket fuel, with an air vent up front. When the round
is fired, air is forced into the vent, igniting the rocket fuel and propelling
the round much faster than conventional cartridges.
A ramjet bullet is a special Armor Piercing Round. It does 1.5 times the
damage of a conventional AP bullet at TL8 (for instance, a ramjet carbine
round would do 9d + 9(2) damage). Damage is halved after penetrating armor.
All the gun's ranges are increased by 50%. The round must travel 2 yards
before the rocket fuel is ignited. Ramjet bullets are Legality Class 0.
Flechette Guns (TL8+)
These weapons fire shotgun-like cartridges; instead of pellets, however,
the cartridges are loaded with tiny darts. They are most commonly used in
space installations. While a bullet or laser might punch a hole in an outer
wall, risking explosive decompression, flechettes are not likely to penetrate
a solid target. They are also very effective against Kevlar and Monocrys
armor. All flechettes have Legality Class 1; in space stations, they may
be less (or more) restricted.
At TL8, flechette guns do 5d impaling; DR protects separately against each
die. They are at +1 to hit. Military versions have an automatic setting;
civilian weapons are semiauto only, and are Legality Class 2. They may use
either chemical propellants or Gauss magnetic propulsion. A flechette cartridge
is also available for TL8 grenade launchers, for use as a short-range anti-personnel
round. It does 6d impaling.
At TL9, all flechette guns are magnetically propelled. They fire high-density,
high speed darts with better armor penetration. Their rounds do 10d impaling;
DR protects separately against each two dice. The grenade launcher
round does 12d + 6, in effect six attacks doing 2d +1 each. Flechette machine-guns
are often used as an anti-missile system; it is computer-operated and fires
the same round as the grenade launcher, at very high rates of fire (RoF
of 40+). Occasionally, the machinegun is used for antipersonnel purposes.
Repressive societies often mount them in anti-riot units; against unarmored
civilians it is a devastating weapon, while doing minimal property damage.
At TL10, hypervelocity flechettes do 16d+16; damage is applied against DR
in four groups of 4d+4. Furthermore, DR is halved against each attack. Machine-guns
do 5d+5 (2) impaling; that's the damage of each individual dart. RoF is
100+, and is almost exclusively used for point defense.
Hypervelocity Guns (TL10)
At TL10, magnetic acceleration allows hand-held weapons to shoot projectiles
at almost relativistic speeds. At those velocities, even a relatively small
projectile has both great penetration and damage. The speed that allows
these weapons to defeat heavy armor also cause massive hydrostatic shock
in human beings. The results are not pretty.
These weapons fire small missiles; thus, they can hold large amounts of
ammunition. Even heavy ordnance weapons like portable railguns carry as
many shots as a TL7 assault rifle. Hypervelocity guns can hold their own
against most beam weapons, and are not affected by the countermeasures that
work against lasers. The fact that they do not use chemical propellants
makes them immune to chemscanners.
Crystal Guns: This civilian weapon is designed to insure maximum
lethality on unarmored humans or animals while keeping penetration of walls
and armored personnel to a minimum. They are popular aboard starships. Crystal
guns (crysguns for short) fire magnetized crystal beads at hypersonic speeds.
The beads do massive damage to human flesh -- a torso shot is almost always
lethal; limb shots usually cripple the target. The beads do 8d damage; damage
is multiplied by 2.5. The DR of any armor is multiplied by 2 against this
weapon. Furthermore, the beads will not penetrate any target with rigid
armor greater than DR 20, or any solid wall with more than 3 DR; the glass
bead shatters against those targets, doing 1d-4 cutting to any person within
2 yards of impact. Crystal guns are legality Class 2. Automatic versions
exist; they have RoF 12 and legality Class 1.
HV-Guns: Hypervelocity guns fire metal slugs at enormous speeds.
They offer almost as much penetration as a solid burst from an X-ray rifle.
HV-guns come in two sizes; both do the same amount of damage. HV machine
pistols are assigned to pilots, vehicle crews and officers; these guns are
as easy to conceal as a TL7 heavy pistol (-1 to Holdout), which also makes
them the preferred weapon of assassins and Special Ops soldiers. HV rifles
have greater range, rate of fire, and ammo capacity. HV guns do 2d x 8 (2)
damage.
If the gun penetrates a metal wall (the side of an armored car, for instance),
it will cause fragmentation when it comes out, due to its high speed: 1d-2
cutting in a 3-yard radius. Inside a vehicle, this fragmentation can damage
systems and injure the crew.
Portable Railgun: Portable railguns (R-guns for short) are anti-vehicle
weapons. R-guns are kinetic-kill weapons that fire a dense 15mm metal ball.
This round does 5d x 10 (2) damage. When penetrating a metal obstacle, the
R-gun will cause fragments to fly around a 10-yard area, doing 2d cutting
damage.
Raygun Control
The weapon descriptions from Space and Ultra-Tech
assume that after TL9 beam weapons will become the pre-dominant and eventually
the only type of small arm available. But this need not be the case. GMs
may wish to deviate from the traditional "ray-gun" view of future
weaponry, and some fictional backgrounds also disregard lasers and stay
with the tried-and-true missile weapon. From the thrown stone to the ICBM,
an object propelled with lethal intent still remains the ranged weapon of
choice.
There are plenty of reasons for the unavailability of man-portable beam
weapons at any tech level. At TL7, lasers exist, but the energy requirements
for a beam that will wound or kill a man at a distance are so enormous that
an antipersonnel weapon could only be mounted in a large vehicle -- and
it would still be less effective than a light machine gun.
Suppose that it proves impossible to power hand beam-weapons. Either power
sources are too unstable or vulnerable (who wants a pocket antimatter generator
to go critical while you are holding it?), or they are too massive. lasers
and particle beams could still be used as anti-missile measures, for anti-satellite
weaponry, or in large starships. Beam weapons may also be present among
artillery weapons, but even if the problems above did not exist, they would
never completely replace missiles or even cannon; beam weapons have too
straight a trajectory to hit anything beyond the horizon. On a planet, that
is too short a distance; missiles with mass and low velocity (so they can
follow the planetary curvature instead of shooting into space) will still
be necessary.
Even if beamed power is available, that would mean having all or most of
the weapons of an infantry unit depend on a distant generator, one that
can break down, or even worse, that can be targeted and destroyed by the
enemy. Military strategists will probably not like that risk.
Alternatively, the GM might wish to populate the galaxy with varied star-spanning
civilizations with different weaponry. Maybe the Kronin have developed laser
weapons, but the Terran Federation's marines rely on hypervelocity rifles
and portable railguns, or vice versa. If slugthrowers can keep up with beam
weapons in terms of lethality, efficiency and reliability, someone will
be using them.
Weapon......Malf..Type..Dam......SS..Acc..1/2D..Max....Wt..RoF..Shots..ST..Rcl..Cost..LC..TL
Advanced Assault Rifles
Colt ACR....Ver....Cr...4d.......11..12....250..2,000..10..24*...30....9...-1..1,000...1..7
G-11........Ver....Cr..4d+2......10..12....500..4,000...9..8*....50....8...-1..1,500...1..7
Steyr ACR...Ver....Cr..4d+4(2)...11..11....600..4,000...9..8.....24....9...-1..2,000...1..7
Flechette Guns
TL8 F-gun...Crit..Imp...5d.......10...8.....75....350..10..5*....12...11...-2..1,000...1..8
TL9 F-gun...Ver...Imp...10d......10..10....100....500..10..8.....20...10...-2..1,200...1..9
TL10 F-gun..Ver...Imp..16d+16.....9..11....125....650..10..8.....25...10...-1..1,200...1..10
Hypervelocity Guns
Crystal Gun.Ver...Spl...8d........9...8....300..1,000...3..-3...20/C...8....0..1,500...2..10
HV-Pistol...Ver...Cr..2d x 8(2)...9..11..1,000..3,000...3..12..100/C...9....0..2,000...1..10
HV-Rifle....Ver...Cr..2d x 8(2)..10..12..2,000..5,000..10..16..200/D...9....0..3,000...1..10
R-gun.......Ver...Cr..5d x 10(2).13..15..3,500.10,000..15..-3...20/D..11...-1.10,000...0..10
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