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Guns Rules Questions

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Sat, 2014-07-05 16:59

Nerathul

Guns Rules Questions

Alright, so I apologize in advance if this has already been asked but I couldn't find anything in the books. (Knowing me, I probably skipped right over the answers) And the forum's search function keeps crashing for me. Back to the subject; Guns, More specifically a handful of unrelated questions. 1. Can firearms shoot in a vacuum? Do they require an atmosphere with oxygen to fire? Or is there a special mechanism to keep the propellant oxygenated? I couldn't find anything in the corebook about wether or not they can fire in a vacuum. 2. Railguns Batteries are said to hold 200 charges and reload by 10% every hour, but is it possible to swap batteries in a firefight or does it require disassembling the gun? While 200 shots is a lot, it can pass very quickly with automatic weapons when providing covering fire. What about energy weapons? 3. Can you reload disposable launchers or do you need to drop them after you've fired their pre-stocked payload? So yeah, that's about it. Thanks for putting up with my newbie questions.

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In the sea without lees Standeth the bird of Hermes Eating his wings variable And maketh himself yet full stable

Sat, 2014-07-05 18:39

TheGrue

Answers

Let's see how many of these I can answer before someone with more comprehensive system knowledge corrects me. :D

Nerathul wrote:
1. Can firearms shoot in a vacuum? Do they require an atmosphere with oxygen to fire? Or is there a special mechanism to keep the propellant oxygenated? I couldn't find anything in the corebook about wether or not they can fire in a vacuum.

First, conventional gunpowder firearms do function in a vacuum, contrary to their depiction in Firefly and others. Gunpowder consists of three components: sulphur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. The first two are fuel, and the last is an oxidizing agent. You need that because there isn't actually enough(if any) airflow in the firing chamber to feed the combustion reaction from igniting the powder; thus, firing a modern firearm in a vacuum would work just fine. Now, of course firearms in Eclipse Phase don't use gunpowder. In fact the work quite a bit differently;

Core Rulebook wrote:
Modern chemical firearms use caseless ammunition that is auto-loaded from a magazine. They are effectively recoilless (thanks to rheological smart fluid mechanisms) and electronically fired (an electric charge vaporizes the propellant, using the expanding steam and plasma to eject and accelerate the projectile).

Although Eclipse Phase's firearms lack oxidized gunpowder, they also don't use a combustion reaction to propel their projectiles. They work just fine in vacuum.

Quote:
2. Railguns Batteries are said to hold 200 charges and reload by 10% every hour, but is it possible to swap batteries in a firefight or does it require disassembling the gun? While 200 shots is a lot, it can pass very quickly with automatic weapons when providing covering fire. What about energy weapons?

This has come up once or twice on these forums in the past. I don't have links to any of the threads on-hand, but I believe consensus was that yes, you can swap out a depleted battery for a fresh one in the middle of a fight, and that rules-wise it's probably a Complex-action like reload a projectile weapon.

Quote:
3. Can you reload disposable launchers or do you need to drop them after you've fired their pre-stocked payload?

Hm. There's nothing specific in the rules that says you can't reload them, but the usage of the word "Disposable" in the name implies to me that they are indeed one-shot. If I were your GM, I'd say that you can't reload a disposable seeker launcher.

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Thermonuclear Banana Split - A not-really-weekly Eclipse Phase campaign journal.

Sat, 2014-07-05 19:34

Pyrite

Nerathul wrote:

Nerathul wrote:
3. Can you reload disposable launchers or do you need to drop them after you've fired their pre-stocked payload?

After doing some research on the matter it looks like the main point of the single-shot disposable is to have the tube made of cheaper materials and the missile factory-fitted into the tube to prevent misfires. I saw a quote by one person who said that during "his military training he shot similar weapons, known as LAW rockets, and was told to stomp on them after firing so they could not be reused by the enemy." Based on that, while they don't seem generally designed to reload, you could probably use them as recycled materials to rebuild a new one if you were careful.

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'No language is justly studied merely as an aid to other purposes. It will in fact better serve other purposes, philological or historical, when it is studied for love, for itself.' --J.R.R. Tolkien

Sat, 2014-07-05 20:17

Chernoborg Chernoborg's picture

If I remember right, the LAW

If I remember right, the LAW tubes were being used as raw materials for booby traps. The tube is wide enough to fit a grenade with the pin pulled such that when the tube is tipped the grenade falls out and detonates.

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Current Status: Highly Distracted building Gatecrashing systems in Universe Sandbox!

Sat, 2014-07-05 22:56

ORCACommander ORCACommander's picture

2: I would use this as a

2: I would use this as a flavor point. H ave some manufactures allow on the fly reloads while others require a near break down of the weapon 3. Disposable probably means it damages itself in the process of use leading it to be inoperable for its purpose

Sun, 2014-07-06 02:43

uwtartarus uwtartarus's picture

Guns in space!

Guns in space! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUdkIn7C9fA

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Exhuman, and Humanitarian.

Sun, 2014-07-06 08:08

Lorsa

I've always ruled is to that

I've always ruled is to that laser pulsers can simply shoot more or less forever. It is said that the battery is recharged between usage by a nuclear battery in the weapon itself. But why couldn't power be drawn directly from the nuclear battery? I found that laser pulsers were such a poor weapon in general that buffing them a bit by giving them effectively infinite ammunition wouldn't damage any game balance.

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Sun, 2014-07-06 12:54

Nerathul

Energy Weapon

Thanks for the answers everyone. As for energy weapon, to me it seems like they are rather bad with the exception of the plasma rifle. The second best strongest energy weapon is equaled at every level except range and ammo capacity by Firearm Heavy pistols, which also only cost a 20th of the price, allowing you to easily deck it out with special ammunition and accessories for less. Plasma gun are actually go despite their 1 round recharge for each 2 round fired because they have the ability to damage nanoswarms decently and they hit rather hard on their own. Although Plasma grenades are better at this and you can get forty for the price of one plasma rifle.

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In the sea without lees Standeth the bird of Hermes Eating his wings variable And maketh himself yet full stable