Quote:
Originally Posted by ammulder
I have to admit to a bit of skepticism toward the claim that the class of weapons officially designated "Dropped Gasses" are not "Dropped Weapons"...
But if others want to weigh in on this, I could be convinced.
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I'd definitely concur that the phrasing in this area is decidedly subpar, and it looks like this might be a case of editing over the years yielding some muddy interpretations.
Originally (way back in the pocket box), it made sense to have separate sections - oil, mines, and spikes could only be back mounted, whereas paint and smoke could be back or side mounted.
Things evolved over the years though, with the allowed locations for dropped weapons growing. However the paint and smoke section does not appear to have received significant editing. The dropped weapon section does include passages referring to smoke from flamethrowers and also gas streamers, which leads me to believe that the editors intended the dropped weapon section to apply to gas weapons as well.
It is worth noting that the limitation on not being able to place weapons on the front half of a trailer is older than front-mounted dropped weapons being allowed at all (not to mention top and corner mounts). And the rules seem to allow front-mounted dropped weapons on a trailer.
So, in this case, I think that the clause not allowing dropped weapons on the front half of a trailer is an editorial oversight that should have been removed when the sides which dropped weapons can be mounted on was expanded.
Interestingly, from what I can see, the placement of side-mounted dropped weapons on oversized vehicles is another place where the rules have some ambiguity. They don't actually define where the center of the "car" would be for trailers. IMO, one should use the forward-most and rear-most black dots on the side of the counter to define where the center of the front/back side mount locations are.
As always, just my opinion, but I think that front-side mounts should be allowed on trailers. Keeping in mind that they might not be a good idea, as the trailer's rear-half will probably also be affected by said weapons.