The point of this thread is similar to the point of my previous thread on
TL 5-8 firearms in Ultra-Tech calibers.
High-Tech's approach to various ammo types is not very standardized and in some cases requires hauling out a calculator, so I thought it would be nice to write up an alternative system.
In this post, I'm going to focus on the main options for pistol and rifle rounds. I'll do grenades and missile warheads in a later post.
Extra-Powerful (+P) Ammunition
Divide dice of damage by 3, round to the nearest whole number, and apply the result as a damage bonus. Effects on things other than damage are unchanged.
Match-Grade Ammunition
Unchanged.
Subsonic Ammunition
Existing rules are okay I guess but if you want a simpler rule using -1 to damage regardless of gun type would make sense. Not sure if that should be worth a -1 or -2 penalty to hearing rolls. Other aspects would be unchanged.
Silent Ammunition
Unchanged.
Solid
If you're using "UT style" write-ups for all firearm types, solid ammo will be standard even for shotguns, so this option can be ignored.
Hollow-Point (HP)
Largely unchanged. If you care about consistency with Ultra-Tech you might ignore the "targets with DR 0 get DR 1 instead" rule, or declare that that rule applies to TL9 hollow-points too. Or you could decide that's a perk of using ultra-tech ammo. Unchanged, as Rupert points out below.
Armor-Piercing
Change effect on damage to -1 per die. Otherwise unchanged.
Armor-Piercing Hardcore (APHC)
Unchanged. Interestingly the rules for TL6 APHC ammo are basically identical to those for TL9 APHC ammo. I guess
Ultra-Tech didn't want to put lower TL numbers anywhere even where they would have made sense.
Armor-Piercing Discarding-Sabot (APDS)
Use the rules in
Ultra-Tech.
Baton, Beanbag, SAPFSDS, UD
Unchanged.
Depleted Uranium
APEP is supposed to be
Ultra-Tech's equivalent of depleted uranium rounds but
High-Tech gives a more more finely differentiated set of options. I need to think about how to handle this, and would appreciate thoughts in comments.