Bigger guns & crossbows

[Anaraxes]

Guess it's time to break out the Cole Ballistics Model spreadsheet so you can work out the stats for bullets scaled to increased SMs, and then be able to fool around with things that aren't simple volume. (Do you keep the cartridge propellant the same as the original -- presumably not, since it won't drive a much heavier bullet very well? The velocity / muzzle energy the same -- "same round only bigger"? The cartridge proportions the same, scaling propellant with the volume and seeing what that happens to do to the stats?)

[Hide]

Originally Posted by clu2415

What TL are you working with? Poorer materials at TL5 mean less ridiculous handgun rounds like .454 Casull or .50 AE. The increased weight of the weapon and the strength of the user would decrease recoil by one or two.

I am working with two settings, one is TL3, the other is TL8. Among the players, there will be a SM+1 orc. I was thinking about making larger versions of guns for this character (bigger colt), but now it makes more sense simply buying larger guns (machine gun). This would look like Jorge 052 from Halo, which is ok.

But with the deadly spring I can make bigger Low Tech missile weapons, and that is good. I already made a crossbow, but I need to know how to turn it into a repeating crossbow.

[clu2415]

Originally Posted by Hide

I am working with two settings, one is TL3, the other is TL8. Among the players, there will be a SM+1 orc. I was thinking about making larger versions of guns for this character (bigger colt), but now it makes more sense simply buying larger guns (machine gun). This would look like Jorge 052 from Halo, which is ok.

TL8 makes that easier. That orc can probably carry weapons that humans have to mount on tripods and whatnot. For a handgun, you could take the Ruger Super Redhawk or the Desert Eagle, add some amp capacity and reduce the recoil a bit.

Originally Posted by Hide

But with the deadly spring I can make bigger Low Tech missile weapons, and that is good. I already made a crossbow, but I need to know how to turn it into a repeating crossbow.

Do you have Low Tech or Martial Arts? Both have the repeating crossbow. Just buy one with a ST rating equal to the orc’s strength.

[Hide]

Originally Posted by clu2415

Do you have Low Tech or Martial Arts? Both have the repeating crossbow. Just buy one with a ST rating equal to the orc’s strength.

I do, and there’s another version in GURPS Fantasy. Low Tech and Martial arts versions are ST8 while fantasy is ST9. All of these are 500 gold each, but I don’t think a ST 14 crossbow is going to be the same. The repeating crossbow is basically a normal crossbow (same stats, except for the shots/ammo and the cost).

For the normal crossbow, each ST level adds 15 gold to cost; Is it going to be the same with the repeating crossbow?

Is the cost of a crossbow going to increase depending on its weight and/or ST? It seems the “repeater mechanism” adds 4 lbs. to weight.

What could have been the factor employed to increase price and weight?

[clu2415]

Increasing the strength rating just requires a stiffer bow, which doesn’t have to weigh any more. You don’t need to turn a crossbow into a repeating crossbow, you just have to build a repeating crossbow with a higher ST rating. The ST rating determines the damage; the weight determines the value in the ST column on the table.

I don’t see a listing for additional cost for rated ST in Basic, Martial Arts, or Low Tech. Is that from Fantasy?

[Hide]

Originally Posted by clu2415

Increasing the strength rating just requires a stiffer bow, which doesn’t have to weigh any more. You don’t need to turn a crossbow into a repeating crossbow, you just have to build a repeating crossbow with a higher ST rating. The ST rating determines the damage; the weight determines the value in the ST column on the table.

I don’t see a listing for additional cost for rated ST in Basic, Martial Arts, or Low Tech. Is that from Fantasy?

Now that you mention it, the prices I was talking about in my previous post might not be available in these books (so I corrected my post to avoid confusions).

It seems there are no variations in price when you improve the ST of a crossbow; I found some interesting information about costs in this older thread.

Assuming the repeating crossbow is a tweaked version of the normal crossbow, to estimate the cost of upgrading my “deadly spring crossbow” I will apply a Rule of Three (math). I guess that should keep the proportions.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Hide

N

Assuming the repeating crossbow is a tweaked version of the normal crossbow, t

It's not. It's more like a peculiar toy.

I saw a functioning version several years ago on a TV show called Weapon Masters. There's a place in China where they make cheap copies and sell them, to the tourists. I don't think you can make a very strong one.

There is a a part that looks a regualr crossbow although a small one. Then there's a magazine for bolts that sits on top of the stock. This also prevents any "Aim" action. The magazine also requires use of short bolts that have no fins so ACC would be terrible anyway.

Then there's a lever attached to the magazine that puts your dominant hand about 18 inches above the stock with the force of your working the lever mostly being directed downward. Obviously you have to have the other hand on the stock to counteract this.

If you belonged to a species with a long and strong prehensile tail you might be able to work the lever while holding the stock against your sholder but about all a human can manage is a sort of one-handed firing from the hip.

The tourists were told that though the result is both weak and inaccurate in the old days it was made effective by smearing the bolts with "tiger-killing poison". The show's host asked if the makers would show him how to produce tiger-killing poison but apparently that was a secret.

So if your SM+1 whatever just has to have an very strong repeating crossbow I suggest that you abandon all connection to the Chinese chu-ko-nu and make a regualr crossbow to which some Gnome has attached a clever and functional bolt magazine and cocking mechanism that actually works.

If you replaced the "bow" with orichalcum springs you'd have the "Orichalcum Spring Gun" from p.14 of DF6. Although the cost and weight are of course different it has the combat stats of a ST12 crossbow.

You could leave the chu-ko-nu to sapient monkey-men who make war on tigers. Or just get your big guy a couple of javelins or throwing axes. Intense ranged combat episodes that would reward the sprign gun aren't that likely for small groups and your guy will probably be wanting to get into melee anyway.

[Imbicatus]

However, a repeating prodd might actually work in a realistic setting. Lead balls would be much easier to feed from a hopper, and a mechanism to feed one into the firing groove when the bow is cocked is not that complex. It wouldn’t be very accurate as you wouldn’t have any rifling for the ball, but it would be more accurate than TL 4 guns with a hell of a lot better rate of fire.