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Old 09-06-2017, 04:08 PM   #1
Galaktus3000
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Default [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

From the rules standpoint, is it possible to customize a ranged weapon? One of my players wants to decrease the recoil of his ETC storm rifle by tweaking it, how to handle this case?

Anyway, is that realistic ?
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Old 09-06-2017, 04:19 PM   #2
Anthony
 
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

Realistically a bipod or tripod should reduce recoil somewhat, as should systems (such as the articulated weapon harness on UT150) that emulate them.
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Old 09-06-2017, 05:58 PM   #3
clu2415
 
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

Tactical Shooting (p76) has compensators and muzzle weights which give a bonus to offset recoil. Those are the only things that would come close.
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Old 09-07-2017, 09:14 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

Note that these devices do not reduce the game stat 'Rcl'. They reduce the effects of 'real life' recoil, making the weapon easier to control (lowering the ST requirement and giving a skill bonus). GURPS' Rcl stat is pretty much fixed, though it can go up when spraying fire, firing a weapon way faster than normal, and so on - situations where you're losing control of the weapon.

Aside from all this, if you (the OP) do allow something that reduces Rcl, for projectile weapons that aren't firing shot do not allow Rcl to drop below Rcl 2. Rcl 1 is reserved for multiple projectile attacks like shotguns, for truly recoilless attacks like lasers, and for 'high-cyclic controlled bursts' (HT83). The last is a possibility for an untra-tech weapon, but it would have to be a model designed that way - this is not a feature you can just tack onto a weapon.
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Old 09-07-2017, 10:23 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

If you wanted to 'modify' a projectile weapon for lower rcl, your best bet is rebuilding it as a significantly bigger and heavier weapon with the same round. Medium machine guns typically have rcl 2 with rounds that rifles fire at rcl 3.
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Old 09-08-2017, 03:35 PM   #6
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
If you wanted to 'modify' a projectile weapon for lower rcl, your best bet is rebuilding it as a significantly bigger and heavier weapon with the same round. Medium machine guns typically have rcl 2 with rounds that rifles fire at rcl 3.
You should just be able to add weights for the same effect.

Competition pistols often do this. See http://www.precisiontargetpistolgrip...l-weights.html
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Old 09-08-2017, 06:37 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

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Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym View Post
You should just be able to add weights for the same effect.

Competition pistols often do this. See http://www.precisiontargetpistolgrip...l-weights.html
Probably you could, but it would probably be a lot of weights.

More realistic modification is Tactical Shooting's Muzzle Weight.
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Old 09-13-2017, 10:30 AM   #8
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

One option your player might want to consider is using multi-ball ammunition of some sort, per the rules on p. HT173. He'd be trading some damage per projectile and overall range, but he'd get Recoil 1 from it. I don't see any reason why there couldn't be multi-ball caseless rounds.

As I understand it, the recoil statistic represents the mechanical accuracy of the gun. As in, if it were fired from a bench rest without consideration for the strength or habits of the shooter. I could see a reasonable argument to be made for a high quality closed bolt gun with some sort of mass dampening system and a lower impulse round achieving recoil 1 (as the TDI Kriss Super V SMG in Tactical Shooting does). Your player's ETC storm rifle isn't really that though: it's doing per-shot damage comparable to a Barrett M82A1. It gets that at a much lower ST requirement, with better rate of fire, and in a weapon that weighs a third the Barrett. I suspect that a lot of recoil mitigation is already assumed to be integrated into the gun.

Still, I would say that it's reasonable to assume that active mass dampening technologies (as opposed to tuned mass dampeners like what's in the Kriss) will eventually be applied to handheld weapons. The gyrostabilized weapon harness on p. UT150 is probably a good starting point for building an AMD from a rules perspective. Once the weight from the AMD was added to the gun I would worsen bulk by -2 and decrease recoil by 2 with the provision that the gun must have a computer targeting aid of some sort: either the Targeting tactical program or a proper computer sight as in p. HT157.

This effectively doubles the weight of the gun and puts something like a weird looking box containing high power motors and a couple of dense chunks of mass on it. Stylistically it might be a replacement stock and handguard, or an after-market part that bolts to the gun's rail system. In effect, between each shot, the high speed motors will be throwing the masses in the direction opposite the recoil force and, critically, in such as way as to also further correct the shooter's aim with the help of the computer program (thus justifying the modification to recoil).

You get a lot with the recoil improvement, but you're giving up a lot in terms of expense and loss of weight savings. It seems like it would roughly even out, though it's certainly something I'd want to test in a game with the disclaimer to the player that it might be too good and require adjustment.
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Old 09-13-2017, 12:17 PM   #9
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Default Re: [Ultra-Tech] Ranged weapons mods and customization

Acc is the mechanical accuracy of the weapon, which is why the MoA rule includes it. Rcl is a composite of controllability factors. ”Ctrl” would probably have been a less ambiguous choice.
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