08-22-2016, 10:43 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Homing Shotgun
I've mined quite a few ideas for near-future sci-fi action campaigns from the recent slew of futuristic FPS games (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, 3, and Advanced Warfare, Ghost Recon: Phantoms and Titanfall, to name a few). The trend now seems to be petering out, given how horridly the new Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare trailers were received (the Titanfall 2's open beta hasn't exactly had an ecstatic reception either), so the genre seems about ready to move on.
As if aware of that, Infinite Warfare seems to be going all in with the futuristic gimmicks (including zero-g combat where astronauts fire grappling hooks at one another and tear each other's facemasks off). A particularly weird gadget has appeared in one of its latest trailers - a homing shotgun (used from 4:15 to 5:00). According to GURPS (and, er, reality), shotguns are as effective as a stiff breeze against kevlar, let alone TL9 armor, but we can chalk the whole "effective shotguns on the modern battlefield"-trope up to FPSs having to have weapon variety and balance. So, if we ignore the actual effect of the pellets, how would you mechanically stat a weapon that fires 8 homing pellets in a single shot? |
08-22-2016, 10:51 PM | #2 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Homing Shotgun
The Homing rules don't actually break with high RoF, just as long as you remember that the effective skill of the attack still only hits with Margin×RcL (in this case 1, obviously) pellets.
Incidently Gun Fu has some options for making shotguns work like they do in shooters. Last edited by sir_pudding; 08-23-2016 at 01:40 PM. |
08-22-2016, 11:12 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: Homing Shotgun
Well, they presumably aren't pellets but rather flechettes. So they probably have armor divisors. I'd consider handling them more like a launcher than a standard firearm.
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08-23-2016, 12:51 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Homing Shotgun
I'd fudge it and assume that the shotgun is firing a single homing projectile with an explosive warhead, rather than a cluster of homing pellets. That should be possible using Ultra-Tech by the book at a sufficiently high TL. It'll give you a homing effect that makes messy holes in people (and even light armour), which is what you really want here.
(I have a Pyramid article with a shooting style for ultra-tech shotguns somewhere...)
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08-23-2016, 03:57 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
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Re: Homing Shotgun
Quote:
More generally I'm inclined to agree with sir_pudding: a shotgun firing eight homing projectiles at once doesn't need to be mechanically different from a high-RoF launcher firing eight homing projectiles in the same attack.
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08-23-2016, 09:39 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Homing Shotgun
Quote:
In 4e UT the Guided option would be limited to projectiles of 10mm or larger. Transhuman Space was sort of 3.5e-ish and had (different sorts of) Homing projectiles without any particular size limit.
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Fred Brackin |
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08-23-2016, 01:15 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Jun 2016
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Re: Homing Shotgun
It could always be a 18mm guided missile with an annular blast fragmentation warhead. Generate the shotgun effect at the target instead of in the barrel.
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08-23-2016, 01:26 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Homing Shotgun
A standard option for UT HE warheads. Just as bad as penetrating armor as shotgun pellets though.
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Fred Brackin |
08-23-2016, 01:34 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
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Re: Homing Shotgun
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08-23-2016, 01:44 PM | #10 |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Homing Shotgun
I'd expect to see something larger, like the FIM-92 Stinger. At least for honest-to-goodness UCAVs. Maybe something like this as an option in a high-velocity grenade launcher (like the XM25) for shooting down quadcopter-style recon drones.
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Tags |
call of duty, homing, sci-fi, shotgun, ths |
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