ETC guns don't need specialized ammo?

[Erling]

As far as I can gather from different sources, ETC guns use plasma injector that vents ignition impulse into surrounding propellant, like on this picture: https://www.dsiac.org/sites/www.dsia...ploads/p19.JPG

That means injector must be inside propellant - that is, it must be hammered into propellant or propellant must have specialized cavity. However, neither Ultra-Tech nor Pyramid #3-55 mention that ETC guns need specialized ammo to shoot. Is it an intended simplification or I just miss something?

[Refplace]

According to UT p. 139 they cost twice as much, plus the gun costs more and needs a power cell.

[Erling]

Guns cost twice as much, but there's nothing about ammo.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Erling

Guns cost twice as much, but there's nothing about ammo.

Huh. Your right, though the power cell increases cost a little.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Erling

That means injector must be inside propellant - that is, it must be hammered into propellant or propellant must have specialized cavity. However, neither Ultra-Tech nor Pyramid #3-55 mention that ETC guns need specialized ammo to shoot. Is it an intended simplification or I just miss something?

All guns need specialized ammo to shoot. Designers will sometimes intentionally design one to use the same kind of ammunition as another, but that's a side issue. I'm unsure what you are getting at here really. Are you thinking that ETC ammo should be more expensive? I don't see that it has to be, a plasma generator that can handle the kinds of currents this would use is presumably a lot more robust than the sort you can get on a chip today, but doesn't seem like it requires any additional technology, and chips can be pretty cheap.

[Anthony]

ETC ammo will not fire from a conventional gun, nor will conventional ammo fire from an ETC gun. Presumably the weapons have the same calibers/etc for convenience purposes.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Anthony

ETC ammo will not fire from a conventional gun, nor will conventional ammo fire from an ETC gun. Presumably the weapons have the same calibers/etc for convenience purposes.

More because this is an effective size for projectiles in this mass and velocity range. If we're clarifying at that level, note that many conventional guns can't fire the ammo of other conventional guns of the same caliber either. Ammunition isn't actually specific to one kind of gun, but that's probably closer to true than assuming it's interchangeable.

[Phantasm]

Seems to me that while ETC and conventional ammo of the same calibers are not interchangeable, the ammo itself seems to be roughly the same price. That's probably where the OP's confusion is coming from.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

ETC ammo will not fire from a conventional gun, nor will conventional ammo fire from an ETC gun. Presumably the weapons have the same calibers/etc for convenience purposes.

ETC guns have never gotten their own table listings except for the ISP 10mm Infinity Service Pistol from Infinite Worlds.

The listing for that in the Ammo table is ""10mm Infinity Caseless". This is unique terminology separating it nomenclature-wise from the 10mm CLP (caseless pistol) round from UT or the 10x25mm Auto from HT. The ammo stats are different as well. The Infinity version appears to suffer from something like prototype pricing. Serious military production and distribution would probably lower that price substantially.

Generally Malloyd's remark that al guns require ammo specialized to them is true once you get past the powder and shot days. It's just that because ETC guns or ammo have always been described as a modification from the stats of regular guns that they haven't had this fact put into text.

[Erling]

Originally Posted by malloyd

All guns need specialized ammo to shoot. Designers will sometimes intentionally design one to use the same kind of ammunition as another, but that's a side issue. I'm unsure what you are getting at here really. Are you thinking that ETC ammo should be more expensive?

No, my confusion was about interchangeability of conventional CL rounds and rounds used in ETC guns.

Now, since everyone has agreed that they're not interchangeable, I have all answers I looked for.