Q-BRANCH (of the GURPS forum)

[Donny Brook]

Welcome to Q-Branch of the GURPS forum.

Q-Branch develops GURPS-statted specialized gear, gadgets, equipment and similar objects by applying the various design and modification sections of the GURPS Rules-as-Written (including but not limited to, the gun-smithing rules in Tactical Shooting, the Integrating and Modifying Equipment and computer customization rules from High-Tech, and the weapon modification rules in Low Tech Companion II).

Everyone is invited to post their gadgets and ideas. (However, I would prefer to avoid house rules and unofficial rules like Pyramid . If you have found it necessary in a build to make an assumption or interpretation, please point it out.) Designs can be based on descriptions of items already in GURPS publications or on real world items. If you use the latter, please give your sources and rationale for the GURPS stats you apply as a starting point.

I will post a couple of designs soon after I clean up my notes, but don't wait if you have anything to add.

[DataPacRat]

I've jotted down this as a possible option in a near-future TL9 setting, though I'm still figuring out a few details, and could use an assist on the final stats:

* Belt-Mounted Drone Pack
(Roughly the size of a large hip flask)

- 50 Flier Robobugs (pUT111, $5,000, 0.5 lbs, LC4)
- C cell (pUT18, $10, 0.5 lbs, 90 kJ)
- tiny computer (pUT22, $50, 0.05 lbs, .25B/25 hr, LC4; .25 B cell $0.75, 0.0125 lb, 2.25 kJ)
- tiny radio communicator (pUT44, 1-mile range, $50, 0.05 lbs, .5B/25 hr, LC4; .5 B cell $1.50, 0.025 lb, 4.5 kJ)
- (Total $5112.25, 1.1375 lbs or 516 grams; 96.75 kJ, about 1 minute to recharge from a standard 15 amp, 120 volt household outlet.)

- In case no other terminals are available, a wristwatch-style datapad (pUT23, $10, 0.05 lb, 2A/20 hr, LC4).

The C cell recharges 50 bot-hours of flight time in addition to the bugs' own batteries, which can be divvied up between the bugs. (Eg, running all 50 for 1 hour, or running 2 at a time for 25 hours.)

The lower-LC version mounts a 0.01 lb weapon on each of the robobugs' weapon-mounts, adding 0.5 lbs total weight. Some possibilities include:
- Morphazine injectors ($500 for 50, LC3)
- Soothe injectors ($750, LC4)
- Single round each of 7.5mmCLP ammunition ($6, LC3, 2d pi, drone must land on target and will be destroyed when it "fires")
- Single round each of 3mmN ammunition ($5, LC4, 1d-2 pi-)
- From 3e Vehicles: Gun with 1mm barrel, extremely short, breechloader, and 13 rounds of ammo held in the drone's non-weapon-mount arms. 3e stats 1/2D range 37y, Max Range 770y, Acc 6, EWt 0.009 lbs, SS 11, RoF 1/3, WPS 0.000075 lbs, CPS $0.00015, $250, Damage 1d-3 Cr. Total for all 50 robobugs: $12,500.
- (The same, with needleshot instead. Damage 1d-4 Imp, 1/2D 24y, Max range 510y.)
- Roughly 3 grams of shaped-charge explosive. (stats: ?)


At TL9, Signature Gear provides $15k per 1 CP, so this swarm would cost a player under 1 CP, or 2 if they went for the variant with the 1mm gun. Alternatively, as an Ally Group, using the fractional-CP variant rule from Social Engineering and Supers and DF9, the stats for Flier Nanobugs with Non-Volitional AIs from Ultra-Tech give them a negative point cost each, so an Ally Group with under 5% starting CP each (0.2 CP), appearing Constantly (x4), Group Size 50 (x10), Minions (Slave Mentality, +0%) could cost a character 8 CP. (I recommend houseruling an extension of the fractional-CP Ally tables, so that Allies with negative CP only cost a base 0.1 CP.)

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

I've jotted down this as a possible option in a near-future TL9 setting, though I'm still figuring out a few details, and could use an assist on the final stats:

* Belt-Mounted Drone Pack
(Roughly the size of a large hip flask)

The image that bit I bolded put in my mind is a 1930s Gadgeteer building this, either for his own use, or for a pulp hero he or she supports. It does also work well for Bond, though.

[Donny Brook]

The M2AR is a PDW-sized weapon that packs the capabilities of an assault rifle. It is based on the Winchester .30 M2A1 carbine (with selective fire, folding paratrooper stock and bayonet lug).

The Q-Branch gunsmiths rebuilt it for 5.65 NATO, gave it one level of accurization, lightened it with advanced materials, equipped it with a high-density magazine holding fifty cartriges, and added two equipment rails and a camoflage paint job.

Final stats:

TL . Weapon . Damage . Acc . Range . . . . Wt . . . . . . . . RoF . . Shots . . . . . ST . . . Bulk . . . Rcl . . . Cost
8 . . M2AR . . . . 5D pi . . . 5 . . 800/3500 . . 6.685/1.485 . .. 12 . . 50+1 (3) . . . 8 . . . -4* . . . . 2 . . . 1100/34.35

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

The M2AR is a PDW-sized weapon that packs the capabilities of an assault rifle. It is based on the Winchester .30 M2A1 carbine (with selective fire, folding paratrooper stock and bayonet lug).

The Q-Branch gunsmiths rebuilt it for 5.65 NATO, gave it one level of accurization, lightened it with advanced materials, equipped it with a high-density magazine holding fifty cartriges, and added two equipment rails and a camoflage paint job.

Final stats:

TL . Weapon . Damage . Acc . Range . . . . Wt . . . . . . . . RoF . . Shots . . . . . ST . . . Bulk . . . Rcl . . . Cost
8 . . M2AR . . . . 5D pi . . . 5 . . 800/3500 . . 6.685/1.485 . .. 12 . . 50+1 (3) . . . 8 . . . -4* . . . . 2 . . . 1100/34.35

Realistically, by the time you've modified an M1/M2 carbine from .30 cal carbine to 5.56x45mm, you've essentially made a Ruger Mini-14.

You can't really take advantage of the low Cost and Weight of a weapon made to fire fairly low pressure ammunition with modest accuracy requirements and expect it to function perfectly with more powerful and precise chambering, without needing any other changes than replacing the barrel.

In the real world, it's a lot more expensive to rebuild a WWII/Korean War era carbine to function like a modern carbine, and you'd probably end up with either a heavier weapon or inferior performance.

Besides, no Bulk -4* carbine is going to get 5d pi from regular military issue 5.56x45mm ball, you'd need to have a shorter barrel than 18-20" if you want to get Bulk that low. Also, very low Bulk compared to length is often a function of slim and balanced design, which you'd compromise by bulking up the weapon for more powerful ammunition and using massive and heavy magazines compared to the originals.

Unless you're playing Gun-Fu, the GM has to be wary to prevent unrealistic super-weapons from being built cheaply and easily with the gunsmithing rules, by taking advantage of various implicit breakpoints, but then changing the weapon so that it would no longer fall on the right side of these breakpoints.

[Donny Brook]

Q-Branch is Cinematic; constrained by GURPS rules, but no stricter concept of realism.