[UT] Beam Weapons (Pyramid Tech and Toys 2)

[DemiBenson]

Pyramid #3/27 Tech and Toys 2 is out, and it got me playing around with some variations.

So, let's see what you've come up with! Post a neat design along with customization and use notes!

Survival Pistol: A blue-green laser pistol with a folding stock (doubles Acc), hollow vertical foregrip (usually holds emergency survival tools), a top accessory rail, lanyard rings, a homing beacon ("Just in case"), and a built-in flatcam that automatically takes pictures when the trigger is pulled (can also be used as a night-sight or a regular camera). The whole weapon is ruggedized. The owner's manual recommends using rechargeable power cells so they can be topped-off by the integral solar film.
Detractors point out its lower power compared to the survival laser rifle and the heavy laser pistol and its vague "tacticool" feel, but proponents counter with the pistol's light weight, excellent range, survival features, and overall ruggedness.

Name                     Damage      Acc  Range     RoF  Shots  Weight  ST  Bulk  Recoil  Cost  LC
TL10 BG Survival Pistol  3d(2) burn  12   320/1000  6*   77(3)  2.5/2C  5   -2    1       $2000 3

"Fist-Load" Force Beamer: A tiny (1/3 of an ounce) force beamer used in hand-to-hand combat to deliver extra impact and serious knockback. Typically built into karatands and triggered on contact, but with a rechargeable cell and a kinetic charger, they can be implanted in the hand.

Name                   Damage       Acc  Range  RoF  Shots  Weight  ST  Bulk  Recoil  Cost  LC
TL10 Fist-Load Beamer  2d-1 cr dbk  3    3/9    1    2(3)   0.023/A 1   0     1       $9    4

Target Blaster: A holdout blaster with a very long barrel used for target shooting. These are often highly customized and stylized when carried by upper-class galactic citizens.

Name                 Damage           Acc  Range    RoF  Shots  Weight  ST  Bulk  Recoil  Cost  LC
TL11 Target Blaster  2d(5) burn, sur  5    260/800  3~   67(3)  1.1/C   3   -1    1       $1770 3

[seasong]

Crowd Shover: Designed as a panic-inducing weapon, the typical use case is auto-firing in a wide arc into a crowd, although some police have found it useful for its "stopping" power against a single opponent trying to close to melee range. A number of human rights organizations have been very unhappy with its use.

TL  Name           Damage     Acc  Range  Weight  RoF  Shots     ST Bulk Rcl  Cost  LC
10^ Crowd Shover   4d* cr kb   6   17/52  1/1C     20  1,080(3)  3   -1   1   $500   4

* Knockback only - the Crowd Shover does not directly damage.

[AmesJainchill]

Seasong, I think you forgot the RoF on the Crowd Shover.

[seasong]

Fixed. Thank you.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Neat thread! I wonder what the modifiers for a plasma weapon would be, since i didn't see any in the article.

Ghostdancer

[lexington]

One-Way: Even a TL12 there are some targets that can only be taken about by an assassin who doesn't plan on coming back, however most movements can do without the publicity that comes with suicide bombing. The One-Way pistol sacrifices a great deal but retains impressive range, precision, and penetrating power for its size. It uses a non-rechargable A cell. LC is often lower due to its reputation as an assassins weapons but the simplicity of its design has sustained its popularity.

TL  Name   Damage    Acc  Range  Weight  RoF Shots  ST Bulk Rcl  Cost  LC
12 One-Way 6d(3)burn  6   200/600  2/1A   1  40(3)  5   -2   1   $1000  3

Kudos to David for making as system that can withstand such munchkinism.

[Tyneras]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Neat thread! I wonder what the modifiers for a plasma weapon would be, since i didn't see any in the article.

Ghostdancer

I would just treat it normally, TL 10^ with a (2) armor divisor and burn explosive damage. For number of shots I'd treat is as a blaster, but that's just a gut feeling with no math behind it.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Neat thread! I wonder what the modifiers for a plasma weapon would be, since i didn't see any in the article.

Ghostdancer

I had the same question. I'd love to see design rules for fusion, plasma, sonic, electrolaser, maybe even disintegrator. I know they're not Blasters or Lasers, but they seem to follow the same general patterns (except of course the eternally inscrutible disintegrators).

[lexington]

Lets try recreating the disintegrator pistol and rifle what needs to change to make them fit.

36 dice of damage
superscience (.5)
focal array is unknowable but I'll assume it's medium for 1
light auto for 1.25
target weight is 2.5

the one variable that depends on beam type is what we need to calculate, it scales the weight of the weapon regardless of other factors.
(36*.5/x)^3*1*1.25= 2.5
x comes out to be 14.2

now for the rifle, making similar assumptions
(42*.5/x)^3*1*1.25=5.6
x comes out to be 12.7

for small arms, at least, there's progression to be followed here that's similar to David's

now range where there's a similar factor
36*36*x*1=1000
x comes out to .77, that's to be expected as disintegrators have poor range per point of damage compared to other beam weapons

the rifle again to check
42*42*x*1=5000
x comes out to be 2.83, quite different so either the range progression is different or I made an wrong assumption about the focal size

interestingly if we give the pistol a small focal array we get
36*36*x*.5=1000
for an x of 1.5, much closer to 2.8
and then when calculating weight with a small array
(36*.5/x)^3*.8*1.25
for an x of 13.2 which is also closer to the number for the rifle
so the pistol probably has a small array equivalent

My recommendation would be to give disintegrators a weight factor (E) of 13 and a range factor (Rb) of either 2 or 3. Thought similarly extensive averaging and rounding their shots statistic (the table on page 14) should be about 500000, and to get the types of gun in Ultra-Tech you'll want a to make 6d the bare minimum damage allowed. It's not perfect but you can get fairly close and certainly make a consistent system for your own setting.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I had the same question. I'd love to see design rules for fusion, plasma, sonic, electrolaser, maybe even disintegrator. I know they're not Blasters or Lasers, but they seem to follow the same general patterns (except of course the eternally inscrutible disintegrators).

Hmm. Back of the envelope, based on the Plasma Pistol, a TL11 plasma gun would have entries on the Shots table of 1055/4219/16,875/67,500 for power cells of TL9-12. At TL12 gun would presumably double that. It would have double normal damage dice, like a pulsar. It would have a value of E (in the Empty Weight calculations) of 8. Rb would be 0.8, Bc would be $1800.