01-28-2023, 04:10 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jan 2023
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What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round?
A dragon's breath round is a thing that can be shot out of a shotgun to produce a cone of incendiary particles. For 12ga the stats are in the sidebar on HT103.
What would be the stats if someone gadgeteers the similar thing for, say, M79 grenade launcher? I'm interested in both "long" and "short" 40mm rounds, if that makes a difference. Last edited by shazz; 01-28-2023 at 04:21 AM. Reason: typo |
01-28-2023, 06:59 AM | #2 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round
The burning metal particles are going to be pretty small, there will just be more of them in a 40mm round than a 12-gauge. About 4x as many, given the diameters. So I'd give it the same range, but more damage. 1d-2 for the 12ga is an average of 2 points of damage: 1d damage for an average of 3.5 seems about right.
Depending on the gadgetering, it might take longer to burn out than the 12ga round. I'm unsure that long grenades would do you much good with this, unless the design was quite sophisticated.
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01-28-2023, 07:03 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round
By "the same thing", do you mean flame leaping out of the barrel of the grenade launcher, or an incendiary round?
The M79 has a maximum pressure of 3000 psi. Compare to a 12 ga shotgun at 11,500 or about 45,000 for a 7.62mm rifle. A grenade launcher isn't built to contain and focus an explosion of any magnitude, but rather just enough to propel the actual explosion away from you before it goes off. I couldn't find a spec for the chamber pressure of a Dragon's Breath shell, but only a few notes that they were "low pressure". Assuming we're talking about using the grenade launcher as a flame thrower, then diameter of the grenade is a bit more than twice that of the shotgun shell, and they (perhaps unsurprisingly) mass around four times as much as a 12-gauge shell. So, you're burning four times as much stuff, but not propelling anything (whether hot gas or bits of magnesium) any further, as there's no more pressure to do the propelling (and maybe less). I'd just use the same range, double the damage (call it 1D burning, rather than 2D-4), increase the burn time to 6-7 seconds, and call it a day. Dragon's Breath isn't really a weapon, but more of a firework. Looks spectacular, but it's made for looks, not effectiveness for any purpose beyond entertainment. (Note that a 60mm WP mortar round, HT146, is a 2D burn ex with a 15-yard smoke cloud, and that's carrying something like twice the incendiary material and burning it faster, so 1D still seems in the ballpark. If a player was sufficiently insane, I might let them gadgeteer a WP shotgun round that explodes as it leaves the barrel. But they're only a yard behind the muzzle themselves with their face leading the way, so maybe that's not really what they want...) |
01-28-2023, 08:00 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Jan 2023
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Re: What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round
Quote:
Thinking of it, could the gadgeteer opt for less range with still 10+ yards wide base to have more spread, quoting a shorter and wider barrel? Of which only 1st is the real attack? |
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01-29-2023, 11:02 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round
Quote:
The closest a gadgeteer could get is a grenade that bursts a few yards beyond the muzzle, sending secondary munitions downrange in some sort of pattern. Sort of a "claymore mine" round, but incendiary. Sort of. Dragon's Breath rounds turn a shotgun into a mini-flamethrower which covers the target with burning material. The shooter rolls to hit the target normally, but on a hit burn damage continues for a number of seconds. The more incendiary material, the longer the burn time. Alternately, greater damage for the standard burn time. |
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01-30-2023, 07:24 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2023
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Re: What would be the stats for 40mm dragon's breath round
Thanks. I think that covers my question.
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dragons breath, grenade |
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