Galactic Havoc: Damage/Armor Benchmarks
First of all, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I will hope this works. Since I have described two factions for the Galactic Havoc setting, it's time to work out some damage and armor benchmarks. I will not use premade weapons from GURPS Ultra-Tech but will make my own with my gun generator program that incorporates many houserules.
GURPS Ultra-Tech has the "Typical Weapons by TL" box on page 148. The baseline TL of the setting is 10 (even though its far future), but fortunately I will be able to create a diversity of weapon types by using the protoype rules from GURB. Thus, I'll be able to have TL 10 version of TL 11 and 12 weapons to increase the variety. Some civilizations will have proper TL 11 or 12 weaponry (or TL 9), however, but I remember running some number tests that have shown that on LC1, you still can counteract higher technological armor. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, things are subject to change, and I will see to them when I get to them. For now, let's check the box and see what kind of weapon should an infrantry soldier wield. The box suggests a 4mm Gauss rifle or laser rifle, and the TL 9 section suggests a 10mm storm carbine that I will upgrade to TL 10 by making it ETK (houseruled version).
Here are the statlines, shortened to remove the unneccessary information for the example:
Generic ETK Carbine, 10mm (TL10)
Damage: 8d pi+
Acc: 4
Range: 880/4500
Weight: 13,02/1,26
RoF: 10
Shots: 50+1(3)
Removable C cell (UT19) provides power to fire 10 magazines of ammunition. Takes 3 seconds to reload.
ST 11†
Bulk -4
Rcl 2
Malf 18
Cost $4846
Generic Gauss Rifle, 4mm (TL10)
Damage: 8d pi
-Boosted Velocity: 10d pi.
-Low Velocity: 4d pi.
Acc: 4
Range: 1200/3600
-Boosted Velocity: 1560/4680
-Low Velocity: 600/1800
Weight: 9,19/1,3
RoF: 12# (Bursts of 4)
Shots: 60(3)
ST 9†
- Boosted Velocity ST 11†
- Low Velocity ST 9†
Bulk -5
Rcl 2
- Boosted Velocity Rcl 3
- Low Velocity Rcl 2
Malf Ver.
Cost $6919
Generic Laser Rifle (TL10)
Damage: 7d (2) burn
- Hotshot: 9d (2) burn.
Acc: 10 (I'd like to do something about laser Acc, will probably lower by a third or so)
Range: 980/2940
Weight: 13/Dp
RoF: 10
Shots: 52(5)
ST 10†
Bulk -5
Rcl 1
Malf 17
Cost $8544
Let's list minimum, average, and maximum damage values for them:
Generic ETK Carbine - 8 / 28 / 48 pi+
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 4 / 14 / 24 pi
Generic Gauss Rifle - 8 / 28 / 48 pi
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 10 / 35 / 60 pi
Generic Laser Rifle - 7 / 24.5 / 42 (2) burn
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 9 / 31.5 / 54 (2) burn
These numbers do not take into account the injury multipliers and armor divisors, only raw damage numbers. ETK Carbine and Gauss Rifle also can be used with special ammunition that will increase damage and penetration further. This ammunition is described on page 152 of GURPS Ultra-Tech. The ones that interest me the most at this point are:
- APHC - add (2), drop pi a step;
- APDS - add (2), drop pi a step, +50% range, +1 per die;
- APEP - add (3), drop pi a step, +100% range (the book has unclear wording - does APEP get +1 per die or not? For now, let's say that it does not, and then if I find out that the numbers are underwhelming, I can rule that the bonus is in order).
First, let's choose armor to test these weapons against. Yet again, GURPS Ultra-Tech has the "Typical Armor by TL" box on page 186. It suggests that TL10 light infantry wears nanoweave tactical vests (DR 24/10 + 46), mechanized infantry wears combat hardsuits (DR 75/45), and heavy powered infantry "wears" heavy battlesuits (DR 150/100). Even though I have some premade armor suits made with the Ultra-Tech Armor Deisgn article, the DR values are not that far off the ones in GURPS Ultra-Tech. The ones that are designed with the design system generally have a bit more DR and weight.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that I am comparing weapons against armor of the same LC (at least more-or-less the same LC).
So, let's check how our nanoweave tactical vest fares against the unmodified weapons. The numbers I will list mean penetrating damage (and injury for an organic target; the hit location is assumed to be torso) for minimum, average, and maximum damage.
Generic ETK Carbine - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Laser Rifle - 0 / 0 / 14 (14)
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 0 / 3.5 (3.5) / 26 (26)
As you can see, the trauma plates simply no-sell weapons with no armor divisor, and are proofed even against a non-hotshot laser rifle. Comparing these weapons against a nanoweave tactical vest without trauma plates will be pointless, as that would be basically civilian armor that stands no chance, and comparing them against better armor doesn't make much sense either. In any case, you should remember that you can target chinks in armor, so such weapons are not entirely pointless.
Let's add APHC into the equation. This will give the ETK carbine and the Gauss rifle a (2) armor divisor and will decrease their piercing class. The laser rifle is unchanged.
Generic ETK Carbine - 0 / 0 / 13 (13)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle - 0 / 0 / 13 (7)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 0 / 0 / 25 (13)
Generic Laser Rifle - 0 / 0 / 14 (14)
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 0 / 3.5 (3.5) / 26 (26)
As you can see, now our slugthrowers have a chance to penetrate the trauma plates on a better-than-average damage roll. Now, let's improve APHC to APDS. This will increase the damage they deal by +1 per die. I will list the damage values first, then compare them to the armor.
ETK Carbine/Gauss Rifle - 8d+8 = 10d+1
Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 10d+10 = 13d-1
Gauss Rifle (Low) - 4d+4 = 5d
Generic ETK Carbine - 11 / 36 / 61 (2) pi
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 5 / 17.5 / 30 (2) pi-
Generic Gauss Rifle - 11 / 36 / 61 (2) pi-
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 12 / 44,5 / 77 (2) pi-
Generic Laser Rifle - 7 / 24.5 / 42 (2) burn
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 9 / 31.5 / 54 (2) burn
Generic ETK Carbine - 0 / 1 (1) / 26 (26)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle - 0 / 1 (1) / 26 (13)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 0 / 9,5 (5) / 42 (24) pi-
Generic Laser Rifle - 0 / 0 / 14 (14)
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 0 / 3.5 (3.5) / 26 (26)
As you can see, now the armor is not proofed even against the slugthrowers, but barely. An average of 1 point of injury is fine, but the boosted Gauss rifle has a good chance to deal some decent damage. Now, let's try APEP that will retain the old damage values, but with a (3) armor divisor and decreased piercing rating.
Generic ETK Carbine - 0 / 4 (4) / 24 (24)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Low) - 0 / 0 / 0
Generic Gauss Rifle - 0 / 4 (2) / 24 (12)
Generic Gauss Rifle (Boosted) - 0 / 9 (5) / 36 (18)
Generic Laser Rifle - 0 / 0 / 14 (14)
Generic Laser Rifle (Hot) - 0 / 3.5 (3.5) / 26 (26)
You know what? I'm content with these numbers. Now we know that a soldier should have at least DR 70 on his torso to survive absorb a few shots from the typical weapons. This will make aiming for chinks in armor (difficult, but deadlier) or limbs (slightly more difficult, but less lethal) important - I do not expect any one-shot kills. Also, such things as Hyperstim (p. UT205) and similar drugs will enhance the survivability further. In case somebody wants to armor himself better without buying a battlesuit, he could layer rigids armor and flexible armor to get better results, or get a heavier armor designed with the Ultra-Tech Armor Design Article. Damage for weapons that expect to face military-class armor should be at least 7d with (3) (the laser rifle was actually compared against DR 56, not 70, due to the specifics of nanoweave armor) or 9d with (2). Anything weaker still has a chance to injure, but will have to target weaker hit locations.
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