TL11 Slugthrowers

TL11 Slugthrowers

When it comes to ultra-tech games, it seems that the vast majority of players and GMs prefer TL9-10 to TL11-12. These "low" TLs feel more grounded and familiar, providing the players with many gear options. I like using occasional TL11-12 elements in my games, so I devote them some attention as well. TL11 is when conventional firearms and electromagnetic firearms become outdated, when beam weapons reign supreme. But let's see how these "outdated" guns fare against TL11 beam weapons and TL11 armor!

Before I get to the guns, let's write down DR values of TL11 armor

Monocrys Suit (LC3) - DR 24/8*

Monocrys Tactical Vest (LC2) - DR 36/15*

Monocrys Tacsuit (LC2) - DR 40/20*

Light Clamshell (LC2) - DR 60

Heavy Clamshell (LC2) - DR 90

Combat Hardsuit (LC2) - DR 100/60

Monocrys Tactical Vest with trauma plates (LC2) - DR 105/84

Dreadnought Battlesuit (LC1) - DR 200/150

You should keep in mind that you can also design your own ultra-tech armor by using the armor design article from Pyramid #3-96. Monocrys armor given in Ultra-Tech is on the weaker side, and you can have it much stronger, and rigid armor can be thicker too.

What guns are the most modern at TL11? This is going to be complicated, because I want to explore the possibilities of RAW ultra-tech and houseruled ultra-tech, and I have to account for different License Classes.

First, let's deal with conventional firearms. These are very old, TL9 weapons that are upgraded with ETC. I know that ETK is technically RAW, but it's best to just ignore it.

For LC3, let's take the ETC Heavy Pistol, for LC2 let's take the ETC Storm Carbine, and for LC1 let's take ETC Storm Chaingun.

TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
9 9 9 9 9 11	ETC Heavy Pistol, 10mmCLP with APHC with APDS with APEP (w/o +1 per/die) with APEP (w/ +1 per/die) with APHD	4d+2 pi+ 4d+2(2) pi 5d+2(2) pi 4d+2(3) pi 5d+2(3) pi 4d+2(5) pi	2	270/3,500 270/3,500 405/5,250 540/7,000 540/7,000 270/3,500	2.5/0.7	3	20+1(3)	10	-2	3	$1,080	3 2 1 1 1 1
9 9 9 9 9 11	ETC Storm Carbine, 10mmCL with APHC with APDS with APEP (w/o +1 per/die) with APEP (w/ +1 per/die) with APHD	10d+2 pi+ 10d+2(2) pi 13d+1(2) pi 10d+2(3) pi 13d+1(3) pi 10d+2(5) pi	4	1,050/3,150 1,050/3,150 1,575/4,725 2,100/6,300 2,100/6,300 1,050/3,150	8/2	10	50+1(3)	10†	-4	3	$3,600	2 2 1 1 1 1
9 9 9 9 9 11	ETC Storm Chaingun, 10mmCLR with APHC with APDS with APEP (w/o +1 per/die) with APEP (w/ +1 per/die) with APHD	13d+2 pi+ 13d+2(2) pi 17d+1 (2) pi 13d+2(3) pi 17d+1(3) pi 13d+2(5) pi	5	1,950/8,700 1,950/8,700 2,925/13,050 3,900/17,400 3,900/17,400 1,950/8,700	20/6	10	60(5)	11B†	-6	3	$22,000	1 1 1 1 1 1

Let's see. At LC3, the ETC Heavy Pistol deals on average 16 points of damage, and the maximum possible damage roll is 26 points of damage. So, you can penetrate the LC3 TL11 monocrys suit, but you have to be extremely lucky. LC3 ammo options do not provide you with any boost of damage or penetration, so it is safe to say that this pistol is useless against TL11 armor (it's a TL9 gun, after all).

At LC2, we have the ETC Storm Carbine that deals on average 37 points of damage, and has a maximum damage of 62 points. It fairs decently against monocrys suit and monocrys tactical vest, but even a light clamshell becomes a huge problem. LC2 also gives up APHC - armor-piercing hard core ammunition that decreases the piercing damage class and gives the weapon an armor divisor of (2).

    - ETC Heavy Pistol with APHC deals fine with the monocrys suit, but the gun is LC2 now. It still struggles against LC2 armor;

    - ETC Storm Carbine with APHC now can deal with light clamshells and everything weaker, and even has a chance to penetrate heavier armor on a lucky damage roll.

At LC1, we have the ETC Storm Chaingun that deals on average 47.5 points of damage, and has a maximum damage of 80 points. Yet again, even light clamshells post a problem. If loaded with APHC, it has a chance of penetrating heavy clamshells and combat hardsuits. However, LC1 has some ammo options that increase damage and/or give an armor divisor. First, we have APDS - armor-piercing discarding-sabot. APDS works like APHC, but has +1 to damage per die and +50% range.

    - ETC Heavy Pistol with APDS deals on average 19.5 points of damage, and has a maximum damage of 32 points. So, it isn't that much deadlier than when it is loaded with APHC.

    - ETC Storm Carbine with APDS deals on average 46.5 points of damage, and has a maximum damage of 79 points. Basically, it is equivalent to the ETC Storm Chaingun loaded with APHC.

    - ETC Storm Chaingun loaded with APDS deals on average 60.5 points of damage, and has a maximum damage of 103 points. It shreds through any LC2 TL11 armor, unless it is layered. For example, a monocrys tacsuit worn under the combat hardsuit would make it proofed against this attack.

This is not the only new ammo type - we also get access to APEP - armor-piercing enhanced penetrator. This ammo type suffers from ambiguous wording, so it will be listed on the table twice. It says that it is an APDS round with an armor divisor of (3), but it's not clear if it should get a damage bonus of APDS or not. Personally, I have no idea. Douglas Cole on the forums and on his blog says that it should not give a damage bonus. Also, in my games I shift APEP for small arms from TL9 to TL10, but it doesn't matter here.

    - ETC Storm Carbine loaded with APEP now can reliably penetrate heavy clamshells and combat hardsuits. And, obviously, so does the ETC Storm Chaingun, but even better - it even has a chance of penetrating dreadnought battlesuits.

And that's still not everything. We are talking about TL11, right? At TL11, another ammunition type appears - APHD - armor-piercing hyperdense darts. APHD is an LC1 ammo type that gives an armor divisor of (5). Even an ETC Heavy Pistol loaded with APHD has a decent chance of penetrating a heavy clamshell, whereas an ETC Storm Carbine with APHD now shreds through combat hardsuits and has a chance of penetrating dreadnought battlesuits, and an ETC Storm Chaingun now reliably penetrates said battlesuits. This is nuts! Sure, every shot does cost you $12, but still.

This is RAW ultra-tech. I made my own guns for my games, but the situation doesn't actually change much, as the damage values are roughly the same, but powerful guns usually are heavier and have a higher ST requirement.

The next category of projectile weapons are electromagnetic weapons, and this is where houserules will be important. I will make two tables - one RAW, and one with David Pulver's houserules. I use these houserules too.

For LC3, let's choose the Gauss pistol. For LC2, let's choose the Gauss rifle. For LC1, let's choose the portable railgun.

 

TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
10   11 11	Gauss Pistol, 4mm boosted velocity with APHD boosted velocity	3d(3) pi- 3d+3(3) pi- 3d(5) pi- 3d+3(5) pi-	3	500/2,100 650/2,730	2/0.5	3	40(3)	9	-2	2	$1,700	3 3 1 1
10   11 11	Gauss Rifle, 4mm boosted velocity with APHD boosted velocity	6d+2(3) pi- 8d+1(3) pi- 6d+2(5) pi- 8d+1(5) pi-	7	1,200/4,800 1,560/6,240	8.5/1.4	12	60(3)	10†	-4	2	$7,100	2 2 1 1
10   11 11	Portable Railgun, 10mm boosted velocity with APHD boosted velocity	5dx3(3) pi+ 19d+1(3) pi+ 5dx3(5) pi 19d+1(5) pi	7	3,000/12,000 3,900/15,600	20/1.5	3	25(3)	10†	-6	3	$18,000	1 1 1 1

Let's see. At LC3, the Gauss pistol deals 10.5 points of damage on average, or 13.5 if boosted. This is actually decent against the monocrys suit - the only LC3 armor on the list, and is better than the ETC Heavy Pistol without armor-piercing armor. Injury against living targets, however, will be worse.

At LC2, the Gauss rifle deals 23 points of damage on average, or 29 if boosted. This works decently even against light clamshells.

At LC1, the portable railgun deals 52.5 points on damage on average, or 67.5 if boosted. It shreds through combat hardsuits with ease, but has trouble penetrating a dreadnought battlesuit.

As you can see, ETC firearms and electromagnetic guns have roughly equal armor penetration, if armor-piercing ammo is available, but electromagnetic guns have a worse damage type, so they will deal significantly less injury after penetrating DR. By RAW, APHC, APDS, and APEP ammunition is incompatible with electromagnetic guns, because these guns are assumed to use such ammunition by default. However, the TL11 APHD ammo is compatible. The results will be comparable to APHD-loaded ETC firearms.

But now, let's enter the houserules territory, where Gauss guns deal 25% more damage, lose their armor divisor, but get an increased piercing damage class, and the ability to use armor-piercing ammo.

 

TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11	Gauss Pistol, 4mm boosted velocity with APHC with APHC (boosted) with APDS with APDS (boosted) with APEP with APEP (boosted) with APHD with APHD (boosted)	3d+3 pi 4d+2 pi 3d+3(2) pi- 4d+2(2) pi- 4d+2(2) pi- 5d+2(2) pi- 3d+3(3) pi- 4d+2(3) pi- 3d+3(5) pi- 4d+2(5) pi-	3	500/2,100 650/2,730 500/2,100 650/2,730 750/3,150 975/4,095 1,000/4,200 1,300/5,460 500/2,100 650/2,730	2/0.5	3	40(3)	9	-2	2	$1,700	3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11	Gauss Rifle, 4mm boosted velocity with APHC with APHC (boosted) with APDS with APDS (boosted) with APEP with APEP (boosted) with APHD with APHD (boosted)	8d+1 pi 10d+2 pi 8d+1(2) pi- 10d+2(2) pi- 10d+2(2) pi- 13d+1(2) pi- 8d+1(3) pi- 10d+2(3) pi- 8d+1(5) pi- 10d+2(5) pi-	7	1,200/4,800 1,560/6,240 1,200/4,800 1,560/6,240 1,800/7,200 2,340/9,360 2,400/9,600 3,120/12,480 1,200/4,800 1,560/6,240	8.5/1.4	12	60(3)	10†	-4	2	$7,100	2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11	Portable Railgun, 10mm boosted velocity with APHC with APHC (boosted) with APDS with APDS (boosted) with APEP with APEP (boosted) with APHD with APHD (boosted)	19d+1 pi+ 24d+2 pi+ 19d+1(2) pi 24d+2(2) pi 19d+1(2) pi 24d+2(2) pi 19d+1(3) pi 24d+2(3) pi 19d+1(5) pi 24d+2(5) pi	7	3,000/12,000 3,900/15,600 3,000/12,000 3,900/15,600 4,500/18,000 5,850/23,400 6,000/24,000 7,800/31,200 3,000/12,000 3,900/15,600	20/1.5	3	25(3)	10†	-6	3	$18,000	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

These houserules, in my opinion, are a strict improvement. The Gauss guns now get slightly better armor penetration and damage, but they still won't deal as much injury as ETC firearms. However, their lower injury potential is compensated with lower recoil, higher ammo capacity, and much higher range. That's great, isn't it?

All right, one question is answered - TL10 guns do works on TL11 battlefields, but mostly only at LC1. Let's compare them to the actual TL11 weapons. 

TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
11	Heavy Rainbow Laser Pistol	4d(3) burn	6	900/2,700	3.3/2C	10	56(3)	6	-2	1	$2,400	3
11	Heavy X-Ray Laser Pistol	4d(5) burn sur	6	17/50 mi.	3.3/2C	10	56(3)	6	-2	1	$4,800	3
11	Heavy Blaster Pistol	4d(5) burn sur	5	500/1,500	3.3/2C	3	33(3)	6	-3	1	$5,600	3
11^	Heavy Plasma Pistol	10d(2) burn ex	4	500/1,500	3.3/2C	3	33(3)	9	-3	2	$5,600	3
11^	Grav Minineedler	2d(10) imp inc	1	50/200	0.1/0.03	4	100(3)	3	-1	1	$200	3
11	Rainbow Laser Rifle	6d(3) burn	12	2,000/6,000	8/Dp	10	83(5)	7†	-4	1	$8,000	2
11	X-Ray Laser Rifle	6d(5) burn sur	12	40/120 mi.	8/Dp	10	83(5)	7†	-4	1	$16,000	2
11	Blaster Rifle	6d(5) burn sur	10+2	700/2,100	10/2C	3	10(3)	7†	-4	1	$18,000	2
11^	Plasma Battle Rifle	3dx5(2) burn ex	8+2	750/2,250	10/2C	3	10(3)	10†	-4	2	$18,000	2
11^	Grav Needle Rifle	4d(10) imp inc	10	2,000/6,000	6/1	20	1,000(3)	8†	-3	1	$10,000	2
11	Dinosaur Rainbow Laser	8d(3) burn	12	4,000/12,000	9/Dp	1	35(5)	7†	-5	1	$9,000	1
11	X-Ray Dino Laser	8d(5) burn sur	12	72/220 mi.	19/Dp	1	35(5)	10†	-5	1	$38,000	1
11	Heavy Blaster	8d(5) burn sur	10+4	1,200/3,600	20/Dp	3	20(5)	10†	-6	1	$40,000	1
11^	Heavy Fusion Gun	20d(2) burn ex	8+4	1,000/3,000	20/Dp	3	20(5)	15†	-6	2	$40,000	1
11^	Sniper Grav Gun	8d(10) imp inc	11	4,000/12,000	10/1	3	1,000(3)	9†	-4	1	$18,000	1

 

 At TL11, we have rainbow lasers, x-ray lasers, blasters, plasma guns, and grav guns. As we can see on the tables, TL9-10 slugthrowers actually are pretty good with LC1 options, as they are comparable to LC1 TL11 weapons. On higher LCs, of course, "native" TL11 weapons become much better than the "outdated" ones. All this means that in military sci-fi games, it should be okay to combine different tech levels or have conflicts between factions of different tech levels. What I said here even applies to TL12.

But let's diversify the lineup and add some 3e guns that didn't make it to 4e. I've already covered them before, but I decided to change some numbers. I believe that now they fit well with other weapons and are comparable to them in terms of power.

Hypervelocity Guns

 

Guns (Pistol) (DX-4, or most other Guns at -2)
TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
11^	Crystal Pistol	6d(0.5) pi++	2	300/1,000	3/0.2	3	20(3)	8	-2	2	$400	3
11^	HV-Pistol	4d(5) pi++ inc	2	1,000/3,000	4/1.2	5/12#	100(3)	9	-3	2	$5,000	3
Guns (SMG) (DX-4, or most other Guns at -2)
11^	Crystal SMG	6d+2(0.5) pi++	3	500/1,600	4.8/0.3	6	30(3)	8†	-3	2	$2,200	2
Guns (Rifle) (DX-4, or most other Guns at -2)
11^	Crystal Carbine	7d(0.5) pi++	4	600/2,000	7/0.5	12	60(3)	11†	-4	2	$3,200	2
11^	HV-Rifle	7d(5) pi++ inc	5	2,000/5,000	15/2.2	7/16#	200(3)	12†	-5	2	$18,000	1

At TL11, magnetic acceleration allows hand-held weapons to shoot projectiles at almost relativistic speeds. At those velocities, even a relatively small projectile has both great penetration and damage. The speed that allows these weapons to defeat heavy armor also cause massive hydrostatic shock in human beings. The results are not pretty.

These weapons fire small missiles; thus, they can hold large amounts of ammunition.  Hypervelocity guns can hold their own against most beam weapons, and are not affected by the countermeasures that work against lasers. The fact that they do not use chemical propellants makes them immune to chemscanners.

 Crystal Guns: This civilian weapon is designed to insure maximum lethality on unarmored humans or animals while keeping penetration of walls and armored personnel to a minimum. They are popular aboard starships. Crystal guns (crysguns for short) fire magnetized crystal beads at hypersonic speeds. The beads do massive damage to human flesh – a torso shot is almost always lethal; limb shots usually cripple the target. Furthermore, the beads will not penetrate any target with rigid armor greater than DR 5 (including solid walls); the glass bead shatters against those targets, doing [1d-4] cutting fragmentation damage to any person within 2 yards of impact. If the target had rigid DR 1-4 or any flexible DR, then overpenetration does not occur (p. B408). Crystal guns are powered by power cells. The weapon’s power cell provides enough energy for firing its specified number of Shots, and is included in the weight. Crystal pistol is powered by a B cell, and all other weapons are powered by a C cell.

HV-Guns: Hypervelocity guns fire metal slugs at enormous speeds. They offer almost as much penetration as a solid burst from an X-ray rifle. If the gun penetrates a metal wall (the side of an armored car, for instance), it will cause fragmentation when it comes out, due to its high speed: [1d-2] cutting in a 3-yard radius. Inside a vehicle, this fragmentation can damage systems and injure the crew. HV-guns are powered by power cells. The weapon’s power cell provides enough energy for firing its specified number of Shots, and is included in the weight. HV-pistol is powered by a C cell, and HV-rifle are powered by two C cells.

HV-guns are able to fire high-cyclic controlled bursts (p. HT83). HV-pistol fires bursts of three rounds, and HV-rifle fires bursts of four rounds.

Hypervelocity Ammo
11^	Crystal Round	0.002	0.1	3
11^	Hypervelocity Round	0.01	0.15	3