Re: [HoE] Caseless ammo and modern weapons

[Matthew DeForrest <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

Allan Seyberth wrote:

> The function is the same - hammer/pin --> chemical  -->  boom  -->  flying
> projectile.  But today's weapons are more accurate, have greater range, are
> generally lighter, more powerful , more reliable, and reload faster.  You
> can still find cap and ball weapons that function, but would you want to
> take it against someone armed with a Bernelli semi-automatic shotgun?
>
> I would give all of the high tech weapons in HoE a base +2 to hit and
> probably add +1 point of damage per die.  This is to differentiate it from
> the baseline weapons found in Deadlands.  I wouldn't give 'em any more
> bonuses, because there is a point of diminishing returns and there is no
> benefit to any more improvements.
>
> Now, as people learn to cope, and the lack of a manufacturing base
> indicates the loss of weapons with less functional components, these
> bonuses should be removed to show the loss of high technology.

Another 2 cents:

I think that the location that we would see more advancement than in replacing
percussion (which has been kept, I suspect, because of ease and reliability --
an electrical mechanism would require a new part -- most likely a crystal -- to
replace or a battery) would be in the improvement of the actual bullets.  Here,
I think, would be a better place to give bonuses than in the guns themselves.
The shape of the round could improve accuracy rather than the construction of a
gun.

For those wh have been following the who is Donald Sutherland thread on the
Deadlands list, I thought I would point out here that he has a cameo role in
Terminator 2 as the biker from whom Arnie takes clothes and motorcycle.
--
Matthew M. DeForrest, Ph.D.         Adjunct Professor of Communications and
Adjunct Professor of English           Adjunct Professor of English
UNC Charlotte                               Wingate University
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001              Wingate, NC 28174-0157

"Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not
powerless.  Dead - I say?  There is no death.  Only a change of worlds."  Chief
Seattle, "Our People are Ebbing Away like a Receding Tide," 1855.