Re: [HOE] Junker's, Railguns, AP Ammo, Ammo Processors

[Robert Holland <robert@macauley.com>]

>Definitely "What"! A Junker Rail Gun uses propellant-less ammo and gets AP
>by way of amping up the power. I suggest you reread the Flash Gordon and the
>Rail Gun rules again closely. Don't worry I had to make two Rail Guns to
>fully get everything it intales :)

Hm, they actually are a bit unclear...the Ammo power says "Each AP level
increases the chemical and structural components needed to manufacture the ammo
by +10%. (Rounds which do not use propellant can ignore the increased CHEMICAL
costs...)" (Emphasis mine; only the chemical cost is ignored, not the
structural.) And under Rail Guns, we have "Each round fired burns a number of
G-rays equal to its size...If the weapon's ammo was designed to be
armor-piercing, the drain per shot is increased by an amount equal to the ammo's
size multiplied by the ammo's AP rating. An AP selector switch...allows the user
to select any AP rating for the weapon from zero to the ammo's maximum AP
rating." So rail gun ammo does require an AP level to be specified upon
construction, and can't go higher than that. No word on what AP level processed
ammo is considered to be.

Also, the drain requirements for AP railguns are pretty sick. The way I'm
reading it is that the drain is increased by a full 100% for *each* level of AP,
as opposed to 25% per level for energy weapons. This means that it takes the
same amount of power to toss a 4d8 AP1 slug 500 yards as it does to fire an 8d8
AP0 slug the same distance...and the latter will do more damage in all cases,
armored or unarmored. Also, it seems odd that ramping up the power in the
magnetic field by several hundred percent increases only the penetration and has
no effect on damage or range. Come to think of it, it doesn't look as if range
factors in to railgun drain at all...hm. Even so, the drain much lower than it
would be for an equivalent energy weapon, but still.

--Robert Holland