[HOE] Concerns with a Junker power... [LONG]

["Kai Tave" <kaitave@harborside.com>]

I was sitting down tonight trying to make a Junker weapon that I'd had
rolling around in my head for a while.  It was a stream-based energy weapon
using Flash Gordon and Spirit Weapon, and everything was looking okay up to
where I had to put it together.  I'd like someone to please check me and
make sure that I'm doing everything right [WARNING!  MAY CONTAIN HIGH LEVELS
OF MATH.  VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.].

Okay, to start with, I picked an damage and an ammo size.  I went with 5d8,
which has a fairly easy ammo size of 1 to deal with.

Moving to stream-based weaponry in Flash Gordon, it says that the first
thing to do is give the weapon an arc of fire, using the explosives table
for warheads.

AH!  But, Iron Oasis went and revised these.  So, flipping to the back of
Iron Oasis, I see the new modifiers; the one I happen to pick is a 60-degree
arc that's 5 yards wide.  The modifier is -50%.  My ammo size is now 0.5.

Now, I have an ammo size, now I need to deal with drain.  Spirit Weapon says
that to calculate the drain of a spiritual energy-weapon, you multiply the
ammo size by 10.  Total result is 5.

Going back to Flash Gordon, it then says that drain is multiplied by 4.  5
times 4 equals 20, so our drain thus far is 20.

Then, I have to give it a range modifier.  I give it a Range Increment of 5,
which actually CUTS the drain by half.  So, after all is said and done, the
final, absolute final, drain is 10 per shot.

Now come slots.

I give it a ROF of 3, which means I need slots equal to 9 x ammo size.  9
times 0.5 is 4.5.  This is multiplied by 2 because all ROF slot costs are
doubled for stream weapons.  So we have 9 slots.

Then we have range.  For a Range Increment of 5, I pay 2 x ammo size.  This
gives me 1 slot

HERE'S WHERE I'M SCRATCHING MY HEAD.

My total slots on this thing come out to 12; 10 slots to make the device,
and 2 for a powerjack (I'm planning on using an external battery to power
it).  What does this cost me?  5 Structural Components, 2 Electronic
Components, and 1 Mechanical Component, or a grand total of about $35.  $35
for a weapon that does 5d8 massive damage with a ROF of 3 that COMPLETELY
ignores any non-spiritual armor the target is wearing.  Yes, this is
ignoring the battery, but the fact is that I just made a weapon which turns
people into soulless ash for less than the cost of a .38 revolver.

I've come to one of two conclusions about this;

1).  I'm doing something horribly, horribly wrong and need to be yelled at
by someone smarter than me, than shown what I did wrong.

2).  Flash Gordon is, maybe, too good to be true.

Now, I want to state right now that I HATE posts whining about
"such-and-such is too powerful/too weak".  I really do.  I'm TRYING to avoid
sounding like that, but I just can't help think that something is a little
wrong here when Gunsmith costs SO much more parts-wise and doesn't even
begin to come close to something with as much raw power as this thing I've
made.

Can someone please show me the light?

--Kai Tave