Ship's Locker: Out of the Closet

[Condottiere]

Survival Gun

A. The only way to reduce costs further would be to low qualify the guns.

B. For guns meant to be used at close range, inaccuracy is plausible.

C. For guns to be used at long range, you could risk unreliable.

D. At short range, you need the gun to work.

E. At long range, you have enough time to either make a run for it, or try again.

F. For other suboptimal traits, like ramshackle, this would be more for a weapon that the character has picked up, not voluntarily purchased.

 

[Condottiere]

Survival Gun

G. It's nearly impossible to reconcile the Snub Carbine in Central Supply, with the Field Catalogue.

H. Though at seventy five metre range, rabbits are in danger, whereas even at technological level nine in Field Catalogue, range would be capped at a rifled fifty metres.

H. It is an interesting question whether you'd want a longarm adapted for snubbery.

I. I don't think it's worth it, unless you only have snub rounds (for any particular reason), and/or you have a quick change long(er) barrel for the snub handgun.

J. The real question you have to ask yourself is, will it stop a charging rhino?

 

[Sigtrygg]

What problem do you think the snub round solves?

A regular slug uses kinetic energy to poke a hole, if that hole opens a major blood vessel the subject bleeds out. If the hole is through part of the brain it may instantly incapacitate.

The passage of the slug will cause a pressure wave that expands and contracts tissue which may cause addition al bleeding and tissue/organ damage.

A snub round causes practically no damage with kinetic energy, it is no more than a paintball. It is, however, filled with a variety of high tech presents.

A snub round is a miniature grenade.

 

[Condottiere]

A ten millimetre snub round has the same damage potential as a nine millimetre parabellum.

That's three dice minus three, or zero to fifteen, less accurate, less penetrative, slightly less range.

Assuming heavy smoothbore was designed to take out miffed off rhinos, that's four dice plus four, eight to twenty eight damage potential.

Expanding bullet default three dice minus three, three to twenty one damage potential; sixteen is human knockdown score.

 

[Condottiere]

Three full dice gives you five dice of exploding bullet (minus three), two to twenty seven damage potential.

You'd need default six full dice to double that bonus to nine dice.

However, no blast.

 

[Jame Rowe]

The minus 3 part never made sense to me. Just d0 3d flat and increase rifles to 4d. And yes, increase armor values.

And I think that most military units would use laser pistols or carbines instead of snub for 0 g.

 

[Condottiere]

1. I'm thinking reflec and ablat armour.

2. I can't say I really understand the combat system, though presumably pluses and minuses ensure minimum damage, or possibly none.

 

[Condottiere]

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Just exactly what does it mean that gravity is not a force? In this video I will revisit the question and explain why you are currently accelerating upwards, and how Einstein's equivalence principle works.

00:00 Intro
00:42 Acceleration is absolute
02:17 How gravity works in general relativity
04:21 Einstein's Equivalence principle
11:39 From Einstein back to Newton
13:48 Learn Science with Brilliant

1. Going nowhere.

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4. Springtime.

5. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

6. You can pick your relatives, but Vodka is Absolut.

7. Delayed payment on falling interest?

 

[Condottiere]

Survival Gun

L. Can you legally use an expanding bullet?

M. I'd say yes, since the military is likely using armour, as is law enforcement, so less penetration tends to increase their survivability.

N. Civilian use, I'd say justification would be the castle doctrine, and/or charging rhino.

O. Local jurisdictions may differ, but considering we're three millenia into the future, there are more dangerous weapon systems in play, not to mention potential xenomorphs.

P. If you're using it outside of your home, and it hits an unarmoured civilian, that would go under aggravating circumstances.

 

[Condottiere]

Survival Gun

Q. Exploding bullet would be for a snub variant five dice minus three, very close to an anti materiel five dice, so less grayish, rather aggravating if used against any human, law enforcement or civilian, armoured or unarmoured.

R. Using it against a deer (or bunny) would be considered overkill, and may fall under hunting regulations.

S. You can probably use them against a charging rhino without consequence, except for the rhino.

T. Five dice minus three is two to twenty seven, versus twelve gauge four to twenty four, so arguably you'd get a pass for home defence.

U. If you use a minimal barrel, I'd say that damage is based on two separate elements, half dicing does three half dice minus three for penetration, plus two full dice for explosion, zero to six, plus two to twelve, equals two to eighteen.

 

[Condottiere]

Survival Gun

V. I think we should compare this to the light handgun calibre.

W. It's a clean two dice, two to twelve.

X. Expanding bullets would be six to sixteen.

Y. Exploding bullets only three dice, three to eighteen; minimal barrel, two to six, plus one to six, equals three to twelve.

Z. So in Traveller, a home invasion, could turn to be rather fatal, since a snub pistol with practically no recoil, could be rather deadly in the hands of a senior resident.

 

[Sigtrygg]

A ten millimetre snub round has the same damage potential as a nine millimetre parabellum.

Rule set dependent. the CT HEAP round is 4d while the pistol is 3d.
It is by the by anyway since the actual damage has a different vector, the pistol round makes holes, the HEAP round produces a focused jet of explosive.

That's three dice minus three, or zero to fifteen, less accurate, less penetrative, slightly less range.

Assuming heavy smoothbore was designed to take out miffed off rhinos, that's four dice plus four, eight to twenty eight damage potential.

Expanding bullet default three dice minus three, three to twenty one damage potential; sixteen is human knockdown score.

Which is useless for hunting rabbits, squirrels, small deer, birds.

Just found this:

8 Best Survival Rifles of 2023

Need to survive the wilderness and get back to civilization in one piece? We cover our definition of a survival rifle and our 5 best picks.

www.pewpewtactical.com

 

[Jame Rowe]

1. I'm thinking reflec and ablat armour.

2. I can't say I really understand the combat system, though presumably pluses and minuses ensure minimum damage, or possibly none.

Yes, both sides would have reflec or ablat. And still use lasers.

I prefer the 2300AD weapons. YMMV.

 

[Condottiere]

1. High Explosive Armour Piercing is the goto option for snubbery, because pure armour piercing requires a higher velocity.

2. You get plus two to penetration, but no increase to damage.

3. While not the optimal use for a snub round, twenty two calibre is two to twelve damage, average seven, while the nine millimetre parabellum ,and the ten millimetre snub, do zero to fifteen damage, average seven and a half.

4. As I recall hunting regulations/ethics, you're meant to get instant kills, so the question is more if the (default) snub round is suitable for larger deer.

5. Pellets for bids, but considering how skittery they are, you might looking at the very edge of the plausible range of a snub round.

6. I'm not saying no one's using lasers, or you might not have a squad principally armed with them, but it's also going to become a question of range and sustainment, especially onboard the close quarters of a spacecraft, and if one side is rather heavily armoured, and especially protected against lasers, they're going to close the range.

7. Traveller selection of sidearms is far from ideal.

8. Viewing best survival rifles follows.

 

[Condottiere]

1. Some carry a handgun, some a packable shotgun, but others may prefer to take a rifle. A rifle offers more range than either a shotgun or pistol, and they are relatively more comfortable to shoot accurately.

2. Most Customizable - that's what the Field Catalogue is for.

3. It’s easy to tailor to your needs - that would depend on what you're prioritizing, cost, ease of handling, or performance, and all things not being equal, within the confines of your operating environment(s).

4. First, it needs to weigh less than 5 pounds.

5. Second, it needs to be capable of fitting in a standard-size backpack. This means the gun is required to break down or fold in some way.

6. Third, the design needs to have lightweight ammo that is easy to find and easy to store.

7. That would be ease of handling, and probably, compactness, either organic, or customized.

8. Easiest way to fold a gun would be break action with a hinged barrel.

9. Though I think the simplest mechanism is a bolt action.

 

[Condottiere]

A. We don't seem to have the option to breakdown guns, beyond single modularization detachment.

B. Full modularization costs money and weight.

C. Any customization to compact or squeeze the gun is going to cost money.

D. The fourth consideration not mentioned is that a survival gun isn't supposed to cost a lot, or to be more precise, not put the purchaser in a position where having it matters financially.

E. The problem with ammunition costs is that in Traveller it's not always consistent.

F. Nor, actual discounts.

 

[Condottiere]

G. You have to recognize what survival guns are not.

H. Survival guns are not military sidearms, thought they could be, or derived from them.

I. They are not close combat weapons like submachineguns, though you could have them automized.

J. They are not sniper rifles, though you could extend their reach.

K. They're not supposed to be handgun receivers, though the Field Catalogue design sequence gives us an opportunity to tweak them to our taste.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The ones that I was most interested in from the link I provided are the two rifle/shotgun combos.

 

[Condottiere]

L . An interstellar military is going to be more pessimistic in the type of local fauna that you might have to deter.

M. The four ten is ten millimetres, so that places it as small smoothbore at three dice minus two damage, and sixty metres range.

N. Handgun receiver penalizes it as bulky, assault as neutral.

O. As I recall, you could use the shotgun barrel to accommodate appropriately sized (and powered) handgun ammunition, though I would suppose, accuracy and range suffers.

P. With a bigger barrel, you could use sleeves for differing calibres.

 

[Condottiere]

Q. However, instead of the light rifle calibre, you switch to the intermediate, specifically that of the advanced combat rifle.

R. Going by Core, it's pretty cheap.

S. The second barrel would be standard smoothbore in a longarm receiver, though still bulky.

T. Though, if you sruck with an assault receiver, semi automatic, the four point recoil could accommodate a battle or heavy rifle calibre round.

U. Though, of course, these are more expensive, but compensate by increased range, damage, and accuracy.