Vehicle Handbook Update 2026 - Now Here!

[Arkathan]

Maybe a better way to phrase it is WHEN a meson gun strikes inside a target, it loses the blast trait, and WHEN it hits outside a target, it loses the infinite armor penetration trait.
For large vessels, that becomes too simple. A meson gun striking the hangar bay of a supercarrier would have infinite armor penetration for the carrier and the blast minus infinite AP for the carried craft.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Meson guns have a volume of effect that is both inside and outside the target. Or at least they always used to,

"A. Fire Missions: Each meson accelerator is given a separate fire mission order. Because the meson beam travels at nearly the speed of light, meson accelrators suffer no delay for flight time (although they do suffer delays resulting from crew quality). The firing sheaf is a circle centered on the MPI (after deviation), with a radius equal to the weapon's burst size. For example, if a weapon had a burst size of 10 cm (100m), every unit within 10 cm (100m) of the MPI would be affected. A meson accelerator may fire with less than its stated burst size; if so, the fire mission order muststate the new burst size.
B. Effects: All personnel within the burst area of a meson accelerator are killed; all vehicles and weapons are destroyed; all buildings collapse and any smooth ground surface becomes broken ground.
C. Spotting: Meson accelerators may not be spotted by counter battery radar; they may not be spotted during a fire phase, only in a movement phase." Striker Bk 2

"Meson Accelerator: All targets within the burst radius (50m) of the meson accelerator are destroyed." LBB:4

 

[collins355]

Yes, I think Mongoose has made battlefield meson guns way more complicated than they need to be, or than previous canon would imply.

 

[Arkathan]

Said it in the errata thread, but for coverage: The term burst radius implies an expectation of an explosion from a central point or device. This causes confusion when a static AOE uses the existing mechanic for simplicity.
The mechanic does not need changing, but the non-explosive nature of a meson decay sphere needs to be provided for context.

 

[Sigtrygg]

All previous canon has it as an explosion within a radius of devastation. The extreme energy released inside an atmosphere is the explosion, it also occurs inside the vehicles.

 

[Libris]

The term burst radius implies an expectation of an explosion from a central point or device.

I always took the infinite armour penetration thing to mean that the meson beam never actually interacts with any matter until it collapses so anything in the way doesn’t matter (ha! ha!). At that point I assume it manifests not unlike the Big Bang releasing a ridiculous amount of energy at a microscopic emergence point in space. Said energy then expands to cover the burst area proportionate to the beam’s energy not unlike an explosion - albeit also affecting matter in the way at quantum levels.
I’d say that other than the impact point armour does in fact work but the energy levels are so concentrated that its effect is minimal.
If we look at High Guard armoured bulkheads work just fine against meson beams suggesting that it does in fact work like an explosion - if it had infinite AP over the whole blast area bulkheads wouldn’t matter.
I think when used planetside meson beams deviate so dramatically from conventional weapons that having their own ruleset for the pedants - like me - would be understandable.

 

[Arkathan]

I always took the infinite armour penetration thing to mean that the meson beam never actually interacts with any matter until it collapses so anything in the way doesn’t matter (ha! ha!). At that point I assume it manifests not unlike the Big Bang releasing a ridiculous amount of energy at a microscopic emergence point in space. Said energy then expands to cover the burst area proportionate to the beam’s energy not unlike an explosion - albeit also affecting matter in the way at quantum levels.
I’d say that other than the impact point armour does in fact work but the energy levels are so concentrated that its effect is minimal.
If we look at High Guard armoured bulkheads work just fine against meson beams suggesting that it does in fact work like an explosion - if it had infinite AP over the whole blast area bulkheads wouldn’t matter.
I think when used planetside meson beams deviate so dramatically from conventional weapons that having their own ruleset for the pedants - like me - would be understandable.

Armor reduces damage. Bulkheads reinforce the area, reducing critical effects. I'm OK with bulkheads not caring about AP.

 

[Condottiere]

Wouldn't everything at the area of meson teleportation destroy said bulkheads?

Bulkheads would then matter only to mitigate damage for the extended burst diameter.

 

[TrooperSJP]

I see an updated pic of it, but it's still the old file... sad face

I checked up on my dowloads page, and the screen shot was switched back to the pre-update image. Do you know if we will get access to 2026 Update if we purchased the pre-update like we did for some of the other updates?

 

[Libris]

Wouldn't everything at the area of meson teleportation destroy said bulkheads?

Bulkheads would then matter only to mitigate damage for the extended burst diameter.

With rules as written nothing inside the blast radius survives implying that the damage is uniform across the volume - this seems more like a disintegrator - and I’m sure a meson gun is on the path to that but it’s not there yet. Is there wreckage, bodies, pile of constituent atoms, nothing?

Clearly I have no idea how this really works but in IMTU a meson gun is basically comes about from somebody in a bar thinking wouldn’t it be cool if we could make or particle accelerator beam just appear in somebody’s engine room, or command deck, like those Zho Commandos. And the tech guy saying well we could. It’d more like a mini nuke, but not a nuke cause they’re illegal. Meanwhile in a remote secret research base…

Think of the Terminator where he travels back in time in his sphere thingy with the effect inside the sphere being like a very short duration nuclear explosion propagating from the point of beam collapse and then milliseconds, just before the blast gets out of hand collapsing again causing a distinct shut off, a very defined blast edge but somewhat fuzzier than T2, a surprisingly mild concussion wave beyond the blast radius and, if you’re not actually in the blast radius and in an atmosphere worth the name, a very distinct high pitched but short zing followed by an echoey rubble. Like an explosion really, but not, it’s hard to explain.
Within the blast area damage does not tail off like a regular explosion till it’s close to the blast radius but seriously tough stuff might survive.

Reagan looked up at the habitat, flicking through the filters in his visor, “Nuke?”
Smith glanced over, “Nah, worse. Meson gun. Tight crazy blast damage. Looks like it’s taken a bite out of the building, kinda. Nuke would have knocked it over or scattered shit everywhere. Don’t worry about it, you’ll know it when you hear it.” He laughed. “If you hear it”.