14 replies to this topic

[Reyge]

Hey guys and gals, I've got a question. There is a reference to Gyrojet weapons that are hand-held INFANTRY weapons in the lore, but why not any Gyrojet MECH weapons? Or am I missing something? I'm familiar with autocannons, gauss rifles, and MGs mounted on mechs, and am even familiar with things like the Magshot and plasma rifle, which were introduced later. But to me, the gyrojet weapon sounds like a good idea for mechs/vehicles too, albeit it'd have to be a lot bigger than anything used by infantry. I've included a few links to show what a gyrojet infantry weapon is.

BTW, I am NOT advocating introducing a new weapon type into MWO. I personally LIKE the idea of canon weapons in the game. I'm just wondering why the gyrojet weapon was never produced on a larger scale. Does anybody know why??? Just curious.

http://www.sarna.net.../Gyrojet_Pistol

http://www.sarna.net...i/Gyrojet_Rifle

Edit: Yes, I know the gyrojet infantry weapon is LosTech, but that still doesn't explain why it never showed up later on mechs and vehicles.

[Alizabeth Aijou]

No real advantage at such scale of weapons.
Besides, autocannons fire at supersonic speeds already, if not hypersonic.
As such, accuracy degradation due to gravity/ballistic co-efficiency is low enough to not bother with gyrojet technology.

[Frostiken]

I assume it's because the amount of propellant you need to move something gets exponentially larger with the larger size and more mass of whatever you want to move. Gyrojet bullets are tiny and thus don't need much to push them.

Also at some point it's no longer gyrojet and is just a rocket launcher

[Kittygrinder]

Maybe because it was lost tech and never reproduced after it got lost. Or that its a Mechwarrior thing, Ive never heard of the weapon in the Table top. They wait sounds though, it sounds maybe similar to the way precision ammo works for mechs, Im probably wrong though.

[Roland]

I think the functional equivalent for a mech would be the Gauss rifle... Basically, a gun that fired a round at extremely high speeds.

[DireWolf307]

Probably scaling. A Gauss Cannon does basically the same thing but with non-volatile ammo. Ammo for an AutoCannon would be cheaper due to less complexity. There's a reason Gyrojet never caught on in real life, they only put them in Battletech because at the time (early-mid 80s), Gyrojet was being looked at by the US Military and seemed to be "the future".

[Oswin Aurelius]

These actually used to be real weapons. They were extremely accurate at long ranges compared to most firearms, and they made only a hissing noise as they passed the target. Really, the only situation where one could tell where a Gyrojet was being fired from was in colder climates, where it left a jet trail.

Sadly, they had problems with manufacturing, so many second generation Gyrojet ammunition was wildly INaccurate, thus ending Gyrojet's short life.

[DireWolf307]

Oswin Aurelius, on 08 June 2012 - 09:38 AM, said:

These actually used to be real weapons. They were extremely accurate at long ranges compared to most firearms, and they made only a hissing noise as they passed the target. Really, the only situation where one could tell where a Gyrojet was being fired from was in colder climates, where it left a jet trail.

Sadly, they had problems with manufacturing, so many second generation Gyrojet ammunition was wildly INaccurate, thus ending Gyrojet's short life.

It was also decidedly not cost effective. Good idea on paper, but when 5.56 offered more versatility and most of the accuracy for a lot less money, Gyrojet just didn't make sense.

[Frostiken]

DireWolf307, on 08 June 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

It was also decidedly not cost effective. Good idea on paper, but when 5.56 offered more versatility and most of the accuracy for a lot less money, Gyrojet just didn't make sense.

Well, obviously this was before the US military adopted the Rule of Cool mentality, which is why we have 150 million dollar fighters full of terrible avionics that the pilots are scared of flying

[Infine]

Maybe HVACs? I'm not sure on their exact mechanics, but naming is certainly suspicious.

[Reyge]

Oh... ok. Although admittedly, something as weak as "real life" shouldn't get too much in the way of progress! Take a look at the PPC... in REAL LIFE, we call those things TV's and microwave ovens! Also, the Gauss rifle used to be a real weapon too... take a look at Reagan's Star Wars Program back in the 80's... the damn gun just exploded! My point is that it'd be a sad day indeed for BT/MW fans everywhere if suddenly real life experiences had their sway. There'd be no PPC's. No Gauss rifles. Autocannons would kick so hard, the mech would topple over. And lasers that could actually DAMAGE anything would be restricted to fair-weather conditions only. Thank the gods for BT/MW's advanced tech and not-so-real physics!

[Derek Icelord]

A GyroJet is basically a small rocket launcher. Thus, when you scale it up for vehicles, you get... a rocket launcher.

[Reyge]

Derek Icelord, on 08 June 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

A GyroJet is basically a small rocket launcher. Thus, when you scale it up for vehicles, you get... a rocket launcher.

Maybe. Although there is such a thing as the man-portable SRM launcher, for use against armor and mechs (in the BT/MW universe), so I'm not sure that's a valid point.

[Bleakheart]

A few of the rounds the current M1A2 Abrams fires are 120mm rocket assisted projectiles. So there ya go, a Gyrojet as big as my lower leg....

[BarHaid]

Kittygrinder, on 08 June 2012 - 09:35 AM, said:

Maybe because it was lost tech and never reproduced after it got lost. Or that its a Mechwarrior thing, Ive never heard of the weapon in the Table top. They wait sounds though, it sounds maybe similar to the way precision ammo works for mechs, Im probably wrong though.

Hit the nail on the head there Kitty.

From Sarne.net:
Precision ammunition can be used in standard autocannons and their lighter cousins. Scientists from the Federated Suns managed to modify autocannon ammunition to accommodate a gyrojet shell that can correct its course in mid-flight, but the course correction system increased the mass of each shell. Debuting in 3062,[1] precision ammo soon found its way into the armies of other nations.