63 replies to this topic

[Joker Two]

Artgathan, on 01 April 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

In fact, several mechs are described as attempting to fire two gauss rifles at the same time; but they always end up firing them in succession (this situation occurs when a Clan mech attempts this) even if they pull the triggers at the same time.

I distinctly remember in the novel Flashpoint, set at the beginning of the FedCom Civil War on Kathil, this circumstance occurring several times. However, it is specifically attributed to battle damage.

Throughout the book the main character, Hauptmann David McCarthy of the Kathil CMM suffers flashbacks to a battle on Huntress between his depleted battalion of the Kathil Uhlans and a Smoke Jaguar binary. During his last stand on Huntress, one of his Devastator's ammunition bins runs dry, and the novel describes a second's delay as one Gauss Rifle cross-feeds from the opposite torso's ammunition bin. Because the flashbacks occur repeatedly, it may seem more common than it actually is, and the cross-feeding is only explained once.

Gauss Rifles actually feature prominently in the book, with four of the six major 'Mechwarrior characters piloting Gauss-equipped designs. McCarthy's Devastator, a CMM Cestus, and an 8th FedCom RCT Cerberus and Falconer, as well as some of the Smoke Jaguars in the flashbacks. Several ammo bins are ruptured, producing the same crossfeed effect as ammo depletion described above. One 'Mechwarrior even suffers severe feedback from damage to the capacitor coils.

[syngyne]

trycksh0t, on 03 April 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

However, Gauss Rifles (either coil guns or rail guns) do not recoil the same way cannons do, due to the location of the magnets. A standard cannon shell imparts recoil backwards, because the slug is being propelled forward. In Gaussian weapons, the magnetic forces act from the side of the projectile, so the majority of the opposite reaction (recoil) is directed outwards, not backwards.

http://www.utexas.ed...ublications.pdf

tl;dr - railguns recoil pretty much the same way as conventional firearms.

[empath]

Sug, on 01 April 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

Gausszilla had five gauss rifles.

...and its own designer said "...that the Gausszilla must not ever be made canonical, and that it would never be published as a canonical design under FASA's reign." (and in the end, it was merely mentioned in a sourcebook as a unique, one-of-a-kind variant off of an existing chassis almost a decade after FASA stopped publishing the property)

[Sug]

empath, on 03 April 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

...and its own designer said "...that the Gausszilla must not ever be made canonical, and that it would never be published as a canonical design under FASA's reign." (and in the end, it was merely mentioned in a sourcebook as a unique, one-of-a-kind variant off of an existing chassis almost a decade after FASA stopped publishing the property)

I was just correcting someone that said it had 4. Wasn't advocated crazy mechs. : /

"...must not ever be made canonical, and that it would never be published as a canonical design under FASA's reign."

The rest of that paragraph is:

"This came to pass; FASA gave up the BattleTech IP in 2001 and as of 2010, when the Gausszilla was canonized as a unique modified Annihilator, the rights were held by Topps and licensed to Catalyst Game Labs via InMediaRes. By that time, Bryan Nystul did not work for BattleTech anymore."