New Weapon - Blast-Tube

CRMcNeill · Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 2:29 am Post subject: New Weapon - Blast-Tube

The Blast-Tube is an upgrade for existing blaster rifles. It essentially a disposable, one-shot turbolaser that is charged and fired by a shot from the blaster rifle itself.

Model: Merr-Sonn TX521 Blast-Tube
Type: Blaster Power Enhancement Accessory
Scale: Character
Skill: Special (Uses the skill for the blaster weapon the blast-tube is attached to, at one Difficulty level higher).
Ammo: 1
Fire Rate: 1
Cost: 500 each
Availability: 2, X
Range: 100-250m/500m/1km
Damage: 12D
Rules:
-Once a blast-tube has been fired, it is useless and must be discarded. Attempting to fire the blaster with an expended blast-tube still attached causes the blast-tube to explode, inflicting 6D damage to the character firing the blaster.
-To fire a blast-tube, the rifle must be fitted with a special bracket that is fitted to the end of the blaster rifle's barrel (50 credits, 15 minute install time, Very Easy Blaster Repair roll).
-Attaching or removing the blast-tube counts as a standard action.

This weapon is intended as the SW equivalent to the WWI and WWII era rifle grenades. I didn't really feel like making up a capsule for it, so I think I'll just let the weapon stand as is. Thoughts?
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vanir · Jedi Joined: 11 May 2011 Posts: 793

What is the "SW-physics" for it? If an energy bolt enhancer then that level of discharge should drain its power pack to boot, so you discard, reload and then back to rifling. I'd also give the rifle a finite life of using these anti-vehicle modifications, say roll a d6 every time you use one, if you roll lower than the number you've used the gun is ruined by it and needs repair.

If it is instead a rocket powered grenade charge it deserves a title like mini-proton sphere launcher, due to damage. It should also have a difficulty increase to use. It is conceivably along the lines of a Davey Crocket nuclear mortar I guess, which can also be fired from a recoilless rifle.
These kind of weapons have a hell of a kick with any decent warhead weight or range.
On this level you want mortar damage with a grenade launcher, you can do that in Star Wars but it has to be expensive, rare and difficult.

I think you want to decide firmly if you're leaning towards anti-personnel, anti-vehicle or anti-walker with this weapon. You can do crazy star wars tech but it should be very specialised to keep balance. There's a walker scale shoulder missile you can get that covers the heavy anti-armour work, you can use regular grenade launchers and repeaters for antipersonnel work, so maybe an anti-vehicle (speeder scale) weapon is a vacant niche, which means shaped charges over frag explosives (ie. low area of effect damage).

If you want to convert it back to character scale damage that's all good but you should first design it as a speeder scale weapon, to keep the size, weight and complexity to a minimum, plus being man-portable you're looking at I think a 3D base plus add for shaped charge and add for disposal type so I think the 5D speeder scale damage is quite reasonable and makes for a deadly scout tank killer. Heavy armour you need walker scale gear for, like the Finbat disposal shoulder fired rocket.

This one you can fire from a standard blaster rifle, I think it should be a shaped warhead RPG charged by a blaster bolt for 5D speeder scale damage, or you could have a fragmentation area of effect variation that does 7D character scale damage.

Just what I was thinking.

Random Numbers · Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 8:21 am Post subject: Re: New Weapon - Blast-Tube

CRMcNeill · Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 9:09 am Post subject:

The idea behind turbolasers is that you fire a normal laser into the main reactive mass of the turbolaser, resulting in a major increase in damage. However, to fire multiple shots, turbolasers require massive capacitor and cooling banks, as well as multiple crew to monitor the weapon's systems. In this case, the weapon is single-shot, with the reactive mass suspended in solid state within a simple tube that snaps onto a rifle barrel (similar to David Drake's Powerguns from the Hammer's Slammers novels). The result is a linear discharge of blaster energy that is much more intense than a regular blaster bolt.

When used properly, there is no risk of damage to the blaster rifle, as the blaster rifle is being used normally, firing a single blaster shot. It is self contained, and the only draw on the firing weapon is the single shot that excites the blast-tube to fire. The blast-tube is not a proton grenade or an RPG; it is a blaster weapon. The original rifle fired grenades had both anti-personnel and armor piercing varieties available, along with other specialized versions. The blast-tube could be used against both, but with its linear discharge, it is more suited to an armor piercing role.

As far as scale, it is important to remember that scale is primarily a measurement of size (and of accuracy when fired against a target of a given size). In this case, the blast-tube is little more than a .5 meter long tube that attaches to the end of the barrel of a blaster rifle. The firing weapon is still character scale, although the weapon's firing Difficulty increases by 1 level when firing the blast-tube.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

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ZzaphodD · Rear Admiral Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 2426

Huh? 12D and 1 km range....for only 500 Credits.

Talk about cheap Starfighter killers.. Any idiot can hit with no training and it deals the equivalent of 6D starfighter scale damage... Laughing

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CRMcNeill · Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 1:11 pm Post subject:

ZzaphodD · Rear Admiral Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 2426

garhkal · Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 6:19 pm Post subject:

I would also make it have issues with coupling to rifles. Not all types of rifles would be 'normally accepting' of the mod..
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