From: gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Grant R. Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re: Guns *sigh*
Date: 7 Sep 92 03:00:53 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <gatemail1.0b247981015648@morticia> burt@ptltd.com (Burton Choinski) writes:
>Well, I have finally been broken.
>
>At first I planned to re-figure weapons using 3G, starting with the Nile

I'm confused...what exactly do you mean by 're-figure'?

>and Core Earth.  It looked good, like it might be somewhat consistant.
>
>Then we got the Cyberpapacy SB.
>
>Now, with the Nile guns I could base things like powder used, etc, off
>RL guns in the armory book.  But looking at these (and I don't even want to
>consider Tharkold or Spaaaaaaace Goooooods weapons), I don't know where to
>start.
>
>Sean, do you have any suggestions?
>
>I am now looking at taking the existing DV ratings of the guns, backing out
>the autofire DV add for those weapons that are autofire, and wedging in my
>stuff (Autofire DM to hit +3 to +5, depending on type of weeapon).

	I got 3G^3 a couple of weeks ago; since it has useful data on Lasers 
and Railguns, I can list it in my budget under 'textbooks' (I'm not trying 
to cheat the government, just my dad) and use it for my orbit mechanics design
project; a game about SDI. Maybe I'll post it at the end of the semester.

	Anyway, the first thing I did was see what a gun at (Torg) TL 7 looked
like. I think they call that a 'guilty pleasure'. According to the numbers,
the only remotely practical weapon is a small 9 mm pistol; RC 1/1, Torg effect 
value 13. I used stone (sg 3) as the bullet, and originally I got EV 14, but a 
barrel length of 165 cm! The minimal length for EV 14 was 111 cm, so I cut the 
barrel down to 4.5 cm. Even if you could carry a weapon 111 cm long, the 
friction would stop the bullet, which isn't accounted for in 3G (it's what I 
like to call 'dropping a term from the equation and having it come back to bite
you in the butt' :-). I used 1.81 g of propellant, which was 79% of the maximum
of 2.292 g (reliability IV). When I used a wooden bullet, the velocity was a 
ridiculous Mach 3 or 4, so I changed to stone to get a slightly more believable
velocity of 393 m/s. 
	Of course, 3G wasn't written just for TORG, so some things have to
be filled in by the GM. When Hachiman's weapon desginers sit down (you know
they've got something similar to 3G to help them), they have to take every 
aspect of the weapon's tech level into account. The Tech level of the weapon
is the highest Tech level of every part of the weapon. Note that the 
production process can be at a higher Tech level, which is how Kanawa makes
money. 
	The thing about gunpowder is that it is made from 3 common materials;
saltpeter, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, which can be found under a pile
of old guano. However, it's highly unlikely that Mr. Caveman will get the
three ingredients together, mix them in the proper proportions, and light a
match. I don't have my copy of GURPS High Tech with me (boy, I wish I did!),
but I think that the process they describe for making gunpowder might be
possible with stone tools at Tech 7. What I'm about to say is very tricky 
and could easily be wrong: Gunpowder is a chemical mixture, so you have to
use the TL 3 column in 3G: you can't make a powder that blows up more 
efficiently per gram, you can only produce the TL3 powder cheaper at Tech 24.
The TL 1 and 2 columns in 3G are useless, because you at least need the stone
tools at TL 3 to make gunpowder at all. In _The Possibility Chalice_, the
Tech 24 glass crumbled if the hardpoint collapsed, so that means that
'designer molecules' retain the living/unliving link; it's the same thing with
the gunpowder table in 3G.
	Similarly, many of the concepts in 3G need to have Tech levels attached
to them, and might raise the Tech level of a weapon that incorporates them.
Last year, one of my players showed me a weapon that he made in 3G, a Tech 15
rifle that used shaped-charge shells. I dug out my copy of GURPS High Tech
and showed him that shaped charges are based on the Monroe effect, which was
discovered in the late 19th century, but wasn't used until the early 20th
century. GURPS High tech said that a 19th century engineer with knowledge of
the Monroe effect might use it for shaped charges. So, shaped charges rasied
the weapon's Tech axiom to 19, even though it wasn't used historically until
Tech 20.
	Damn, this article is long! Sorry about that. The lab closes in
10 minutes, so I'll tell you tomorrow what I did with TORG weapons. Summary; 
the Ichiwa Disrupter came out great, but a 10 kg laser rifle (folded 3 times)
has a lousy Effect Value of 22. I think there's a typo in the DV equation
for lasers, though; it says 'diameter in mm', but for slugthrowers the
same equation was used, except for 'diameter in cm'. If it's a typo, the
damage is a more respectable 28. Does anyone know Greg Porter's email
address, so I can ask him?

The Grant Man
gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

"This is good[beer]. Remind me to take this world."-Lost Destiny


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