Automatic weapons

Automatic weapons are a mainstay of modern warfare and come in all shapes and sizes, from the small machine pistols to the sub-machine guns to the assault rifle to heavy machine guns. The destructive power of such weapons come mainly from the fact projectiles have reached a killing potential unmatched by anything in the history of the Known Universe, but it is combined with the sheer amount of projectiles which can be shot by such a weapon. While there are simple ways of firing such a weapon (setting the selector to full automatic and emptying the magazine in a general direction, as an example), competent operators understand quickly that quick, accurate bursts of fire will yield a much better result.

### Single fire

When fired in Single Fire mode, there are no alterations to be made to the rules regarding firing a weapon with the Automatic trait.

### Burst fire

When firing in Burst fire mode, you give your weapon the Unwieldy until the beginning of your next round. The burst fire action requires double the rounds or charges generally used by your weapon. On the other hand, for each 5 you beat your target KAC or EAC with, you add 1 dice to the damage dealt by your weapon, up to a maximum of the Ammunition Usage of your weapon. This is not an extra hit, you simply add 1 dice to the damage done. As an example, Karl-Antonius fires his P500 railsmg towards a Protectorate soldier, rolling a 24 to hit against the KAC of 19 of his target, so rather than dealing 2D6 K damage, he deals 3D6 K damage. Later, Shawn points his GM241 towards a charging Huraka warrior, and gives it a clean burst, hitting a 36 against the AC of 16 of his target. As his weapon has a Usage of 3, he can only add 3 dice to the damage, rolling a total of 5D8 K rather than the base damage of 2D8 K, but not 6D8 K.

### Full automatic fire

In addition to making ranged attacks normally, a weapon with the Automatic trait can fire in fully automatic Mode. No action is required to toggle a weapon between making normal ranged attacks and using automatic Mode.

When you make a full attack with a weapon in automatic Mode, you can attack in a cone with a range of half the weapon’s range increment. This uses all the weapon’s remaining ammunition. Roll one attack against each target in the cone, starting with those closest to you. Attacks made with a weapon in automatic Mode can’t score critical hits. Roll damage only once, and apply it to all targets struck. Each attack against an individual creature in the cone uses up the same amount of ammunition or charges as taking two shots, and once you no longer have enough ammunition to attack another target, you stop making attacks.

For example, if you were using a Tactical X-gen gun with 27 rounds remaining, you would target the nearest 6 creatures in the cone and use up all 27 rounds.

If more than one creature is equidistant and you don’t have enough cartridges remaining to shoot at all equidistant creatures, determine randomly which one you target. You can’t avoid shooting at allies in the cone, nor can you shoot any creature more than once, even if you have enough cartridges to fire more shots than you have targets. Attacks in automatic Mode take the same penalties as other full attacks.

### Laying Suppressive Fire

Most automatic weapons can also be used in a more defensive manner. Rather then aiming specifically at targets, you can put the toggle of your weapon to fully automatic and shoot toward a general area to prevent your enemies from moving forward, keeping their heads down and covering the advance of your allies.

As a Full Action, weapons with the Automatic Trait can use the Suppressive Fire action. Roll 1D6. This is the number of Use used by your weapon for this action. Within a cone up to the end of the first range increment of the Automatic weapon, all enemies must make a Reflex save against 10 + Weapon Equipment level + Dexterity modifier or Intelligence modifier (whichever is highest). On a failed save, their movement is halved until your next round and they suffer a -2 to all attack rolls aimed toward you or any allies in your cone arc.