Is an FGMP round radioactive?

[whartung]

I'm just skimming through my FF&S, and in the Maneuver Drives section it mentions the Fusion Rocket as basically a fusion reactor with a hole in it. It mentions that the exhaust is particularly horrible and radioactive.

Then, reading about the High-Energy weapons, and how essentially a PGMP uses a laser to heat hydrogen until reaches a plasma state, and then opens up a hole, whereas an FGMP waits for fusion to start before that happens.

So, if a Fusion Rocket is nasty and radioactive, why isn't a Fusion gun?

[Anthony]

Shrug. Because it works by Handwavium? Realistically, a fusion gun would (a) irradiate the user, and (b) have an effective range comparable to its primary blast radius.

[far-trader]

Yeah, I think I'd treat both the fusion and plasma guns as more of a grenade launcher type weapon. The fusion or plasma is sent downrange in a magnetic bubble that detonates at the specified range. This protects the user from all the nasty stuff but imparts quite a kick in the early versions, hence the need for the battle dress. A similar description should be used for the bigger versions too, and so they should all have a magazine component for the magnetic bottle smart round. The great thing about this smart round is like the one in development now, if the bad guys are behind hard cover just set the round to detonate a meter past the cover and put it over the wall, boom, no more bad guys.

But that's just off the top of my head. It probably needs a little fine tuning.

Now then, an analog weapon to the fusion drive would be a fusion type flame thrower [img]graemlins/file_23.gif[/img]

Originally posted by far-trader:
Now then, an analog weapon to the fusion drive would be a fusion type flame thrower [img]graemlins/file_23.gif[/img]

Finally! A valid excuse for Zhodani warbots!

[Whipsnade]

Whartung asked: So, if a Fusion Rocket is nasty and radioactive, why isn't a Fusion gun?

Whartung,

Should be, isn't somehow, go figure.

Oh, that's right. It's a game!

If it really drives you and your players batty, do what I did in my ancient campaigns; throw the FGMP out. There are FGMPs in the OTU, there are none IMTU, and whether they work IYTU is entirely up to you!


Have fun,
Bill

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Perhaps You can consider that as a marketing bluff of TUs weapons industry [img]smile.gif[/img]
As Anthony already stated, a significant fusion reaction turns the firing person into the center of a primary blast radius...
So, a very, very tiny and clean (products are not radioactive) fusion reaction (around 0,000000001 g deuterium) should be able to produce enough additional energy to "level up" a standard plasma gun to a "fusion gun". One of those handwavium material protectors takes care for the created fast neutrons, but is activated slowly and has to be replaced from time to time...

OTHO, if plasma and fusion guns speak, would anybody care for some bits of radioactive pollution anyway ?

OR:
The officials provide misinformation about the dangerous side effects of these weapons...

Besides, in TNE the velocity of the plasma bolt is given with 8600 m/s.
For those with a higher weapon skill level than me (guess, everybody): doesnt a corresponding recoil kill the firing person, too ? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Regards,

Mert

[« Spinward Scout »]

All I've been able to find is that they produce intense heat (infrared radiation) and a kinetic kick. The kinetic kick is because it's matter accelerated to 8600 meters per second (don't ask where they got that number - that's what it says) and gravity compensated for recoil. Nothing about Gamma, X-Ray or other damaging and possibly genetic-altering radiation. Maybe it's just low enough radiation to not make a difference with the extreme heat involved - solar fusion is over 1 million degrees. The fusion bolt would melt just about anything in it's path. Maybe the secondary damage is not enough to pay attention to.

Dameon

[womble]

The Engineer asked: "...doesnt a corresponding recoil kill the firing person, too?"

Recoil is a matter of momentum (=mass x velocity). Even at the very high velocity, if there's a miniscule mass, the recoil could be manageable. The projected bolt's kinetic energy (1/2 mass x velocity squared) will still be large because its velocity is so high.

[Andrew Boulton]

The firer is generally in CA/BD, which will shield them, and the target is dead anyway...

[TheEngineer]

Sir Daemon, thanks - I especially forgot the gravity compensation.
But with regard to wombles answer...does anyone have some idea about the projectile mass or the kinetic energy involved, when talking about a P/FGMP ?

And for the weapon geeks:
I found a site, where they calculate the recoil energy with 0,5 * p^2 / <Weapon mass> where p is the momentum given with <projectile velocity> * <projectile mass>.
Is that somehow correct ?