Burst Fire Lasers & "Energy clips"

[apoc527]

Ok, last gear/gunhead question I'll ask (for the next week)-

Is there any reason why T20 lasers can't be built with burst fire capability? The VRF Point-Defense Laser from Emperor's Arsenal, and indeed, nearly all the laser weapons would seem to indicate that there are plenty of burst-fire capable lasers in existence.

Secondly, Emperor's Arsenal ALSO has a bunch of lasers that no longer need belt/back-pack mounted power packs. Any reason why you couldn't make up some TL14-15 lasers that didn't use such bulky and cumbersome power packs in T20? (Obviously depends on your campaign).

I think I asked this before, but would anyone here be interested if I worked up some T20 stats for the various "stereotype weapons" found throughout Emperor's Arsenal? I could put them in a simple Excel worksheet for viewing convenience.

Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller? (Or however you spell it...)

 

[themink]

yes: The weapon's energy output is limited by the discharge rate of the battery. So the amount of energy going down range is severely limited.

Of course that doesn;t explain why you can;t fire "reduced effect" burst fire. ie a laser rifle doing 1d4 damage but with +2 to hit for the burst.

Unless of course you want burst fire in YTU in which case, have some, decide on a maximum ROF.

 

[themink]

In the same topic - I allow laser weapons to act as their own "laser sight" by throwing a dot on target - the lack of recoil makes this very useful.

I also allow weapons to be used in "illumination" mode - either as a small torch (no charge) or a "car" type headlight (1 charge per hour ish)

So if my MP's stop you at night and you can;t see them through the glare of the lights, you know better than to try anything (They are already aiming and their weapons are up)

 

[apoc527]

Originally posted by The Mink:
yes: The weapon's energy output is limited by the discharge rate of the battery. So the amount of energy going down range is severely limited.

Of course that doesn;t explain why you can;t fire "reduced effect" burst fire. ie a laser rifle doing 1d4 damage but with +2 to hit for the burst.

Unless of course you want burst fire in YTU in which case, have some, decide on a maximum ROF.

So, are you saying that T4's Emperor's Arsenal was fundamentally "whack" in this sense? If so, that's fine. I just like burst fire lasers...I probably wouldn't allow real burst fire lasers until TL13 or so anyway.

 

[themink]

Originally posted by apoc527:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by The Mink:
yes: The weapon's energy output is limited by the discharge rate of the battery. So the amount of energy going down range is severely limited.

Unless of course you want burst fire in YTU in which case, have some, decide on a maximum ROF.

So, are you saying that T4's Emperor's Arsenal was fundamentally "whack" in this sense? If so, that's fine. I just like burst fire lasers...I probably wouldn't allow real burst fire lasers until TL13 or so anyway.</font>[/QUOTE]The armoury is probably using "better" batteries. I'm just hand waving to justify the standard laser in the THB - It makes sense for there to be lots of "better" weapons out there. In the same way there is probably a "slow fire" laser which has the option of firing every 3 turns for the equivalent of a four round burst. Used by snipers and such.

 

[Ellros]

Fire, Fusion, & Steel has rules for making chemical cartridge lasers, ie clip fed.

Burst fire with a man portable laser should take into account that you are going to heat the barrel up mighty fast and melt it, and thus would require a cooling system, similar to what SMG powerguns have in the world of Drake's Hammer's Slammers (ie a bottle of liquid nitrogen to purge the barrel).

 

[Simon Jester]

Originally posted by Ellros:
Fire, Fusion, & Steel has rules for making chemical cartridge lasers, ie clip fed.

Burst fire with a man portable laser should take into account that you are going to heat the barrel up mighty fast and melt it, and thus would require a cooling system, similar to what SMG powerguns have in the world of Drake's Hammer's Slammers (ie a bottle of liquid nitrogen to purge the barrel).

Or multiple barrels. A nice little design for a multi-barrel Laser LMG comes to mind...I'll have to work it up. (Hmmm...which would work better? FF&S or Guns, Guns, Guns?)

Simon Jester

 

[Ellros]

Ah, yes, gatling lasers. The rpg Battlelords has one I'm a bit fond of... The Banshee laser carbine. The drawing in the book is tiny, but my imagination makes it look pretty cool I think.

 

[Flynn]

This whole topic reminds me of the movie "Real Genius" for some reason...

 

[gardclan]

For some reason, I always envisioned a laser type weapon in burst mode as firing a continuous beam instead of discrete pulses. Which, of course, you end up with if the pulses become numerous enough (or just close enough in timing).

BTW, IIRC the original Striker had rules on high ROF lasers as well. If I could just find my copy, I'd look it up. I recall something about having extra focusing "lenses" in the emitter array to achieve this effect.

 

[manley_t]

Originally posted by Ellros:
.....Burst fire with a man portable laser should take into account that you are going to heat the barrel up mighty fast and melt it.....

Well, except for the issue that you don't have barrels, you have lenses. And, the heat generated is not in the weapon, but in the air.

As for burst fire, how does your laser weapon work? Does it fire a continous beam as long as the trigger is pulled, or does it fire a laser 'pulse' when the trigger is pulled (ala blaster)?

If it fires a pulse then you can do burst fire, you just have to be able to have enough energy to generate the pulses you want to 'achieve' rapid fire.

I think the concept confusions here is thinking laser weapons would be similiar to kinetic energy weapons. As different from each other as fish are from birds......

The only reason to have a laser weapon look like a rifle is for the human using it. Oh, I'm sure since this is fiction you can have any reason to have your laser work the way you want it to.

Heh...reminds me of a character I had that carried a winchester chem-laser rifle with a colt 44-40 style chem-laser pistol. The cartridges were the energy source. That was cool <waxing nostalgic...>