AN ONGOING NEWSLETTER September 2005


Robotic Special Weapons
Automatons in Combat Zone - Part 4

by Robin Hill

The Click Gun

This is a truly unique weapon, designed by robots for use against living creatures. It may be considered as the Robot Nation equivalent of the Armalite rifle. The Robot Nation refer to it as Anti-Organic Hyperkinetic Personal Sidearm Mod E, but humans call it the Click gun, since that's all a target hears just before large holes start appearing in its body.

It is a variant of a weapon called a squeeze gun, which uses a tapered barrel chambering caseless, discarding sabot ammunition to accelerate a needle-like projectile to immense speeds (mach 5 – that’s around 5600 feet per second - is a typical muzzle velocity). The projectiles are light, weighing thirty or forty grams each, but travelling with so much kinetic energy that they're capable of knocking a man off his feet.

They're particularly useful against armoured troops, where the projectile causes a chunk of armour to scab off and tear through the body beneath. If the projectile hits an unarmoured target, the first contact causes it to tumble. It makes an entry hole about two millimetres in diameter, and, depending what it hits on its way through, makes an exit hole the size of a fist on the other. A very nasty and uniquely AI solution to the need for side-arm.

Click Guns also have a Triple-tap option - three projectiles fired in rapid succession, milliseconds apart. One goes where the weapon is aimed, the second goes slightly high and right, the third goes slightly low and left, increasing the chance of at least one hitting a target, improving the weapon’s RF. The Click gun is integrated into the robot control system. Even if an example is recovered from a damaged robot, it cannot be immediately used by human, requiring heavy modifications to its operating mechanism to adapt it for human use. Ammunition is also very difficult to get hold of.

Weapon RoF Damage Short Long Points Cost
Click Gun 1D6 / 3D6* 3D8 5 25 100 5
*Single shot or triple-tap. In triple-tap mode the shooter gains a +2 shooting modifier. The Click Gun magazine contains 30 rounds and the first one is free with the gun. Additional magazines cost 2 points each.

The Ewave Gun

This is another uniquely Robotic weapon. The Ewave gun is a powerful electromagnetic (EM) pulse weapon, designed specifically to fry the central processors of electronic devices. It does not affect organic creatures, but will destroy equipment such as radios, security cameras and sensors.

Weapon RoF Damage Point Short Long Points Cost
Ewave Gun 4D6 4D8* 2 50 150 10
The Ewave gun will fire as long as the robot can generate power. A dropped Ewave gun cannot be immediately used by human, and requires heavy modifications to its operating mechanism and the adition of a power supply to adapt it for human use.

*Damages electronic devices (i.e. other robots) only. Any electronic equipment, such as communications gear, electronic map, minicomp, etc., carried by organic (human) troops hit by this weapon is destroyed in 50% of cases (Roll 1D6 - item destroyed on a roll of 4, 5 or 6)

Recovering an Automaton’s Memory

It takes 2AP for another automaton to remove the memory core of a downed robot. A human may attempt to remove the core from a robot by first making a successful Tech Operations roll. The human then requires 4AP to remove the core.

Automatons will make every attempt to recover the memory cores of their downed squad-mates, to the extent of dragging a wrecked robot off the battlefield.

Part 5 - Robotic Nation Troops

The Ewave Gun

This is another uniquely Robotic weapon. The Ewave gun is a powerful electromagnetic (EM) pulse weapon, designed specifically to fry the central processors of electronic devices. It does not affect organic creatures, but will destroy equipment such as radios, security cameras and sensors.

Weapon RoF Damage Point Short Long Points Cost
Ewave Gun 4D6 4D8* 2 50 150 10
The Ewave gun will fire as long as the robot can generate power. A dropped Ewave gun cannot be immediately used by human, and requires heavy modifications to its operating mechanism and the adition of a power supply to adapt it for human use.

*Damages electronic devices (i.e. other robots) only. Any electronic equipment, such as communications gear, electronic map, minicomp, etc., carried by organic (human) troops hit by this weapon is destroyed in 50% of cases (Roll 1D6 - item destroyed on a roll of 4, 5 or 6)

Recovering an Automaton’s Memory

It takes 2AP for another automaton to remove the memory core of a downed robot. A human may attempt to remove the core from a robot by first making a successful Tech Operations roll. The human then requires 4AP to remove the core.

Automatons will make every attempt to recover the memory cores of their downed squad-mates, to the extent of dragging a wrecked robot off the battlefield.


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