Freelance Traveller

by Scott Diamond

This article originally appeared in Issue #011 of the downloadable PDF magazine.

15mm Railgun (1st Gen Gauss Rifle)

The first generation of gauss rifles comes in at TL-8 with the 15mm Materials Demolition Weapon, otherwise known and operated as the first man-portable railgun. The weapon throws a heavy armor penetrating slug at high velocity and with minimal drop. It has similar damage, range, and armor penetrating statistics as the earlier Light Assault Gun, but both the gun and ammunition are lighter since the rounds don’t require propellant and the gun’s construction is simpler and uses more composites.

The sabot round accelerates the length of the two rails with spin imparted by fins. The rounds come in solid tungsten AP darts or kinetic energy armor penetrator-high explosive (KEAPER). High explosive armor piercing (HEAP) rounds were found to not function well given the extremely high velocity of the weapon which caused them to merely shatter on impact with a hard target.

The weapon has no heat signature, but the rounds do make a distinctive crack when leaving the rails towards the target. Nonetheless, the weapon is far stealthier as a sniper weapon than CPR designs that were equipped with suppressors.

To power the weapon a laser carbine power pack is used to provide enough power for 20 shots. A 10 round box magazine is inserted behind the pistol grip while the power cable is connected at a jack in front of the trigger guard. The weapon is equipped with a scope, bipod, and collapsible stock.

Length: 850mm, Weight, Unloaded: 3500g (Magazine 300g). Base price: Cr9,000 (Magazine 300Cr ). Tech Level 8

20mm Railgun (2nd Gen Gauss Rifle)

The second generation of gauss rifles is the TL-10 20mm Squad Support Gun (SSG-20r). This weapon development incorporated lighter materials with a more efficient railgun acceleration system to propel a 20mm slug at near-hypervelocity. The weapon requires the use of a laser rifle power pack jacked into the socket in front of the trigger guard which powers the weapon for 40 shots. The 10 round box magazine is inserted behind the pistol grip. The operator fires the weapon from a prone or rest position using the bipod and included battlesight (image enhancement and telescopic).

The weapon uses fin-stabilized discarding sabot armor-penetrators, KEAPER, and HE rounds. It fires either single shots or a 5 round auto-burst. Care must be taken when firing in burst mode not to overheat the mag-rails or they can warp, rendering the weapon useless since it will require an armorer’s shop to replace and align rails. This is why the magazine capacity was decided to be limited to 10 rounds; the extra time taken to reload also allows for cooling between bursts. The weapon is most useful in single shot mode against light armored vehicles and reinforced positions by taking advantage of the greater velocity and kinetic impact of the penetrator rounds than can be fired by other man-portable weapons other than ATGM’s.

Length: 1,000mm, Weight, Unloaded: 3,700g (Magazine 400g). Base price: Cr10,000 (Magazine 250Cr) Tech Level 10