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Paradise: 2778

Weapons Information Thread for Paradise: 2778

a part of “Paradise: 2778”, a fictional universe by Screwface Romeo.

Paradise: a desolate penal world on the edge of the Protectorate Frontier. Six people, one starship off this rock, and a whole galaxy trying to stop you. Have you got what it takes?

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Weapons Information Thread for Paradise: 2778

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Screwface Romeo on Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:03 am

Official Paradise: 2778 Weapons Information Thread



A compendium of any and all information pertaining to Weapons and Wargear in Paradise: 2778


Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Welcome to the Weapons megathread for the roleplay "Paradise: 2778"! Here, you will find all the information posted on the subject by myself, and are free to ask questions about it, or post material of your own.
Your friendly neighborhood gun nerd. Ask me anything! | Gun-Toting Liberal. Because fuck stereotypes | NationStates's resident AR-18 fanatic and bayonet-hater | STOP! Before you call a magazine a clip, think of the children!

I probably like Quarians a bit more than I should. ShepxTali 4lyf3

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Screwface Romeo
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Weapons of Paradise: the basics, and what's going on

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Screwface Romeo on Sun Sep 28, 2014 1:23 am

The main impediment, and thus the defining factor of weapons and technology in general on the world of Paradise is the environment. Paradise is not referred to as an "dustball world" for no reason: due to a bungled terraforming job, and the arrogance of the corporation responsible in believing that they could create "shake and bake colonies", the world is mostly desert, with almost no vegetation (the atmosphere being provided by artificial air scrubbing and oxygen generating facilities) and a particularly aggressive breed of dust. Similar to that found on other worlds with little to no atmosphere or water, such as Earth's moon or Mars, the dust is very jagged, rough, and clingy. Since there are no trees and few large mountains or other geological constructs to impede it, the world is also very windy. The combined effect is an atmosphere which is full of dust, and where vicious dust storms are very regular occurrence. Unlike sand on earth, or other worlds with natural or properly terraformed environments, which is quite large and relatively smooth, Paradise's dust is extremely fine and sharp. This has an extremely debilitating effect on any device with moving parts.

Conventional chemical propulsion firearms of the type prominent during earth's 20th and 21st centuries have many moving parts and delicate interlocking mechanisms. Even the electromagnetic linear accelerators (that's railgun in nerd) that are the most common weapon in Protectorate space as a whole, while far simpler and more durable than their forbearers, still have a number of parts that have to cycle every time the weapon is fired. Placed in an environment such as that of Paradise, these weapons would be quickly destroyed by the dust, as it would begin to grind away and jam up their mechanisms as soon as it was introduced. Even weapons legendary for their reliability, such as the Kalashnikov rifles of Old Russia, would become inoperable after only a few hours on Paradise. And while more modern weapons have less parts, and less opportunities for foreign contaminants to be introduced to the weapon (such as an ejection port), the ever pervasive dust will inevitably find its way into their mechanisms.

As a result, primarily mechanical weapons are virtually useless on Paradise. This leaves two options to those who wish to wage war on this world: incredibly simple, or incredibly advanced. The result is a mishmash of medieval and space-age technologies, from swords and bows to particle beam and metal storm weapons. A further wrinkle is that that same environment that necessitates them, also makes advanced weapons very difficult to produce. Development of technology in general is extremely difficult, and it would be effectively impossible to build the facilities necessary to produce a particle beam rifle on Paradise. Thus, these advanced and powerful weapons are incredibly rare, and your everyday tribal or warlord relies primarily on the most primitive weapons. However, they are not unknown: every so often, Protectorate troops are waylaid, and their weapons taken from them, or more commonly, an underprepared manhunting or war tourism expedition is destroyed or allows their kit to fall into the hands of their intended victims.

There are four basic types of weapon commonly found on Paradise:

Number one: melee weapons. Melee weapons are quite possibly the most varied type, ranging from swords, spears, and daggers that would not look unfamiliar to a Viking, to high-tech freq blades. Since I think most people have a pretty basic grasp of conventional melee weapons, I'm going to devote this section primarily to discussing freq blades. Short for "high-frequency blade", and also referred to as "freak blades" "vibro blades" "buzz swords" or "holy fuck did he just cut a Tyrant in half with a goddamn sword?", freq blades were created to give soldiers a CQB option when faced with heavy power armor such as the Tyrant. The heart of the weapon is the blade, a composite sheet of several different metals with different harmonic frequencies. Each layer has nanoscale teeth along the cutting edge, and when high-frequency vibration is applied to the blade, these layers move at varying speeds in excess of supersonic. This has the practical effect of multiple oscillating saws combined into one blade, which can sheer through even the hardest ceramic plate, and literally liquefy flesh. They are very rare sight on a typical battlefield however, because they have a number of serious disadvantages.

A weapon of this type is very difficult to control, and requires a great deal of strength or momentum to wield, as the swordsman is literally fighting his own weapon every step of the way. These blades have a very strong tendency to remain either in motion, or at rest, which makes them pretty much impossible to wield effectively without specialized training, or a great deal of brute strength. Typically only seen in the hands of races that are very strong, such as Workers, or Humans wearing heavy power armor, they have recently developed a reputation as the ceremonial and signature weapon of the Galactic Liberation Front cell known as the Daughters of Darkness. Since the membership of said organization is open exclusively to female Followers, who are very weak in terms of pure physical strength, they rely on heavily developed technique to master this weapon. If one ever has the privilege of witnessing a duel between two Daughters, one would notice that it differs very significantly from a traditional sword fight. A freq blade is not designed to be hammered against another of its own kind, and doing so is highly ill-advised: the blades will either be violently deflected, or will cut clean through each other. As a result, there is little actual swordplay, indeed, a typical dual will see only one or two actual swings of the sword. Instead, the combatants will dance around each other, their skill lying in speed, agility, coordination and footwork. The decision to swing is the most important aspect of such a dual: if one's timing is perfect, they will cut their opponent in half. Once the swing is initiated, and the weapon's trigger depressed, the wielder is committed, and if she misses, she leaves herself wide open and vulnerable to her opponent, resulting in a very swift and bloody conclusion to the fight. Every decision, every step, and every motion in the fight is dedicated to keeping out of the opponent's reach, and positioning oneself perfectly to make a single fatal strike. This is what makes this weapon so invaluable to the Daughters: a female Follower is the only creature with fast enough reaction time and speed of movement to effectively fight this type of duel. Even with all the training in the world, an unaugmented human is simply not fast enough to keep up.

There are two other primary disadvantages as well: they are extremely expensive and difficult to manufacture, and very power-hungry. The first of these is the primary reason they have never really seen use as originally intended, it simply was never cost-effective to issue them on any kind of scale. The second is a major hindrance. Users who wear power armor can overcome it with contact plates in their gloves which transmit power from their suit's reactor directly to the weapon. The other alternative is either a cable connecting the blade to a worn powerpack, or an internal battery coupled with a sheath that acts as a charging cradle. This final option is that preferred by most unarmored users, however it only allows the weapon to be used in very brief bursts before it has to be recharged. Finally, it is both heavy and bulky: the weapon is composed of the blade, which is generally thicker and heavier than a traditional sword, and the hilt, which contains either a power source or power connection depending on type, the trigger which activates the vibration, and the actual oscillating mechanism.

Number two: primitive ranged weapons. Bows, crossbows, slingshots, throwing spears and blowguns are the ranged weapons available to most denizens of Paradise. Typically constructed either from the planet's very rare wood, or more commonly from scavenged materials originating from crashed shuttles or other junk, they vary widely in construction, quality, and effectiveness. As the materials required to construct them and their projectiles are quite difficult to come by, they are relatively rare, found only in the hands of the most experienced warriors.

Number three: metal storm. Metal storm, also referred to as "stacked projectile" or "linear projectile", is an ancient technology, older even then man portable railguns. It is very simple in concept: a series of projectiles and explosive charges are laid end to end within a single barrel. When the weapon is fired, a pair of electrical contacts ignites the front most charge, then the next, and the next, on down the line. Compared to a weapon using a conventional box magazine, they have extremely low capacities, and so a metal storm weapon is usually large caliber, with multiple barrels. As the actual firing requires no moving parts, they are exceptionally reliable, and invaluable on Paradise. Typically created by modifying a break action double or triple barrel shotgun, a metal storm weapon can be loaded either by inserting multiple cartridges into each barrel individually, or in the form of a long stick. Metal storm weapons are incredibly versatile, and like the shotguns they are spiritual descendants of, can fire anything from shot to various types of large slug. Most weapons of this type are incredibly crude, two or three barrels with a very simple break action mechanism, exposed contacts and wiring, with the firing charge provided by a piezoelectric crystal. Very difficult, but not impossible, to manufacture on Paradise, they are incredibly rare, belonging only to the wealthier warlords.

Number four: particle beam weapons. The most technologically advanced, and also the rarest weapons to be found on Paradise, a particle beam weapon is considered on the cutting edge of technology even in the Protectorate as a whole. Extremely expensive to manufacture, and very power-hungry, they are not particularly popular. A railgun can do the same job for a 10th of the cost, and particle beams have the added disadvantage of a very visible signature that gives away the shooters position about as clearly as painting a giant fluorescent target on their back. However, they are pretty much the only rapidfire long range weapon capable of functioning on Paradise. As a result, they are standard issue for the personnel who maintain the colony's facilities, as well as the wealthy hunters and war tourists who travel from the heart of Human space to fight the world's savage inhabitants.

A particle beam weapon is composed of three sections: power source, accumulating chamber, and directional accelerator. The power source is the most varied, with different models incorporating simple rechargeable batteries, internal cold fusion microreactors, or fuel cells. Particle beams are incredibly greedy, and apart from emplaced weapons with massive static power sources, they typically have a very low capacity. The accumulating chamber serves to gather the particle charge, and creates an extra wrinkle to their use: a soldier using a particle beam weapon must keep track both of the ammunition in his power pack, and the available charge in the accumulating chamber. To counter this, rapidfire versions have two or three accumulating chambers, which the weapon cycles between as it fires to ensure there is always an available charge. Heavy crew served emplacements might have as many as six or even ten chambers. Finally, the directional accelerator functions as the weapon's barrel, accelerating and directing the particle beam to its target. Depending on the length of the DA, and the diameter of its aperture, a particle beam weapon can either be a highly accurate long or mid range weapon, or an extremely powerful close range weapon.

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Screwface Romeo
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