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Alternate Ammo Types
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:37 pm    Post subject: Alternate Ammo Types Reply with quote

I was looking through the Search function and didn't find a thread that addressed this so I figured I'd make one. This addresses the multiple kinds of weapons and different ammo types one can use:

BLASTERS
*Supercharged Pack - Supercharged blaster packs cost twice as much as regular packs and offer a +2 flat boost rate to damage. Supercharged packs are not officially marketed items and are sold in specialty shops by third-party producers. They may cause a weapon to overheat. Thus, if a 1 is rolled on a Wild Die, roll a D6. 1-4 = The weapon malfunctions from overheating and cannot be shot again for 1 round. If a 5 is rolled, the ammo pack fuses to the gun and needs to be extracted with advanced tools and cannot fire again until this is fixed. If a 6 is rolled, it automatically causes the pack to explode, destroying the gun and applying 1 stun damage to the target.

*Marksman Pack - Marksman packs cost twice as much as a regular pack and offer a boost to the range of the blaster bolt before it dissipates. As with Supercharged blaster packs, Marksman packs are produced by third party producers. They transfer the energy to the gun in a cleaner, faster, and more efficient manner, giving the blaster a boost to their effective range Difficult by 25%.

*Negative Charged Pack - Negative Charge packs use an ingenious method of over-charging the energy particles in a blaster bolt with an excess of electrons, causing rapid energy expenditure. This, of course, reduces their effective range considerably, reducing all difficulty ranges by a quarter of their original measures and having fewer shots than a standard ammo pack, having 20% fewer shots. They are however very effective against droids, dealing an additional +1D damage. Negative Charge packs cost twice as much as a regular blaster pack. They are noticed in a fire-fight by the yellow coloration of their bolts.

SLUGTHROWERS
*Armor Piercing - Full Metal Jacketed slugs with hardened penetrators, these are ideal for punching through the modern armor of the space-faring individuals of today. These rounds cost 3 times as much as a standard box of ammo. Slugthrowers using Armor Piercing ammo ignore the -1D against body armor rule.

NOTE: If playing without the automatic "-1D against body armor rule" for all slugthrowers, Armor Piercing rounds simply negate 1D of body armor.

*Jacketed Hollow Point - Hollow-tipped bullets with a metal jacketing over the tip, designed to expand faster and wider when it hits its target. These are ideal for taking out individuals that aren't wearing body armor. These rounds cost twice as much as a standard box of ammo. Slugthrowers using Jacketed Hollow Points suffer a -2D instead of -1D against opponents wearing body armor, but give a +1D advantage when rolling for damage against unarmored organic targets.

*Explosive - These are rare and outlawed cartridges. They cost 5 times as much as a standard ammo box and are sold mostly on the black market. Explosive rounds have an impact-activated explosive in the center of the bullet, activating when they hit a target, giving them excessive levels of penetration and damage. These explosive rounds ignore the -1D against armor rule of slugthrowers and also gain a +1D+1 bonus to damage against all targets.

*Incendiary - These rounds have a flammable ingredient that's activated upon firing. Incendiary ammunition costs 4 times as much as a standard box of ammo and is considered a controlled item, so it is difficult to obtain. Incendiary ammunition burns the target, dealing +2 damage against organic targets and on a Wild Die roll of 6, deals an additional +1 damage on top of whatever is rolled. These rounds are also capable of igniting highly flammable or mildly flammable substances, such as fuel, dry debris, or even paper.

EDIT
*Toxic Rounds - These cartridges have a hollow core filled with mercury that, when hitting a target, expand to release their mercurial core, poisoning the target and causing organ failure and even nervous system failure. Use of these rounds automatically gives the target a Dark Side point, but a character must roll a Very Difficult Strength check if hit or succumb to organ failure after 1 hour, nervous system failure after 3 hours, and inevitably death after 6 hours. It requires advanced medical treatment with professional grade equipment to take care of and recover over the course of a week. In addition, these grant +2 damage against unarmored targets, but suffer a -2D damage penalty against armored targets.

*Shield Penetrator - These rounds cost 8 times as much as standard ammunition, but ignore energy-based shields. They're jacketed with a special EMF-dampening substance that temporarily creates pockets for the bullets to slip through.

Plenty open to suggestions for further additions.


Last edited by lecher000 on Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:10 pm; edited 10 times in total
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This may be a bit more high-tech than you're looking for, but here's a crossover stat I did for WH40K Bolters, which includes a wide variety of possible ammo types.

Also, I added ammunition variants to my Bowcaster stats, near the bottom of the post.
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
This may be a bit more high-tech than you're looking for, but here's a crossover stat I did for WH40K Bolters, which includes a wide variety of possible ammo types.

Also, I added ammunition variants to my Bowcaster stats, near the bottom of the post.


Much appreciated.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Alternate Ammo Types Reply with quote

lecher000 wrote:
BLASTERS

My take on the different packs would be to have the differences be associated with the type / specific mix of Blaster Gas used to achieve different effects. That way you can use standard power packs, and just handwave how they're "loaded" differently to get specific energetic reactions. Costs can still be doubled to reflect the increased cost of the specialized gas.

Quote:
*Supercharged Pack <snip>If a 6 is rolled, it automatically causes the pack to explode, destroying the gun.

Bearing in mind what I said above, I'd suggest having the gun's firing chamber detonate, rather than the pack, with the same effect. Might also be worth noting how much damage the shooter takes when his blaster detonates in his hand. Maybe have the character take a surprised (as in, can't roll any reaction) damage equal to the Damage of the Blaster (including the modifier for the gas).

Quote:
*Marksman Pack <snip> giving the blaster a boost to their effective range Difficult by 50 meters.

A flat 50 meter bump can be a pretty huge spread depending on the weapon. I'd suggest going with a percentage increase to all range brackets.

Quote:
SLUGTHROWERS <snip> ignore the -1D against body armor rule.

I did some quick research, and the only gun I can find that has a -1D vs. Body Armor specifically applied to it is the Dagger Combat Pistol in the 2R&E Rulebook. A quick check of 6-8 others just gives them a base damage like any other weapon, so the -1D vs armor appears to be specific to that particular model.

As such, I'd probably reword these to something like "suffers an additional -1D vs. Armor" or "negates up to 1D of Physical Armor Protection." For Explosive, you could just give them a +1D+1 bonus to Damage.

Quote:
*Incendiary

I did some alternate rules for fire damage if this is something you want to apply here.
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have not checked, specifically, but have you checked the other d6 games, especially Adventure, to see if there's ammo rules in them?
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MrNexx wrote:
I have not checked, specifically, but have you checked the other d6 games, especially Adventure, to see if there's ammo rules in them?


I only really recall specific ammo types coming into play when using Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers.

Outside of those two, it's very rare to see any acknowledgement of any alternative kind of ammunition.
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Alternate Ammo Types Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
lecher000 wrote:
BLASTERS

My take on the different packs would be to have the differences be associated with the type / specific mix of Blaster Gas used to achieve different effects. That way you can use standard power packs, and just handwave how they're "loaded" differently to get specific energetic reactions. Costs can still be doubled to reflect the increased cost of the specialized gas.


That's a possibility to think about.

Quote:
Bearing in mind what I said above, I'd suggest having the gun's firing chamber detonate, rather than the pack, with the same effect. Might also be worth noting how much damage the shooter takes when his blaster detonates in his hand. Maybe have the character take a surprised (as in, can't roll any reaction) damage equal to the Damage of the Blaster (including the modifier for the gas).

Well, guns do explode IRL from jams or failures to extract, very rarely, and when they do they are almost never lethal and often just spray a lot of broken bits everywhere. You may get some nasty cuts on your hand and if your face close to where it exploded, you may get some embedded bits in your skin. Overall, I guess an automatic "stun" level could be applied.

Quote:
A flat 50 meter bump can be a pretty huge spread depending on the weapon. I'd suggest going with a percentage increase to all range brackets.


Alright, I'll make it 25%.

Quote:
I did some quick research, and the only gun I can find that has a -1D vs. Body Armor specifically applied to it is the Dagger Combat Pistol in the 2R&E Rulebook. A quick check of 6-8 others just gives them a base damage like any other weapon, so the -1D vs armor appears to be specific to that particular model.

Well I've always used it as a general rule that slugthrowers automatically suffer a -1D against armor always since the gun itself listed in the book is literally just "slugthrower". I will add a variant for people that don't play with that automatic rule.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lecher000 wrote:
MrNexx wrote:
I have not checked, specifically, but have you checked the other d6 games, especially Adventure, to see if there's ammo rules in them?


I only really recall specific ammo types coming into play when using Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers.

Outside of those two, it's very rare to see any acknowledgement of any alternative kind of ammunition.


As a player who loves using firearms, i often have my characters, research and create alternate ammo types... One of my favorite, i called the 'heavy target interdictor'.. Basically its a hollow core bullet, filled with liquid mercury, so as the bullet flies to the target, the mercury gets squished in the back of the bullet, but then when it impacts the target, the mecury flies forward, and Punches through it harder...
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There's also anti-Jedi rounds made of Cortosis. The Jedi can't parry them with his lightsaber because the metal will cause his saber to short out, leaving him open to subsequent attacks. Of course, unrefined cortosis is relatively fragile, so it would inflict less damage. Plus, the Jedi's precognitive abilities would likely warn him about the specific nature of the attack, so he wouldn't even try to block them with his saber, but it would take away his primary defensive option.
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
lecher000 wrote:
MrNexx wrote:
I have not checked, specifically, but have you checked the other d6 games, especially Adventure, to see if there's ammo rules in them?


I only really recall specific ammo types coming into play when using Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers.

Outside of those two, it's very rare to see any acknowledgement of any alternative kind of ammunition.


As a player who loves using firearms, i often have my characters, research and create alternate ammo types... One of my favorite, i called the 'heavy target interdictor'.. Basically its a hollow core bullet, filled with liquid mercury, so as the bullet flies to the target, the mercury gets squished in the back of the bullet, but then when it impacts the target, the mecury flies forward, and Punches through it harder...


Well I already have Armor Piercing, but that could work as a sort of "poison" round, since Mercury is a highly toxic metal.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lecher000 wrote:
Well I already have Armor Piercing, but that could work as a sort of "poison" round, since Mercury is a highly toxic metal.

This exact method was used/described in Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, and the mercury wouldn't just slam forward harder, it would actually make the bullet explode. Based on some reading I've done on gun forums, it's actually theoretically possible, but each round would be hugely expensive on account of the mercury being a precious metal. Advanced manufacturing techniques in the SWU might make it more feasible.

If I were to stat this, I'd make it essentially an exploding bullet, with the added effect of increasing the Difficulty of any healing rolls by +5 due to the toxicity of the mercury.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
There's also anti-Jedi rounds made of Cortosis. The Jedi can't parry them with his lightsaber because the metal will cause his saber to short out, leaving him open to subsequent attacks. Of course, unrefined cortosis is relatively fragile, so it would inflict less damage. Plus, the Jedi's precognitive abilities would likely warn him about the specific nature of the attack, so he wouldn't even try to block them with his saber, but it would take away his primary defensive option.


Well, if he had danger sense up, sure he'd be warned not to try and block the bullet... BUT since that's the common means a jedi 'defends', it would be hard for them to do otherwise, without danger sense up..

CRMcNeill wrote:
lecher000 wrote:
Well I already have Armor Piercing, but that could work as a sort of "poison" round, since Mercury is a highly toxic metal.

This exact method was used/described in Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, and the mercury wouldn't just slam forward harder, it would actually make the bullet explode. Based on some reading I've done on gun forums, it's actually theoretically possible, but each round would be hugely expensive on account of the mercury being a precious metal. Advanced manufacturing techniques in the SWU might make it more feasible.

If I were to stat this, I'd make it essentially an exploding bullet, with the added effect of increasing the Difficulty of any healing rolls by +5 due to the toxicity of the mercury.

AND they (iirc from the one video i remember seeing on them), worked great to punch through walls!!!
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lecher000
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
lecher000 wrote:
Well I already have Armor Piercing, but that could work as a sort of "poison" round, since Mercury is a highly toxic metal.

This exact method was used/described in Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, and the mercury wouldn't just slam forward harder, it would actually make the bullet explode. Based on some reading I've done on gun forums, it's actually theoretically possible, but each round would be hugely expensive on account of the mercury being a precious metal. Advanced manufacturing techniques in the SWU might make it more feasible.

If I were to stat this, I'd make it essentially an exploding bullet, with the added effect of increasing the Difficulty of any healing rolls by +5 due to the toxicity of the mercury.


Well they would definitely fragment on impact, but "explode" in the sense of being able to penetrate even better, unlikely. The hollowing-out of the core would make it expand even sooner.

There's apparently also a GoogleTalks group that tried just that and the Mercury formed an amalgam around the bullet, turning it silver.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.guns/c/ODJ_pBeA1dA/m/S8UuvxV937EJ?pli=1

Because mercury, when in contact with nearly ANY other metal, forms an amalgam and, as we all know, lead is a metal. Day of the Jackal is nothing more than brain-stormed fiction, albeit more believable because of how bizarre the theories in it are, so I wouldn't use it as a reputable source for confirmation.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lecher000 wrote:
Well they would definitely fragment on impact, but "explode" in the sense of being able to penetrate even better, unlikely. The hollowing-out of the core would make it expand even sooner.

Fair enough. Fragmenting would probably have been a better choice of words.

Quote:
Because mercury, when in contact with nearly ANY other metal, forms an amalgam and, as we all know, lead is a metal.

This is where advanced manufacturing techniques would come into play, such as lining the cavity in some non-metal material that kept the mercury from amalgamating with the metal of the bullet.

Quote:
Day of the Jackal is nothing more than brain-stormed fiction, albeit more believable because of how bizarre the theories in it are, so I wouldn't use it as a reputable source for confirmation.

Which is why I didn't just stop there and searched for people who had actually tried it, which is why I said it was theoretically possible.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
Well, if he had danger sense up, sure he'd be warned not to try and block the bullet... BUT since that's the common means a jedi 'defends', it would be hard for them to do otherwise, without danger sense up..

But precognition is also a factor in lightsaber combat. I particularly liked the way it's described in the RotS novelization, where the Jedi doesn't know exactly why the Force is telling him to do X at exactly Y time, but has learned to trust the Force and just goes with the flow. In this case, the Jedi would only know from the Force that, rather than blocking this particular attack, he should duck his head at just the right moment, even if he didn't know precisely why.

In game terms, this is part of why I wrote up the Defense skill, which will include lightsabers (I've long believed that Lightsaber is not sufficiently distinct from Melee Combat to merit a completely separate skill). Since Defense includes both parries and evasions, a Jedi using Defense against an attack with Cortosis bullets would be more limited in their defensive options (I'm thinking a +10 modifier to the Difficulty of any Defense rolls, with any failure by 1-10 points resulting in the lightsaber parrying a Cortosis bullet and shutting down), but still able to react.

Quote:
AND they (iirc from the one video i remember seeing on them), worked great to punch through walls!!!

How was it compared to regular bullets of the same caliber?
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