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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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 Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:38 pm Post subject: Aliens-Style Smart Guns |
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I've been thinking about doing stats for these for a few weeks now, tied in with the weapons stats I posted here. A Star Wars version would, IMO, mate the harness with a Medium Repeating Blaster, but there is also the possibility for other weapons, such as a light laser cannon for use against vehicles and other hard targets.
What would be some advantages and disadvantages to something like this?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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ForbinProject
Commander
Joined: 16 May 2016
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Aliens-Style Smart Guns |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | I've been thinking about doing stats for these for a few weeks now, tied in with the weapons stats I posted here. A Star Wars version would, IMO, mate the harness with a Medium Repeating Blaster, but there is also the possibility for other weapons, such as a light laser cannon for use against vehicles and other hard targets.
What would be some advantages and disadvantages to something like this? |
The beauty about smart guns in the SWU is they can literally be "smart" guns. A weapon with a firing mechanisim connected to a droid brain. And with hard-wired loyalty programming like the BDG Bodyguard Droid has, the weapon system couldn't be used against it's owner without a memory wipe. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know if I'd go that far. The key feature of the smart guns in the Alien universe is that they were capable of identifying their own targets (within a narrow angle of vision) and steering the gun onto it, but the gunner still needed to pull the trigger. The gunner had to either follow the gun's lead or push the gun onto a different target, but working with a gun that could aim itself required some training.
There was an alternate mode mentioned in the Colonial Marine Technical Manual, to the effect that the gunner could sweep the gun across a field of fire, and the gun would only fire a round if it predicted a likely impact with a target.
I think the Sentry Guns used in the Special Edition of Aliens would be closer to what you are thinking. They were actually equipped with IFF Sensors, so that soldiers wearing the appropriate transponder (the wrist unit Ripley used to track Newt) would be ignored by the sentry guns even if they entered its field of fire.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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Naaman
Vice Admiral
Joined: 29 Jul 2011
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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Looks to me like the primary advantage is being able to shoot from the hip without a loss of precision.
Drawback? Looks clumsy as all get out, thus requiring a harness. Penalties to dex just like wearing armor. Yes, the harness could be built into a suit of armor, but in such a case, I'd be inclined to stack or overlap the dex penalty. |
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Naaman
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Of course, let the harness' fire control bonus eclipse the dex penalty. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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Don't forget the ability to fire from cover; just hold the gun out to the side of whatever you are hiding behind and let the auto-aim go to Tosche Station. That's especially handy when something like this will make the gunner a priority target.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Naaman wrote: | | Looks to me like the primary advantage is being able to shoot from the hip without a loss of precision. |
The way I wrote up stats for the Medium Repeater (which is what I figure is the SWU analog to the core weapon of the smart gun), it's a little too heavy to move and fire in the same round, so it incurs a -1D penalty when you try it. In this case, because the harness rests the gun's weight on the gunner's core instead of the arms, that penalty is eliminated, since the arms are now handling just the aiming instead of the carrying and the aiming.
| Quote: | | Drawback? Looks clumsy as all get out, thus requiring a harness. Penalties to dex just like wearing armor. Yes, the harness could be built into a suit of armor, but in such a case, I'd be inclined to stack or overlap the dex penalty. |
In the movie, the CPU and power packs were built into the back and chest plate of the smart gunner's body armor. When Vazquez and Drake ditched their smart gun harnesses in the film, they ditched the armor along with it, leaving them in shirtsleeves only. For the purposes of the SWU, I could see something more along the lines of a harness system that fits around, say, storm trooper armor.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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RedKnight
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 01 Feb 2016
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Doesn't the Merr-sonn intimidator kind of work like a smart weapon already ? wouldn't it be easy to just apply the 'fire control' quality to it maybe moded so it can hit the same target in a round ? |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| RedKnight wrote: | | Doesn't the Merr-sonn intimidator kind of work like a smart weapon already ? wouldn't it be easy to just apply the 'fire control' quality to it maybe moded so it can hit the same target in a round ? |
The Intimidator is a rapid fire blaster pistol, whose Fire Control only applies when firing multiple shots.
The smart gun is a light support weapon, a full-on machinegun whose automatic fire bonus is augmented by automatic target identification and servo-assisted auto-aiming.
The stats don't tell the whole story.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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I've seen stats somewhere for those sorts of harnesses allowing a human size pc wield a medium repeater... IIRC they give a 2d dex penalty..
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ForbinProject
Commander
Joined: 16 May 2016
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:54 am Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | I don't know if I'd go that far. The key feature of the smart guns in the Alien universe is that they were capable of identifying their own targets (within a narrow angle of vision) and steering the gun onto it, but the gunner still needed to pull the trigger. The gunner had to either follow the gun's lead or push the gun onto a different target, but working with a gun that could aim itself required some training.
There was an alternate mode mentioned in the Colonial Marine Technical Manual, to the effect that the gunner could sweep the gun across a field of fire, and the gun would only fire a round if it predicted a likely impact with a target.
I think the Sentry Guns used in the Special Edition of Aliens would be closer to what you are thinking. They were actually equipped with IFF Sensors, so that soldiers wearing the appropriate transponder (the wrist unit Ripley used to track Newt) would be ignored by the sentry guns even if they entered its field of fire. |
It is true that I was thinking of the Aliens sentry guns. But I was thinking of how easily they could be fooled by IFF signals.
Picture this. Smart guns are set up to defend a location. A friendly patrol goes out and is killed or captured. The enemy then uses the IFF transponders to get past the smart guns and drop the hammer on the defenders.
Same scenario with smart guns controlled by droid brains. IFF checks out, but the droid notices the facial recognition doesn't match to anyone on the base, or the returning patrol is now wearing stormtrooper armor, or the patrol is all human instead of a mix of human/alien.
The droid brain can have access to any number of sensors.
As a result of conflicting sensor information the smart gun can choose to use lethal force, stun for capture, and/or set off an alarm to rouse the defenders |
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Zarn
Force Spirit
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:03 am Post subject: |
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Or, you know, radiation storms or other extreme, local weather phenomena confusing the droid brain. Or a slicer managing to subvert the droid. EMP grenades.
Though I'm arguing the other side, I'm with you that a droid brain controlling sentry guns would be cool. Of course, it'd have to be a fourth degree droid. Perhaps something like a non-hovering IM4 droid? |
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ForbinProject
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| Zarn wrote: | | Or, you know, radiation storms or other extreme, local weather phenomena confusing the droid brain. Or a slicer managing to subvert the droid. EMP grenades. |
Those things would mess up all forms of smart guns.
| Quote: | | Though I'm arguing the other side, I'm with you that a droid brain controlling sentry guns would be cool. Of course, it'd have to be a fourth degree droid. Perhaps something like a non-hovering IM4 droid? |
Do you remember Bollux and Blue Max from the Corporate Sector Authority sourcebook?
I was thinking of something along the lines of a B2-X Positronic Processor. Small enough to be easily transported, while still being complex enough to run the software needed to make Sentry guns truly smart weapons.
I'm willing to bet multiple sentry guns could be operated by one B2-X Positronic Processor, or a single B2-X Positronic Processor could run the weapons on a vehicle, or the security features on a starship under 100m in size. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 10:42 am Post subject: |
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In the Alien-verse, Smart Gun refers specifically to the man portable support weapon, while Sentry Gun refers to the emplaced "droid-gun". While the two likely incorporate similar tech, I'd prefer to stay on the topic of the portable version.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14030
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | In the Alien-verse, Smart Gun refers specifically to the man portable support weapon, while Sentry Gun refers to the emplaced "droid-gun". While the two likely incorporate similar tech, I'd prefer to stay on the topic of the portable version. |
Those guns seemed to be ballistic Plus energy (some sort of concussive blast. BUT i never understood where the power packs were/ammo packs were..
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