Approved Submission [Protectors of the Alliance] Solus Gauss Cannon

I'll take this.

ADR2 and 3, please. ADR5 is too high for the rifle, and ADR4 is too high for the pistol.

You’ve done a great job describing the weapon, but there’s not much about the ammunition. Can you describe it some? What’s it made of, how’s it shaped, its weight, etc.

10 shots per cylinder, I take it? It’s a cylinder, not a magazine?

Rate of fire can be semi-automatic.

The fusion reactor must be replaced; that I understand. However, does it HAVE to be replaced at 1,000 shots, or is it recommended?

Does the Solus have a targeting computer? You say it has target recognition, but there’s no mention of any onboard computer or how it works to identify friendly or foe.

I can find gauss cannons on the wiki that are smaller and still deal ADR 4. The Raiken make weapons to kill Raiken. The weapon is big and firing it without being a Raiken would break your arm.

Sure, perhaps I can make a model for it. It isn't anything special though. (Besides the fact it is ferromagnetic.) You can figure its weight out using some mathy math, but I'll get that for you.

Yes, Cylinder.

Yes... it can...?

Nope. You can opt not to replace it. Won't work as well. (The reactor will eventually die.)

Kind of a given. Little invisible laser on front detects what it is looking at. If it is friendly, no shoot. If it isn't, shoot.

You listed the rate of fire at 60 rounds/minute. Just put down semi-automatic, is what I meant to say. Sorry there.

Please point out the gauss cannons you're talking about, with the understanding that you can't purely use past technology as a basis for your own submissions. Especially those of other factions.

On the reactor bit, the wording says you "must" replace it at 1,000 shots. If that's a recommendation, please say so.

On the targeting computer , it's not a given if it isn't explained. How does the laser know what's friendly and what isn't? What happens if you want to shoot something considered "friendly"?

Fixed.

Well, doing the only thing I could do, I put in 'Gauss Cannon' into the wiki search.

It is fair to rule out 'They are PA weapon', because Raiken are basically biological PA. All of their weaponry are guaranteed to do high damage.

https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=origin:50mm_automatic_gauss_cannon | A tiny gun with a 100 round mag dealing ADR 4? And it is cheap. (Origin)
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=abwehran_star_empire:technology:weapons:50mm_gauss_cannon | (Abwehran)
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=origin:25mm_automatic_gauss_cannon | This one seems more fair than the last Origin, though it is strangely heavy.
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=gartagens:edjia_gauss_rifle | ADR 4 with a 1000 box mag? This is used by ground troops. (Gartagen)

There are, of course, some more fair ones around. But the Solus is a slow firing, low capacity weapon with a lot of recoil. It has these drawbacks so it can be very powerful and very accurate. The Raiken want power, power, and more power. They aren't looking for any speed. (They don't move fast, it isn't like you have to spray everywhere to hit one.)

Fixed.

Added some onto Safety Mechanism. "This is done by a small laser mounted under the barrel. This invisible laser is able to detect small 'Friend or Foe' chips that are sewn inside the Protectors of the Alliance uniform. These chips project a small field that the safety will recognize as 'friendly'. To bypass this, one could simply turn off the target recognition laser or remove it."

=== EDIT ===

Also, I forgot to save the edit, just did that. 10:15pm

Also, added a little onto Esyga rounds.

Per your examples ...

The first is a gun for a Frame, not a power armor. The second uses a fusion warhead and plasma rounds, not just a slug. The third uses specialized ammunition. The fourth fires rounds at more than half the speed of light, an absolutely ridiculous speed that would not be approved today.

Each has reasons — some wrong — for being as powerful as they are. Yours does not, even with uniquely hardened cobalt penetrators fired at the speeds you list.

ADR2 and 3 is plenty powerful, and if a new DR scale comes in, you might get even more alleged "effectiveness" out of them. However, you have to use the current scale, and ADR2-3 is plenty, considering.

The rest of the edits look good.

Alright, I'm willing to a bit of compromising in the interest of moving things along. I'd be willing to scale to 4 & 3 respectively. (I know that's what you had before you edited your post.)

I cannot stress enough that both of these are high-recoil, slow firing weapons. The weapons are big enough for a PA/Frame (Well, a human sized one) and have a power core to give them that... well... power.

Then you need to make the weapons do more than fire mere solid projectiles at relatively low speeds.

I did edit down to ADR2-3 from 3-4 because, after considering it further, I did not, and do not, believe you can justify 3-4 with what you've got.

On speed, what is faster traveling projectile but still fair? I put 5000m/s as a guess. I'm not sure what is 'fair but still fast' and what isn't possible.

5,000 m/s is pretty fast when you get down to it, but not for a solid projectile that's supposed to be an armor killer. You're better off using a better metal or a specialty ammunition.

I'm not sure if there is a better ferromagnetic metal. Cobalt is the hardest, to my knowledge.

After doing some more looking into, I could combine the cobalt with a harder metal that is at least partially magnetic. Tungsten (or Tungsten Carbide) may be a good choice. Alloy would be probably be more Cobalt than Tungsten, to ensure the magnet is still strong.

For reference, Cobalt is a 5 on Mohs hardness scale while Tungsten is a 7.5. Tungsten Carbide is a 9.

That was my research as well.

You also could try specialty ammunition, or a combined energy/slug weapon.

Would modifying the shape of the round really do much? Originally, I thought of firing legitimate spears/harpoons out of the weapon. I figured since the round is likely to pass straight through whatever it is hitting, it probably wouldn't matter.

Shape, at this point, doesn't do you much good. It's really about speed/mass/hardness, or some other kind of damage.

Speed - Can I increase it above 5000m/s, or is this set? EDIT - Perhaps by increasing the draw on Fusion Core? Make it recommended to replace after like... 500, 750 shots?
Mass - The rounds are already very heavy, so I'm not looking to make them even heavier.
Hardness - Using Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Alloy would bring the hardness up to a 7-8. (Strict improvement over 5)
Other Form of Damage - I'm not looking to add any fancy doodads to Raiken weaponry.

I'd look into keeping the speed the same, while tripling the weight. You can achieve that pretty easily. 5,000 m/s is pretty fast for a solid projecile. You'll get range far beyond 500 meters, I can tell you that.

So, with the 50mm Esyga being 1.2lb per round, you're suggesting more around 3lb per round? That a very heavy round, but the Raiken can handle it.

The effective range is only 500 because that's probably how far you could see something to shoot at.

=== EDIT ===

I did forget to factor in the weight of tungsten. Tripled round weight makes much more sense now.