Weapons: Zip-guns and Shoukwans

            In some areas firearms may be difficult to acquire legally. Not surprisingly in many of these regions there is a thriving trade in illegally manufactured or smuggled firearms. Some crime syndicates are known to encourage and fund gun control lobbies, well aware that restrictive firearms laws increase their business. Even in areas where firearms can be acquired legally blackmarket weapons may be encountered. Many criminals are understandably reluctant to apply for licences and go through background checks and safety courses. Many isolationist groups prefer to arm themselves without creating a data trail.

New technologies such as minifacturing, universal 3D printing and cannibal microbots facilitate the production of unregistered armaments.. The simplest weapons are zip-guns and other improvised firearms that may be produced by an individual or small gang. Even in restricted environments such as high security prisons convicts have produced propellant from match heads and bullets from paper and soap.

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Malf	Notes
.22 Zip Gun	1d+1 pi-	0	70/800	0.5/0.0077	1	1(10i)	8	-1	2	12	[1]
9mm Max Zip Gun	2d pi	0	70/800	0.75/0.022	1	1(10i)	9	-1	2	12
12 Gauge Zip Gun	1d+1 pi	0	40/800	3/0.13	1 x 9	1(10i)	9	-2	1	16

            The simplest zip gun is a tube containing a striker bolt with a spring behind it. A second tube containing a cartridge screws onto the front of the assembly. When the bolt hand is flicked out of the safety notch the bolt hits the cartridge and fires it. Such weapons are easily made and concealed. Having neither sights nor stock they are very limited in capability, however.

 

            A barrel assembly such as described above can be mounted on a pistol grip stock. Alternately a pipe with a baseplug and a nail through it may be used instead. The latter design will probably use a hammer tensioned by springs or rubber bands. Many such guns do not have triggers, firing being accomplished by pulling back and releasing the hammer. Single action revolver skills such as fanning may be used. Another design uses a sprung plunger, rather like a pinball machine. This may be held cocked by a mechanism or simply pulled back with the other hand and released.

            Small calibre zip guns have been constructed from such materials as car aerials. Many guns use metal pipe and connections and in 2100 the latter are often called “Plumb guns”. A sub-class of plumb guns are slam-guns. These are simply two tubes, one of internal diameter sufficient to take a cartridge, the other large enough to fit over the smaller. The larger tube has a firing pin at the bottom. The inner tube is forced rearward so the cartridge meets the firing pin and fires. This mechanism can be used in boomsticks.

One example of the slam-gun system is a punch gun where the rear tube is a T-shaped piece and the barrel protrudes between the fingers. The muzzle is punched into the target, the impact firing the cartridge. A similar device is just two tubes that are held like a kubotan. A hammer-fist strike against the target fires the round. Punch guns are melee weapons. The noise of the shot will be somewhat muffled by the target’s flesh.

            To use a punch gun the user has to strike the target with his fist in hand-to-hand combat, firing the bullet point-blank into the target. Use Brawling, Karate or DX skill - the shot automatically hits the same body part as a successful punch. The shot doesn't go off if the punch is dodged or there is a malfunction. If the punch is parried, the shot may still hit the parrying arm or weapon; the attacker should roll again at Brawling-4 to see if the shot hits. Treat a fired gun or one that hits but does not fire as Brass Knuckles so damage Thr Cr. The kubotan-style weapon is slightly easier to conceal or disguise. Hammer fist strikes are -1 to hit but do Thr+1 Cr  if it hits but fails to fire. Counts as a Yawara stick so gives +1 to follow up rolls with judo holds and locks. (p.74, p.226, MA(4e)).

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Reach	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Malf	Notes
.22 Punch Gun	1d+1 pi-	-	C	0.5/0.0077	1	1(5i)	-	-1	2	14	[1]
9mm Max Punch Gun	2d pi	-	C	0.5/0.022	1	1(5i)	-	-1	2	14
.410 Punch Gun	3d pi	-	C	0.5/0.04	1 x 3	1(5i)	-	-1	2	14	[1]

[1] Assumes that a round equivalent to the .22 rimfires or .410 is available or can be constructed. Use these profiles for “prison-made” ammunition.
 

 

 Four Winds Shotgun.

The “Four Winds” shotgun is a larger type of slam-gun. At its simplest it is just two pipes and would be unlikely to be identified as a firearm if disassembled. (The name is from the idea that the parts can be disposed of by “casting to the four winds”). Unlike the punch guns the Four Winds can be used for ranged shots. The simplest versions are braced against the body (padding recommended to avoid tell-tale bruising!). More elaborate examples have a shoulder stock and a side-handle to pull back the barrel. The basic mechanism can be adapted to booby traps.

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Malf	Notes
Four Winds 12 Gauge.	1d+1 pi	0	40/800	3/0.13	1 x 9	1(5i)	9†	-3	1	16

            Most plumb guns do not actually look like real functioning weapons, which can be a disadvantage in certain situations. It is difficult to try and hold up a store with a Four Winds when the cashier is convinced you are threatening him with a tent pole!

Organized crime operates hundreds, possibly thousands of workshops producing illegally fabricated weapons. These range from a single workbench in an apartment to small factories. In order to compete with home-made weapons the designs offered have become reasonably sophisticated. One of the more interesting aspects of illegal arms manufacture is the wide adoption of a standard cartridge. The “9 MAX” round and a number of other standardisation in manufacture have been attributed to an underworld figure known as “Lu Mycroft”. The 9 MAX is a 9x20mm Semi-rimmed round that will chamber in automatics, revolvers and single-shot or double-barrelled improvised weapons. Power level is optimized for use in light blowback actions. It is a cased round so casings may be left at the scene of a shooting. Bullet weight varies from 100 to 130gr and velocity from 900 to 1100fps. (The round would ballistically be identical to a 9x18mm Marakov) The development of a unique round secured a profitable monopoly in ammunition supply for organized crime.

Probably the most common blackmarket weapons are Shoukwans. Shoukwans pistols are simple blowback semi-automatics that are cheap to produce but are compact, light and easy to operate. They come in a variety of barrel lengths and styles. Most are single action and their only safety is the half cock position of the hammer. Some users carry their Shoukwans “Condition 3” and only cock the slide when they expect to be shooting. The majority of shoukwans also lack slide hold-open devices so inexperienced shooters are often unaware their weapon needs to be reloaded. The best quality shoukwans are high capacity double-action weapons. While some users prize and look after their weapons in general Shoukwans are low quality and often cleaning and maintenance is neglected.

 

Weapon		Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
Shoukwan 9mm MAX		2d pi	2	110/1,200	1.8/0.3	3	8+1(3)	8	-2	2
High Capacity Shoukwan 9mm MAX		2d pi	2	110/1,200	2/0.4	3	13+1(3)	8	-2	2
Mouse gun .22		1d pi-	0	50/950	0.9/0.2	3	6+1(3)	5	-1	2
Shoukwan .22		1d+1 pi-	2	90/1,400	1.8/0.4	3	11+1(3)	8	-2	2

 

Nearly all Shoukwans are chambered for 9mm MAX rounds. Shoukwans may also be encountered chambered for 22 rimfire ammunition (if 22 rimfire rounds are still available in 2100! They may have been replaced by weapons such as the Garden Gun.) Some .22 Shoukwans are very compact “mouseguns” designed for easy concealment while others are 22 versions of full-sized pistols. The latter are invariably found with threaded muzzles for the attachment of a suppressor and are favoured by hitmen for short-range “low mess” eliminations.

 

Weapons: 50x330mm Supershot.

            The 50 x 330mm Supershot autocannon is a modern real world weapon that is very likely to be encountered on the worlds of TS. It has recently been proposed as the armament of several heavy infantry fighting vehicles or armoured personnel carriers, competing with the 30/40mm Super Forty. It is also suitable as the main turret armament of missile-armed tanks such as the Wolfhound. It has a similar performance to a 55mm Emag but is lighter and requires less power.

            The stats below are for the Mauser version. Alliant Tech Systems offers a Bushmaster III in the same chambering which is used in Dutch and Danish CV90s. (Bushmaster III Rof 3; EWt 481 lbs; Pow 2.2kW) Both weapons have dual-feed and can fire single-shots as well as fully-automatic. TS-era versions are likely to be lighter, may incorporate burst-fire mechanisms and use programmable-fused and homing ammunition. TS improvements in explosives are likely to improve round performance and HEMP and SEFOP rounds are likely. The 50mm round is probably large enough to accommodate a 1lb/1 hex cyberswarm. Optics and advanced sighting systems may provide an additional bonus to the Acc given in the table.
 

            The following table was adapted from the 3e rules on this page.

Mauser MK50, 50x330mmCTA Supershot.
 

Weapon	Ammo	Damage	Acc	Range	RoF	EWt	WPS	VPS	CPS	Pow	Notes
Mauser MK50	APFSDS	6d x 13(2) pi++	7	5,000/ 20,000	6	1,133	4.4	0.017	$120	8kW
	AHEAD	6d x 7(0.5) plus 5d[4d(2)] cr ex	6	4,000/ 12,000			5.0	0.017			[1]
	HEPF	8d[4d] pi++ cr ex	6	4,000/ 12,000			5.0	0.017			[2]
	APEDS	6d x 7(2) pi++ plus 2d[2d] cr ex	6	5,000/ 18,000			4.5	0.017

[1] AHEAD ammunition is effectively a shrapnel shell (HT 4e p.173) that can be programmed to explode at a range set at the moment of firing. It is primarily intended to engage airborne targets. The original 35mm round contained 152 x 5.85mm diameter 3.3gm  tungsten pellets. The 35mm KETF (Kinetic Energy Time Fused) variant had 341 x 4.65 mm diameter 1.24gm pellets and an anti-UAV version had 840 x 0.64gm projectiles. The 3e Damage stat above therefore seems rather unrealistic for a round of this type. Explosive content would actually be a modest ejection charge. I do not have any information on the contents of the 50mm AHEAD round. It may be the 50mm round is the 35mm AHEAD shell in a sabot. 6d x 7(0.5) pi++ is the KE damage from an intact shell. In 3e rules [4d(2)] is treated as four 1d(2) attacks from the ejected pellets. Using the rules in HT 4e p.166 & 172 based on 6d x 7 damage the pellets of an AHEAD are 3d(2) pi; RoF x 152; Rcl 1 and KETF 2d(2) pi; RoF x 341; Rcl 1. Anti-UAV: 1d+1 (2) pi-; RoF x 840; Rcl 1. The pellets get an armour-piercing modifier for being tungsten and high-velocity.
[2] HEPF (High Explosive Pre-formed Fragment) is a fragmentation round programmed to airburst at a set distance. The desired distance can be programmed into the fuse at the moment of firing. Such rounds can be exploded above a target to negate the effects of vertical cover. They can also be exploded in close proximity to small/fast-moving targets.

Some Thoughs on Snakebots

           The serpent or worm body form is very common in nature. The nematodes alone outnumber other phyla including the arthropods. This webpage describes five types of locomotion used by snakes. Snakes also have various techniques of climbing, burrowing and swimming. Earthworms add the technique of moving peristaltically to the repertoire of this body form. It is therefore not surprising that some robot designers have drawn inspiration from the snakes and worms. The Israeli military already use a snakebot, although this is a simple teleoperated drone. The snakebots of TS will be far more capable.

 

           When it comes to considering TS snakebots a useful piece of advice is to not be too literal. Just because it is inspired by a snake does not mean that it cannot have useful features such as legs. A legged snakebot may have legs its full length, like a millipede or centipede. Alternately it may just have a few legs at each end, rather like a caterpillar. The snakebot may have devices that function like a worm’s setae. Some form of grasping appendage is also likely to be present to serve as manipulators, feelers and sensors. If the snakebot has grippers at each end it may use novel types of locomotion such as brachiating or tumbling like a toy slinky.

           Less violent applications of snakebots include inspection and maintenance. Most spaceships and large vessels probably have a few snakebots crawling around in the spaces a human cannot fit.

          An interesting idea for snakebots is what I term the “amphisbaena option”. Effectively this means the snakebot has a head at each end. I mentioned this design feature in my post on surveillance worms and it offers a number of advantages. The most obvious is that a snakebot in a narrow tunnel or conduit does not need to turn around if it wishes to retreat. A head at each end also gives it better situational awareness against possible threats.

           Snakebots have many possible applications. Their low profile and varied means of locomotion makes them very useful for infiltration and reconnaissance. Imagine having a spy that can climb up the inside of a drainpipe and then view a secret meeting from the guttering! Snakebots longer than a yard can probably operate door handles. Consider a scenario where a tong member visits a house with a snakebot wrapped around his leg and concealed by his clothing. At a chosen moment the snakebot slides down over his shoe and hides beneath a piece of furniture. That night the snakebot slides along the skirting board, unseen by security cameras. It climbs the stairs and reaches up to open the bedroom door. It then climbs up onto its target’s bed. Even if the snakebot has no built-in weapons it can still wrap itself around its victim’s throat.

           If a snakebot has legs or grippers at each end it can anchor one end to a surface and act like an arm or tentacle. The surface it attaches to may be that of another robot or a battlesuit. Possibly both snakebot and host are controlled by the same intelligence. Effectively this gives a cybershell a number of extra arms which happen to be detachable and capable of functioning away from the body.

 

           In the opening paragraph I mentioned nematodes. Nematodes inhabit a diverse range of environments yet all seem to use the same general design. Does this suggest that vermiform may be a good option for nanobots and microbots. That many nematodes are parasitic suggests that this is a viable option for robots that will operate within the human body.