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[Parisbre56]

I've never actually heard a supersonic bullet myself, but from videos I've seen, it's not that loud. So it's probably very hard to use it to pinpoint the source of the gunshot, unless you're very close. The gunpowder exploding is what is really loud. So I assume it's the same deal here. It will be really hard to find a situation where the sound of the bullet is more important than the sound of the gun. You're going to have to take care of both to make it silenced.

Of course, there is still use for something like that. By controlling the power of the shot and adding an augmented reality overlay to the helmet to help aiming and optionally combining it with special rounds you could turn the Gauss rifle into a mortar and the Gauss cannon into an artillery.

And, of course, there's use for it if you convert the rest of the weapon to a silenced one.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The "Boomerang" sniper countermeasure device developed by DARPA uses both the muzzle blast, and the supersonic boom from the passing bullet, to determine the distance, direction, and elevation of the shooter relative to the vehicle it's installed on, within a second of the shot being made. It's ineffective against weapons that use sub-sonic ammunition. Just a random relevant bit of information there.

[Parisbre56]

Ah, yeah, you're right Sean. I was considering detection from humans. Sub-sonic would help a bit if we're up against something non-human (eg. a computer) that uses sound as a means of determining where it is being attacked from.

[syvarris]

I've never actually heard a supersonic bullet myself, but from videos I've seen, it's not that loud.

This is a statement that was difficult for me.  It seem inherently wrong, but I didn't have any concrete sources to support that, and I'm uncomfortable with testimony only.

Found this though, so yay.  Apparently supersonic .308 bullets are about ~137 dBA, which is just a bit below a jet engine at 140.  It's still vastly quieter than an unsuppressed rifle, but I doubt it would be difficult to locate at relatively short ranges where our blops operate.  Subsonic .308 bullets are around ~95, which is still over the threshold for risk of hearing damage, but only for continual sounds.  Vastly quieter though, and certainly quite lethal, especially with our overcompensating 20mm.

Spoiler: slightly large image (click to show/hide)

Regardless though, even if supersonic bullets were only 10 dB above subsonic bullets, that's still not really a reason to not modify our gauss weapons.  It's essentially a free modification, that requires nothing more than very slight body work.  There's no real downside, and unless the charging coils are extremely loud, there's still a benefit.

[Parisbre56]

Yeah, like I told Sean, you're right in the case of non-humans at a distance. In the case of humans, either the sound of the bullet will come from a "line" in space seemingly at the same time and with the same intensity for a very small timespan, thus making detection unlikely or they will be close enough that the coils and the charging and the discharging and all that will be audible. You'd have to be in some sort of sweet spot where you're far enough away to not hear the gun but close enough to hear the bullet.

But, like you said, there's no reason not to do it, since it doesn't cost anything. Plus, maybe simply lowering the power pumped through the gun will lower the noise it makes, which I hadn't considered until right now. So yeah, it's a very good idea,

Irrelevant to the discussion since I already agree with you, but there's one detail I don't like in those experimental data. It says it was 32 metres down range from a suppressed rifle. Now, again, I haven't actually done any measurements with suppressed and unsuppressed rifles, but it might have been close enough for the rifle to affect the measurement. Now, I don't know if they took any extra precautions like putting the gun in a soundproof box or putting some sort of obstacle like a hill between the gun and the measurement device, but if they didn't then that data is not completely right, since the increase in noise might be in part because of the gun and the larger amount of gunpowder used to propel the bullet and not the bullet itself.

[Radio Controlled]

NEWSFLASH: everything you don't fully understand 100% is magic! Gravity? Magic! Cats? Magic! you dearest grandmother? MOTHEREFFING MAGIC!
Cars, computers, wind, water, economics, physics, cricket, the whole shebang, it's all magic!

ALL OF IT!<sup>*

_{*Source: Devastator.}</sup>

[Xantalos]

NEWSFLASH: everything you don't fully understand 100% is magic! Gravity? Magic! Cats? Magic! you dearest grandmother? MOTHEREFFING MAGIC!
Cars, computers, wind, water, economics, physics, cricket, the whole shebang, it's all magic!

ALL OF IT!<sup>*

_{*Source: Devastator.}</sup>

I sense IRC shenanigans.

[spazyak]

NEWSFLASH: everything you don't fully understand 100% is magic! Gravity? Magic! Cats? Magic! you dearest grandmother? MOTHEREFFING MAGIC!
Cars, computers, wind, water, economics, physics, cricket, the whole shebang, it's all magic!

ALL OF IT!<sup>*

_{*Source: Devastator.}</sup>

I sense IRC shenanigans.

OOH! So as a programmer, am I a Wizard, or a sorcerer because it comes naturally??

[Kriellya]

Depends. Do you understand how computers work? Cause I always feel you need to have some understanding of the mechanics of magic to be a wizard, and are otherwise a sorcerer

[Parisbre56]

Well, I guess Dev is one of those people that see the world as a magical place...

[Nikitian]

Announcement:
Since they (soon will) have been approved for armory inclusion, the following items will be available with the next shipment from Hephaestus (i.e. so available already, in preparation for the new missions):

How about the sharkmist limb vat thing? Do you want me to give that an official write-up?

Vat as in 'tank where sharmist grows'? Sure, if you wish it added to armory list proper. Kinda don't see its particular usefulness on its own, more likely as a part of something, so maybe just put them off somewhere as 'misc' equipment for further tinkering/to be ordered as a special/non-standard item? I'm pretty sure we have them mass-produced for our own inner manufacturing uses on Hephaestus, so the cost reduction would still be implicitly present.

@tryrar I have a suggestion for you: try using the HGC ammo variants for payloads. Sure, since there's the rocket part, it will probably be more expensive (off-hand, a token more for a batch of two/two tokens more for a batch of three, for example), but the price conversion should be fairly straightforward, - and this is where the most interesting part comes: Armor-Piercing HGC shells (which, IIRC Piecewise's comments, are HEAT actually - i.e. your standard payload, from what I got) cost the same as 1/16th kiloton ones (and that means nukes can fit in containment systems smaller than 'football sized' - i.e. HGC caliber-sized). ...Do you catch my drift?
Also, I looked up the devastation radius for 1/16th kiloton and it appears to be in the couple hundred meters at most (with actual fireball radius being mere 30m apparently), so it can be fired almost safely from one-kilometer or even half-kilometer distance.

Depends. Do you understand how computers work? Cause I always feel you need to have some understanding of the mechanics of magic to be a wizard, and are otherwise a sorcerer

Nay, he could as well be a cleric. Summoning forth supernatural powers from beyond on behalf of... what was the patron saint of programmers once again? Cthulhu, or is it so only in this country?

[Parisbre56]

Depends. Do you understand how computers work? Cause I always feel you need to have some understanding of the mechanics of magic to be a wizard, and are otherwise a sorcerer

Nay, he could as well be a cleric. Summoning forth supernatural powers from beyond on behalf of... what was the patron saint of programmers once again? Cthulhu, or is it so only in this country?

This guy? http://coolvibe.com/2011/sci-fi-wallpaper-of-the-week-40/

[spazyak]

Depends. Do you understand how computers work? Cause I always feel you need to have some understanding of the mechanics of magic to be a wizard, and are otherwise a sorcerer

I am a Wizard! Dance for me or I'll crash your computer with shitty programming hidden in a video game.

[Radio Controlled]

Council report: the forcefield blade of Nik keeps its price, but gets a +2 uncon +1 dex skill requirement.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Any report on the MkIII-A/MCP-3A?