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[Radio Controlled]

Are we talking 'different sizes fabricated ammo' or 'fire that piece of rebar over there'? I might see the first be doable, but the second seems too unwieldy (and unless you luck out and find something nice and smooth, you'll still be damaging the barrel I suspect).

[Comrade P.]

As I said in note to original design, firing something which is originally not intended to be shot is an option for desperate situations, you don't normally do that exactly because it is very unsafe for the gun. However, I wanted to provide such a possibility. But the most of shots fired from GAUPT were intended to be fabricated ammo.

[syvarris]

@Radio

When I said 'fire anything bullet shaped' I meant that it would be able to fire any material shaped specifically to be fired by this gun.  I.E. it would have a wide range of ammo options, even more than the gauss rifle, which requires it's ammo to be mainly ferromagnetic.

@Comrade P

Yeaaah, using a sharkmist replicator to form dirt into more bullets is probably the best you'll get.  Giving the gun a diaphram like that will jack up the cost, maybe doubling the price, not to mention it would play hell with rifling.  Besides, in the ARM, any situation where you run out of bullets is probably a situation where you should run, not grab pebbles and fire those.

[Radio Controlled]

I personally agree with syv: a gun that can generate it's own ammo is probably as versatile as you'll get without increasing cost up to unpractical levels.

[Comrade P.]

Okay, lets stop at ammo generator, plain barrel and exterior kinamp battery for easy changing.

We can introduce a barrel and reciever upgrade for additional cost, though. Because a diaphragm barrel, while being expensive, actually has polygonal rifling. So it is logical that for additional cost you unlock a wide range of options, but it would still be cheaper than a new gun.

EDIT: Did I just applied the DLC concept from gaming industry to a gun?

[syvarris]

I don't think a diaphragm barrel would have polygonal rifling.  First of all, polygonal rifling has slopes between adjacent edges, which would be difficult to keep between different calibers.  Secondly, the rifling needs to twist around the barrel... I'm not entirely sure that that's impossible to do with a diaphragm, but my brain isn't really capable of visualizing it.

Spoiler: No, I'd argue that the gaming industry stole the DLC concept from the firearms industry. (click to show/hide)

And that's not even showing any of the caliber conversions available for the thing.  Seriously, it's probably easier to list what calibers you can't fire out of an AR-15 platform, rather than those you can.

[Comrade P.]

Now that I tried to visualise it, yes, it isn't quite polygonal rifling. The polygonal figure (hexagon or octagon, it depends on construction) just goes straightforward all along the barrel, without twisting.
Still, it is much easier than carrying several spare barrels around.

[Sean Mirrsen]

You'd have a lot less trouble if you could magnetize the sharkplate and use a spiral magnetic field.

[Comrade P.]

Less trouble, but more expense. I think we can feature that as another upgrade.

[syvarris]

Does anyone remember the Avatar of War space fighter that I wanted to make, a long time ago?  Hexsand seems like it would be *perfect* for it.  It's both excellent stealth equipment, and great armor for when the stealth fails.

On a different note, Sean, have your scientists considered pumping coolant through the blast cannon, and routing it through a ship's armor?  Seems like it would be an excellent heat sink system for the ship-sized variants.

[Sean Mirrsen]

On a different note, Sean, have your scientists considered pumping coolant through the blast cannon, and routing it through a ship's armor?  Seems like it would be an excellent heat sink system for the ship-sized variants.

Yes, I'm assuming the ship-sized versions are just going to use whatever cooling systems the ship itself has, whether it's dedicated radiators or just routing heat out through the hull, or any other system.

It's really shaping up to be an interesting weapon. Even with the bulky coldplates as ammo, which would weigh down an infantryman, a quad-compressed shot (gotta start coming up with less unwieldy designations for these) is basically an instakill against a regular battlesuit. Hexsand is probably going to still offer good protection there, but that's really only a benefit at this point - less friendly fire casualties.

So, even if a typical person in an exoskeleton can carry only a few reloads, they still have what is essentially a regular HEP, but with the ability to punch a hole through a battlesuit if needed.

And they would absolutely rock as base defenses, I think. They can be hooked up to base power to keep them firing quicker, and they can both take out swathes of infantry with regular HEP blasts, and destroy heavier armor at longer range with compressed shots.

Poor landscape though. XD

[Parisbre56]

See if you can make an upgrade that will use the more expensive hexsand heatsinks that allow faster firing/smaller size.

[Nikitian]

I would like to raise the question of how we can reason cloning and essentially eternal servitude of people spawned by vats or bioforge. Starting with birthing sods only for them to live their (short and pitiful) lives as cannon-fodder for us.
(Sure, they have their pleasure centers genejacked, but does a life of bliss justify slavery?)

[Comrade P.]

Are you trying to bring... what do westerners call them... tolerance and compassion into the grim darkness of far future?

Being serious, those matters are rather complex. How much of a slavery is voluntary slavery? Do the subjects of "eternal bliss" count as having free will?

[Radio Controlled]

"Sometimes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
-Spock-