Design: AS-R1 Hybrid Rifle [(1|2), (4|6)-2, (3|6)-1] => [2, 6-1, 6-1]
Your Mathemagicians start drawing some weird looks as they produce yet another cannon that's even smaller than the last one.
The new cannon is designed to be small enough that a single person can hold and operate it, removing the need for a wooden carriage or tripod. As we now have multiple cannon sizes now, we've taken the liberty of designating the sizes of each type of ammunition - this small cannon (a.k.a. a "rifle") uses a shell (a.k.a. a "bullet") that's slightly more than half the size of our HAC-1 cannon. Based on an esoteric measurement unit, we would say it's 16 mm's in diameter.
As thin crystal tends to rupture, the walls of the all-crystal barrel is about equal to the size of the bullet in thickness - earlier tests resulted in rather lethal explosions, necessitating a rather thick barrel. The barrel should be able to withstand firing indefinitely with crystal microrepairs. Being made out of crystal means the internal rifling is simple to add, gripping the bullet (made out of lead to maintain as high a density as possible) and inducing a spin. The barrel is about the same length as a mans arm. The bolt and trigger are made out of steel out of necessity; the trigger is a thin lever the length of a mans hand that extends along the handle. The bolt experiences frequent stress and high-pressure, and the extra weight of the steel allows it to absorb more of the recoil when fired. The stock is made out of crystal and rests against the shoulder of the operator; a leather pad encompasses the stock to make it more gentle on the user.
The small side of the firing chamber and bullet necessitates a smaller PSF to appropriately fit inside, described by our Mathemagicians as a Smaller Powerful Streamlined Fireball. The SPSF can be operated by two A-level magegems clipped into either end of our a newest invention: a "Scroll". The scroll is essentially a nickel circuit written into an copper sheet and then rolled into a cylinder about the length of a mans forearm. This reduces the size taken up by the circuit and allows it to be snapped into place along the side of the rifle. Wires connect the magegems to the circuit, and the circuit to the combustion chamber. An additional circuit wraps around the barrel of the gun and extends down to the combustion chamber to cool the weapon between shots. The gun can be fired about nine times a minute by a mage casting the SPSF directly into the combustion chamber, or four times a minute by a non-magical user replacing the A gems between shots - slower than a longbow.
Try as we might, however, the muzzle velocity of the gun is rather...lacking. Unable to project the bullet farther than short range, the new rifle is rather disappointing in is killing ability. Our mathemagicians point to the attempt to fire the gun without a water propellant - most of the energy from the SPSF is lost through heat rather than through expansion. Our steam cannons operate by flash-heating the water, which rapidly expands into steam to carry the bullet out of the gun, but our fireballs were never designed for that purpose. At the moment, the rifles are outclassed by a traditional longbow.
The crystal design makes the gun relatively cheap, but the expensive A-level magegems make it more expensive. Every wizard could be equipped with a rifle without the gems, but the necessity of the gems for mundane users makes them Very Expensive. If they were better than a longbow, they would be given to our Elite Anti-Mage troops.
Very Expensive for non-magic users.
Expensive for mages.
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Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 393564 times)