Jormungandr Bolter
5, 4-1+1, 6-2
Finally, some luck!
After seeing an informative documentary about the "Gyrojet" weapons made in the 1960s back on earth and their many many fundamental flaws, one of our designers was struck with genius: Let's do that thing.
So we did. And it was great. Ultimately, the Jormungandr Bolter is a recoilless rifle scaled down to standard use for the bulk of our forces. In fact, we were particularly inspired by stories of a continent named Forenia where soldiers used recoilless rifles on horseback in the 1920's. Of course, that's simply too ridiculous to be true, but stories like that helped regardless.
The Jormungandr Bolter, is in a way, a greatly miniaturized version of our warship missile tubes. The ammunition used is essentially a scaled-down version of our warship rockets, minus the guiding elements. The entire weapon is roughly a bit bigger than a "normal" rifle with the accompanying extra weight as well, but it's still well within acceptable ranges to be "comfortably" used by our infantry on the field. Our advanced printers come into play in making the gun and its ammo. We eventually decided to forego complete 3D printing manufacturing, but precise 3D printing of many of the required parts for both the Bolters and ammo significantly helped the expense rates.
Recoil, despite the naysayers in Central Command, is fine. Particularly complicated work in the Bolters allows the recoil to, like a recoilless rifle, be dispersed instead of forcing its weight onto the rifle holder. We don't recommend standing behind the parts of the gun labeled "WARNING", but surprisingly you won't be too injured if you do.
The ammo is very destructive. In addition to having a notable chance to, as our testing soldiers call it, "gib" hostiles in a surprisingly morale-improving effect, it also can break through armor of all kinds. Kevlar is of no concern to the bolts and any types of vehicle armor that could be introduced to the battle soon could likely be pierced by the bolts. The marines that guard the interiors of our ships like the IMW #1 still use pistols in fact, as the Bolters can easily pierce through an IMW's armor that's normally resistant to small arms fire. In fact, concentrated bolter fire could likely bring down an IMW, but that happens to be an unlikely scenario. In short, the Bolter can easily pierce current armor and probably any kinds of armor in the near-future as well.
In some situations, the bolts' explosive effects can down nearby enemy troops as well, and near misses are much more forgiving as their explosions can at the very least knock over Amoakian troops.
Unfortunately, the Bolter doesn't excel at long ranges. The missiles themselves maintain velocity at extreme ranges, but that isn't the only factor. Evidently, our warship missiles relied on guidance as a crutch and even with our modifications (like the rifling) to work in the atmosphere, the bolts tend to veer off-target. It does excel at moderate ranges, however, where its accuracy is still acceptable. Assuming Amaok continues fielding their battle rifles, we will definitively have the advantage in moderate ranges, and will significantly lower their advantage at moderate-long ranges, but the Bolters are practically useless at actual long range where their battle rifles work just fine.
Just... don't use it in short ranges. At all. Whatsoever. Seriously. Central Command will be instituting a mandatory 10-hour training session for all soldiers receiving the Jormungandr Bolter after noticing that in testing alone, 20 people had blown their hands off after being told not to use it at short ranges. Explosives don't mix well in close quarters combat.
But now we have a gun that shoots missiles, and when deployed to a Unit, it's the service rifle. Forget warships; Moerth has Bolters now.
Jormungandr Bolter: A relatively large infantry rifle designed for full deployment, using miniature missiles as its rounds. Surprisingly easy to use, and can easily pierce through current armor and is likely future-proof in terms of armor piercing to some degree. Very effective anti-infantry weapon and even has very minor area of effect. Prohibitively inaccurate at long ranges and dangerous to use at short ranges.
Weight: 1 CU = 4x
Expense: 4x
Resources: Metal
It is now the Revision Phase of 2208.
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Topic: Planetary Arms Race - Moerth, Strategy Phase 2212 (Read 38064 times)