			    TRAVELLER Digest 176

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) TRAVELLER digest 175	by Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
  2) TNE Hand weapon design: the "Sweeper"	by George Herbert <gherbert@crl.com>
  3) Oops	by George Herbert <gherbert@crl.com>

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Date: 28 Jan 95 15:42:57 EST
From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
To: <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: TRAVELLER digest 175
Message-ID: <950128204256_100326.446_BHG98-1@CompuServe.COM>

>>It seems that BR   has broken the assumptions made about 
space combat from High Guard to MT. <<

No. It seems that TNE has broken the assumptions made about 
the fabric of reality from HG to MT. <grouse>.




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Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 17:41:02 -0800
From: George Herbert <gherbert@crl.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: gherbert@crl.com
Subject: TNE Hand weapon design: the "Sweeper"
Message-ID: <199501290140.AA07851@mail.crl.com>


The Sweeper is a TL9/10, 6 bbl light automatic weapon firing the 2x12N ETC
cartridge developed for it by Pendang South Armory.  It is completely
experimental, though reportedly at least one example has been combat
tested with "good results".

Relevant statistics:
Weapon Designation: PSA-18 Light Area Assault Weapon
Weapon Nickname: Sweeper
Mass: 5.9kg empty, 7.9kg with empty 6,000 rnd cassette, 10.1 kg loaded
Length: 40cm (blk = 2)
Cost: Cr2,567 incl 1 cassette, full cassette of 2x12N ETC DS ammo is Cr90
					(std. ball is Cr45 per cassette)
Range: Short 18m Medium 36m Long 72m Extreme 144m (with DS ammo, 15/30/60/120
							with std. ball)
ROF: User selectable 1, 3, 10, 20 "short" bursts, or 50 shot "long" burst
Recoil: 0 with all short bursts, 1 with long burst
Damage: 1
Pen: 1-Nil with DS, Nil with ball
Features: TL 10 Laser Sights, supressors (one per bbl), TL 10 gyro comp,
	TL 9 SA stock, TL 9 long muzzle break, bullpup 2-handed hold stock

[Design info: 2x12 necked ETC ammo TL-9, Wa=0.377g, Ea=157J, Bla=19.625 cm
		Bl=20cm, 6 hvy bbl, heavy self loading deluxe multibbl reciever
		plus features listed above]

The Sweeper was designed in early 1200 as a private project by the 
Pendang South Armory, using a mixture of TL-9 components and limited TL-10
elements which were locally experimental.  This bold combination let the
weapon achive a huge rate of fire (cyclic rate exceeding 3,000 RPM) and
yet show less per-burst recoil than virtually any other SMG design available.
The user selectable short burst combined with a progressive trigger pull to
select the "long" burst or continuous fire option proved very popular
with troops, especially in a design purpose-designed for "rock and roll".

In late 1200 the company began field testing it, and in an amazing turn of
events a Pendang Broadcasting Service crew doing a nature documentary on
jungle life in the southern jungles was single-handedly saved from a herd
of rampaging Kikk-leopards (40 kg felinoid pack hunters, extremely rare) 
by ex-Major Konrad Chin, PSA's principle test and evaluation engineer.  

The film of that rescue impressed Pendang's government so much that an order
for 100 units was placed immediately for "evaluation purposes".  PSA has been
having production problems ramping up to produce that many units, but
a number of examples have been deployed within the military.  The initial
results are so positive that the Pendang government has recently talked
of nationalizing the production operations of PSA to improve output,
with interest in ordering perhaps 100,000 weapons over the next few years.

-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com


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Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 19:06:44 -0800
From: George Herbert <gherbert@crl.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: gherbert@crl.com
Subject: Oops
Message-ID: <199501290306.AA16767@mail.crl.com>


I always keep forgetting something.  In this case, the ETC additional
mass/cost in the magazine due to the battery...

Having looked at that rule, I am employing a Field Rules Adjustment.
If you look at it, the battery in the magazine is fixed mass no matter
what E the cartridge has.  I think that it should properly be some
adjustable amount, a constant fraction relative to cartridge energy.
So... given that they liked the values given for their 7x46 ETC ACR,
and it has 30 times the Ea of my 2x12N ETC cartridge, I divided the
battery mass by 30.  So there.  Results are...

Mag capacity for PSA-18 is now 3,000 from 6,000.  Cassette is same mass
(4.23 kg loaded), costs Cr500 additional over gun cost (the battery price).

And a derrivative toy.  Introducing the highly experimental PSA-19...

Relevant statistics:
Weapon Designation: PSA-19X Medium Area Assault Weapon
Weapon Nickname: Pushbroom
Mass: 10.6kg empty, 13.7kg with empty 3,000 rnd cassette, 14.9 kg loaded
Length: 66cm (blk = 4)
Cost: Cr4,969 incl 1 cassette, full cassette of 2x12N ETC DS ammo is Cr45
					(std. ball is Cr23 per cassette)
Range: Short 44m Medium 88m Long 176m Extreme 352m (with DS ammo,
37/74/148/296
							with std. ball)
ROF: User selectable 1, 3, 10, 20 "short" bursts, or 50 shot "long" burst
Recoil: 0 with all short bursts, 1 with long burst*
Damage: 1
Pen: 1-Nil with DS, Nil with ball
Features: TL 10 Laser Sights, supressors (one per bbl), TL 10 gyro comp,
	TL 9 SA stock, TL 9 long muzzle break, bullpup 2-handed hold stock

Actual Recoil with continuous fire (5 bursts) is 4 for the whole turn, not 5.
Rcl as calculated w/o rounding is 0.733

[Design info: 2x12 necked ETC ammo TL-9, Wa=0.377g, Ea=157J, Bla=19.625 cm
		Bl=46cm, 6 hvy bbl, heavy self loading deluxe multibbl reciever
		plus features listed above]

Also newly introduced is the (new) 6,000 round cassette, mass 6.46 kg loaded,
Cr1,000 each, full load of Ds is Cr90, full load of ball is Cr45.  This has
so far only been produced in quantity 3 units, and is NOT deployed with any
of the field test PSA-18's, but will be soon if it proves as reliable as
the smaller magazine.  It is intended for use with the PSA-19 but fits
either weapon interchangably.

South Pendang Armory has produced five experimental PSA-19's after someone
observed that a longer barrel would give the weapon rifle-like range without
sacrificing the low recoil or rate of fire.  The only changes from the PSA-18
are barrel length (46 cm instead of 20 cm) and longer supressors to deal with
the slightly higher muzzle energy.  All other components are the same.
The weapons recoil actually dropped a small amount for extended bursts.


gherbert@crl.com


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End of TRAVELLER Digest 176
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