Rusty
Purveyor of Fine Weaponry
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
The AP-3 is the ultimate in antipersonnel firepower for boarding actions. Using a rotary firing mechanism that spins three barrels around a central axis, it maintains a blisteringly high rate of speed while reducing barrel wear over time. There are no sights, because there's no need for sights. The glowing red projectiles draw a seemingly solid line between the shooter and the target, which they simply have to play back and forth until it falls into pieces.
All of this technology, save for the feeding mechanism, is tried and true. The external power cell, the tribarrel design, even the hopper, were all adapted from previous designs made by Rusty. The feeding mechanism is a simple vibrating agitator that allows the pellets to keep moving downwards towards the action, without clumping up.
The idea behind the AP-3 is that a bunch of tiny projectiles can do just as much damage as a few big ones, but without the chance of popping holes in ship hulls. For all practical intents in purposes, it's an extremely high energy, weaponized sandblaster. Though it won't do more than scour the paint from metals, the effect on flesh can be devastating. For a group like the Brotherhood of the Maw, who have a distinct need for boarding weapons, it's an ideal solution for a problem that's rarely been addressed directly. Many weapons work well for boarding actions, but few are specifically designed to accomplish the goal of taking a ship without damaging the hardware. After all, a prize vessel is hardly a prize if it needs to be completely rebuilt from the inside out.
- Intent: To create a weapon for use by the Brotherhood of the Maw
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Oxidation Industries
- Affiliation: Brotherhood of the Maw, Small private reserve for commercial sale
- Market Status: Closed Market
- Model: AP-3
- Modularity: No
- Production: Minor
- Material: Durasteel, alusteel, railgun components
- Classification: Rotary Railgun
- Size: Large
- Weight: Very Heavy
- Ammunition Type: 1mm diameter durasteel ball bearings
- Ammunition Capacity: Extremely Large
- Effective Range: Personal
- Rate of Fire: Extremely High
- Damage Output: Low
- Recoil: Average
- Blistering rate of fire
- Small ammo means high ammo capacity
- Useful on ships, stations, and other environments where the lines of sight are short and hull breaches are bad
- Rate Of Fire- The AP-3 bore diameter is extremely small, meaning the barrels are smaller, and thus more lightweight, than a traditional tribarrel. This equates to low rotational mass, which means that the barrels can spin at a high rate of speed, up to 50% faster than a similar design firing a conventionally sized projectile.
- Ammunition Capacity- A 1mm diameter sphere does not take up a lot of space. Since the power cell requires an external pack mount, it's no problem to mount a hopper that can hold a lot of them. Despite the frankly absurd rate of fire, the AP-3 can keep it up for a reasonable amount of time.
- Safe For Ships- The 1mm ammunition doesn't have much in the way of penetration power against hardened surfaces. While they're reasonably effective against flesh, the chances of a hull breach are practically nonexistent. As an added bonus, ricochets also carry little risk of danger, since the low mass means they lose their kinetic energy quickly.
- Stopping Power- Each individual AP-3 projectile carries very little in the way of potential damage. The strength lies in numbers: 1 projectile might not do much, but each one behind it incrementally increases the wound channel. That said, this effect only really works against unarmored flesh, or extremely lightly armor. Given enough time they might etch through thicker material, but that would require an extremely cooperative and extremely stationary target.
- Weight- Though the firing mechanism of the AP-3 isn't all that heavy, the cumulative package is. Between the external power pack, the ammunition hopper, the gun, and all the other accoutrements, the AP-3 is a lot to lug around.
- Power Hog- Though each individual shot only takes a little bit of power to make work, as mentioned before, the AP-3 isn't designed for individual shots. Without careful husbanding of energy, the pack will need to be recharged long before the hopper runs dry.
- Range- Although the AP-3's projectiles have excellent initial muzzle velocity, their low mass means that they lose a lot to air friction, fast. Under ideal conditions, 20 meters is about the maximum effective range.
The AP-3 is the ultimate in antipersonnel firepower for boarding actions. Using a rotary firing mechanism that spins three barrels around a central axis, it maintains a blisteringly high rate of speed while reducing barrel wear over time. There are no sights, because there's no need for sights. The glowing red projectiles draw a seemingly solid line between the shooter and the target, which they simply have to play back and forth until it falls into pieces.
All of this technology, save for the feeding mechanism, is tried and true. The external power cell, the tribarrel design, even the hopper, were all adapted from previous designs made by Rusty. The feeding mechanism is a simple vibrating agitator that allows the pellets to keep moving downwards towards the action, without clumping up.
The idea behind the AP-3 is that a bunch of tiny projectiles can do just as much damage as a few big ones, but without the chance of popping holes in ship hulls. For all practical intents in purposes, it's an extremely high energy, weaponized sandblaster. Though it won't do more than scour the paint from metals, the effect on flesh can be devastating. For a group like the Brotherhood of the Maw, who have a distinct need for boarding weapons, it's an ideal solution for a problem that's rarely been addressed directly. Many weapons work well for boarding actions, but few are specifically designed to accomplish the goal of taking a ship without damaging the hardware. After all, a prize vessel is hardly a prize if it needs to be completely rebuilt from the inside out.
Last edited:
