Approved Tech Korriban heavy machinegun

[Klesta]

Image Source: Kord machine gun on Wikipedia
Intent: To provide a heavy machine gun
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Ringovinda Systems
Model: Korriban heavy machinegun
Affiliation: Open market
Modularity: Ammunition can be standard or armor-piercing bullets, sights
Production: Mass-Produced.
Material: Standard rail gun components
Classification: Heavy machinegun
Size: Stationary/Vehicle-mounted
Length: 2.00m
Weight: 30 kg
Ammunition Type: 12.7x108mm bullets
Ammunition Capacity: 100-round belt, diatium power pack
Effective Range: 2000m
Rate of Fire: Fully automatic; 80 rounds/minute
Special Features:
Strengths:

• High muzzle velocity (3 km/s)
• High penetration ability if armor-piercing rounds are used - can penetrate up to 25 mm of armor
• Can be used in both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle capacities

Weaknesses:

• Infantry version can only be aimed vertically once installed in a position
• Rapid power drain
• Requires two people to move around
• Takes a significant amount of time to install and move around
• Infantry must not use it in the open
• High recoil
• Best deployed in multiple units at once

Description: The Korriban heavy machinegun was developed by Ringovinda Systems at the behest of the Ringo Vinda Territorial Defense Force in the wake of the Malachor hex rebellion by the Sith Order, where it was found that slugs were more effective at fighting Sith Lords at range than blasters. Rail gun technology allows higher muzzle velocities at the cost of decreased rates of fire compared to conventional heavy machineguns: the Korriban can achieve a muzle velocity of 3 km/s. It is available in two versions: an infantry version on a tripod as well as a vehicle-mounted version.

Understandably, since a belt-fed machinegun powered by rail gun technology produces high recoil, the high recoil makes it an unpleasant weapon to fire. Once the belt has been exhausted, reloading the belt takes five seconds: infantry units wishing to operate it must do so under cover. Infantry units wishing to use a Korriban heavy machinegun are warned that deploying the machinegun in position takes 20 seconds, and, given its weight, cannot be carried by one person. The vehicle-mounted version offers the advantage of being aimed independently of any other weapons it can mount. Each version has the drawback of armor penetration being weaker the farther away the target is, as with all slugthrowers of any kind. Also, the weapon fires in bursts: for each 15-second burst, a 15-second cooldown time is required. Which means that units or vehicles using Korribans should deploy at least two at a time for effective suppressive fire, alternating fire.

Primary source: N/A

 

[Gir Quee]

RESEARCH REVIEW
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Star Wars Canon:
Pending initial review
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Starwars Chaos:
Pending initial review
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WITHOUT DEV THREADS
Pending initial review
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WITH DEV THREADS
Pending Initial review
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SUGGESTIONS
Pending Inital review

 

[Gir Quee]

High penetration ability if armor-piercing rounds are used - can penetrate 50 mm of armor

I'd change this to "can penetrate up to 50 mm of armor". From a realism perspective, armor makeup is going to really affect this weapon's performance. It's easy to see this penetrating through 50mm of a lightweight armor, but it may not necessarily penetrate through 50mm of something exceptionally dense like neutronium. From an OOC gameplay perspective, the defending writer determines the damage taken, so this can't be a 50mm autohit.

Muzzle brake makes recoil more manageable but still unpleasant

Muzzle brakes work be redirecting propellant gases that propel the bullet in real life firearms. Standard railgun principles mean that this propellant gas wouldn't normally exist for the muzzle brake to work. This could maybe done with some sort of hybrid railgun-conventional slugthrower weapon, but if most of your power is coming from the railgun rather than the propellant, the effects of this are likely to be minimal.

High muzzle velocity (3 km/s) High penetration ability if armor-piercing rounds are used - can penetrate 50 mm of armor High rate of fire

Generally, you can get two of these in a given design. Railguns are known for their high muzzle velocity and penetration abilities, but they generally have a slow rate of fire because it takes time to build up the magnetic forces that accelerate a railgun's slug.

Conventional firearms (or slugthrowers as Star Wars calls them) can generally achieve any two of these through various caliber design tradeoffs. For example, it's possible to use a light bullet backed by a lot of propellant to achieve a weapon that has a high fire rate and muzzle velocity, but that bullet likely will not be able to penetrate through much because it is so light. It's possible to have a weapon that has a high fire rate and good penetration capabilities, but it will generally lack the muzzle velocity over long distances because of the bullets needed to penetrate through armor tend to be pretty heavy and are not aerodynamically stable over long distances. Realistically, this means that you tend to have shorter range.

Of course, it is possible to get a happy medium blend of all these attributes, but such a gun probably wouldn't be exceptional in any way either.

 

[Klesta]

[member="Gir Quee"] Would ~2 rounds/second work (125 rounds/minute total) if one equips 12.7x108s in a heavy machinegun using railgun technology?

Since there is no muzzle brake anymore, the recoil is a weakness by now...

 

[Gir Quee]

Would ~2 rounds/second work (125 rounds/minute total) if one equips 12.7x108s in a heavy machinegun using railgun technology?

Looking at past submissions, and what little canon star wars railgun examples we have, this size of railguns tends to fall into 2 camps.

1) Anti-vehicle railguns: These are the railguns that have high penetration (like 50mm of armor). They either tend to have a relatively low rate of fire on the order of 1 - 4 rounds a second, or they fire in bursts where they might have a fire rate of ~75 rounds per minute during the burst, but then go through a cool down and charge up phase that lasts at least as long as they were firing.

2) Anti-personnel railguns: We tend to see rates of fire of 120 - 200 rounds a minute. Many are noted as being capable of damaging and eventually destroying light vehicles given enough time. They do not appear to have a high penetration factor.

I'm comfortable with the Korriban following any of these ideas roughly. If you're looking for something in between the two, I would go with a firing rate of around 60-80 rpm with a penetration value of up to 20-25 millimeters of duracrete. That's enough where you can have plausible suppressive fire, and you can generally chew through generic light vehicle armor and hasty fortifications with a few sustained bursts.

 

[Klesta]

[member="Gir Quee"] Since I (as a writer) would like a weapon that can be of use for hitting Sith Lords as well as vehicles, I could settle for 80 rpm with a 25 mm penetration. (This would essentially make it like a faster-firing Gepard which uses the same bullets and, with armor-piercing rounds, can penetrate up to 25 mm of duracrete)

 

[Gir Quee]

[member="Klesta"], since that course is decided upon, give me two more things:

1) Note somewhere in the description that armor penetration weakens the farther away the target is.

2) Give this a cool-down time after sustained firing.

 

[Klesta]

[member="Gir Quee"] Done...

 

[Gir Quee]

Awesome. Pending Admin Approval. Thanks! [member="Spencer Varanin"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Approved.