MH ASW Mk-1

[Arrbi Betna]

Image Source​

Intent: To create a weapon designed to give heavy suppressing fire for infantry on the ground that can engage infantry and light vehicles equally.
Development Thread: N/A
Manufacturer: Mandal Hypernautics, Mythosaur Munitions
Model: ASW Mk-1
Affiliation: Mandalorians, Open Market
Modularity: Yes, the weapon can be mounted on many vehicles that can field the weapon as well as being capable of using a variety of ammunition types.
Production: Minor
Material: Alusteel, Durasteel, and other weapon construction materials.
Classification: Slugthrower
Size: Mounted
Length: 800mm
Weight: 40kg
Ammunition Type: slugs (.338 caliber)
Ammunition Capacity: 500-5,000 round belt
Effective Range: ~1km
Rate of Fire: Fully automatic (3,000-6,000rpm)
Special Features:

• Fully Automatic
• Capable of engaging infantry and light vehicles
• Capable of penetrating through brush and light cover
• Very high rate of fire for use in suppression and target elimination
• High recoil

Description:

As conflicts around the galaxy raged on and large masses of infantry became commonplace, the need to penetrate through thin cover and to eliminate the infantry and light vehicles behind light cover and in the open became more and more apparent. In response, Mandal Hypernautics, with Mythosaur Munition help, designed the Advanced Suppression Weapon Mark-1, a fully automatic, belt fed support weapon based on a primitive, but effective, slugthrower basis.

Capable of putting a huge amount of lead downrange and into enemy targets, the ASW Mk-1 was deemed to fulfill the necessary role it was designed for. The heavy .338 slug could penetrate light cover and heavy brush where needed, allowing it to engage and destroy targets hiding behind what blaster weapons normally could not penetrate. The high rate of fire allows the weapon system to suppress enemy targets, preventing them from returning fire on friendly troops and allowing friendly forces to maneuver with relative ease. The weapon is fed from 500 to 5,000 round belts, allowing the weapon to engage hostiles over an engagement, though soldiers are trained to save ammunition as the weapon can burn through the entire belt very quickly if not monitored. All in all, the weapon fills the niche perfectly and will be ready to mount on vehicles and gunships very soon.

The downsides of the weapon are fairly evident. The weapon is only able to be mounted on vehicles at this time as the weapon's weight and recoil prevent infantry use. The ASW Mk-1 has a heavy recoil from the .338 cartridge, making short bursts a necessity rather than a preference. Lastly, the weapon can burn through ammunition quickly, preventing the weapon from having a full effect on a prolonged engagement without careful ammo conservation.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

Sorry for the delay, had a bit of a go with a wine bottle.

But without further ado, I see you are looking at making the first eight barreled gatling gun. Neat!


The following changes will be required what will need to be done to get this approved with and without a dev thread.


WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT THREADS

• As there is no canon equivalent with a gatling gun slugthrower, I will have to ask that you change it from a slug thrower to that of a heavy repeating blaster canon. The technology is already there, so a dev thread isn't required for this.

If you make this as a rotating blaster automatic gattling gun, I see no issues as the technology is already. there.

But if you reaaally want to have a gatling gun that shoots out slugs. Then there is a number of things to consider, especially, as this would be a rather OP weapon to begin with.


WITH DEVELOPMENT THREADS

• A dev thread of at least 40 quality posts specifically for the research and development, prototype construction, testing, firing dealing directly with the crafting of this weapon. This includes the following: Drive motor, gun control unit, feeder/ delinker, barrel clutch assembly, grip assembly, mounting assembly and if desired, rail system for the attachment of accessories. You can in essence, start with the Gatling gauntlet as a basis on where to start.

• Clearly label the strengths and weaknesses-- to include
  Overheating of the motor assembly.
• Overheating of the barrels if used repeatedly and longer than a five second burst may require the changing of a complete barrel set -- completely emptying out the ammo can brings the risk of warping those barrels.
• EMP and stray voltage weaknesses for all due to a small measure of electricity still required -- testing for stray voltage with a multimeter helps prevent this.
• If pneumatic ( all applicable weaknesses dealing with a pneumatic system, higher percentage of jams than electric fed, plus that of pneumatic weapons)
• If Hydraulic ( all applicable weaknesses dealing with the added bulk of a hydraulic system)
• Prone to slug jams on the ammo can, feeder as well as within the gun. You may even roll dice for this if you like to make it fun. Likely 1 in 5 uses will see it jam.
• The large amount of space required to house an ammunitions can large enough to feed into the feeder. If you want to be able to mount it on any type of light vehicle, a specialized mount would need to be done to allow modification on varying classes. This will require an additional +10 posts.

[*]Drop production to limited, PC use only. The fact that it is a fully automatic, 8 barrel shooting, (3,000-6,000rpm) makes this a top tier weapon in anti force user capabilities -- and it wouldn't be fair to have the first of it's kind in the hundreds or thousands.



SUGGESTIONS

I first went researching wookieepedia for anything that can remotely resemble what you are aiming here.

This is what I found.

• Slugthrower - Information on all slugthrowers.

• Slugthrower Machine Gun - a rapid-fire projectile-based weapon equivalent to a more modern repeating blaster.

• MSt-50 Mass Driver Cannon - A type of turret that used solid metal slugs at a tremendous speed and could thus penetrate shields.

• Mark II Medium repeating blaster Canon - A blaster canon, but the closest equivalent I could find that matches what you are looking for. ​

• Gatling gauntlet - a weapon usually worn by bounty hunters and mercenaries. It consisted of several barrels mounted on a wristband and had the ability to shoot a variety of ammunition types, from small metal projectiles to much larger spikes.

With no actual multibarrel Star Wars canon slugthrowers that are mounted, I will have to utilize current gattling gun equivalents in the real world.

Which, we will use current military ordnance standards for a mini / gatling gun of this type. Here are some considerations.

My reasons are the following:

There is no canon equivalent so this will need to be researched from the ground up.

We will start with the slugs in it of itself -- turrets like that of the Mst-50 would already have an internal belt fed system to feed the two barrels their respecting slugs. As of right now, I can not find any notations on what was the rate of fire, beyond it stating that they shot slugs at a tremendous speed and could thus penetrate shields.

In light of making a portable and mountable mini gun equivalent, a specialized motor, optimized for flexible use and a delinking feeder to allow a smoother transition of the slugs into the rotary housing and then fired off through the respect firing pin assembly and rotary chamber.

Which brings me to the necessity of adding in how this is cooled. The issue with having as much as eight barrels is heat distribution -- with the motor running that high, these babies will get hot --- and hot QUICK. There are options to help with this, but once it reaches a certain temperature, the motor will automatically shut down as a failsafe. Air cooled is the normal way to go, but please keep this in mind as a weakness.

One can try to get around this by manually changing the barrels in the field, but you are looking at about at least anywhere from approx 45 seconds to two minutes for a complete barrel change over. Those will be red hot, and will require to go through proper safety procedures of putting the weapon on safe, turning off power, and utilizing special clamps to get those barrels off quick, while another person helps slide in and lock the fresh barrels. Keep extra barrels handy.

For a gatling/ mini gun, the barrels are rotated by an external power source -- usually electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. This is because these types of machine guns require a motor to power the barrels that result in the increased fire rate.

Depending on what kind of power you want it to be feed upon, each comes with a slew of potential issues which will need to be added in as weaknesses.


Electric:

The chance of an EMP can fry the electric motor, giving you a very handy paper weight instead of a mini gun. There is also the issue of stray voltage, which can fry your circuits and wiring.

Pneumatic:

While you have the advantages of a self operated model, you also get cons, mainly the reliability (mean time between stoppages) cannot quite be brought up to par with an electrically driven motor at a max of 6,000 RPMs. This comes from the way that gas pistons act directly on the bearings which normally follow a helical groove in the receiver. It also generally weighs more than their electronic counterparts, but requires no external power source to operate, except for an electric, inertia starter to initiate gun rotation, allowing the first rounds to be chambered and fired.

Hydraulic:

The gun rotor, barrel assembly and ammunition feed system in these mini guns are rotated by a hydraulic drive motor through a system of flexible drive shafts. The round is fired by an electric priming system where an electrical current from a firing lead passes through the firing pin to the primer as each round is rotated into the firing position. It also requires oil changes, changing of filters, can run too hot and constant need to prime and lubricate.



Due to the nature of the slugs, even a well maintained mini gun is susceptible to jams, and with 8 barrels, this percentage increases. Jams can happen in the ammo can, in the feeder links, in the rotary assembly. Jams in the former take longer to clear out than those within the rotary assembly, taking anywhere from a quick minute clear, to fifteen minutes due to having to break off the feeder, go into the ammo can, and find the reason for the jam in it of itself. Timing feeder is really important, because if this is not properly timed, it will jam constantly.

Then, we are also considering space for an ammo can. If you are looking at using 500 to 5000 rounds... this is gonna take some space -- and will require a specially made ammo can for whatever vehicle you are wanting to mount it on.

Example Pic -- and this is a three barrel equivalent -- an 8 barrel would go through rounds a lot faster.

Spoiler

 

[Arrbi Betna]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]
I'll go ahead and dev thread it. Also, should've specified, but this isn't a "screw the guy with the lightsaber" type weapon. It's more a "Suppress those PCs/NPCs so they can't shoot us/Harvest those NPC infantry/light vehicle units in the open" type weapon. With the way Teta went, we're constantly looking at 3 or 5 or 6 to 1 odds, so a way to level the playing field is becoming more and more essential to survival, hence this weapon. Anyways, we'll dev it pretty extensively. Go ahead and archive this and I'll let you know when our threads are ready.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

Sounds great. Can't wait to read what you guys come up with.

>.> I'm a bit of an ordnance freak.

Glad you guys are going for it tho! Knock me a PM once you guys are done.