Difference between revisions of "Gauss Rifle"

Revision as of 18:04, 5 April 2019

Gauss Rifles are among the most deadly ballistic weapons any unit can carry. Capable of dealing heavy damage at long range they are well suited for both assault and long range fire support roles.

Overview

The Gauss Rifle works by propelling a projectile through the barrel using a series of powerful magnets rather than chemical propellants. This process enables the round to reach astonishing velocities while producing very little waste heat, giving the weapon its impressive maximum range and high burst damage. Currently there are three Gauss weapons deployed by the Inner Sphere: the LtGauss, the Gauss, and the HGauss. In contrast the Clan only field one version, the CGauss.

Similar to Standard AutoCannons and Ultra AutoCannons, Gauss Rifles can reach targets slightly beyond their listed range. Because of the high speed of the fired round it is actually easier to strike targets at long range with a Gauss Rifle than similarly ranged AutoCannons, both because of the shorter delay between firing and the round striking the target and also because there is little noticeable drop in the round trajectory. Gauss Rifles are also very potent anti-aircraft weapons in spite of their slow rate-of-fire and high skill-cap since a single hit will heavily damage most aircraft.

A Fafnir variant A fires one of its twin iHGauss

Weapon Stats

All stats are current as of release 0.10.3.

LtGauss

A smaller version of the Gauss, the Light Gauss Rifle is portable enough that even light units, such as the Osiris E can carry one. It maintains the longest range of any Gauss Rifle, though this comes at a significant reduction to its damage potential. Despite a loss of hitting power, the Light Gauss can fire its smaller rounds faster, farther and with greater accuracy than a standard Gauss Rifle — factors that combine for a much-improved effective range.

(C)Gauss

The basic Inner Sphere Gauss Rifle. It combines good burst damage and high range with almost no heat production into a weapon that is solid in every regard. The Clan version differs little, having only slightly increased heat production.

HGauss

The Heavy Gauss is the most powerful weapon capable of being mounted upon a BattleMech, dealing double the damage of the normal Gauss and 25% more damage than the LBX20. Of all the Gauss Rifles, its slug travels the slowest. In addition the weapon's damage falls off significantly outside of 450 meters, at a rate of almost 4 dam/m, making the HGauss most effective in close quarters. The main drawback of the HGauss is its ammunition limitations, only able to carry 6 rounds per ton.

iHGauss

The Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle took the Heavy Gauss Rifle, and altered the ballistic properties of the projectile, resulting in a lower maximum damage, but removed the damage falloff associated with the original model, allowing it to inflict consistent damage at all ranges.

Canon

The first Gauss Rifle was introduced in 2590 by the Terran Hegemony, and despite its age has remained the standard all other weapons are measured against. While the Inner Sphere lost the technology in 2865 during the Succession Wars, the Clans were only able to make moderate improvements upon the weapon; reducing both bulk and weight. The Inner Sphere was only able to place the Gauss Rifle back in general deployment in 3040, just in time for the Clan Invasion.

The LtGauss was developed by the Free Worlds League in an effort to duplicate the lighter, more compact Clan Gauss Rifle. Although they succeeded in producing a weapon equal in mass to the CGauss it was only able to fire shells half as large, resulting in roughly half the damage. The up side, however, was that these rounds were fired at very high speeds, enabling accurate targeting at longer ranges.

It wasn't until 3061 that the HGauss was developed by the Lyran Alliance. With their love of powerful guns the Lyrans sought to not only close the technology gap with the Clans, but to surpass them. Although the final weapon was quite bulky and creates too much structural strain when fired to be mounted outside of the torso, the HGauss succeeded in this goal. Unfortunately the velocity of the round dropped off significantly after being fired, requiring short range for maximum effectiveness. In addition the weapon was powerful enough that when fired from an unbraced bipedal 'Mech the whole unit was destabilized and risked making it fall down.

Work on the Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle began in 3061 after the Heavy Gauss Rifle entered production. Though the Heavy Gauss Rifle was mostly effective, engineers thought they could improve the ballistic performance of the projectile. This would lead to a more consistent damage profile, making the Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle effective at all ranges. After four years of work, the engineers had created a weapon that occupied the same amount of space as the Heavy Gauss Rifle but was able to inflict consistent damage at all ranges.

BattleTech reference

Usage

The following assets equip Gauss Rifles:

See Also

• Standard AutoCannons
• Lubalin Ballistics-X AutoCannons
• Ultra AutoCannons
• Rotary AutoCannons
• Hyper-Velocity AutoCannons
• Particle Projection Cannons