Rotary Gauss Rifle

Rotary Gauss

• Developed by geologist Howard Tseng
  • Howard Tseng was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Home Guard who had barely qualified as a Mechwarrior. His primary duty was a as geologist specializing in mapping aquifers and subterranean bodies of water
  • On a dare, Lt. Tseng applied for a rotation in the Experimental Combat Brigade. Surprised yet intrigued by the application of a geologist with very little combat background, the ECB commander approved Lt. Tseng's application for a 12-month tour with the ECB.
  • Approximately 1 month into his tour, Lt. Tseng was introduced to one of the ECB prototyping facilities where new weapons and battlemech variants were created and evaluated. Having always been enamoured with the Highlander BattleMech, but never in a position to pilot one, Lt. Tseng was excited to see a Mk. VI-B model being slated for decommissioning. After inquiring why it was to be decommissioned he was informed about the targeting issues of the 4 clustered 80mm Gauss Rifles that could not be resolved. Curious about the design, he asked to speak with the project's team leader. When given an explanation of the goals and the problems with the configuration, he remarked that the system reminded him of a geologic seismic ranging tool that he used. After securing a copy of the tool (a Rapid-Succession Seismic Sounder), the project leader and Lt. Tseng began to envision a way to modify an existing 80mm Gauss Rifle to incorporate the multi-fire capability intended for the Mk. VI-B design. Upon completion of the prototype Lt. Tseng was selected to pilot the Highlander for the live-fire exercises and as one of the pilots involved in the shakedown tests of the final production versions of the weapon. Because of the success of the weapon, Lt. Tseng's tour with the ECB was extended to a full 4 years before he returned to the Home Guard with the rank of Captain.
• The Rotary Gauss Rifle consists of a single barrel approximately twice as long as that of a standard 80mm Gauss Rifle
• The barrel has two sets of interwoven electromagnets and 4 sets of capacitors (the initial prototype model for mounting on the Highlander Mk. VI-B)
  • Results in slightly less range and penetrating power than a typical 80mm Gauss Rifle
• A Gauss Rifle's capacitors are not fully discharged after firing as they cannot fully discharge in the time it takes to fire a projectile. This means that there is still charge remaining in the capacitors that only needs to be "topped up" between shots. In fact, most Gauss Rifles have about half a charge left. The capacitors can be charged within 8 seconds.
• The designers found that there was enough charge to fire 5 projectiles in succession rather than the expected 4
• The interference became manageable with some additional shielding
• The biggest difficulty was adjusting the targeting system to maintain the Streak-like abilities of the 2nd RSAB Gauss Rifles
• It was found that the system could be easily adapted to firing from 2 to 5 projectiles
• Game Rules
  • Treat like a standard Gauss Rifle
    • Only misses (and uses ammo) on a roll of a 2 to-hit
    • If it misses, roll on the appropriate missile-hit table to determine the number of rounds fired
    • The weapon comes equipped with CASE II automatically (no additional weight)
  • Can fire anywhere at a rate of 1 up to the max - must designate
  • Can use specialized rounds
  • Generates max heat regardless of how many projectiles hit (capacitors will discharge regardless)
  • Roll on the missile-hit table with a +2 bonus
    • Number of projectiles that hit equals the ammunition used
  • Roll on the hit-location table for each projectile
  • In the case of mixed ammunition, the ammunition is used sequentially
    • For example, for a Rotary Gauss 5, if the ammunition is lined up as AP-Cluster-AP-Cluster-AP but only 2 rounds hit, they consist of the first AP and first Cluster round. The next round to fire is the second AP round
  • In the case of mixed ammunition, the ranges used are for whichever ammo type has the shortest ranges. For a Rotary Gauss 5, if there is only 1 cluster round slated to be fired, whether it is the first or last, the ranges used are for the cluster round, even if it isn't actually fired
    • Ammo cannot be selected mid-fire but can be selected between game turns
• Sort of like the Clan Heavy Assault Gauss (HAG)
• Currently only the 80mm version is in production. Heavier models are being developed but researchers are having problem scaling the solution to larger calibre weapons.

Weapon Table

Type	Tonnage	Critical	Damage	Heat	Ammo	Minimum	Short	Medium	Long
80mm Rotary Gauss 2	6	2	6/Projectile	4	32	0	1-10	11-20	21-30
80mm Rotary Gauss 3	9	3	6/Projectile	4	32	0	1-10	11-20	21-30
80mm Rotary Gauss 4	12	4	6/Projectile	4	32	0	1-10	11-20	21-30
80mm Rotary Gauss 5	14	6	6/Projectile	4	32	0	1-10	11-20	21-30