Automatic Weapons are a category of Projectile Weapons. They are essentially modern firearms and field artillery in that they use a chemical reaction to propel an unguided projectile to the target.
Full Auto weapons are capable of single shots or burst fire at the flip of a switch. Many modern models use non-reloadable bulletclips that are self-contained with projectiles, propellant and a small battery to interface with the pistol's ammo reader. Other models use reloadable magazines that use cased ammunition.
Automatic Pistol[]
An automatic pistol is a refined version of the submachine gun. It looks like a heavy pistol, with a folding metal wire stock. The gun can be fired like a pistol when the stock is folded, or fired from the shoulder when the stock is extended.
An automatic pistol can be set to fire single shots or bursts. Up to three single shots or one burst can be fired in a turn. A single shot causes 1d10 points of damage. A burst fires 10 bullets, and has a +20 modifier to hit. It can be aimed at up to five adjacent targets in a 10-meter wide area.[1] Only one roll is needed to hit all the targets, but any negative modifiers that could apply to one target apply to the entire group. For example, if one target has soft cover, all of them are considered to have soft cover.
A burst causes 5d10 points of damage, plus 1d10 for every additional target after the first. The damage from a burst is divided as evenly as possible between all the targets. Skeinsuits and inertia screens reduce bullet damage by half. If a skeinsuit and an inertia screen are used together, damage is reduced to one-fourth the amount rolled.
Automatic Rifle[]
An automatic rifle is similar to the automatic rifles being used today. It is basically a heavier, longer version of the automatic pistol. It can fire up to three single shots or one burst.
Machine Gun (man-portable)[]
A machine gun is a fully automatic, belt-fed heavy weapon that can be moved and operated by one-man. A burst fires 20 bullets. Except for its greater damage and range, it operates just like an automatic pistol.
Normally, it must be mounted on a bipod, tripod or a swivel mount to fire, but it can be fired standing. The character loses the bonus for firing a burst, however.
Machine Gun (vehicle-mounted)[]
A vehicle-mounted machine gun[2] is a fully automatic, belt-fed, vehicle or fixed emplacement heavy weapon that must be mounted on a vehicle or tripod to fire. A burst fires 20 bullets. Its range and damage are greater than that of the man-portable machine gun.
Notes & References[]
- ↑ Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Expanded Rulebook
- ↑ "Tanks a Lot" Dragon Magazine #91