Riddle of Steel
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create an effective weapon for civilian defense and partisan use.
- Image Source: Fallout Video Game Series
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source:
- Manufacturer: Great River (design)
- Affiliation: Open-Market
- Model: NA
- Modularity: Yes, can equip with custom sights and other aftermarket attachments.
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Common Materials
- Classification: Plasma Carbine
- Size: Small | 50 cm
- Weight: Average | 3.2 kg
- Ammunition Type: Power cell, fuel canister
- Ammunition Capacity: High | 150 (power cell), 600 (gas canister)
- Effective Range: Personal | 60 m (Max 120 m)
- Rate of Fire: High | 1000 rpm
- Stopping Power: Average
- Recoil: High
- Plasma bolts cause small ticks of incendiary damage over time, and possess a moderate ionizing effect against electronics and synthetics.
- High rate of fire and ammo capacity.
- Moderate incendiary and ionizing effect from plasma bolts.
- High recoil and short effective range.
- Vulnerable to ion attacks and electromagnetic pulses, temporarily or permanently disabling the weapon.
To empower civilians with limited access to weapon acquisition and fabrication, gunsmiths within Great River devised a simple partisan weapon that could be quickly cobbled together from common pieces of machinery. Even within the confines of the most oppressive regimes, it is possible to construct a Fuel Gun with relative ease. Because of this fact, partisans and infiltrating commandos can also build these weapons behind enemy lines. The only key components required are a power source, diodes, gas or liquid fuel, and repulsor coils. Diodes are used to create semiconductor lasers that energize fuel packets, which in turn are quickly accelerated out of the gun via a small array of micro-repulsors. Compared to standard blaster mechanics, the operation of the plasma carbine is fairly simple, allowing for the construction of crude frames with only low tolerances required for effective operation.
The Fuel Gun is even easier to wield than to build, the carbine firing tiny packets of plasma in quick succession rather than single powerful bolts. Intended users - civilians with little to no formal military training - can take the "spray-n-pray" approach, simply saturating a target with several shots from a generously sized magazine and hoping some hit. However, the downside is that the carbine has high recoil, making it hard to control with sustained fire and limiting its effective range to that of a pistol.
These clunky carbines probably wouldn't be the first, second, or third choice for a proper military or security force, but as a personal defense weapon they get the job done in a chaotic galaxy.
