Approved Tech Grahala'shok Heavy Pistol

[Tal Vizsla]

Image Source: Breandan-OCiarrai on Deviantart

Intent: To create a weapon that can provide an advantage over lightsaber-wielding opponents.

Development Thread: None

Manufacturer: The Mandalorians

Model: Grahala’shok Heavy Pistol

Affiliation: Mandalorians

Modularity: Top rail for mounting optics, varying grenade loadouts.

Production: Limited (Mandalorians and Mandalorian allies)

Material: Mandalorian Steel, Duraplast, Shatterbeam Components.

Classification: Blaster

Size: Handheld

Length: 0.4 Meters

Weight: 4 Kg

Ammunition Type: Power Cell, 30mm Grenades, Debris.

Ammunition Capacity: 50 Shots (blaster), 5 Shots (grenade launcher).

Effective Range: Personal. 100 meters.

Rate of Fire: Semi-automatic.

Special Features: Optic mounting rail, underslung 30mm grenade launcher.

Strengths:

Powerful – While technically listed as a heavy pistol, the size and power of the weapon are more comparable to that of a rifle, allowing it to punch holes in even heavy armor, and deliver immense kinetic force with each impact. While each blast is individually less powerful than a full-power shatterbeam, it is still more than capable of causing significant concussive damage on impact, leaving extensive bruising in its wake even without penetrating armor. The blasts also cannot be reflected by a lightsaber, in a similar manner to a charric beam, and attempting to block them with one is a risky proposition, owing to the significant kinetic force of each bolt.

Rugged – The use of Mandalorian Steel and Duraplast in the construction of the weapon makes it exceptionally durable, as well as highly resistant to being disabled by ion and EMP attacks, allowing it to function in even the most extreme conditions.

Versatile – Though the primary firing mode lacks any sort of versatility, even foregoing the implementation of a stun setting, the attached grenade launcher can fire nearly any properly sized projectile due to the use of a miniaturized pressor field and repulsorcoils as the firing mechanism. In the absence of any other type of ammunition, even an appropriately sized rock could be fired at the enemy, though in such cases lethal results are not guaranteed.

Weaknesses:
Heavy – Possessing all the power of a rifle also brings with it all the weight of one, and what this weapon boasts in firepower it makes up for in weight. While it may be designed to be used one-handed, doing so as a normal human is nearly impossible and they were clearly not the targeted demographic.

Recoil – Even taking into account the weight, the recoil is still significant, even to the point of breaking the wrist of an average human that attempts to fire it one-handed. Utilizing this weapon without the use of power armor or innately heightened strength is discouraged, as even two-handed use can result in minor injury to unprepared or untrained operators.

Range - Caught somewhere between the classifications of Heavy Pistol and Blaster Rifle, the Grahala'shok possesses much greater power than the first, while simultaneously falling prey to significantly lesser range than the second. With an effective range a mere third of the range of rifles like the E-11, this weapon was clearly never intended to be utilized as a standard battle rifle, despite its ungodly level of firepower for a heavy pistol.

Description:
Created by Bloodshot in order to combat his preferred prey, the Grahala’shok Heavy pistol is based on the technology of the ancient shatterbeam, though rather than a steady stream of kinetic force, this weapon fires compact bolts that utilize far less energy to produce, yet still carry enough kinetic energy to reliably turn a lightsaber-wielder’s preferred defense against them. In some cases, it has even been powerful enough to force the blade back into its wielder, with predictably lethal results. While it may still be possible to block the bolts, the experience is a jarring one and reflecting them back at the attacker is an impossible task, as the projectile’s energy is expended directly into whatever it strikes until that obstacle is removed or the bolt's energy dissipated.

Unlike blaster bolts, the bolts fired by the Grahala’shok pistol possess comparatively little innate thermal damage, and thus have a much lower thermal profile on scanners. Upon impact with an object, however, the significant amount of energy transfer created by the bolt will often leave burns in its wake. The amount of heat produced is dependent on the type of material being struck; flesh will fail to produce enough heat to cauterize wounds, but will still leave blackened edges, while contact with more durable metals and ceramics will often super-heat the material instantaneously, in nearly identical fashion to a blaster bolt.

To create some small amount of versatility in the weapon, it was given a built in 30mm grenade launcher with a five round magazine, based on the assumption that any being capable of wielding the weapon without injury wouldn't mind the extra weight. The unique firing method of the launcher, utilizing a pressor field for initial firing and repulsorcoils for projectile stability and acceleration, allows it to fire literally anything that can fit inside the barrel at velocities that can severely injure and even kill unarmored targets at short range (for armored targets, a selection of appropriate grenades is advised).

It also comes standard with biometric sensors in the grip that can be programmed to respond only to select individuals, making the weapons useless should they somehow be commandeered by the enemy and turned against the owners.

Primary Source: None.

 

[Gir Quee]

RESEARCH REVIEW
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Star Wars Canon:
Pending initial review
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Starwars Chaos:
Pending initial review
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WITHOUT DEV THREADS
Pending initial review
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WITH DEV THREADS
Pending Initial review
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SUGGESTIONS
Pending Inital review

 

[Gir Quee]

it is still more than capable of causing significant concussive damage on impact, breaking bones and leaving extensive bruising in its wake, even without penetrating armor.

Please remove "even without penetrating armor". While this is a deadly weapon, I have not seen any indication that a shatterbeam ignores armor. Kinetic weapons typically can be partially protected against by wearing armor. It's worth noting that much of the high damage apparently applied by a canon shatter beam happens over a period of time, rather than it occurring all at once.

The blasts also cannot be deflected by a lightsaber, in a similar manner to a charric beam, and attempting to block them with one is a risky proposition, owing to the immense kinetic force of each bolt.

This doesn't seem to match part of this submission's later description:

While it may still be possible to block the bolts with the aid of the force,

Assuming the first part, however...

I've looked at the source material for the shatter beam. I do not see anything in there that a shatterbeam suggests that these cannot be blocked by a lightsaber. If this is like a charric (which I think is logical), this could be deflected by a lightsaber, though it would not likely be able to be reflected back at the attacker.

We also have Newton's Third Law to consider. The amount of kinetic energy being applied to the target is likewise being applied to the weapon's user. In other words, the force of the bolt's impact on the defending lightsaber user would be roughly the same as the recoil being felt by the weapon's user.

This should definitely be harder on the user to deflect than the average blaster bolt, but it shouldn't be something that is exceedingly rare or impossible either.

I would probably base the ability of a user to deflect this based on your recoil section. A one-handed grip would probably be very, very difficult to deflect, but with a two-handed grip, I could see a force-user blocking this.

deflecting them back at the attacker is an impossible task, as the projectile’s energy is expended directly into whatever it strikes until that obstacle is removed.

So for clarification then, each of those "bolts" is a projectile then?

 

[Tal Vizsla]

The broken bones and bruising it causes would be the same sort found when a large purely physical projectile impacts armor. The physical force of the blast still transfers into the armor even if the bolt fails to pierce it, but instead of a single concentrated point, that force would be transferred across the whole armor plate (leading to bruises and possible broken bones rather than the bolt simply blowing a hole in the target). Essentially, it's the same thing that happens when you get shot by a .50 cal magnum while wearing body armor. The effect would also be significantly lessened against most power armors, since their plates tend to be interlocked and would transfer the force differently.

Regarding the interaction with lightsaber blades, the bolts can be blocked by a lightsaber (meaning intercepted and prevented from reaching their targets), but they cannot be deflected (bounced off the blade and sent to strike a different target or returned to sender). As for how much effort is required for a successful block, the recoil does indeed match the imparted force. The difference comes when the weight of both pistol and lightsaber are taken into account. The pistol weighs a total of 4 kg (a heavy pistol by any standard), and is also front-heavy. This serves to help mitigate some of the recoil, but even then it's still significant enough to cause injury. A lightsaber generally weighs less than 1 kg, and the blade itself has no weight at all, so the felt impact of the bolt is going to be significantly greater than the felt recoil on the shooter's end, even though the same amount of energy is expended in each case.

Regardless, using two hands would indeed make it easier to block the bolts, but not to the point that an average human could do it with regularity (sans the aid of the force).

Finally, yes it is a projectile, but not a physical one. Each bolt is an energy projectile, and not a solid continuous beam like the traditional shatterbeam.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

The broken bones and bruising it causes would be the same sort found when a large purely physical projectile impacts armor. The physical force of the blast still transfers into the armor even if the bolt fails to pierce it, but instead of a single concentrated point, that force would be transferred across the whole armor plate (leading to bruises and possible broken bones rather than the bolt simply blowing a hole in the target). Essentially, it's the same thing that happens when you get shot by a .50 cal magnum while wearing body armor. The effect would also be significantly lessened against most power armors, since their plates tend to be interlocked and would transfer the force differently.

When you say concussion, I thought about that term literally (a "shaking" or "rattling" apart of flesh). I'm onboard with the basic concept that you've described, just not its current power. Remove the "breaking bones" part, and we'll be good.

Regarding the interaction with lightsaber blades, the bolts can be blocked by a lightsaber (meaning intercepted and prevented from reaching their targets), but they cannot be deflected (bounced off the blade and sent to strike a different target or returned to sender). As for how much effort is required for a successful block, the recoil does indeed match the imparted force. The difference comes when the weight of both pistol and lightsaber are taken into account. The pistol weighs a total of 4 kg (a heavy pistol by any standard), and is also front-heavy. This serves to help mitigate some of the recoil, but even then it's still significant enough to cause injury. A lightsaber generally weighs less than 1 kg, and the blade itself has no weight at all, so the felt impact of the bolt is going to be significantly greater than the felt recoil on the shooter's end, even though the same amount of energy is expended in each case.

I think my key concern with the concept described to me is that it doesn't take into account the lightsaber user's actions and presence. It goes without saying that the opposing writer retains the freedom to describe their character's own strength and physical movements. It's been a while since I last had a physic's class, so please bear with me as I try to work through all of this conceptually.

1) When firing a weapon, momentum is conserved (or equal to zero) between the weapon and its projectile (as somewhat explained here).

2) The bolt is a physical projectile, implying that it has mass, but it is likely a low mass.

3) Therefore we have a collision between the bolt and the lightsaber with its wielder.

4) I think it's debatable if this collision would be best modeled as elastic or inelastic. Given that there is some heat given off by this, it does not seem to be likely be a perfectly elastic equation, but given the amount of heat described, it's probably still a fairly efficient transfer of momentum. For mathematical simplicity's sake, I'm going to suggest using the elastic collision model.

5) Variables: The bolt has a low mass and high velocity. The lightsaber (and its wielder by extension) has a much higher mass (probably several orders of magnitude higher than the bolt's). Situationally the lightsaber and/or its wielder has no velocity, velocity in the same direction as the bolt, or velocity in the opposite direction of the bolt. In any of these cases, the lightsaber and/or its wielder generally will have a velocity several orders of magnitude slower than that of the bolt's.

6) In other words, the bolt must compensate for its low mass with an exceedingly high velocity to overcome the lightsaber wielder's own velocity and exceedingly high mass. Since momentum is a linear relationship, I'm half-tempted to call this a wash without having hard numbers.

7) In cases where the lightsaber wielder has no velocity, or is moving in the same direction as the bolt, I can potentially see the bolt hitting the lightsaber back. How far back and how strongly is something that I think would be pretty hard for us to quantify without using hard numbers. In cases where the lightsaber is actively moving in the opposite direction of bolt, I could see the bolt halting the momentum of the blade, but I'm not sold on it overcoming that blade to push it back into the user.

8) As you've alluded to, point of impact on the blade also comes into play with this. I don't disagree with you about grip, so I won't discuss that here. I think it's reasonable that the further away from the hilt that it hits, the more this would bounce the blade back. While conversely, the closer to the emitter it hits, the less it would be able to move the blade back if at all.

9) We could probably complicate this even more with body mechanics of the lightsaber swing and stance.


Short version: Without hard numbers, I think this becomes an issue of game balance, a point of large concern with the other shatterbeam weapon approved in the factory. That one notably was semi-unique (2).

At minor production, I can't see this being more powerful than a charric in terms of knock back. You could argue that the grahalashok doesn't have the full heat energy that the charrics seem to have, but I'd argue that the grahalashok also has a much greater range (the charric pistol has a range of 8 meters).

Upon impact with an object, however, the significant amount of friction created by the bolt will often leave burns in its wake. The amount of heat produced is dependent on the type of material being struck; flesh will fail to produce enough heat to cauterize wounds, but will still leave blackened edges, while contact with more durable metals and ceramics will often super-heat the material instantaneously, in nearly identical fashion to a blaster bolt.

I'm not sure if friction is really the right word for this. I do think that if this is superheating metals/ceramics instantaneously, it wouldn't really qualify as "low innate thermal damage'. You could argue that method through which it achieves this is different, but the end effect on the target appears to be the same.

This does want to make me want to compare it more to that weapon, however.

It's been a while since I last had a physic's class, so please bear with me as I try to work through all of this conceptually.

 

[Tal Vizsla]

Edited out breaking bones.

I had assumed that factors such as the position, velocity, and momentum of the target would be up to the target to describe and utilize themselves, and so didn't feel it would be necessary to include those factors in a description of the weapon's capabilities (not specifying all that here also leaves room for others to defend against the weapon without being required to adhere to a strictly realistic physics model). While the description does say that it can knock the lightsaber back into the wielder "in some cases", those cases are as rare as it would be for the average human to block the bolts with minimal difficulty (even a successful block near the hilt would be jarring). Basic physics dictates that a shot landing high on the blade would create more difficulty than one striking low, and I don't disagree with any of your points regarding that aspect (and ultimately, it's up to the target how they handle the bolts anyway). I never intended the weapon to be unblockable, just exceptionally difficult to block without issue.

You're also correct that friction isn't quite the right word to use. When the blast strikes a hardened or resistant surface that it isn't able to simply plow through, a portion of the kinetic energy is converted to heat as it keeps trying to burrow through the material. The more resistant the material, the more heat it creates until all the energy is expended (being comparable to the heat of a blaster rifle bolt when striking something it's completely unable to penetrate, such as bes'kar, while still having only enough heat to leave blackened edges when shooting a hole in paper).

As for the range of the Charric pistol, keep in mind that this is a weapon with rifle-level power and weight despite its tenuous classification as a heavy pistol, and it does have only a third of the range of rifles like the E-11 (a rifle that I would argue is less powerful than this 'pistol', though obviously has other advantages this does not).

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

I never intended the weapon to be unblockable, just exceptionally difficult to block without issue.

That pretty much covers my concern then, and I think we can move forward with this to approval then. I have one sentence that I'd request to be edited to clarify that position in the submission itself:

The blasts also cannot be deflected by a lightsaber, in a similar manner to a charric beam, and attempting to block them with one is a risky proposition, owing to the immense kinetic force of each bolt.

I would ask that "deflected" be changed to "reflected". I think that "deflected" in this cases suggests to some readers that the blade is incapable of blocking of the bolt. By using "reflected", I think we are more explicit in that the bolt cannot be redirected easily to the defender's advantage.

I would also like to see "immense" changed to something like "significant". I think that "immense" potentially paints opposing writers into a corner where they cannot block it. While I don't think this is something that opposing writers should hand-wave away, I do think they should know that its scale isn't unbeatable without resorting to godmodding and the like.

 

[Tal Vizsla]

Edits made. I also edited a bit in the description to better match the edits you requested.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

[member="Bloodshot"], that's very much appreciated. I apologize if I came across as rather hard on your submission. I'm just looking to keep things as fair and balanced as I can. Thanks again.

 

[Gir Quee]

Awesome. Pending Admin Approval. Thanks! [member="Spencer Varanin"]

 

[Ellie Mors]

<p>Approved.</p>