Did Someone Order a War?
Intent: Shield Piercing Ammunition. SPA-I Ion Damage, and SPA-P Electrical Plasma Discharge. Compatible with multiple damage types and casing sizes. 6mm, 8, 10, 12, 14, 20, 30 and 40mm weapons. The larger varieties will often be used against larger targets such as vehicles, while a 40mm slug is usually a grenade size.
Development Thread:
Time to Make a Bang
Manufacturer: Fire For Effect - FFE
Model: SPA-I Ammunition and SPA-P Ammunition
Affiliation: Closed Market from Fire for Effect’s marketplace thread only, or a sponsored representative.
Purchase Thread
Modularity: Yes, the tipped round acts as an explosive tipped slug, or plasma acceleration chamber, using Ion or Plasma which can contain any ammunition a weapon needs depending on the gun, packed in below it, as long as that ammunition can be delivered in a slug.
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Detonite, Illyricum, Depleted Baradium (non explosive), Durasteel Casing, Light/Brittle Animated Metal Sealant, Phospha
Description: A hard outer casing, but usually a soft inside. This is ammunition is built to pierce shields, modeled after the standard explosive slugs in circulation, then discharge whatever payload it carries. It has variable damage types depending on what is put inside of it. With a Durasteel Casing, packing whatever is inside of it, with a lighter, brittle animated metal sealant mix to fill any empty gaps in the casing, which then exits the ammunition’s harder durasteel casing to deliver the payload, or just shatter around it depending on the type of round.
This ammunition is highly effective against droids or circuits, but compared to an ion rifle and given the often smaller nature of the fired projectiles, has a much higher cost, it’s primary purpose is to be used to breach shields and deliver the weapon’s payload to a target, making it incredibly effective against shielded armor which is increasingly in circulation, or a target with a dual armor shield / personal shield system. Though the larger rounds will usually be reserved for being fired at vehicles, 30mm is nearly always an anti-material round, while 40mm is nearly always a grenade.
The SPA-I variant is more effective at breaching shields head on, a basic explosive ion tipped ammunition, using a phospha ignitable trigger to set off the ion charge by means of a micro detonite explosion, it then delivers its payload directly to the target using Illerium which creates less of a blast than detonite, and allows APR metal to be propelled in one piece if used, or further detonite to for example explode outward as an in an explosive round. Typical slug APR, armor piercing round, ammo is usually depleted baradium with none of the explosive potential, it is often cheap to buy up as it has no other common use.
The SPA-P variant is considerably more expensive. Dealing chain linked electrical damage around a shield, different to ion damge but devastating against exposed droids, vehicles or living targets. It models itself off both the Ion blaster using an acceleration chamber to ignite the plasma, and a plasma disruptor to send an electrical charge towards targets at range. Usually used in longer variations of the round (not just size length), giving room for the payload to be delivered to be inserted behind it, as the plasma accelerator takes up room too.
The SPA-P requires a longer range, to give the plasma acceleration chamber time to discharge, and drop away, otherwise liquid plasma will be propelled out of the round rather than an electrical discharge at the point of impact. A plasma disruptor can chain link electrical shots to more than one target, but given this is a very small sized accelerator in most of the rounds, it chain links electrical shots around an individual shield or target, unless someone is standing very close to another individual or vehicle, inside one for example. Large rounds like the 14mm, 20mm or 30mm variants might start to strike more than one target. Ion blasters use this acceleration technology miniaturized from starship engines, whereas the plasma rounds on a similar degree of scale, use it inside the round itself, miniaturized from plasma disruptors instead. This means a miniature sized acceleration chamber is in each round, making them highly expensive. Though excess rounds can half the time be recovered and the plasma acceleration chamber used again if re-manufactured, it still means nobody is carrying more than one clip of the SPA-P variant rounds on them at any one time in practical terms.
Both Types:
Another great benefit of this type of modular design is the fact it can be scaled upward more easily, to fit 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 20, 30 and 40mm ammunition, as the design remains the same, though the weapons themselves will determine the real pros and cons of the ammunition, being modular it can fit a variety of damage types in its casing, depending on what the weapon itself delivers.
Tamper-resistant
A simple but effective anti-tamper system has been built into each slug, to detonate on opening both through the release of pressure in exposing the Phospha trigger to the open air, and as a fall back through a micro switch on the bottom of the round, that will also ignite the Illerium if the casing is pierced. So that learning how the round is made up, even by use of a slug press let alone simple hand tools, is all but impossible. It’s not the hardest tech in the world to develop yourself, but mass producing these particular rounds listed here outside of the company will be near impossible.
Possible Payloads, dependent on the weapon the casing is being used on, the ammunition may or may not require further development threads for the more volatile and exotic materials, and of course the size of it is going to dictate what it can ultimately carry.
Concussion Grenades
Magnetic Biotic Grenade
Cold Grenade
Ion Grenade (double shield breakers for the SPA-P rounds)
Flash Bang Grenade
Cryoban Grenade
Acids chambers such as Xenoboric
Chemical canisters such as Spore B
APR Slugs commonly using Depleted non explosive Baradium
Detonite Explosive Rounds
Plasma Grenade
G-20 Glop Grenade
Strengths and Weaknessses will mostly come from the gun themselves, this isn't a separate product for resale as is, it'd need a specific tech sub for the round in question, or be sold as optional ammo as part of a gun sub.
Possibilities include but are not limited to:
A 30mm round isn’t going to hit personnel, hardly ever, and a 6mm round isn’t going to be bigger enough for a SPA-P acceleration chamber, or many of the possible payloads. The weaknesses for the SPA-I ammo in its smaller form is that it isn’t as effective as an Ion rifle shot per shot, but then it fires faster. Whereas the weaknesses for incendiary ammo will see it blocked by heat resistant armor. SPA-P is incredibly expensive shot per shot, meaning very limited amounts are carried, and it has a higher minimum range to be effective. There are various coatings which block corrosion for acid. More advanced damage types have their own problems needing to be cooled or heated inside the gun, while explosive ammunition additionally has a higher minimum range. Those are some examples of weaknesses of possible variations, to be further detailed on the individual weapons.
Further weaknesses for this type of ammunition
SPA-P Ammo has a higher minimum range and a longer casing requirement, meaning it won't fit smaller guns.
SPA-I Ammo is prone to facing ion resistant armors at times, being a more common damage type. Ion damage also doesn't effect organic matter much, except possibly to stun.
Primary Source: N/A
Canon Techs/Links:
Explosive Slug - Example
Phospha - Reliable Trigger
Detonite - Initial Explosive Force or Common Explosive Round.
Animated Metal Sealant - (Lighter Brittle Variety)
Illerium - Delivers APR ammo and often the rounds playload.
Depleted Baradium - Is often used in APR ammunition, it carries no explosive potential.
Slug - Showing Depleted Baradium as commonly used for APR rounds
Ion Blaster - Showing an ignition system in practice.
Accu Accelerator - Example of ignition system.
Plasma Disruptor - Example weapon for plasma discharge.
IRL APR Wiki - Further referenced in my design.
