So tell me, what's the practical difference between a 4 gauge
automatic shotgun (computer-selectable to feed from either the
flechette or the sabot drums) and a light autocannon? If a
suit of PA can carry the latter (see the ESU writeup in SGII) then it
should have few problems with the former. Especially if you put a
muzzle brake on it, and equip the 'arm' of the PA with hydraulic recoil
compensation.
Here's the problem with boarding actions vs. PA-suited opponents
or with PA-scale weaponry: Starships are, in general, full of
things that do not 'react well to bullets'. Not least of which is
the hull. In the case of merchantmen (IE those ships you'd most
want to board and loot rather than just blow into scrap metal) those
hulls are probably not real heavily armored. And using AP rounds,
high-power heat rounds, etc is probably going to poke holes in things
that the design engineer did not intend to function with holes in it.
Like the skin of the ship.
For boarding actions against merchies, I like the Traveller:TNE
Guild Deck Sweeper, a low-tech submachine gun with extendable
stock firing 9x24mm ammo and an underbarrel 25mm low-velocity grenade
launcher. In the hands of reasonable competent troops working
against civillians, it does the job without opening huge gaping holes
in the cargo bay resulting in all your loot being sucked into hard
vacuum which may impair the resale value. Unlike, say, a
man-portable plasma gun designed to kill light armored vehicles. The GL
is intended for locked hatches and security doors only, and is a
single-shot breechloader usually loaded with HEAT rounds, issued 1 or 2
per weapon.
Boarding actions against military starships would be rarer than
hen's teeth and undertaken only by special operations forces. I'm
inclined to equip them with cutting torches in one hand, and a 12 ga
shotgun loaded with #1 buck in the other. Against unarmored
opponents the latter will do nicely without overpenetration issues, and
against armored opponents the former makes an interesting hand-to-hand
weapon.
I'm back from the field.
John
--
"Thousands
of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again and
again. We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani
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