Re: [GZG] [SG] Cracking Eggs with a Sledgehammer, was Power Armour with Shotguns

Without some kind of artificial gravity or inertia dampeners, everytime
a 
ship changed speed or made a sharp turn, wouldn't its crew become chunky

salsa against the trailing bulkhead?

Aside from that, perhaps boarding parties could be trained in the
"Ender's 
Game" style of weightless combat.

Fred

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian B" <brianbinor@gmail.com>
To: <gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 8:12 AM
Subject: Re: [GZG] [SG] Cracking Eggs with a Sledgehammer,was Power
Armour 
with Shotguns

> Interestingly enough, a friend and I have been discussing the details
> of boarding actions in another gaming setting.  One of the things we
> postulated was that in any situation where a ship is likely to enter
> combat any time soon, the first thing that will happen is that the
> crew will suit up and depressurize the ship, to eliminate the risk of
> explosive decompression from a lucky hit.  The byproduct of this would
> be that almost all boarding actions would be in vac.	This might
> mitigate the problems caused by unintentional holes in the wrong
> places a bit, since once the action is over, you repressuirze slowly,
> detect leaks and patch them.	Also, this game setting doesn't have any
> artificial or anti-grav, so recoil is a big problem.	We've come up
> with a few ways to pay our respects to Mr. Newton:
>
> 1. Lasers (Not mounted on fricking sharks, though).  I'm not a big fan
> of them, but they make sense in this situation.
> 2. Mag boots.  They help, but only mitigate the problem.
> 3.  The high tech solution for the military is an integrated weapon
> and PA suit, where the suit fires little bursts from it's thrusters to
> compensate for the gun's push.
>
> As for how rare or common boarding actions would be, I don't know
> whether I agree or disagree.
>
> On 10/6/05, John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 10/4/05, Ryan Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com> wrote:
>> > Using shotguns, great against the swabbies on board. Two of their
guys
>> have body armor, fine, swich to grenades or SABOT slugs. 10 Gauge
Slugs 
>> will
>> put a lot of energy down range. 8 Gauge rounds would do even more. A
>> guarantee that a Power trooper could carry an 8 guage short barrel 
>> automatic
>> smooth bore just fine. It'd also probably do a number on a target
that 
>> was
>> slightly armored.
>>
>>
>> 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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