Small Arms Development Over the Next 1000+ Years in Battletech

[Vonshroom]

Hello All,

I am starting this thread as sort of a sister thread to the Small Arms Aesthetics - Laser Rifles thread.

(link)
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58713.0

After some great discussion over there, It has really got me thinking about what the man portable weapons of war will look like in the Battletech Universe nearly 1000 years from now.

What are some of the Weapons in Battletech that make the most sense to you? The least? The most goofy? So lets here it all share your ideas, concerns, and thoughts as to what you think is cool, and what would actually be practical. How will these weapons be powered, and what kind of operation system do they use?

[Daryk]

The Mark 1 Mod 0 Auto-Rifle turned into an amazing weapon in 1,000 years.  I think it's more due to the way the damage conversion formula works, though.

[Vonshroom]

To me there are a few ideas from the BTU that make a lot of sense, and I really see them developing in the coming decades and centuries.

Gauss Rifles - The idea of an extremely powerful, long ranged, and hard hitting weapon that could penetrate even mech armor in a man portable package seems smart. Rail gun development has come a long ways in a short amount of time, and I imagine that we will have scaled the tech down to infantry weapon scale by the time the Battletech timeline really gets going. Having a weapon that produces no combustion of fuels and runs on energy charges makes a lot of sense to me. Further I would imagine that a Gauss rifle would take less energy in a shot than a laser rifle capable of similar damage, and likely would be cheaper as well. The quietness of the system would help immensely in military scenarios as well.

GyroJet Weapons - Really self explanatory, almost like a small grenade launcher with no drop or noise until it goes off. I think these would be more readily used than they are in lore.

Missiles Over time I see propellants getting better and better, and warheads getting lighter and more letal.

Ammo based weapons (Slug Throwers) In the future I envision rifles and pistols that will be firing more efficient cartridges and have less recoil, better accuracy, easier maintenance, etc.


The biggest thing I  see is a continuation of cheap ammo based designs. If I was catapulted 1000years into the future I personally think I would be able to go find an AK derivative rifle with ease. And they will probably still be in use by minor powers and poorer units / everyday people.

[Daryk]

I think the Auto-Rifle was intended to be that AK derivative, and is indeed available just about everywhere.  They're certainly cheap enough.

[idea weenie]

Gauss Rifles - The idea of an extremely powerful, long ranged, and hard hitting weapon that could penetrate even mech armor in a man portable package seems smart. Rail gun development has come a long ways in a short amount of time, and I imagine that we will have scaled the tech down to infantry weapon scale by the time the Battletech timeline really gets going. Having a weapon that produces no combustion of fuels and runs on energy charges makes a lot of sense to me. Further I would imagine that a Gauss rifle would take less energy in a shot than a laser rifle capable of similar damage, and likely would be cheaper as well. The quietness of the system would help immensely in military scenarios as well.

GyroJet Weapons - Really self explanatory, almost like a small grenade launcher with no drop or noise until it goes off. I think these would be more readily used than they are in lore.

Gauss rifles might still have a massive crack caused by the electrical electrical spark no longer connecting through the slug, plus if the slug goes supersonic you have the nice sonic boom as well.  The key advantage would be that a decent machine shop should be able to forge new ammo, and all you need is electricity.

For gyrojet weapons, I'd see an initial 'thump' to launch the projectile clear of the gun, a 'whoosh' as the rocket engages, then the 'whump' as it goes off.  The nice part is if you have smart rounds and someone has a TAG setup.  Flat trajectory and potentially rapid-fire depending on the launcher, compared to a mortar.

[Natasha Kerensky]

Over 1000-year timeframes, the biggest changes in technology and warfare come from the unlikeliest of sources.

1000 years ago, Eurasian warfare was dominated by steel edges (axes, swords) and human-propelled projectiles (spears, arrows).  Only in a corner of modern China was the Southern Wu military adding a pouch of black powder to arrows to create an explosive incendiary warhead in the form of "fire arrows".  Who knew then that obscure invention would be the first step on a path of innovation leading all the way to modern sidearms, assault rifles, machine guns, mortars, rockets, howitzers, missiles, and bombs.

1000 years ago in the BT universe (circa 2150), warfare was still dominated by tanks.  The key technology enabling battlemechs, myomer, was still 200 years away, and the first battlemech farther away still.

It's these discontinuous innovations that dictate the nature of warfare a millennium in the future.  Projecting better swords and arrows from 1000 to 2000 would have totally missed the advent of firearms, rockets, and canons.  Projecting better tanks from 2150 to 3150 would have totally missed the advent of the battlemech and its cousins.

It's really hard to say what discontinuous innovation currently present in the BT universe would come to dictate the nature of warfare circa 4150.  But if I had to offer an option, based on limited and crude Blakie experiments with weaponized HPGs and K-F drives, I would assume some form of practical weapon that utilizes K-F fields by 4150 (or well before).

Honestly, given that the first functional K-F drive emerged in 2107 and the first functional HPG emerged in 2629, it's surprising that practical K-F weapons have not appeared in-universe.  That's like inventing and using nuclear power plants and liquid propellant launch vehicles for hundreds of years, but never creating a nuclear weapon or ICBM.  Regardless of where it's invented, technology is almost always and rapidly made dual-use (civil and military).

FWIW...