Shrapnel Issue #9 Laser Pistols for TW

[Daryk]

Once again thanks to Craig Reed for writing the article, and Malwys for pointing me to the issue these are in!  :thumbsup:

I have a question in to Craig about the Capellan ER Laser Pistol, as it exceeds standard Laser Rifle stats in every way (I'm hoping there's a typo; we'll see).  Laser Rifles will follow after I hear back from him, as a couple of those seem to have Support Laser stats in Standard weapon packages.

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TW AToW TW
Name Aff TL PPS AP BD Burst Dmg Range Range Wt Cost Notes
Xīng Shǎn Laser Pistol CC D 2 4 4 1 0.28 35 1 1.4 795
Xīng Shǎn ER Laser Pistol CC D 3 5 4 1 0.35 75 3 1.6 830
Darklight IV Laser Pistol DC D 1 4 3 1 0.21 25 1 1.2 1,200
AWA Wiliby Mk4 Laser Pistol FS D 1 4 4 1 0.28 30 1 1.8 1,500 2M/2 melee
Kelvin 000 Lancer 3-mm Laser Pistol FS D 1 3 3 1 0.16 40 1 1.6 1,250
NWW-12 Pulse Laser Pistol FWL D 2 4 3 5 0.27 20 1 0.9 850
Sunswarm Pulsar Pulse Laser Pistol Reg D 2 4 3 4 0.27 15 1 1 1,050
AA-75L Laser Pistol LC D 1 4 3 1 0.21 25 1 1 1,500
Medusa III Laser Pistol MoC D 2 3 3 1 0.16 15 1 1.1 950
Medusa IV Laser Pistol MoC D 3 4 3 1 0.21 25 1 1 1,500
BR-25 Laser Pistol TC D 1 3 3 1 0.16 35 1 1.3 950
BrightStar L-7 Laser Pistol SL D 1 4 3 1 0.21 60 2 1.1 950
BrightStar L-12 Laser Pistol Clan D 2 4 4 1 0.28 70 2 1.2 1,100
BrightStar L-15 Laser Pistol Clan D 2 4 4 1 0.28 80 3 1.4 1,750

[Maelwys]

Wait, exceeds how so?  I mean, almost everything but range, but you could just say its somewhat hot running.

As for the rest, I'll have to compare to the base equipment to see how it stands out.

[Liam's Ghost]

Even in range (at least TW scale) it outperforms the laser rifle. And it does it while drawing less power at a third of the weight, and it's substantially cheaper.

For most of the weapons in this series, you could handwave their superior performance as being particularly high end and expensive arms. You can't in this case. It's a better performer than a substantial number of more expensive options, even the clan tech ER Pistol, which is two tech levels more advanced and 150 cbills (base cost) more expensive can't really compete with it in anything except weight.

(also something I've noticed is that the writer tends to give his weapons much higher short range brackets than standard weapons in the core book, so even if their maximum range is comparable to a pre-existing weapon, their TW range tends to be better, sometimes significantly better. Just wait 'till Daryk gets to the L-15 carbine)

I think it wouldn't bother me so much if it actually was "hot running", IE, using substantially more power. At least four or five points (not an energy hog like the nova, but still closer to what you'd expect a virtual laser rifle to have)

[Daryk]

I've converted the L15, and it's relatively OK as far as I can tell.  The ones I'm worried about are the Sunraker and L5L...

[Maelwys]

Ah, so I should be paying more attention to the conversion rules then and the TW stats.

Interesting.

I wonder if maybe this is why they don't provide TW stats? Its not balanced in that direction?

[Giovanni Blasini]

I've converted the L15, and it's relatively OK as far as I can tell.  The ones I'm worried about are the Sunraker and L5L...

The L-15, which by fluff happens to be everything I wanted in a Niops laser pistol/rifle (and you've got the PMs to prove it  ;D) has the same range bracket in TW as the Sunbeam Starfire ER laser rifle, Intek laser rifle and Marx XX laser rifle, at 3 base.  It does 0.28 damage per weapon, again as much as the Sunbeam Starfire, and more damage than the other two weapons.  It's 1.4 kg to their 5-6 kg, uses 1/3 as much power as the Starfire ER laser rifle, and has a base cost 750 c-bills lower.

Even the L-7 laser pistol has twice the base range of any of the more standard laser pistols, comparable to the Ebony Assault laser rifle in TW performance, in a compact pistol form.

[Liam's Ghost]

The carbine conversion of the L-15 would have a base range of 4 and hits like a zeus rifle without the ammunition limit.

[Giovanni Blasini]

The carbine conversion of the L-15 would have a base range of 4 and hits like a zeus rifle without the ammunition limit.

Oh hell, that's the pistol stats?

[Liam's Ghost]

Yep.

[Daryk]

Indeed!  I dare you to convert the Sunraker and L5L and compare them to the bog standard Support Laser.  I'm holding off on posting those until I hear back from Craig...  8)

[Maelwys]

So the Medusas have B in their damage code...

And the fluff calls them pulse laser pistols..but no burst ratings.

Man.

[Daryk]

I just double checked, and you are correct.  The only place "pulse" appears is in that one sentence in the fluff.  I'm chalking that up to a typo.

[Maelwys]

It might explain the relatively high power per shot. At 3E/3, it should be more like 1 PPS instead of the two that it is.