Lore: Developed over the course of the 3050's and prototyped in 3062 going into production in 3068, the gauss autocannons or simply gauss cannons. Are designed to replace autocannons with longer ranged, more damaging gauss rifle based counterparts. Using gauss type propulsion, the gauss cannons are divided into 5,10,15 and 20 damage categories and come in Rotary, LB-X, Ultra and standard varieties. though they weigh more as well as bulkier than an autocannon and explode on a critical hit, despite this they have significantly longer range and damage output on average. with the 5's being the lightest and smallest and the 20's being the largest and heaviest. Below is known variants of the gauss canon. as of this post only tonnage, heat, range and bulk are known factors. they also due to lower power requirements not need nuclear engines to run them but they do need power amplifiers on a non-nuclear powered unit.
Tonnage:
GC/5:8 tons
GC/10:12 tons
GC/15:15 tons
GC/20:18 tons
Ultra:
UGC/5: 12 tons
UGC/10: 15 tons
UGC/15: 18 tons
UGC/20: 20 tons
LB-X: 8 tons
LB-5X-GC: 8 tons
LB-10X-GC: 12 tons
LB-15X-GC: 15 tons
LB-20X-GC: 18 tons
Rotary:
RGC/5:12 tons
RGC/10:16 tons
Critical slots(Mech and ASF):
GC/5: 5 crits
GC/10:7 crits
GC/15:9 crits
GC/20:11 crits
Ultra:
UGC/5: 6 crits
UGC/10: 8 crits
UGC/15: 10 crits
UGC/20: 12 crits
LB-X:
LB-5X-GC: 5 crits
LB-10X-GC: 7 crits
LB-15X-GC: 9 crits
LB-20X-GC: 11 crits
Rotary:
RGC/5: 8 crits
RGC/10: 10 crits
Ranges(In hexes):
GC/5: 2/15/20/25
GC/10: 1/10/15/20
GC/15: 0/6/12/15
GC/20: 0/4/8/12
Ultra:
UGC/5: 3/18/22/26
UGC/10: 2/15/20/25
UGC/15: 0/10/15/20
UGC/20: 0/5/10/15
LB-X:
LB-5X-GC: 2/15/20/25
LB-10X-GC: 1/10/15/20
LB-15X-GC: 0/6/12/15
LB-20X-GC: 0/4/8/12
Rotary:
RGC/5: 2/15/20/25
RGC/10: 1/10/15/20
Heat:
GC/5: 1 heat
GC/10: 1 heat
GC/15: 2 heat
GC/20: 3 heat
Ultra:
UGC/5: 2/shot
UGC/10: 2/shot
UGC/15: 3/shot
UGC/20: 4/shot
LB-X:
LB-5X-GC: 1 heat
LB-10X-GC: 1 heat
LB-15X-GC: 2 heat
LB-20X-GC: 3 heat
Rotary:
RGC/5: 1/shot
RGC/10: 1/shot
FAQ:
Need a nuclear engine?: No
Need power amplifiers to use with non-nuclear engines?: yes.
Do RGC's and UGC's Jam on a 2?: Yes
Can Jammed UGC's and RGC's be Unjammed?: Yes but the Unjam number starts at 3 and goes up by +1 for each shot after the third in the case of RGC's and only the baseline of 3 for UGC's.
Can LB-X and Standard Gauss Cannon's ammo switch?: Yes they can with applicable ammo types.
Does gauss Cannon Ammo explode?: No it does not but the weapon itself can explode on a critical hit.
Meta: there you have it, Gauss Rifle based Autocannons. Something that had slightly better damage out per a ton on average in comparison to a autocannon of similar range. But they are heavier, bulkier and explode on a crit not to mention RGC's and UGC's can jam on a 2 and unjam on a 3+. Had trouble getting proper ranges for the 15 and 20 category Cannons. Also this is neither IS nor Clan weaponry but do have counterparts in both tech bases. So if you want to compare these to existing gauss or autocannons feel free to do so, but please judge these weapons on their own merits.
