Infantry weapons theory

[beachhead1985]

Thought of this today, three guesss where I was?

I doubt this is all that unique a theory, but I thought I'd float it.

It's often been noted how freaking HEAVY many infantry weapons are in BattleTech, I don't know what made me think of it; but what if the original writers got mixed up with kilograms and pounds? At that, the Mauser 960a starts looking positively reasonable.

What do you folks think?

[worktroll]

I believe many of the original BT team had experience in the USN, on aircraft carriers. This I believe explains much about the 'Mechwarrior mythos, and how infantry and armour are represented ;)

However, as they were all USAians, in 1984 I'd doubt kilos meant much more to them than an easily divided number for equipment. So you may have something there.

[Goose]

Wasn't there a gag 'bout how much heavier things where in Shadowrun? :-X

[beachhead1985]

Wasn't there a gag 'bout how much heavier things where in Shadowrun? :-X

ha! That would be cute actually!

[Caedis Animus]

It's often been noted how freaking HEAVY many infantry weapons are in BattleTech, I don't know what made me think of it; but what if the original writers got mixed up with kilograms and pounds? At that, the Mauser 960a starts looking positively reasonable.

What's funny to me is that while a lot of other guns look more reasonably weighted, mostly stuff like the Federated Barrett rifles, the Mauser 960 actually seems sillier.

Granted, the Mauser 960 is one of the greatest things for flat 'whats' in Battletech, so I guess it still makes sense.

[Daryk]

Now you can add a 14 kg Sniper Rifle to the list (from Shrapnel #1)...

[Sartris]

operators of the future are JACKED

[Daryk]

If you look at the cybernetic boosts, myomer enhancement lets you reduce CREW REQUIREMENTS for Support Weapons (1E and 2 become 1, for example), AND allows 3 Support Weapons per squad.  That means those MD jokers can fire a 150kg Support Pulse Laser from the hip!  :o

[Wolf72]

but I thought I'd float it.

I think your 'float' is affecting your cognitive reasoning! ... HAH, J/K ... I was guessing where you were and then 'floated' this idea.

kg v lb ?  I'm with "kg's sound more futuristic and stuff", and possibly if they were veterans in the 80's they were fairly used to heaving firearms.  The military moves kinda slow on brand new tech that spreads to everyone and wouldn't care if an old rifle is heavy, as long it works.

[Failure16]

Now you can add a 14 kg Sniper Rifle to the list (from Shrapnel #1)...

I once had the honor of carting around an 11ish kilo sniper rifle throughout NTC (otherwise known as an M-60 machine gun; fun story). It sucked. But it was better than the traversing unit for the dismounted TOW system, which sucked infinitely worse. The point being: infantrymen have been carrying around heavy, awkward weights for a long, long time.

Just look at what the Roman legionaries carried around routinely.

[Wolf72]

I once had the honor of carting around an 11ish kilo sniper rifle throughout NTC (otherwise known as an M-60 machine gun; fun story). It sucked. But it was better than the traversing unit for the dismounted TOW system, which sucked infinitely worse. The point being: infantrymen have been carrying around heavy, awkward weights for a long, long time.

Just look at what the Roman legionaries carried around routinely.

you poor soul.  My buddy got stuck with the '60 during PLDC field exercise, the Ranger's thought it was great -- give the smallest guy the heaviest weapon.  I 'only' got the tripod, that was enough of an extra 'suck' for me.  I least I didn't loose a boot in the swamp! -- silver linings my friends!

[Daryk]

My wife got that same sniper rifle at the 8th Army NCO Academy back in the '80s!  :D

[Failure16]

For sure. The tripods weigh nearly as much as the weapons themselves (9ish kilos for a -60 and -240B), plus spare barrel, optics...

A fully kitted out M4 weighs considerably more than the rated 3.5 kilos (loaded), though not 14 kilos. The real issue here is not the weight in the short term. It would be a world of suck to carry around some of the weapons in the BattleTech universe on a regular basis. But it could be (and is today) done, though only by a few in each infantry unit. The trouble is that in the long term, all of the infantrymen are going to be broken down physical wrecks.

Luckily, in the BTU, that isn't a problem. Most infantrymen don't live past their first firefight or two.  :(

My wife got that same sniper rifle at the 8th Army NCO Academy back in the '80s!  :D

Well, tell her thanks. I appreciated it. By the time it got around to me, it had a distressing tendency to lose its buttstock, and the spring, the bolt...

Did I mention that NTC is a dusty place?  Well, it is.

But back on topic, I think that the writers/developers should think more about the weights of the things they make. of course, in a world with fourteen-tonne autocannons and 500-kilo M2HB equivalents...

[Daryk]

500 kilos covers more than the M2HB, though... it covers the optics, the servos, and the feed mechanism for an entire Remote Weapon Station.  I've tried to make that leap around here somewhere…  ::)

[Major Headcase]

I always figured weapons in Battletech would be lighter than we expect if anything? 1000 years of materials advancements, common uses of what are expensive cutting edge materials and techniques today.
Years ago a group of friends in college calculated that if a 10 meter tall, 50 ton mech (using scaled human body for surface area) ,covered in 8 tons of armor that weighed the same as modern tank armor, due to the surface area covered, the armor would be 3/4 inch thick.... So future mech materials must be significantly lighter for the strength than modern equivalents. I would imagine the same would be true in personal equipment??

[Charistoph]

There could just be a far more simple answer:

The standards of weights has changed between now and then.

What we call a kg could be the equivalent of 1.72 current lbs for all we know.  It's not outside the realm of possibilities, though a little less likely, because with new, over-reaching regimes, something they like to do is make "adjustments" to make things seem more incredible.

Of course, there's the Frank Herbert theory where 700+ years of humanity killing each other just lead to stronger/faster people.

[Daryk]

I think all the weight savings went into making weapons more deadly.

[Sharpnel]

Now you can add a 14 kg Sniper Rifle to the list (from Shrapnel #1)...

This in keeping with some the heavier caliber weapons that use 12.7mm or 14.5 mm rounds

[Daryk]

With up to 6 AP and 7 BD, I'd characterize that as 20mm or maybe even 25mm.  I figure .50 caliber (12.7mm) is 5AP/5BD.