Debuting in 3155, Clan Wolf's Gauss jezail underwent a tortured developmental path before it finally appeared on the battlefield. Conceptually straightforward, persistent technical snags and logistical and political upheaval delayed its introduction for over two decades.
The Gauss jezail is a sabot-firing Gauss rifle, with the rough drafts of the concept sketched out in the late 3120s, after numerous reports had accumulated of Clan Wolf warriors being flattened into paste by Lyran heavy Gauss slugs. The weapon that would eventually become the Gauss jezail was envisioned as a more refined and elegant weapon than the clumsy (but undeniably potent) Lyran weapon. The hope was that development would proceed swiftly enough that it could become the signature weapon of the new Warwolf omnimech.
Development did not proceed swiftly, with acrimonious debates breaking out almost immediately about the design parameters of the weapon, funding and resource allocation, tactical doctrine, and even the name of the weapon. "Clan Heavy Gauss Rifle" was felt to be too derivative, and then a variety of historical names for long-barreled types of cannon were suggested, but disastrously a number of historical types of long-barreled cannon like the Falconet and the Saker are named after birds of prey, and that was obviously a no-go in Clan Wolf. Eventually the name "Jezail" was settled upon, after a type of long-range firearm used throughout Arabia and Central Asia on ancient Terra. However, persistent technical headaches, and Ramiel Bekker's allocation of R&D resources on close-combat oriented designs, and finally the upheavals of Khan Alaric Ward's momentous military and political maneuvers meant that the design was on the back burner for years. Only by the mid 3150s was it completed and put into production.
The Gauss jezail is essentially a sabot-firing Gauss rifle. Gauss rifles accelerate ferrous slugs by pulling them forwards through a series of fast-switching electromagnets, and while this system of acceleration has exceptional efficiency, it also places hard constraints on the shapes of the projectiles. Too long of a Gauss slug will mean that the magnets must be switched off long before the center of mass of the projectile passes the magnet in order to prevent hysteresis-related "suckback." While a standard Gauss rifle can launch construction girders, this is essentially an ill-advised parlor trick, not a sound operational practice, and all practical Gauss rifle ammunition is watermelon-shaped. Watermelon-shaped ammunition is sound from a magnetic acceleration standpoint, but it is not aerodynamically ideal nor is it an efficient shape for penetrating armor.
The Gauss jezail fires high-density, long-aspect penetrators that sit inside a cup-shaped ferromagnetic sabot. Unlike a sabot-firing autocannon, where all the kinetic energy of the sabot is wasted, the Gauss jezail "recycles" the sabot energy by regeneratively slowing down the sabot in the latter portion of the barrel, ensuring clean sabot separation from the projectile. The sabot exits the barrel at only a hundred meters per second or so, and a system of secondary capacitors recycles the recaptured energy back into the acceleration capacitors. While this does make the system acceptably efficient, it makes it considerably bulkier and slower-firing than a traditional Gauss rifle.
Rules
Type: Ballistic (Direct Fire)
Tech Base: Clan
Year Availability: 3155
Heat: 3
Damage: 17
Minimum range: 3
Short range: 1-9
Medium range: 10-18
Long range: 19-27
Ammo per ton: 6
Tons: 16
Critical slots: 9
Every attack with a Gauss jezail that successfully damages armor provides a chance for a critical hit, even if the internal structure took no damage. A Determining Critical Hits roll is made at -2. All other rules regarding damage against different armor types are as per armor-piercing autocannon ammunition.
Gauss jezail ammunition does not explode, but if hit the Gauss jezail itself explodes for 25 points of damage per heavy Gauss rifle rules.
Additionally, the energy-recycling capacitors can explode if pushed too hard. It is perfectly safe to fire a Gauss jezail every other round. However, if the Gauss jezail is fired two rounds consecutively, the player must roll 2D6 and get a result of 3 or better, or else the Gauss jezail explodes. For every round of combat in which the Gauss jezail is consecutively fired, this target number goes up by 1. For a turn when the Gauss jezail is not fired, this target number resets.
