A slight proliferation of Gauss Rifle models

[Charistoph]

So I was thinking how much Gauss Rifles have changed from the first Compendium I had, and was wondering if they took a couple next steps.  At this point, I'm apparently looking at a Clan proliferation, but that's because I don't know how well an IS HAG would be received (probably rather well).

So for the first pass.

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Weapon                  .  Heat  .  Dmg         .        Range      .  Ammo  .  Mass  .  Mech Crit
Clan Light Gauss Rifle  .    1   .    8         .  3/8/17/25 (Ext)  .   16   .    10  .     4
Clan Heavy Gauss Rifle  .    2   . 25/20/10     .  4/6/13/20 (L)    .    4   .    16  .    10
HAG 10                  .    2   . 10** (8/6/6) .  2/8/16/24 (L)    .   12   .     8  .     4

For the most part it was pretty simple, take existing equipment, same range, heat, damage, and ammo, then shave a couple tons off and reduce the Crits by one.

Would this be tolerable, and would Inner Sphere HAG 20 and 30 be a consideration?

[DevianID]

So the inner sphere made a HAGish gauss already, the silver bullet gauss.  The thing is amazing--probably a strict upgrade versus the normal gauss even with the cluster roll reducing damage.

What are your thoughts on the clan heavy gauss skipping the intermediate heavy gauss and going right to the improved heavy? 

[namar13766]

What about snub nose or extended range gauss rifles?

[Charistoph]

So the inner sphere made a HAGish gauss already, the silver bullet gauss.  The thing is amazing--probably a strict upgrade versus the normal gauss even with the cluster roll reducing damage.

That is more of a HAG 15, but also operates on different principles akin to the difference between a multi-barrel and flakk or an uzi vs a shotgun.  Still, would it be even desired, or would different sizes of the Silver Bullet be sufficiently desired to be developed?

What are your thoughts on the clan heavy gauss skipping the intermediate heavy gauss and going right to the improved heavy? 

Possibly, but would the weight gains come in to play so quickly, or would they hold off on release until it came out as the improved version?  Quite probably the latter, in my estimation.  It depends on how desperate the producing Clan was to get it out.

Truth to tell, I only put in the disimproved version because of what was in TM, and hadn't perused TO for the upgrades.

What about snub nose or extended range gauss rifles?

Snubbies would be the next thing I would want to capture, thank you for reminding me.  One thing I had been considering, would it even be possible, as the very nature of a Gauss system begs for a long barrel, and would the downgrade in acceleration be worth it?  I'd probably see a reduction in weight with losing the minimum range in exchange for a somewhat severe drop off in range and/or a minor drop off in damage (1-2 points).  Maybe not to the AC/10 range, but maybe to the AC/5 for the mainline model?

ER Gauss seems... repetitive to me in everything but aerospace encounters.  Off hand, initial prototypes would probably go with increased mass, crits, and damage explosion, with a drop off of damage in the extended range, with an improved market model coming out later that corrects that flaw, much like the HGR.

[Atarlost]

What are your thoughts on the clan heavy gauss skipping the intermediate heavy gauss and going right to the improved heavy?

I'm not him, but my thought is that the improved heavy gauss is that it's not an upgrade for the ways I would use a heavy gauss rifle. 

To me the move and fire problems for mechs and the inability to put it in a turret put HGRs, improved or not, out of a lot of roles and the ones that are left are Hetzer++, S-tank, and aerospace BFG.  For the Hetzer++ I prefer the higher short range damage and lower weight.  For the S-tank since you can't actually hide your whole tank hull down and still fire directly I prefer the Long Tom Cannon.  For aerospace I prefer the HGR again because 25 is better than 22 for thresholding.  The HGR at closer range can threshold 3 sides of a Titan, 4 sides of a Lung Wang, and 4 sides of a Merlin to the iHGR's 0, 3, and 2 sides respectively. 

The last point is especially relevant to the Clans because the current aerospace rules are extremely unkind to nonstandard autocannons, denying the Clans any fighter weapon that can threshold 151 armor after the iACs were retired. 

I figure the HGR or iHGR platform most likely to arouse envy rather than derision among the Clans is the Eisensturm Alpha, which uses the original version.  Falling over when you fire your main gun would be a terribly embarrassing way to lose a mech trial and tanks are low prestige, but ASFs, while not as prestigious as mechs are much more prestigious than tanks, especially tanks designed for various forms of ambush. 

[Hominid Mk II]

Your Clan LGR seems fine to me.

I think the Clans would only even possibly be interested in producing an Improved HGR, with stats as follows:

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[Weapon                  .  Heat  .  Dmg         .        Range      .  Ammo  .  Mass  .  Mech Crit
Clan Imp. Hvy. Gauss Rfl..    2   . 22/22/22     .  3/6/12/19 (L)    .    4   .    16  .     9

[I am Belch II]

I could see the Clan making a Light Gauss and a Heavy Gauss. (at least I have)