Fictional Firepower: Seburo C-25A

Hey! Want to hear some The_Ryujin_LP deep lore that you might not know?

Ready?

This is gonna blow your mind!

I ...kinda like cyberpunk. I know, I know. Who could tell, right? But all jokes aside, next to R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 and William Gibson's Neuromancer, it was the works of Masamune Shirow that grabbed me at a young age and never let go. While Appleseed will always be my favorite of his, there is no doubt that of all his works none if more well known and influential on popular culture then Ghost in the Shell. Hell, even before anime became a household term, there was a good chance someone you ran into was at lest aware of something by that name existed.

And its from the cyberpunk world of Ghost in the Shell where I draw the inspiration for this post here, the Seburo C-25A (been a while since I dusted off this blog topic heh). This was the main weapon of Security Section 9 in the manga and  was pretty much a not future P90 (I know, kinda redundant with how the thing looks) firing powerful, HV rounds capable of stopping even moderately armored cyborgs.

While not as famous to the general audience as the CZN M22 from the movie (which actually fired the P90's 5.7×25mm round) or even the totally not just a FN F-2000 C-26A from Stand Alone Complex (which always struck me as a bit  weird, the C-26A lost out to the 25A...); to me the C-25A will always be THE gun of Ghost in the Shell. After all, the other two wouldn't even be a thing without the C-25A to set the rules.

Follow me after the jump is you wish to download the deets on this personal favorite of mine.

High-Tech/Ultra-Tech Ultra Quickie: Have a seat while I blow you off your feet.

Blast Resistant Seating

Blast effects from mines, IED (Improvised Explosive Device, i.e. home made boom-booms) and near hits from artillery rounds have been found to have a much greater effect the people inside a vehicle even if the blast fails to penetrate the vehicles armor then GURPS assumes. 

Well, they're having a blast.

This is largely because advancements in blast protection has lead to situations where a vehicle survives where it would of been blown to scrap in the past leading to the crew being killed anyways. So now we're finding that even if the blast can be mitigated enough to prevent complete destruction of the vehicles, the shock waves can still be transmitted through the hull into the spine of the poor crew doing nasty, nasty, neurological damage. 

So if you're ok with some extra crunch and want more gritty realism, use the following rule:

 

Blast Damage Through Armor

If a blast fails to penetrate a vehicles DR, use the rules for HESH rounds found on GURPS High-Tech pg. 170 but change the cutting damage to crushing. If using the Lasting and Permanent Injury rules from GURPS Martial Arts pg. 138 (and if you're going gritty you should be heh!) use the Skull Wounds Table. 

So there you go, another way for you, the GM, to make your party dead, dead, dead!

...

Oh right... wait... *slaps forehead* We're trying NOT to kill our PC's.... what was a I thinking?! 

Thankfully after they figured out that concussive blast were turning our troops brains into scrambled eggs they quickly figured things out. If you isolate the chairs they're sitting on from the hull by putting them on a shock absorber style damping system you can can reduce the G forces being exerted on the crew member by a factor greater then 10, turning an impulse that would crush internal organs and slam your brain into the top of your skull into something that might break some ribs and bruise you badly instead. Still sucks buuuut given the alternative I know which I would choose. 

Soooo, you might be wondering, how good are these things? Take a good look at the photo below.

This Styker flipped over and rolled several times after it got hit and an IED. Despite the level of damage you see, no one was killed or even severely injured. So pretty damn good it seems. 

Mobius Protective Systems Advanced Protection System

So as a counter to the Blast Damage through Armor rules, might want to equip your combat vehicles with some of these things. So here's the rules.

Blast Resistant Seating

Blast Resistant Seat (TL 8). These seats isolate the person sitting in them from the frame of the vehicle they are in and uses shock absorber like dampeners to help dissipate the energy from shock waves and impacts. Provides DR 15 vs collision damage (see Whiplash and Collisions Basic, pg. 432) and shocks damage from none penetrating blast damage. Increase DR to 20 at TL 9, 30 at TL 10, and TL 50 at TL 11+. $1,500, 44 lbs. 

If you are adding the seats to an already stated vehicle such as a TL 8 Humvee (GURPS High-Tech pg. 242) or a TL 9 Wheeled ATV (GURPS Ultra-Tech pg. 225), add +24 lbs and +$1,300 per seat to the vehicles states. This will come out it's normal payload limits.

Ultra-Tech Ultra Quickie: Frag Out!

Quick update to get my creative ball rolling again.

In GURPS 4th edition an explosives fragmentation damage has been tied to the diameter of the warhead that carries it, that is the warheads diameter (in millimeters)/20. Now this works good enough in most cases but some warheads are designed to create an enhanced or heavier fragmentation effect. Below I cover two warhead options to get more fragmentation bang for your buck. See this post for even more Ultra-Tech warhead options.

High Explosive Enhanced Fragmentation Warhead (HEEF) (TL 9) 
This warhead uses either a thicker or denser case to create an enhanced fragmentation effect with greater penetration and wounding potential. Due to the stronger case, the warheads blast effect is reduced.

 Blast effect damage is figured as the square root (warhead weight)×19.8. Divide the product by 3.5 to get dice of damage. Damage is crushing explosive.

 Fragmentation damage is figured  as Warhead Diameter (in millimeters)/12 in dice of damage. Damage is cutting fragmentation damage.

Add +1 per die to the crushing explosive damage at TL10-12. This warhead is only available for 15mm or larger. Double normal cost.

HEEF projectiles, with the exception of hand grenades, that are built at TL 9 or higher can incorporate a programmable fuse that can be set for either impact or, if the target is at least 40 yards away or farther, for proximity detonation  see Ultra-Tech pg. 154. Grenades and satchel charges with HEEF warheads inflict the damage shown below. When set for impact detonation,guns and launchers with HEEF warheads inflict their normal piercing damage with a (0.5) armor divisor, plus a follow-up attack causing the damage shown below.

HEEF Table
Warhead           Damage
15mm              1d-2 cr ex [1d+1]
18.5mm           1d-1 cr ex [1d+2]
25mm              1d cr ex    [2d]
30mm              1d+1 cr ex [2d+2]
40mm              2d cr ex     [3d+1]
64mm              4d cr ex     [5d+1]
100mm            8d cr ex     [8d+1]      
130mm            12d cr ex  [11d-1]
160mm            8d×2 cr ex [6d×2]
400mm            4d×16 cr ex [5d×7]



Continuous Rod Warhead (TL 9) 
This is a special type of High Explosive Enhanced Fragmentation Warhead. A Continuous Rod Warhead surrounds the explosives with a bundle of metal rectangular  rods welded to one another at the top and bottom in an alternating pattern.

When the warhead goes off, the bundle of rods are propelled outward in an expanding ring, unfolding like a circular accordion gate.This effect not only greatly increases the warheads lethality against thin skinned targets, though it is less effective against thicker skinned or armored targets. Up until the ring finally breaks apart it is far more likely to hit targets within its effective range  then standard fragments (with hit probability dropping at a rate of 1/R rather than 1/R² as for conventional fragments).

Even after the ring breaks the rods are still dangerous and have the hit probability of a normal fragmentation warhead.

While effective, Continuous Rod Warheads are more complicated and expensive to build then normal fragmentation warheads. They are also more effective with larger warheads (the first production warhead was the early TL 7 710mm RIM-8 Talos with a 30 yard effective range!).

A Continuous Rod Warhead has similar effects to a High Explosive Enhanced Fragmentation Warhead only the fragments have an armor divisor of (0.5) and fragmentation has both  a primary and a secondary threat range. In the primary threat range the chance of scoring a hit is increased.

The fragments still hit with a skill of 15 but penalties do to range to the target are ignored. Primary threat range is fragment dice of damage × 0.5 yards.

 In the secondary threat range use the normal fragmentation rules with the exception that you trace the range from the end of the primary threat range when figuring range penalties- not the center of the blast.

Blast effect damage is figured as the square root (warhead weight)×19.8. Divide the product by 3.5 to get dice of damage. Damage is crushing explosive.

Fragmentation damage is figured  as Warhead Diameter (in millimeters)/12 in dice of damage. Damage is cutting fragmentation damage with a (0.5) armor divisor.

Add +1 per die to the crushing explosive damage at TL10-12. This warhead is only available for mm 64mm or larger. Five times normal cost.


Continuous Rod projectiles are always set for proximity detonation- see Ultra-Tech pg. 154.


Continuous Rod Warhead Table
Warhead         Damage                      Effective/Secondary
64mm              4d cr ex     [5d+1]        3 yrd./26 yrd.
100mm            8d cr ex     [8d+1]        4 yrd./41 yrd.            
130mm            12d cr ex  [11d-1]        5 yrd./54 yrd.
160mm            8d×2 cr ex [6d×2]        6 yrd./60 yrd.
400mm            4d×16 cr ex [5d×7]      18 yrd./175 yrd.
        

High Tech: Raytheon Pike Laser Guided 40mm Munition

Yeah, that's the one.

In my post covering 30mm Gyrocs you might of noticed a pic I placed in there showing a really small missile with the words, “Welp, looks like TL9 is getting closer and closer.” written below it. Well there is a really good reason I stated that, I just didn't really explain why. You see that wasn't just a mock up of some “in the pipe works” concept but rather an example of Raytheon's newest toy, the Pike.

What makes the Pike special and a example of emergent TL9 tech is that its a laser guided mini-missile that's dimensions are only 40×430mm and weighs less then two pounds! Even better, it's designed to be fired out of conventional 40mm grenade launchers that are capable of firing what High-Tech calls long rounds (High-Tech pg 143) such as the H&K M320.

While not yet self guided and a bit bigger, the future depicted in the Transhuman Space where military rifles comes equipped with self guided 30mm mini-missiles is now looking very likely!

Now the actual weapon is still in development and has yet to be officially adopted, it is already close enough that it is being tested in field (by the Canadians it seems though I the sources on this is kinda sketchy. But this would be fitting since Transhuman Space's creator is Canadian heh) so there is a chance that well connected PC's in a modern game could find a way to snag a couple. I'm sure a group of monster hunters will put them to good use. Note that the current test model will only work in slightly modified grenade launcher thought the final model should be able to be fired from any launcher that can fire long rounds.

Now since the Pike is still in development and a rather new weapons system, there isn't exactly a lot of hard data out there so some of the stats I've come up with are borderline ass pull, especially the cost and accuracy and missiles speed. The other stats are reasonably sound.

Raytheon Pike 40mm Precision Guided Munition, 40mm (USA, 2020-)

The Pike is a 40mm precision-guided mini-missile developed by Raytheon that can be fired from conventional breach loaded 40mm grenade launchers such as the Heckler & Koch M320 or a FN mk 13 mod 0.

Unlike the 40mm grenades normally fired by these platforms, the Pike uses a digital, semi-active laser seeker to guide itself to the target and is powered by a rocket that gives a maximum range of 2,200 yards or 1.2 miles. The Pike can be guided using a laser designator that is attached to the firing rifle or by another team member and is capable of picking up a target that have been lazed after the round has been fired blind.

When fired, the Pike is “kicked” out the barrel but a soft launch system similar to regular 40mm grenades to a distance of about 3 yards. After that the main motor kicks in propelling it to a max range of about 2,200 yards in about 15 seconds.

The munition is meant to be used against fixed and slow-moving mid-ranged targets and uses a 10 oz HE-AB warhead (High-Tech pg. 174).



It is also meant to have greater accuracy and longer range then typical “RPG” systems and standard 40mm grenades while being lighter and far cheaper then current man portable guided weapon system.



The Pike is loaded just like a normal 40mm grenade, you slide the breach open and slide in the munition then close and lock the breach. This takes 3 ready actions. Then either firer, if the have a laser desingtor attached to their rifle, or another solider lazes the target using another ready action which gives +3 to Acc. The firer then takes an Aim Maneuver to line up the munition and gain the benefits of the +3 Acc and finally makes another ready action to make an unmodified Artillery (Guided Missile) roll to fire. Though as stated before, it can be blind fired (use Guns (LAW) in this case) and then have a target lazed with in a 60 degree cone in front of the munition while it is in flight. It will still receive the +3 Acc for being guided but does not gain the benefits of its own Acc of 3.

While so far only a HE-AB warhead is planned (shown in table), a potential HEDP warhead would do 7d×2(10) cr ex with 7d+1 cr ex [2d] linked. A hypothetical Thermobaric warhead would do 13d+1 cr ex (divide damage [2×distance in yards from the center of the blast]).

While this will not normally mater, it has backblast 1d+1.

ARTILLERY (GUIDED MISSILE) (IQ-5)

TL Weapon                           Damage            Acc     Range        Weight   RoF    Shots   ST   Cost   LC Notes

8    Raytheon PIKE, 40mm   11d cr ex [2d]    3        150/2,200    1.7        1          1(3)     6†    $700    1     [1, 2, 3]

[1] The munition has a minimum range of 30 yards.

[2] Has hazardous backblast, (see description). 

[3] Homing Attack (see BS pg. 413). Gunner uses Artillery (Guided Missile) to aim.

High-Tech: TL 8 Lasers

Pew Pew Pew: Real Life Edition.

Yes you read that right, today I'm actually tackling something that's now TL 8 modern tech!

Now that things have calmed down at work a bit (for now at lest, the calm before the storm >.>) so I think it's time to get back into things.

To help ease myself back into blogging I decided to tackle a quick but quirky topic: How to stat up TL 8 lasers!