Page 213: The Bug Hunt is on!

[Incinerator]

To me, it just looks like light being reflected through the glass (or whatever high tech material Loroi might be using) faceplate on his helmet.

[Tamri]

Around in 16's, I tried to imagine what a Gauss rifle would look like if we had: a) sufficiently powerful and compact conductors; b) sufficiently capacious and compact batteries - well, if not small enough to be part of a weapon, then at least be able to be carried on the back, like a part of an exosuit, for example.

It turned out something like this:



Below is the accelerating block of coils, since the weapon is military, I assumed that there will be several contours, for duplication in case of damage or failure, it is possible to use everything to increase the energy of the shot. The "barrel" is interchangeable, with the ability to change the caliber of the shot simply by changing the barrel, inserting a clip with a different padding and changing the electromagnetic acceleration settings. The aiming block is in front of the barrel, the magazine is directly behind it.

I thought for a long time about the type and form of store, in the end, when trying to combine a good amount of ammunition, which should be fed equally well regardless of external conditions and at the same time minimally increase the profile of the weapon, which was already rapidly increasing both in mass and in size, I settled on the version of the auger magazine system.

Batteries, recoil compensators, and everything else should fit in the stock.

The approximate dimensions are shown in the figure, well, and the curb weight, I got something about 14-16 kg.

If you add recoil and weight distribution, without an exosuit, you can fight this gun only from the easel or half-rack version.

[CrimsonFALKE]

Nice work I have my own gauss weapon.

[Keklas Rekobah]

The  Future War Stories  website has an excellent article on caseless ammunition and the weapons that use them.

When it comes to the future, is it possible that in 2179 that US Marines will be using caseless carbines?  Maybe.  There would have to be advancements in the science of propellant that allows for a propellant casing that could be handled by the soldiers in the field without breaking down.  What could propel caseless weapon into the hands of future soldiers is when we start fighting on exosolar worlds with hostile environments in combat-rated space suits.  Given that caseless weapons are more sealed that their traditional counterparts, limiting the openings to the environment, could allow for their use where normal firearms would be useless or before we develop DEW systems.  Of course, these caseless weapons could be just limited to use on Lunar-like worlds.

[inxsi]

I wonder if "a few thousand solon" was just a figure of speech, or if Alex misestimated the time he waited due to thinking about the upcoming fighting?

[Werra]

Given the slow nature of travel in Outsider and the huge sighting distances, Beryl is probably used to waiting hours before an engagement. A few thousand solon can easily be the better part of two hours.

[CrimsonFALKE]

Well I say we hear out why the TCA has caseless ammunition.

[Keklas Rekobah]

Well I say we hear out why the TCA has caseless ammunition.

There will be / have been many great advances in caseless ammunition research since the present day.

[Overkill Engine]

My assumption is they figured out a chemical propellant that is resistant/immune to water/humidity and normal atmospheric temperature variation and which does not require atmospheric oxygen to be present for complete ignition either. And only needs something as simple as an electrical arc within the firing chamber to fire the round.

Would not be surprised if it was an advanced/automatic version of something like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voere_VEC-91

Edit: Or alternately the rounds could be "cased" in a material protecting the propellant from environmental heat and humidity that combusts along with it, making it more of a hybrid round. But that still means finding at minimum a second material meeting a very exact set of specifications on top of not leaving residue that might obstruct follow up rounds from firing properly.

[QuakeIV]

Caseless is reasonably close to working already, one of the unironic downsides cited against it is it doesn't have an ejection port to expel gases out of and help with cooling, which is somewhat inherent to the system (one of the ostensible upsides, conversely, is also that it doesn't have an ejection port, so there is less chance for crap to get into the gun).

Also, its worth noting that modern ammunition doesn't use atmospheric oxygen, nor does any particular variant of caseless ammo. All of the needed oxidizer is inherent to the propellant. Almost any given gun works fine in space.

e:
Also the gun cited there is this thing:

SpoilerShow

So you might be better off referencing the G11 or something.

[Overkill Engine]

I was citing it mainly for the electronic ignition aspect. To my knowledge the G11 still used mechanical firing. The former is desirable because it means you can use propellant that is "harder" to ignite, which is important for avoiding cookoff when you don't have as many heatsinks anymore like metal casing and gas expulsion. Plus less moving parts to have to field service - important in military applications.

And less annoying/time consuming to clean for inspections when you don't have a bolt carrier assembly you have to take apart to get every freaking carbon speck out of it. I might be a bit biased there though.

My point was that the most likely scenario for caseless rounds to become fully practical is some sort of advancement in the propellant used that somehow satisfied a very narrow set of conditions...while also still being economically feasible to supply.

[Demarquis]

I am beginning to suspect that Alex isn't the hero of this story, he's the narrator. The way this story is going, it might not have a single, specific hero, but a team of them, which would be a very welcome change from the average space opera!

[asaenvolk]

I am beginning to suspect that Alex isn't the hero of this story, he's the narrator. The way this story is going, it might not have a single, specific hero, but a team of them, which would be a very welcome change from the average space opera!

Depends on the "space opera" Star Trek for example tended to have a cast of heros/team. Mind you TOS had Kirk/Spock/Bones, who acted as a sort of triumverant, with Spock being Kirk's logic, and Bones his emotion/instinct.

[Demarquis]

"Star Trek" might not be the best example--those series always focus on the Captain as the paragon of heroism, even if they shared the spotlight with other members of the crew. You want one that centers on a cast of more or less equals who sometimes have to deal with opposed interests, like Lord of the Rings. In sci fi, "Andromeda" might be a better one...

[asaenvolk]

Nah, past the TOS Star Trek had a Capetian yes, but frequently had story lines that were vast and wide in their focus on other characters, DSN9 was huge on this.

[Demarquis]

I'll take your word for it, I never really followed DS9. I never really followed Babylon 5 either, but friends tell me that it's another candidate.

[QuakeIV]

hype factor 9.5

[gaerzi]

Nah, past the TOS Star Trek had a Capetian yes

They must have had more time travel storylines than I thought they did.

[Demetrious]

My point was that the most likely scenario for caseless rounds to become fully practical is some sort of advancement in the propellant used that somehow satisfied a very narrow set of conditions...while also still being economically feasible to supply.

Ah, I see. You're talking about the use of electric arc ignition making it feasible to use physically "harder" solid propellant blocks that resist impact, handling, et al at least as well as brass-cased rounds do now. That makes perfect sense. Additionally, consider the possibility of a hybrid solution: much like the nitrated paper revolver cartridges from the late 1800s I mentioned earlier; a thin casing made of polymer that helps reinforce the solid propellant block, but is consumed entirely in the combustion within the chamber. (Schlock Mercenary, another sci-fi webcomic, uses this type of solution; a materiel called "gunfoam.") A combination of these approaches could work wonders.

Caseless is reasonably close to working already, one of the unironic downsides cited against it is it doesn't have an ejection port to expel gases out of and help with cooling, which is somewhat inherent to the system (one of the ostensible upsides, conversely, is also that it doesn't have an ejection port, so there is less chance for crap to get into the gun).

AKCHSUALLY caseless firearms still technically have an ejection port to evacuate a round that fails to ignite for whatever reason; however unlike cased-ammo firearms, this port would almost never be used. Thus the port's cover would stay closed, keeping junk out (as you mention). I'd probably look like a shallow groove on the underside (to encourage gravity-assisted exits) with a simple spring-loaded flap that can only be pushed open by an evacuated round being pushed out from the inside. (This also makes it zero-G friendly;' even if it doesn't float clear in zero-g it cannot re-enter the chamber and bind things up). Depending on the action's design, that door could even be flush with the gun's outer surface.

Incidentally, this also means that artists need not bother drawing it.

Me, I'm interested to see what kind of personal arms the Loroi favor. The energy densities their technology has access too tax the imagination of us 21st century humans. Their personal arms might well blur (or utterly transcend) the line between electrothermal-chemical technology (a system where the electrical arc not only ignites, but continues to heat the propellant/gas to achieve more uniform expansion and/or higher overall power,) to an outright plasma-powered cannon, where the use of chemical propellants are replaced entirely by arc-generated plasma. On the balance, however, given the relative rarity and/or mop-up nature of ground combat in the setting and the state of advanced particle accelerator weapons, I suspect they'd favor directed weapons even in personal combat - not because advanced slugthrowers are ineffective, but because they're too effective. They have a bad habit of punching holes in the ship's hull. Which is fine from a depressurization standpoint (especially because crewmen rushing to suit up are crewmen not rushing towards your boarding party with light weapons) right up until a stray shot penetrates several bulkheads and hits the fuel containment of an unfired missile... And then of course there's plasma weaponry, which could theoretically have a more adjustable yield. Plasma is almost nonexistent compared to the heft of a solid metallic slug moving at velocity, but compared to the energy density of a coherent beam of heavy ions, it may as well be a freight train; and the tech levels involved here make generating enough of it - at high enough temperatures with tight enough containment - nigh trivial. Range, obviously, is not a factor. And, of course, old fashioned HEDP slugs/microgrenades/gyrogets are always an option as well, even if reserved for boarding actions.

... forgive me, I'm just looking forward to our storyteller here drawing explosions and pew pew. He's quite good at it. There's many thrilling options for mahyem from a visual standpoint, but I'm also curious to see what the Loroi personal combat doctrine is like - not just from a weapons/tech standpoint, but from how they integrate their unique mental capabilities. When Beyrl said that the Umiak would promptly scuttle the whole ship (presumably with the crew still onboard) if they realized they had both a Teidar Pallan and Mizol Parat aboard, I believed her. And not just because of the Umiak's cultural views on the value of individual lives, either. Two powerful telepaths, one specializing (apparently) in purely mental techniques and another with significant telekenetic capabilities, fighting in close-quarters and zero-g... yeah. Pretty cool. Can't wait.

[QuakeIV]

Its also worth noting that the cases themselves will carry a fair amount of heat out. I'd suppose the gas-venting aspect could be recreated by just providing some kind of ventilation system near the breech in general.