What IF BIG IF we add a ,,, to ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle

[ZINO]

What if we take ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle tie to a nuclear power supply so
here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted ) ?

the second question is there a nuclear energy drum or nuclear pack back for I.D.K runs on years .(Would this work FOR supernatural PS, cyborgs, and power armor troopers)?

the thrid question is possible to extend the range by without loss damage output ????

Spoiler:

ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle
This is a pre-Rifts design built to give infantrymen a chance against the armored behemoths that were dominating the battlefield.
It is a one-shot weapon that releases all the energies contained in a normal E-clip in one single shot!
The shortcomings of this powerful weapon are that it must be reloaded by hand (takes two melee actions to reload after firing),
and that it's so heavy (the barrel is thick with insulation to protect against the heat) that it takes two normal humans to carry it
(cyborgs and power armor troopers can use it as a rifle without trouble).
Also, they use up E-clips so fast that only large organizations or wealthy characters can afford to equip themselves with them.
Weight: 30 lbs. (13.5 kg)
Mega-Damage: 3D6x10+20 M.D. per shot!!!!!
Rate of Fire: Single shot only; each shot empties an entire E- Clip
Effective Range: 3000 feet (914 m)
Payload: 1 shot per E-Clip

[Mack]

Well, as a point of reference I'd take a look at the Mark IV Glitter Boy (MiO, p68). It's got a heavy particle beam for a main gun that hold 20 blasts, and recharges at a rate of 1 shot / minute. I'd go with a similar setup for the ATL-7, probably limited to 5 or 10 shots.

For a power source, I'd say one could use one of the Northern Gun rail gun power packs (RUE p271).

For changing the range... I'd allow a Psi-Tech or Operator to maybe add 10%, but any more would cause a loss of performance.

[glitterboy2098]

iirc there is a rifter FAQ that addresses this and basically says "you can't".

which makes sense, given most nuke plants wouldn't have the kind of instant output the thing needs to work (since it drains a full eclip in an instant, while a nuclear charger takes minutes to recharge an eclip), so you'd basically have to rig up some sort of capacitor system (likely actually using an eclip) that would be recharged slowly between shots.

[ZINO]

Well, as a point of reference I'd take a look at the Mark IV Glitter Boy (MiO, p68). It's got a heavy particle beam for the main gun that holds 20 blasts, and recharges at a rate of 1 shot/minute. I'd go with a similar setup for the ATL-7, probably limited to 5 or 10 shots.

For a power source, I'd say one could use one of the Northern Gun rail gun power packs (RUE p271).

For changing the range... I'd allow a Psi-Tech or Operator to maybe add 10%, but any more would cause a loss of performance.

instead, of 20 blasts wouldn't you more from ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle , since it laser and the heavy particle beam draws more power or just a hand to hand per melee or 3 per melee?
IDK man

[ShadowLogan]

here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted ) ?

Single Shot. 1x per 15seconds.

The gun is designed with a 15sec. cycle time, that suggests there maybe a unstated required cool down time between shots which would still be present in a nuclear powered version.

Then there is the question of weather the nuclear power pack has the output necessary to allow one to fire the weapon every 15seconds (this can vary from platform to platform). Looking at the Power Leech RCC (WB12 pg126-8, its also in WB30 DBoNA, and a similar thing appears in a super power in RCB1r, so the math might change with other sources) the absorption limit of the Power Leech is 200MD per minute (a EClip holds ~200MD, Long ~300, and a Nuclear power vehicle/bot/pa can be drained at 200MD per minute). If we take the 200MD per minute output for simplicity, then it likely can not power the ATL-7 directly, you'd need some type of storage medium to allow it to fire, and even then with a basic system you'd be looking at a Rate 1 per minute (1 per 4 melees) possibly longer.

the second question is there a nuclear energy drum or nuclear pack back for I.D.K runs on years .(Would this work FOR supernatural PS, cyborgs, and power armor troopers)?

There probably are nuclear power packs (portable like used in Railguns) that will work. Rifts has Railguns that are powered by an Eclip, though most are tied into a nuclear reactor.

the thrid question is possible to extend the range by without loss damage output ????

By the rules you can technically fire 30% farther, but you take a strike penalty (RUE pg361, its in other main books to IINM).

Psi-Tech can increase the range by 10% (WB12 pg75), though this could be psionic alteration, physical alteration, or a mix. What the process is, could limit ability to stack (ex, an Operator does a pure physical alteration to get the 10% boost as suggested by Mack, but a Psi-Tech could then improve upon it further IF their work is psionic but not likely if it's physical).

A Gizmoteer (WB9 pg157-9) can out do a Psi-Tech at +5% per level, but the modification is temporary and can damage the weapon.

The existence of Blue-Green Lasers for underwater work (normal surface lasers reduce range by 1/2 underwater IIRC), might mean there is a similar color frequency that would work in the atmosphere (though I suspect everyone is already using it).

Fire the weapon in the vacuum of space.

A Techno-Wizard might also be able to whip something up (ex. Mystic Portal, but it would create a minimum range requirement, though I'm sure there are other ways).

[narcissus]

A Techno-Wizard might also be able to whip something up (ex. Mystic Portal, but it would create a minimum range requirement, though I'm sure there are other ways).

Totally unrelated to the question at hand, but this just gave me a great idea for a TW funhouse / house of mirrors

[ITWastrel]

Adding a nuclear power supply wouldn't be enough. You'd need a massive bank of capacitors to hold the charge off the generator. You would also need a large cooling system to soak all that heat generated by charging and discharging those banks. An unlimited ammo capacity means a huge addition in weight.

Given the power of this weapon, I'd make the charging and cooling systems something that would require a vehicle or power armor to tote around, making this cannon weight similar to most equally powerful vehicle laser cannons. I suppose it could be built to be gargoyle portable, but I doubt this was meant for them.

As for range, sure. Vehicle systems and robots often have huge ranges, but...
All that tech, focusing arrays, cooling systems, venting systems, and similar to get those massive ranges ~without reducing energy/damage output... Let's just say it's gonna be heavy.

As an example, this is the "rifle" from the Triax Devastator MK II, a 58' tall robot with a ~25' long gun:

1. TX-5050 Super-Laser Cannon (1, Rifle): Based on the huge rifle-like weapon of the original Devastator, over the past 6 years, the weapons engineers at Triax have made advancements in energy weapon technologies. The end result is a truly massive energy weapon capable of dealing out very high-powered energy blasts. Typically manned by the co-pilot or a dedicated gunner.

Primary Purpose: Anti-Armor/Anti-Aircraft/Gargoyles.
Secondary Purpose: Assault.
Range: 8,000 feet (2,438 m).
Mega-Damage: 1D6x10 M.D. per low power blast or 2D6x10
M.D. per single full power blast. Does 50% more damage on a
Critical Strike from a roll of an unmodified, Natural 18, 19 or
20.
Rate of Fire: Each blast, low or full power, counts as one of the
gunner or co-pilot's melee attacks.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
Special Feature: + 1 to strike in addition to other targeting bonuses.

Now, the book doesn't mention this rifle's weight, but given that it's the size of a rail car, we're in the many-ton range here.

If the tech exists to make a super rifle and just slap a cable on it to make it shoot forever, would Triax have bothered with the railcar of doom? I'd just put one in each finger of the bot and wave people to death for 12D6X10MD per attack. I'm going to figure Triax thought of that and couldn't make it work.


Now, what about a mystic knight with an ATL-7? I'd let it fire every 3 actions, one to fire, two to reload and cool down to fire again, just like it would on e-clips. Magic, baby. Solves a lot of problems.

Similarly, a Techno-wizard with the sub-particle acceleration spell could whip up a PPE powered e-clip, though at 6 shots per 20PPE, a standard 20 shot e-clip would take ~60 PPE to fill, so that's less than efficient, but in the hands of a dragon, godling, or lizard mage this could work.

[Killer Cyborg]

Just do something like this:

viewtopic.php?p=2600480#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

[MadGreenSon]

Just do something like this:

viewtopic.php?p=2600480#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

I mean, why not right? If you're gonna go over the top, you might as well go all the way over the top, right?

[ITWastrel]

Just do something like this:

viewtopic.php?p=2600480#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

Since rifles, normal ones, CAN be wired into a power supply for infinite shots, I present this:

A large launcher-box like structure with 200 Wilkes 457 pulse rifles set in a perfectly aligned grid. Twenty rifles long, Ten rifles high, and mounted on a robot vehicle wired to its nuclear power supply. Each rifle does 1D6X10 per pulse burst, making a total of 200D6X10, or 2D6X1000 for easy rolling.

Or the upgraded version, using 500 Naruni NE75H shoulder cannons, with automatic magazine exchanger system. That's a 6000' range with sniper accuracy, and [(2D4X10+20)X500] 1D4X10,000+10,000 MD per shot. For that one you might need GM permission, though.


_edit I posted this and it disappeared from the forum. Reposting, but someone should look into missing posts. Unless, of course, something about ridiculously comedic and over the top ideas is against forum rules, somehow? O.o

[Blue_Lion]

Just do something like this:

viewtopic.php?p=2600480#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

Since rifles, normal ones, CAN be wired into a power supply for infinite shots, I present this:

A large launcher-box like structure with 200 Wilkes 457 pulse rifles set in a perfectly aligned grid. Twenty rifles long, Ten rifles high, and mounted on a robot vehicle wired to its nuclear power supply. Each rifle does 1D6X10 per pulse burst, making a total of 200D6X10, or 2D6X1000 for easy rolling.

Or the upgraded version, using 500 Naruni NE75H shoulder cannons, with automatic magazine exchanger system. That's a 6000' range with sniper accuracy, and [(2D4X10+20)X500] 1D4X10,000+10,000 MD per shot. For that one you might need GM permission, though.


_edit I posted this and it disappeared from the forum. Reposting, but someone should look into missing posts. Unless, of course, something about ridiculously comedic and over the top ideas is against forum rules, somehow? O.o

We also know from some big energy weapons that nuke power plants can not provide unlimited damage. They have recharge on some of the big energy weapons with normal small nuke plants. Nukes provide constant power but not unlimited.
200 pulse riles would consume more power than the power plant of a robot could put out.

[Shark_Force]

once you're talking about strapping a rather expensive piece of equipment like a nuclear power supply to something, I don't think it makes *too* much sense to worry about what your capacitors are going to be. there is already a device that is capable of holding sufficient charge to fire an ATL-7... an e-clip.

so basically, you just have them set up to charge over time, your max capacity increases by one per e-clip you have, and you recharge an e-clip every so often.

the trick, of course, is that it probably stops being particularly usable by a single person before you get too far into this procedure.

the tech almost certainly exists to create this monstrosity of a weapon... but just in terms of bulk, it's going to pretty quickly get difficult to use.

[Library Ogre]

Just do something like this:

https://palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewt ... 0#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

Good gods, that's a hell-beast of a weapon.

[MadGreenSon]

Good gods, that's a hell-beast of a weapon.

I'm having the mental image of one guy going ham, hosing down whatever the enemy is with that beast and people off to the sides being pelted with the tons of spent e-clips that monstrosity would be spitting out.

Winning has never been less dignified.

[drewkitty ~..~]

What if we take ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle tie to a nuclear power supply so
here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted ) ?

the second question is there a nuclear energy drum or nuclear pack back for I.D.K runs on years .(Would this work FOR supernatural PS, cyborgs, and power armor troopers)?

the thrid question is possible to extend the range by without loss damage output ????

If I was the GM answers....
A ATL-7 with a vehicle power source: still a single shot per APM, with a max of 7 shots per melee. This modification would only be made with a large skill penalty.
-The power use is not comparable to any GB weapons.
-GB2098: location citation please.

Nuclear Power Pack: (As in a vehicle power source put into a backpack) same as Q1, but the char gets cancer within a year if they can't carry the shielding along with the power core. This happening through the typical MDC body armor.
-Rail-Gun power packs....would have to do lots of math to find how much each would supply the ATL-7. which would mean I would nix the idea cause I'm a lazy GM.

Extended range can be gotten (to a point) via good marksmanship. (its a laser, and doing MD. the air isn't going to detract the power point much for miles and miles. but there will be abundant collateral damage by setting SDC things on fire.))
--in space: limited to the marksmanship of the user.
--the ATL-7 would melt the 1st mirror if it wasn't MDC.

*fan created laser weapon; no comment*

[Sohisohi]

Just stack reactor and if your GM giving you any lip, stack even more reactors.

[ZINO]

Just do something like this:

viewtopic.php?p=2600480#p2600480

PCA-ATL7G
A gatling-gun version of the ATL-7, which uses 6 ATL-7s mounted in a device that ejects spent E-clips, and reloads each gun as they rotate through the circuit. If the weapon is not mounted on a vehicle or stable platform, carrying and firing it requires a PS of 30, a Robotic PS of 24, or a Supernatural PS of 20.
Weight: 350 lbs
Damage: 3d6x10+20 MD per single shot, 2d6x100 MD per short burst (6 shots, counts as one attack).
Range: 3,000'
Ammunition: Either a special belt that can be loaded with conventional E-Clips (CR 1,000 per 100 clips of length), or a nuclear power supply that can power each gun (CR 1 million, 2 year life)
Cost: CR 1 million

Good gods, that's a hell-beast of a weapon.

INDEED !!!WOW !!!!!!!!

[ZINO]

iirc there is a rifter FAQ that addresses this and basically says "you can't".

which makes sense, given most nuke plants wouldn't have the kind of instant output the thing needs to work (since it drains a full eclip in an instant, while a nuclear charger takes minutes to recharge an eclip), so you'd basically have to rig up some sort of capacitor system (likely actually using an eclip) that would be recharged slowly between shots.

can you find where and possible show us thank you

[ZINO]

What if we take ATL-7 Anti-Tank Laser Rifle tie to a nuclear power supply so
here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted ) ?

the second question is there a nuclear energy drum or nuclear pack back for I.D.K runs on years .(Would this work FOR supernatural PS, cyborgs, and power armor troopers)?

the thrid question is possible to extend the range by without loss damage output ????

If I was the GM answers....
A ATL-7 with a vehicle power source: still a single shot per APM, with a max of 7 shots per melee. This modification would only be made with a large skill penalty.
-The power use is not comparable to any GB weapons.
-GB2098: location citation please.

Nuclear Power Pack: (As in a vehicle power source put into a backpack) same as Q1, but the char gets cancer within a year if they can't carry the shielding along with the power core. This happening through the typical MDC body armor.
-Rail-Gun power packs....would have to do lots of math to find how much each would supply the ATL-7. which would mean I would nix the idea cause I'm a lazy GM.

Extended range can be gotten (to a point) via good marksmanship. (its a laser, and doing MD. the air isn't going to detract the power point much for miles and miles. but there will be abundant collateral damage by setting SDC things on fire.))
--in space: limited to the marksmanship of the user.
--the ATL-7 would melt the 1st mirror if it wasn't MDC.

*fan created laser weapon; no comment*

I really like what you said here if u have more information post it

[ZINO]

wish to add this
here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted with nuclear power systems forgot to add to power amour and giant robot with nuclear power systems ?

[ShadowLogan]

Rail Guns that are powered by E-Clips (in my incomplete Rifts Library) and specifically mentioned as such:
Northern Gun has two in Merc Ops (pg93: NG-303 and NG-R50)
Bandit 5000 series (New West pg175-6)

I'm going to ignore the Bandit 5000 series as it somehow gets 960 Rail Gun shots off per Eclip, which drastically outclasses the Northern Gun Rail Guns (they don't even get 1/10th of that payload).

The Northern Gun Rail Guns hold 160 & 288 MD worth of energy* on a standard Eclip and 576 MD worth of energy on a Long Eclip. Northern Gun Lasers* hold 240-504 MD worth of energy on a Long Eclip and 120-252MD worth of energy on a standard Eclip. The ATL-7 holds 200MD worth of energy.

Compared to the MD energy worth in an Eclip per the Power Lech RCC (WB12 pg126-8), a standard Eclip is supposed to hold 200MD and a Long Eclip holds 300MD.

Now none of those NG weapons draws 200MD worth of energy for one attack. The NG Railguns also under perform in terms of range and damage compared to the vast majority of nuclear powered versions (Note technically the NG-R50 does more damage on a single round basis and the NG-303 does comparable single round damage, but they fall short in the range).

This leads me to think that unless the nuclear powered platform can simultaneously power 1 or more energy weapons with greater than or equaling 200MD worth of damage in one attack period an ATL-7 can not be powered by said nuclear power source. This by default rules out nuclear power packs used for portable Rail Guns, you would need a suitable vehicle/power armor/robot-vehicle to pull this off.

*

Spoiler:

MD worth of energy = non-crit max damage for one round * payload.

**

Spoiler:

Those that I could find are the NG-SR3, NG-L5 (technically the NG-LG6 is identical to the NG-L5 stats so was ignored), the LG-LP25, NG-SSL20, NG-33, NG-Super Laser.

I am using the version as they appear in the Rifts Main Book and MercOps

[Blue_Lion]

I do not think I know of any normal/robot vehicle that can provide that much power per attack. Heck Nurni sells a tank that only recharges 1 1d6X 10 MD blast per melee round. No normal CS or TRiax apear to have energy weapons doing much more than 2d6X10 MD. So I do not think a power plant has the output needed to power the ATL-10.

[Blue_Lion]

wish to add this
here is the first question what would the Rate of Fire be: Single shot only; so would it be hand to hand only ( this is vehicle-mounted with nuclear power systems forgot to add to power amour and giant robot with nuclear power systems ?

Single shot only means only 1 blast per attack. It does not mean you have to use it in hand to hand, just that it can not burst fire.

[glitterboy2098]

iirc there is a rifter FAQ that addresses this and basically says "you can't".

which makes sense, given most nuke plants wouldn't have the kind of instant output the thing needs to work (since it drains a full eclip in an instant, while a nuclear charger takes minutes to recharge an eclip), so you'd basically have to rig up some sort of capacitor system (likely actually using an eclip) that would be recharged slowly between shots.

can you find where and possible show us thank you

found it. Rifter 24, page 18. it's the 9th question. Answers by Rodney Scott, Shawn Merrow, and Kevin Siembieda

Can you Link up the ATL-7 Anti-tank Laser to a nuclear power plant? Can you also convert other weapons to fire linked to a nuclear power supply?
No, the energy drain caused by the ATL-7 is too powerful, and the weapon would not be able to draw enough power to fire. Other weapons can be converted to be powered off nuclear power plants, but generally they cannot be powered by a standard cyborg nuclear battery.

so pretty cut and dried. the ATL-7 cannot be rigged to draw from a nuclear plant. and while other weapons can, they need a fairly potent power plant to do so.

[MadGreenSon]

so pretty cut and dried. the ATL-7 cannot be rigged to draw from a nuclear plant. and while other weapons can, they need a fairly potent power plant to do so.

Which is why KC's "belt of E Clips" is the perfectly sane and rational solution.

[Killer Cyborg]

so pretty cut and dried. the ATL-7 cannot be rigged to draw from a nuclear plant. and while other weapons can, they need a fairly potent power plant to do so.

Which is why KC's "belt of E Clips" is the perfectly sane and rational solution.

That's me!
Killer "Sane & Rational" Cyborg.

[drewkitty ~..~]

so pretty cut and dried. the ATL-7 cannot be rigged to draw from a nuclear plant. and while other weapons can, they need a fairly potent power plant to do so.

Which is why KC's "belt of E Clips" is the perfectly sane and rational solution.

That's me!
Killer "Sane & Rational" Cyborg.

*chuckles*
Maybe rational solution....but maybe not sane.

[MadGreenSon]

That's me!
Killer "Sane & Rational" Cyborg.

*chuckles*
Maybe rational solution....but maybe not sane.

Rational just means to proceed with logic and reason, doing that from a mad premise, i.e. "I want to make this one shot anti-tank laser shoot lots" to it's logical conclusion, you get some mad contruct spitting spent E-Clips all over the battlefield.

I like to image it being built and used by someone who looks and sounds like Mr Torgue from Borderlands.

[drewkitty ~..~]

That's me!
Killer "Sane & Rational" Cyborg.

*chuckles*
Maybe rational solution....but maybe not sane.

Rational just means to proceed with logic and reason, doing that from a mad premise, i.e. "I want to make this one shot anti-tank laser shoot lots" to it's logical conclusion, you get some mad contruct spitting spent E-Clips all over the battlefield.

I like to image it being built and used by someone who looks and sounds like Mr Torgue from Borderlands.

Having a lot of ammo for your weapon is rational.
Having/using a ammo gobbling weapon that does minimal damage is the 'questionably sane' part.

[Blue_Lion]

That's me!
Killer "Sane & Rational" Cyborg.

*chuckles*
Maybe rational solution....but maybe not sane.

Rational just means to proceed with logic and reason, doing that from a mad premise, i.e. "I want to make this one shot anti-tank laser shoot lots" to it's logical conclusion, you get some mad contruct spitting spent E-Clips all over the battlefield.

I like to image it being built and used by someone who looks and sounds like Mr Torgue from Borderlands.

Having a lot of ammo for your weapon is rational.
Having/using a ammo gobbling weapon that does minimal damage is the 'questionably sane' part.

Minimal damage and the ATL-7? How is a weapon doing more damage than a boom gun minimal?

[MadGreenSon]

Minimal damage and the ATL-7? How is a weapon doing more damage than a boom gun minimal?

I guess it depends what you're shooting at? It's pretty minimal for taking down starships.

[ShadowLogan]

I do not think I know of any normal/robot vehicle that can provide that much power per attack. Heck Nurni sells a tank that only recharges 1 1d6X 10 MD blast per melee round. No normal CS or TRiax apear to have energy weapons doing much more than 2d6X10 MD. So I do not think a power plant has the output needed to power the ATL-10.

It really depends on how one determines how much MD Energy is being used in some cases.

If every round in a rail gun burst is accounted for as using the same basic single round energy if it hits or not, then there are at least 11 platforms* that use railguns requiring this much power.

Overlapping actions by a multi-crew platform with energy drawing weapons could be counted individually or as a group for that one action. Though here I'd question if the power distribution can handle that much to one location without burning out/tripping breakers in a stock system (you could upgrade the system to handle it I would think).

*

Spoiler:

If factoring every round fired in the burst based on single round damage (note I have an incomplete Rifts Library):
Robot
QR-1 Enforcer Prime (WB22)
Coalition UAR-1 Enforcer (RMB/RUE)
Coalition Spider Walker (RMB/RUE)
Titan Combat Robot (RMB/RUE)

Power Armor
NG-X13 Samson Missile Man (MercOps)
NG Samson Power Armor (RMB/RUE)

Vehicles
CSN Mark I Barracuda (SB4)
Coalition Mark V: APC (RMB/RUE)
Iron Heart Tanks (2x in Mercenaries)
Naruni Juggernaut Heavy Hover Tank (DB13, Mercenaries)

There there are a few 1d6MD single round damage rail guns that fire 30 round bursts (Tarantula Glitterboy in WB22 and Chromiium Guardsman Power Armor in SB1r), which might be close enough depending on the GM. There is also an example that fires 40 rounds in a burst @1d6MD per round: the AT-1200 Super Rail Gun in WB8.

There where also ~22 Rail Guns that fired 50+ round bursts, but I do not have a single round damage that fall in the above categories, ignoring the big Naval Vessels. There are also 148 Rail Guns that don't list a single round (this includes the previous ~22 and it includes the big naval vessels, it should be noted 10 do not even list a burst size, and some of these are actually Gravity Guns that I classify as Railgun). So list is potentially longer.

[Library Ogre]

An alternate solution (not really available because of how the ATL-7 is written) is that you use something other than "real" e-clips, and require some exotic material for each shot. That would make the rotary cannon a lot harder to manage.

Like, instead of just an e-clip, what if you also required a rod of frozen xenon, allowing you to create a xenon-halogen laser? It could be like lazing a stick of dynamite, even.

[Killer Cyborg]

An alternate solution (not really available because of how the ATL-7 is written) is that you use something other than "real" e-clips, and require some exotic material for each shot. That would make the rotary cannon a lot harder to manage.

Like, instead of just an e-clip, what if you also required a rod of frozen xenon, allowing you to create a xenon-halogen laser? It could be like lazing a stick of dynamite, even.

Actually, now I'm wondering about stuff like E-Canisters, NG Self-Charging Power Packs, CS Mini-Power Packs, Russian E-Packs, and so forth.
Some of that stuff might let you get more than one shot before reloading.

Even just a C-12-like E-Canister & E-Clip combo should allow for 2 shots, if you tinker with the port to allow for that kind of setup.

[Library Ogre]

There's lots of things that weren't considered.

[Mack]

Or you build a device that holds a bank of 10 (or 20, or 30...) e-clips, with an "e-clip like" plug that goes into the ATL-7. Now you don't have to reload until you've spent every e-clip in the bank.

[Mack]

Or... we could use some Techo-Wizardey to crack this nut.

The spell Sub-Particle Acceleration (lvl 7, BoM p119) will put 6 shots into an e-clip. I'm going to round that off and say 3 applications of Sub-Particle Acceleration will completely recharge a standard e-clip.

Next, we build a pretty straightforward TW device that holds a single e-clip. When activated, the device rapid fires the Sub-Particle Acceleration spell three times, completely recharging the e-clip. It also has a cable that runs to the ATL-7.

So you fire the ATL-7 (which empties the e-clip), then activate the device (which re-charges the e-clip). Rinse and repeat.

Device Stats:
-- Device Level 1
-- Spell: Sub-Particle Acceleration (no others needed)
-- Gems: 6.33 carats of Red Zircon, and 4.5 carats of Diamonds (for PPE storage)
-- Activation: 3 PPE per spell (but the device rapid fires the spell 3 times, so 9 PPE)
-- Payload: 10 activations (that's 10 triple fires, so 30 individual spells), 90 PPE in storage
-- Construction: 60 PPE and 6 hours
-- Build Cost: 80,800 credits

[MadGreenSon]

Or... we could use some Techo-Wizardey to crack this nut.

The spell Sub-Particle Acceleration (lvl 7, BoM p119) will put 6 shots into an e-clip. I'm going to round that off and say 3 applications of Sub-Particle Acceleration will completely recharge a standard e-clip.

Next, we build a pretty straightforward TW device that holds a single e-clip. When activated, the device rapid fires the Sub-Particle Acceleration spell three times, completely recharging the e-clip. It also has a cable that runs to the ATL-7.

So you fire the ATL-7 (which empties the e-clip), then activate the device (which re-charges the e-clip). Rinse and repeat.

Device Stats:
-- Device Level 1
-- Spell: Sub-Particle Acceleration (no others needed)
-- Gems: 6.33 carats of Red Zircon, and 4.5 carats of Diamonds (for PPE storage)
-- Activation: 3 PPE per spell (but the device rapid fires the spell 3 times, so 9 PPE)
-- Payload: 10 activations (that's 10 triple fires, so 30 individual spells), 90 PPE in storage
-- Construction: 60 PPE and 6 hours
-- Build Cost: 80,800 credits

Looks fairly plausible to me. It's also my favorite kind of Techno Wizardry; a true blend of technology and magic to make something strong. Much better than "spell in a can" type stuff which a lot of the earliest TW stuff basically was.

[guardiandashi]

consider the nuclear power packs from rifts mercenaries, add 10-20 eclip batteries into it as a buffer between the nuclear power pack, and the charging port, and it could fire the gun a number of times equal to the number of batteries, plus however recharges you would get before you managed to empty the batteries.

[MadGreenSon]

Tell you what, figuring out fast ways to crack armor to get at the creamy goodness inside sure does make me appreciate things like Phase weapons and various spells that just sidestep the issue and act directly on the screaming meat behind the armor.

[ZINO]

I do not think I know of any normal/robot vehicle that can provide that much power per attack. Heck Nurni sells a tank that only recharges 1 1d6X 10 MD blast per melee round. No normal CS or TRiax apear to have energy weapons doing much more than 2d6X10 MD. So I do not think a power plant has the output needed to power the ATL-10.

It really depends on how one determines how much MD Energy is being used in some cases.

If every round in a rail gun burst is accounted for as using the same basic single round energy if it hits or not, then there are at least 11 platforms* that use railguns requiring this much power.

Overlapping actions by a multi-crew platform with energy drawing weapons could be counted individually or as a group for that one action. Though here I'd question if the power distribution can handle that much to one location without burning out/tripping breakers in a stock system (you could upgrade the system to handle it I would think).

*

Spoiler:

If factoring every round fired in the burst based on single round damage (note I have an incomplete Rifts Library):
Robot
QR-1 Enforcer Prime (WB22)
Coalition UAR-1 Enforcer (RMB/RUE)
Coalition Spider Walker (RMB/RUE)
Titan Combat Robot (RMB/RUE)

Power Armor
NG-X13 Samson Missile Man (MercOps)
NG Samson Power Armor (RMB/RUE)

Vehicles
CSN Mark I Barracuda (SB4)
Coalition Mark V: APC (RMB/RUE)
Iron Heart Tanks (2x in Mercenaries)
Naruni Juggernaut Heavy Hover Tank (DB13, Mercenaries)

There there are a few 1d6MD single round damage rail guns that fire 30 round bursts (Tarantula Glitterboy in WB22 and Chromiium Guardsman Power Armor in SB1r), which might be close enough depending on the GM. There is also an example that fires 40 rounds in a burst @1d6MD per round: the AT-1200 Super Rail Gun in WB8.

There where also ~22 Rail Guns that fired 50+ round bursts, but I do not have a single round damage that fall in the above categories, ignoring the big Naval Vessels. There are also 148 Rail Guns that don't list a single round (this includes the previous ~22 and it includes the big naval vessels, it should be noted 10 do not even list a burst size, and some of these are actually Gravity Guns that I classify as Railgun). So list is potentially longer.

Your spoiler is SWEET MAN!!

[ZINO]

Or you build a device that holds a bank of 10 (or 20, or 30...) e-clips, with an "e-clip like" plug that goes into the ATL-7. Now you don't have to reload until you've spent every e-clip in the bank.

[ZINO]

Or... we could use some Techo-Wizardey to crack this nut.

The spell Sub-Particle Acceleration (lvl 7, BoM p119) will put 6 shots into an e-clip. I'm going to round that off and say 3 applications of Sub-Particle Acceleration will completely recharge a standard e-clip.

Next, we build a pretty straightforward TW device that holds a single e-clip. When activated, the device rapid fires the Sub-Particle Acceleration spell three times, completely recharging the e-clip. It also has a cable that runs to the ATL-7.

So you fire the ATL-7 (which empties the e-clip), then activate the device (which re-charges the e-clip). Rinse and repeat.

Device Stats:
-- Device Level 1
-- Spell: Sub-Particle Acceleration (no others needed)
-- Gems: 6.33 carats of Red Zircon, and 4.5 carats of Diamonds (for PPE storage)
-- Activation: 3 PPE per spell (but the device rapid fires the spell 3 times, so 9 PPE)
-- Payload: 10 activations (that's 10 triple fires, so 30 individual spells), 90 PPE in storage
-- Construction: 60 PPE and 6 hours
-- Build Cost: 80,800 credits

Mack, Can we add a P.P.E Battery of 100 PPE That can be added and removed ?

[Mack]

Mack, Can we add a P.P.E Battery of 100 PPE That can be added and removed ?

Not exactly. While there are PPE clips (from Stormspire in FoM, if memory serves) there's no mention of how they're made or exactly how much PPE is held, so I typically avoid using them in the TW stuff I create. But if your GM is cool with it, go right ahead.

Alternatively, more PPE could be stored in the device by adding more Diamonds.

[ZINO]

Mack, Can we add a P.P.E Battery of 100 PPE That can be added and removed ?

Not exactly. While there are PPE clips (from Stormspire in FoM, if memory serves) there's no mention of how they're made or exactly how much PPE is held, so I typically avoid using them in the TW stuff I create. But if your GM is cool with it, go right ahead.

Alternatively, more PPE could be stored in the device by adding more Diamonds.

[guardiandashi]

Mack, Can we add a P.P.E Battery of 100 PPE That can be added and removed ?

Not exactly. While there are PPE clips (from Stormspire in FoM, if memory serves) there's no mention of how they're made or exactly how much PPE is held, so I typically avoid using them in the TW stuff I create. But if your GM is cool with it, go right ahead.

Alternatively, more PPE could be stored in the device by adding more Diamonds.

from what I found its ~20ppe per carat of diamonds so if you can think of a way to make it you could make a 100 ppe "battery" with ~5carats of diamonds each.

[MadGreenSon]

The whole gemstone thing for Techno Wizardry really makes you appreciate how easy the United Worlds of Warlock has it. They aren't grubbing around on one planet for this stuff, they have multiple star systems of resources and a culture and economy set up to facilitate magical applications.

[ShadowLogan]

Or... we could use some Techo-Wizardey to crack this nut.

The spell Sub-Particle Acceleration (lvl 7, BoM p119) will put 6 shots into an e-clip. I'm going to round that off and say 3 applications of Sub-Particle Acceleration will completely recharge a standard e-clip.

Next, we build a pretty straightforward TW device that holds a single e-clip. When activated, the device rapid fires the Sub-Particle Acceleration spell three times, completely recharging the e-clip. It also has a cable that runs to the ATL-7.

So you fire the ATL-7 (which empties the e-clip), then activate the device (which re-charges the e-clip). Rinse and repeat.

Device Stats:
-- Device Level 1
-- Spell: Sub-Particle Acceleration (no others needed)
-- Gems: 6.33 carats of Red Zircon, and 4.5 carats of Diamonds (for PPE storage)
-- Activation: 3 PPE per spell (but the device rapid fires the spell 3 times, so 9 PPE)
-- Payload: 10 activations (that's 10 triple fires, so 30 individual spells), 90 PPE in storage
-- Construction: 60 PPE and 6 hours
-- Build Cost: 80,800 credits

Well if we're going the magic route how about instead:
-make it Ley Line Powered (likely dual mode so the weapon is still useful off the ley line)
-the expensive and potent Symbiotic Weapon Modification from WB2 Atlantis (pg125) that would deliver unlimited payload (and bonus damage, plus other nifty magic features). The downside is availability (rare) and cost (100mil).
-use TW to "beam" the power from a remote location (the power could be conventionally or nuclear or magically generated or maybe even something more exotic). Not sure if this can be done per say, this is only in the concept stage.
-Gizmoteer TW can convert it to run off ISP (WB9 pg158), though this will result in a broken recharge value (I don't think they where considering converting the ATL-7 when they made these rules, other weapons are likely a better fit)
-a "Timeslip" (7second duration, which should be long enough to) or "Swap Places" (the empty Eclip swaps with a full Eclip from storage) to allow one to reload fresh regular Eclips into the weapon faster, concept stages.

[Shark_Force]

not so sure about the rapid-fire use of sub-particle acceleration having no added cost in that TW device.

that feels a bit sketchy to me. I mean, it should probably be possible in theory for a TW device to cast a spell multiple times in rapid succession (no added action cost), but I would expect you would need to do something beyond just paying normal costs and not needing anything special at all.

so personally, I would assume that the actual device would be much more involved to make, and would likely reflect that in needing extra gems, extra parts, extra construction time, additional cost in credits, more time to research, and probably needing an extra spell chain or two.

with that said, you would still have an e-clip charger that could refill an e-clip in 3 actions at a very low PPE cost based on your calculations. I think as a GM I would probably require you to develop a slightly longer spell chain since I can't recall any TW devices that only required one spell to put together. I imagine you could still do it at a pretty low cost though.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I will point out that make a magically recharged e-clip is more in the way of the "merging of magic and tech" than an outright conver.....making a magic item out of the parts of a tech device.