Human Faction: Jarlsheim, Weapons and Equipment
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:57 am
A Raven Feeder Quartermaster's Guide
In the years prior to the fall of the ECoH, most military units belonging to the worlds and colonies making up the current factions were remnants of armed resistance cells that had fought in the war against Ädelhart and the Bhat.
Because each cell had it's own practices and it's own preferred equipment and most importantly because the ECoH simply did not have the resources to standardize the equipment of such a large and diverse force of soldiers, the ECoH used a practice referred to as 'Se Armant' (latin for 'They arm themselves/each other'), where each world or division was responsible for arming it's own troops with a basic budget provided by the ECoH if needed.
Several decades of peace, followed by the forming of the Factions however has made it so that setting up a standardized load out for each soldier per faction is both feasible and, in the face of heavy recruitment, even essential.
Jarlsheim Protectorate:
As of the year Secession + 3, Jarlsheim was the first Faction to fully standardize military equipment for all it's units.
Varangian Arms PCAR3
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Assault Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 450 RPM
Grip: Straight
The Personal Coiled Assault Rifle '3 made by Varangian Arms, the main supplier of the Jarlsheim arsenal, is a result of Jarlsheimi research into viable electromagnetic weapons for the use of solid ammunition.
The main problem faced by VA designers was the fact that regular ferric (iron and steel or amalgams containing iron) ammunition simply did not keep it's shape under the forces required to penetrate modern day armour.
After several attempts at using miniaturized shaped charged or a railgun design for the purpose of delivering non-ferric bullets, it was a straightforward idea by a young lab tech that provided the perfect solution.
The PCAR3 uses a two-phase magnetic coil to fire an artificial diamond bullet, 8mm in diameter, threaded with four spirals of non-magnetized steel. The advantage of this cartridge, aside from it's high penetration potential, is that the steel spirals threaded around the bullet cause it to spin as it leaves the barrel. Rifling is generally useless in Coil guns, but the ferric thread of the 8mm+4TF produces a very similar effect, increasing accuracy.
At 450 RPM, the PCAR3 has a very low rate of fire for an assault rifle. This was a conscious decision by the designers, rather than a technical limitation, based on their conclusion that the most effective method of firing for any Assault Rifle is in short bursts. The reduced rate of fire allows for a smaller coil than was used in test models (which had an RPM of between 1500 and 2000 RPM) and also reduces energy drains on the magazine's battery.
Varangian Arms LCMG3
Type: Light Electromagnetic Coil Machine gun (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 2500 RPM
Grip: Straight
Born in the same project as the PCAR3, the Varangian Arms Light Coil Machine Gun '3 is a heavier version of the same design. Mounted with a bipod and fed from a 2000 round 'box slide' magazine, the LCMG3 features a longer barrel and a heavier coil than it's little brother.
This weapon can fully discharge it's magazine in less than a minute. Combined with a special magazine that is easy to replace when empty, this allows a LCMG3 equipped soldier to lay down a near-continuous hail of bullets.
Unlike the PCAR3, the LCMG3 is not meant for 'on the move' firing, due to it's cumbersome design, and as such it is not quite as useful when not deployed into a stable position. It is, however, excellent at providing suppressive fire and covering important tactical positions, such as bottlenecks and doors and windows.
Varangian Arms HRCG4
Type: Heavy Electromagnetic Rail Chain Gun (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm UDF (Unthreaded Diamond Flechette)
Rate of Fire: 2x3000 RPM
Grip: Straight
Half a year after it's Coil Gun cousins were first approved, the Heavy Rail Chain Gun '4 resulted from a side-project in the Electromagnetic Armaments project.
Unlike the threaded bullets of the '3 designs, the HRCG4 uses completely non-magnetic diamond 'darts' intended for optimal penetration of heavy infantry and light vehicle armour.
The HRCG4 has two barrels, both of which use a chain of steel 'slings' to fling it's projectiles at incredible speeds and firing rates.
Unlike the Coil guns, the HRCG4 is not technically intended for infantry use and is instead used solely in a vehicle mounted or base defence role.
Varangian Arms TAPCSR 'Deathbolt'
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Anti-Personnel Sniper Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 14mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 150 RPM
Grip: Straight
The Deathbolt Tactical Anti-Personnel Coiled Snipe Rifle is an assassin's weapon. Snipers equipped with the Deathbolt are not meant to get into direct combat and they are not intended to waste their ammo on rank-and-file soldiers.
Jarlsheim snipers instead focus on breaking down the enemy's chain of command by taking out anyone in charge.
This weapon has a relatively low rate of fire for a Varangian Arms weapon, but since it is completely recoilless at 150 RPM, it can take out a general and anyone standing nearby in a single minute. This means that the survival rate of anyone who steps into a Jarlsheim sniper's scope is slim to none.
The Deathbolt's 14mm rounds, as opposed to the standard 8mm used by most other VA weapons means a heavier bullet, which in turn increases stopping power. The bullets use flechette style wings, while still using the standard four threads of ferric material to allow coil gun firing. This lends it stability to compensate for the larger round's susceptibility to gravity.
Varangian Arms MCAR5
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Marksman's Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 14mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 550 RPM
Grip: Straight
A marriage of the VA LCMG3 and the Deathbolt, the Marksman's Coiled Assault Rifle '5 features the Light Machine gun's overall build with a Deathbolt type scope and loading mechanism. This cuts down on the bulk of the LCMG3, allowing the user to fire it accurately without the bipod. Nevertheless the integrated bipod is still incorporated in the design.
The MCAR5 was created primarily to lend Jarlsheim troops defensibility against enemy snipers as well as other enemy positions.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Peeps'
Type: Personal Plasma Sidearm (Carbon Plasma pistol)
Cartridge: 10SCP (Ten shot Carbon Plasma)
Rate of Fire: 50 RPM
Grip: Pistol
When the weapon bids for Jarlsheim's military armament were up, Varangian Arms was not the only company to propose weapons. Jarlsheim Terraforming had years of experience working with carbon plasma, a result of the method used to reduce the amount of Carbon-Dioxide in Jarlsheim's atmosphere.
Realizing they could not compete with Varangian Arms' excellent Assault Rifle and Machine Gun prototypes, JT instead focussed on making weapons which would be able to use the significant power of plasma, without being hindered by it's main weakness: lack of range.
The 'Peeps' Personal Plasma Sidearm is intended for short range use only, which is not a problem for a sidearm, and fires a powerful 'short stream' of Plasma at the intended target. Though the plasma dissipates quite quickly against highly armoured targets, it wreaks havoc on flesh and light armour.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Untrencher'
Type: Plasmathrower (Carbon Plasma streamer)
Cartridge: CP10min (10 minute tank)
Rate of Fire: 100 liters/min
Grip: Pistol
Another JT close range weapon, the 'Untrencher' Tactical Plasma Streamer harkens back to one of the earliest plasma weapons known to man: The flamethrower.
Working on similar principles, the Untrencher is used to fire a wide, all consuming stream of Carbon plasma into enemy positions. With a range of only 50-100 meters, it's user needs to get close, but the intended target isn't usually moving any way.
Field testing revealed that the Untrencher has a secondary use as well: When fired for only a few seconds at, for instance, a closed door, the weapon's stream covers what's hit with a layer of a mixture of graphite and diamond (bort, specifically). This effectively seals said door against all attempts to open it from the other side, short of burning through.
For this reason, many heavily armoured victims on the Untrencher die not from plasma burns, but suffocation as the weapon coats any enemies with armour strong enough to withstand it in the same substance, causing them to remain immobile with their air filters clogged up until they run out of air, or of dehydration, if they are unlucky enough to be immobilized without having their air filters clogged.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Boomstick'
Type: Anti-personnel Plasma Trenchgun (Carbon Plasma Trenchgun)
Cartridge: 15SCP (fifteen shot Carbon Plasma)
Rate of Fire: 150 RPM
Grip: Pistol
The Boomstick is the last in the line of JT's plasma-based weapon. A plasma-based trenchgun, it serves a similar function as the Untrencher, but is easier to carry and does not require a designated user.
The Boomstick fires a more focussed 'stream' of plasma than the Untrencher, allowing it to burn through slightly thicker armour. It's mainly to be used as the designated weapon of the point man of a trench/position clearing operation, but has also been used as a boarding weapon in ship-to-ship action, where it excels due to a lack of heavy armour on the enemy's side.
In the years prior to the fall of the ECoH, most military units belonging to the worlds and colonies making up the current factions were remnants of armed resistance cells that had fought in the war against Ädelhart and the Bhat.
Because each cell had it's own practices and it's own preferred equipment and most importantly because the ECoH simply did not have the resources to standardize the equipment of such a large and diverse force of soldiers, the ECoH used a practice referred to as 'Se Armant' (latin for 'They arm themselves/each other'), where each world or division was responsible for arming it's own troops with a basic budget provided by the ECoH if needed.
Several decades of peace, followed by the forming of the Factions however has made it so that setting up a standardized load out for each soldier per faction is both feasible and, in the face of heavy recruitment, even essential.
Jarlsheim Protectorate:
As of the year Secession + 3, Jarlsheim was the first Faction to fully standardize military equipment for all it's units.
Varangian Arms PCAR3
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Assault Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 450 RPM
Grip: Straight
The Personal Coiled Assault Rifle '3 made by Varangian Arms, the main supplier of the Jarlsheim arsenal, is a result of Jarlsheimi research into viable electromagnetic weapons for the use of solid ammunition.
The main problem faced by VA designers was the fact that regular ferric (iron and steel or amalgams containing iron) ammunition simply did not keep it's shape under the forces required to penetrate modern day armour.
After several attempts at using miniaturized shaped charged or a railgun design for the purpose of delivering non-ferric bullets, it was a straightforward idea by a young lab tech that provided the perfect solution.
The PCAR3 uses a two-phase magnetic coil to fire an artificial diamond bullet, 8mm in diameter, threaded with four spirals of non-magnetized steel. The advantage of this cartridge, aside from it's high penetration potential, is that the steel spirals threaded around the bullet cause it to spin as it leaves the barrel. Rifling is generally useless in Coil guns, but the ferric thread of the 8mm+4TF produces a very similar effect, increasing accuracy.
At 450 RPM, the PCAR3 has a very low rate of fire for an assault rifle. This was a conscious decision by the designers, rather than a technical limitation, based on their conclusion that the most effective method of firing for any Assault Rifle is in short bursts. The reduced rate of fire allows for a smaller coil than was used in test models (which had an RPM of between 1500 and 2000 RPM) and also reduces energy drains on the magazine's battery.
Varangian Arms LCMG3
Type: Light Electromagnetic Coil Machine gun (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 2500 RPM
Grip: Straight
Born in the same project as the PCAR3, the Varangian Arms Light Coil Machine Gun '3 is a heavier version of the same design. Mounted with a bipod and fed from a 2000 round 'box slide' magazine, the LCMG3 features a longer barrel and a heavier coil than it's little brother.
This weapon can fully discharge it's magazine in less than a minute. Combined with a special magazine that is easy to replace when empty, this allows a LCMG3 equipped soldier to lay down a near-continuous hail of bullets.
Unlike the PCAR3, the LCMG3 is not meant for 'on the move' firing, due to it's cumbersome design, and as such it is not quite as useful when not deployed into a stable position. It is, however, excellent at providing suppressive fire and covering important tactical positions, such as bottlenecks and doors and windows.
Varangian Arms HRCG4
Type: Heavy Electromagnetic Rail Chain Gun (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 8mm UDF (Unthreaded Diamond Flechette)
Rate of Fire: 2x3000 RPM
Grip: Straight
Half a year after it's Coil Gun cousins were first approved, the Heavy Rail Chain Gun '4 resulted from a side-project in the Electromagnetic Armaments project.
Unlike the threaded bullets of the '3 designs, the HRCG4 uses completely non-magnetic diamond 'darts' intended for optimal penetration of heavy infantry and light vehicle armour.
The HRCG4 has two barrels, both of which use a chain of steel 'slings' to fling it's projectiles at incredible speeds and firing rates.
Unlike the Coil guns, the HRCG4 is not technically intended for infantry use and is instead used solely in a vehicle mounted or base defence role.
Varangian Arms TAPCSR 'Deathbolt'
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Anti-Personnel Sniper Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 14mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 150 RPM
Grip: Straight
The Deathbolt Tactical Anti-Personnel Coiled Snipe Rifle is an assassin's weapon. Snipers equipped with the Deathbolt are not meant to get into direct combat and they are not intended to waste their ammo on rank-and-file soldiers.
Jarlsheim snipers instead focus on breaking down the enemy's chain of command by taking out anyone in charge.
This weapon has a relatively low rate of fire for a Varangian Arms weapon, but since it is completely recoilless at 150 RPM, it can take out a general and anyone standing nearby in a single minute. This means that the survival rate of anyone who steps into a Jarlsheim sniper's scope is slim to none.
The Deathbolt's 14mm rounds, as opposed to the standard 8mm used by most other VA weapons means a heavier bullet, which in turn increases stopping power. The bullets use flechette style wings, while still using the standard four threads of ferric material to allow coil gun firing. This lends it stability to compensate for the larger round's susceptibility to gravity.
Varangian Arms MCAR5
Type: Electromagnetic Coil Marksman's Rifle (slug thrower)
Cartridge: 14mm+4TF (Thread Ferric)
Rate of Fire: 550 RPM
Grip: Straight
A marriage of the VA LCMG3 and the Deathbolt, the Marksman's Coiled Assault Rifle '5 features the Light Machine gun's overall build with a Deathbolt type scope and loading mechanism. This cuts down on the bulk of the LCMG3, allowing the user to fire it accurately without the bipod. Nevertheless the integrated bipod is still incorporated in the design.
The MCAR5 was created primarily to lend Jarlsheim troops defensibility against enemy snipers as well as other enemy positions.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Peeps'
Type: Personal Plasma Sidearm (Carbon Plasma pistol)
Cartridge: 10SCP (Ten shot Carbon Plasma)
Rate of Fire: 50 RPM
Grip: Pistol
When the weapon bids for Jarlsheim's military armament were up, Varangian Arms was not the only company to propose weapons. Jarlsheim Terraforming had years of experience working with carbon plasma, a result of the method used to reduce the amount of Carbon-Dioxide in Jarlsheim's atmosphere.
Realizing they could not compete with Varangian Arms' excellent Assault Rifle and Machine Gun prototypes, JT instead focussed on making weapons which would be able to use the significant power of plasma, without being hindered by it's main weakness: lack of range.
The 'Peeps' Personal Plasma Sidearm is intended for short range use only, which is not a problem for a sidearm, and fires a powerful 'short stream' of Plasma at the intended target. Though the plasma dissipates quite quickly against highly armoured targets, it wreaks havoc on flesh and light armour.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Untrencher'
Type: Plasmathrower (Carbon Plasma streamer)
Cartridge: CP10min (10 minute tank)
Rate of Fire: 100 liters/min
Grip: Pistol
Another JT close range weapon, the 'Untrencher' Tactical Plasma Streamer harkens back to one of the earliest plasma weapons known to man: The flamethrower.
Working on similar principles, the Untrencher is used to fire a wide, all consuming stream of Carbon plasma into enemy positions. With a range of only 50-100 meters, it's user needs to get close, but the intended target isn't usually moving any way.
Field testing revealed that the Untrencher has a secondary use as well: When fired for only a few seconds at, for instance, a closed door, the weapon's stream covers what's hit with a layer of a mixture of graphite and diamond (bort, specifically). This effectively seals said door against all attempts to open it from the other side, short of burning through.
For this reason, many heavily armoured victims on the Untrencher die not from plasma burns, but suffocation as the weapon coats any enemies with armour strong enough to withstand it in the same substance, causing them to remain immobile with their air filters clogged up until they run out of air, or of dehydration, if they are unlucky enough to be immobilized without having their air filters clogged.
Jarlsheim Terraforming 'Boomstick'
Type: Anti-personnel Plasma Trenchgun (Carbon Plasma Trenchgun)
Cartridge: 15SCP (fifteen shot Carbon Plasma)
Rate of Fire: 150 RPM
Grip: Pistol
The Boomstick is the last in the line of JT's plasma-based weapon. A plasma-based trenchgun, it serves a similar function as the Untrencher, but is easier to carry and does not require a designated user.
The Boomstick fires a more focussed 'stream' of plasma than the Untrencher, allowing it to burn through slightly thicker armour. It's mainly to be used as the designated weapon of the point man of a trench/position clearing operation, but has also been used as a boarding weapon in ship-to-ship action, where it excels due to a lack of heavy armour on the enemy's side.