Some Weapons Range Comparisons (Gunboats, Captured Equipment circa ch5, Relic Equipment, Tripod Equipment)
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This post will contain a very mixed suite of weapons; as a result, it may be best to cross-reference it with other posts carefully. In addition, this post is sorted by weapon munition, not by weapon range (as most other posts had greater commonality of munitions and weapon class.)
For discussion and comparison, a No2 Loughcaster has a 40m system assist, 100m effective range, and 150m ballistic limit.
Sorting by munition, the first item on this list is the Foebreaker Mounted RPG Launcher. A double-barrel, tripod-mount RPG system is an unusual piece of equipment, but a potent one. The standard Foxtrot RPG shell is not a dedicated anti-armor weapon (a task left to the AT-RPG shell or the ARC/AT-RPG shell, with their own independent launchers), but rather a general-purpose explosive shell with a light fragmentation jacket. While servicable in the anti-armor roll, the Foebreaker is better used in building destruction as it offers the infantry an organic weapon with the reach to engage active AI bunkers, defended trench-lines, and across destroyed bridge spans with ease. In terms of range, the weapon system has excellent overall characteristics: a 5m minimum range (a trait shared across all RPG weapons), 40m system assist range, and 160m range to have fall of shot land within standard acceptable dispersion of 5m from point of aim. Maximum range is 1,000m, after which a safety fuse detonates the round.
Following this is the Colonial UV-26 "Icarus", which appears to be a factory modification of a UV-05a "Argonaut" retrofitted to mount ballistic armor over the cabin and a single-shot Colonial RPG tube over the fighting compartment, operated by a gunner-loader. Firing over a 30 degree forward angle, the launcher is a single shot RPG tube: nothing complicated or fancy. The weapon is relatively respectable in terms of damage and accuracy, with testing revealing a standard 5m minimum range for fuzing and a 40m assist range. However, due to mount instability, standard effective range is reduced to 120m, although this does not affect the 1,000m safety fuze. Otherwise, this is a very close copy of the Argonaut, and should be handled similarly: with massed 12.7mm fire or such anti-tank weapons are locally available. Low magazine size keeps it from being overly-dangerous, but it is still a danger if properly supported for its ability to easily damage fieldworks.
Continuing in the Colonial preference of using RPGs as vehicle primary weapons to up-gun their arsenal, the T-8 "Gemini" is a modification of the standard T3 "Xiphos" armored car. Equipped with a fully rotating turret that's had its 7.92mm light machine guns removed, it instead swaps them for a pair of RPG launch tubes. While limited in train of elevation and grievously harmed in terms of accuracy of fire due to narrow vision slits, the Gemini is at least reasonably capable of self-defense against infantry by means of the gunner using the loading hatch to spray fire from a Pitch Gun or throw fragmentation grenades as a 'backscratch' maneuver. For the main weapon, however, the dual RPG tubes have a distinctly problematic aiming pattern. With standard minimum range, system assist range, and maximum range (5m/40m/1,000m), the issues in correct elevation and the easy-to-damage linkages mean that the effective range varies wildly. Horizontal dispersion meets Warden standard (5m off aim point) out to 160m, and when in virginal condition the vertical dispersion meets Warden standard out to 140m. However, after any degree of rough handling or notable damage, horizontal dispersion is increased radically so as to make the effective range only 100m in the vertical. Re-zeroing the sight (a simple five-minute operation) will bring this back to 120m of accuracy, but without knowing this operation a crew will have to restore the vehicle to full HP in order to re-zero the sights.
The Warden answer to armored fighting vehicles of all stripes, meanwhile, rests with the O'Brien V.113 Gravekeeper, alias the Bonewagon. A standard O'Brien 110 chassis with a different emplaced weapon, the Bonewagon is a tool for removing armor, and removing armor exclusively. The single Mandible Bonesaw in the turret, equipped with a primitive stereoscopic binocular rangefinder sight and electric autococker, is a potent anti-armor weapon. However, the Bonewagon possess no secondary weapons, nor any provisions for such: as a result the platform is vulnerable to infantry. More importantly, the Bonesaw fires the ARC/RPG (also known as the ARC/AT-RPG in older documentation) which is only effective against armor: the hollow charge has negligible fragmentation, and lacks the anti-structure power of other rounds. Against armor, however, the 5kg explosive weight of the charge and high likely angle of approach mean that this can penetrate all but the heaviest of armor plates. Accuracy-wise, the Mandible Bonesaw is a complex weapon. Firing from a measured rest, the system has no minimum range, 36m of system assist, and then may fire out to 200-250m max range- local elevation depending. Being armed with a spigot mortar, however, presents some issues: for starters, the Bonewagon only has an effective range of 100m versus the horror of a moving target at 5kph, due to the long travel time of the shot. Against stationary targets (in this case, a standard Dunne with a cardboard sheet reading "SCARY TANK" inscribed in the outline of tank) it is regarded as good out to 180m, but only if the gunner understands the finnicky stereoscopic binocular system- a large part of why its fire-and-manuvere range is so low. More importantly, the electric autococker, while faster than a manual winch, is by no means a speedy system: it takes on average 10-15s to bring the weapon back into battery. Any moving engagement, therefore, will be defined by whomever shoots first and hits.
Finally, with complete abandon to everything before, the 74b-1 Ronan Gunship: a complex, massive beast of a ship and one of the most powerful and fragile Warden weapons to date.
First, and primary, of the two weapons systems on the Ronan is the Huber Harpoon 120/20mm cannon. Firing standardized fixed 120mm shells from a horizontal sliding breech with a powered rammer assist and a fully mechanized turret system, the only thing the gunner has to do is manually dial in elevation and azimuth, before depressing the firing studs. The turret's internal ready rack for the semi-autoloader system only holds six shells, but in return will automatically reload from magazine when placed at the 000 or 180 degree positions. With a magazine of 30 shells, the gun does not have amazing endurance: a common complaint from crew is the need to conduct underway replenishment operations from shell handling barges, passing rounds through to the rearming port on the vessel's small superstructure. Range and dispersion wise, the Huber Harpoon has a hard minimum range of 50m due to mounting geometry to facilitate higher-angle fires, and a system assist range of 100m. At 100m, dispersion is approximately a 13m circle from aim point: a very accurate piece. However, out past System Assist range, things become more dicey. At the maximum 800m range, dispersion is a 36m circle from aim point, with a very weak 15% normalization towards aim point versus the 50% rate of normalization to within 1/2 of maximum dispersion enjoyed at System Assist range. Fundamentally the Harpoon is a respectable gun, but the short carriage of shells cripples its effectiveness, as well as the immense difficulty in spotting for fire at more than 500m due to optical issues- much less the considerations of sea state on accuracy.
Secondarily to the main gun is the ship's self-defense dual 12.7mm gun turret. Using the same high-velocity 12.7mm Suiza Machine Gun as the Emplaced Machine Gun, they share a broadly similar statline: no minimum range, 50m system assist range, point fires to 200m, area fires at 350-400m, and most importantly an improved 600m ballistic limit. Unlike the parent gun mount, however, the Ronan's self-defense turret has much better than average optics: an unmagnified main gunsight, and an improved 8x/12x focus site along with a standard 3x/6x boresight. The turret is electronically actuated in elevation and traverese, and the gunner is co-located with his guns for ease of operation. The only active complaint of most gunners is the fact they're stationed right over the helm: a frequent seamanship issue is the helm 'hijacking' their higher-mounted scopes for direction in higher sea states that put the helm's low-mounted viewing port underwater.
For discussion and comparison, a No2 Loughcaster has a 40m system assist, 100m effective range, and 150m ballistic limit.
Sorting by munition, the first item on this list is the Foebreaker Mounted RPG Launcher. A double-barrel, tripod-mount RPG system is an unusual piece of equipment, but a potent one. The standard Foxtrot RPG shell is not a dedicated anti-armor weapon (a task left to the AT-RPG shell or the ARC/AT-RPG shell, with their own independent launchers), but rather a general-purpose explosive shell with a light fragmentation jacket. While servicable in the anti-armor roll, the Foebreaker is better used in building destruction as it offers the infantry an organic weapon with the reach to engage active AI bunkers, defended trench-lines, and across destroyed bridge spans with ease. In terms of range, the weapon system has excellent overall characteristics: a 5m minimum range (a trait shared across all RPG weapons), 40m system assist range, and 160m range to have fall of shot land within standard acceptable dispersion of 5m from point of aim. Maximum range is 1,000m, after which a safety fuse detonates the round.
Following this is the Colonial UV-26 "Icarus", which appears to be a factory modification of a UV-05a "Argonaut" retrofitted to mount ballistic armor over the cabin and a single-shot Colonial RPG tube over the fighting compartment, operated by a gunner-loader. Firing over a 30 degree forward angle, the launcher is a single shot RPG tube: nothing complicated or fancy. The weapon is relatively respectable in terms of damage and accuracy, with testing revealing a standard 5m minimum range for fuzing and a 40m assist range. However, due to mount instability, standard effective range is reduced to 120m, although this does not affect the 1,000m safety fuze. Otherwise, this is a very close copy of the Argonaut, and should be handled similarly: with massed 12.7mm fire or such anti-tank weapons are locally available. Low magazine size keeps it from being overly-dangerous, but it is still a danger if properly supported for its ability to easily damage fieldworks.
Continuing in the Colonial preference of using RPGs as vehicle primary weapons to up-gun their arsenal, the T-8 "Gemini" is a modification of the standard T3 "Xiphos" armored car. Equipped with a fully rotating turret that's had its 7.92mm light machine guns removed, it instead swaps them for a pair of RPG launch tubes. While limited in train of elevation and grievously harmed in terms of accuracy of fire due to narrow vision slits, the Gemini is at least reasonably capable of self-defense against infantry by means of the gunner using the loading hatch to spray fire from a Pitch Gun or throw fragmentation grenades as a 'backscratch' maneuver. For the main weapon, however, the dual RPG tubes have a distinctly problematic aiming pattern. With standard minimum range, system assist range, and maximum range (5m/40m/1,000m), the issues in correct elevation and the easy-to-damage linkages mean that the effective range varies wildly. Horizontal dispersion meets Warden standard (5m off aim point) out to 160m, and when in virginal condition the vertical dispersion meets Warden standard out to 140m. However, after any degree of rough handling or notable damage, horizontal dispersion is increased radically so as to make the effective range only 100m in the vertical. Re-zeroing the sight (a simple five-minute operation) will bring this back to 120m of accuracy, but without knowing this operation a crew will have to restore the vehicle to full HP in order to re-zero the sights.
The Warden answer to armored fighting vehicles of all stripes, meanwhile, rests with the O'Brien V.113 Gravekeeper, alias the Bonewagon. A standard O'Brien 110 chassis with a different emplaced weapon, the Bonewagon is a tool for removing armor, and removing armor exclusively. The single Mandible Bonesaw in the turret, equipped with a primitive stereoscopic binocular rangefinder sight and electric autococker, is a potent anti-armor weapon. However, the Bonewagon possess no secondary weapons, nor any provisions for such: as a result the platform is vulnerable to infantry. More importantly, the Bonesaw fires the ARC/RPG (also known as the ARC/AT-RPG in older documentation) which is only effective against armor: the hollow charge has negligible fragmentation, and lacks the anti-structure power of other rounds. Against armor, however, the 5kg explosive weight of the charge and high likely angle of approach mean that this can penetrate all but the heaviest of armor plates. Accuracy-wise, the Mandible Bonesaw is a complex weapon. Firing from a measured rest, the system has no minimum range, 36m of system assist, and then may fire out to 200-250m max range- local elevation depending. Being armed with a spigot mortar, however, presents some issues: for starters, the Bonewagon only has an effective range of 100m versus the horror of a moving target at 5kph, due to the long travel time of the shot. Against stationary targets (in this case, a standard Dunne with a cardboard sheet reading "SCARY TANK" inscribed in the outline of tank) it is regarded as good out to 180m, but only if the gunner understands the finnicky stereoscopic binocular system- a large part of why its fire-and-manuvere range is so low. More importantly, the electric autococker, while faster than a manual winch, is by no means a speedy system: it takes on average 10-15s to bring the weapon back into battery. Any moving engagement, therefore, will be defined by whomever shoots first and hits.
Finally, with complete abandon to everything before, the 74b-1 Ronan Gunship: a complex, massive beast of a ship and one of the most powerful and fragile Warden weapons to date.
First, and primary, of the two weapons systems on the Ronan is the Huber Harpoon 120/20mm cannon. Firing standardized fixed 120mm shells from a horizontal sliding breech with a powered rammer assist and a fully mechanized turret system, the only thing the gunner has to do is manually dial in elevation and azimuth, before depressing the firing studs. The turret's internal ready rack for the semi-autoloader system only holds six shells, but in return will automatically reload from magazine when placed at the 000 or 180 degree positions. With a magazine of 30 shells, the gun does not have amazing endurance: a common complaint from crew is the need to conduct underway replenishment operations from shell handling barges, passing rounds through to the rearming port on the vessel's small superstructure. Range and dispersion wise, the Huber Harpoon has a hard minimum range of 50m due to mounting geometry to facilitate higher-angle fires, and a system assist range of 100m. At 100m, dispersion is approximately a 13m circle from aim point: a very accurate piece. However, out past System Assist range, things become more dicey. At the maximum 800m range, dispersion is a 36m circle from aim point, with a very weak 15% normalization towards aim point versus the 50% rate of normalization to within 1/2 of maximum dispersion enjoyed at System Assist range. Fundamentally the Harpoon is a respectable gun, but the short carriage of shells cripples its effectiveness, as well as the immense difficulty in spotting for fire at more than 500m due to optical issues- much less the considerations of sea state on accuracy.
Secondarily to the main gun is the ship's self-defense dual 12.7mm gun turret. Using the same high-velocity 12.7mm Suiza Machine Gun as the Emplaced Machine Gun, they share a broadly similar statline: no minimum range, 50m system assist range, point fires to 200m, area fires at 350-400m, and most importantly an improved 600m ballistic limit. Unlike the parent gun mount, however, the Ronan's self-defense turret has much better than average optics: an unmagnified main gunsight, and an improved 8x/12x focus site along with a standard 3x/6x boresight. The turret is electronically actuated in elevation and traverese, and the gunner is co-located with his guns for ease of operation. The only active complaint of most gunners is the fact they're stationed right over the helm: a frequent seamanship issue is the helm 'hijacking' their higher-mounted scopes for direction in higher sea states that put the helm's low-mounted viewing port underwater.
