"I would like to see every woman know how to handle firearms As naturally as they know how to handle babies."
Hi, more grunt work research today, so if my hyper-specific interests bother you today, sorry. I'm going over what you can do with the gun creation rules, specifically how bad you can abuse them and everything unique it can create. We've long called them balanced. I want to make sure.
Some notes. Unique means something that can't be attained from just buying a stock firearm. This means that something like a 7M full-auto SMG isn't notable despite being powerful: there's two of those already. Also, if I left a category of gun out, it means there's nothing notable about it. I just can't imagine even these rules can create a hold-out pistol that's worth looking at. Finally, if something is unique across every frame universally, I only mentioned it when it sticks out. I did a post on that, anyway.
Oh, and abuse score is from 1 to 10, 1 meaning not abusable at all, and 10 meaning extremely abusable, worthy of a house rule or denial.
Heavy Pistol
10M semi-auto damage. Every other 10M pistol is single-shot only. I don't think this is gonna break the bank, but high powered weapons are what wins you fights in SR. Something to keep an eye on. 4/10.
Burst Fire as a simple action. Not technically unique, but bears mentioning. The only other two heavy pistols that can burst are one that does it as a complex action and one that Lone Star hunts down and punishes the users of, respectively. 7/10.
Worst Case Scenario: A 10M SA/BF pistol with a conceal of 7.
SMG
Recoil Compensation. Heavy Barrel and Integrated Recoil Compensation means 3 extra points. This can compensate for having to use a silencer over a gas vent. 2/10
High Velocity Capability. The only HV SMG in the book has a piddly 6L damage code. an HV SMG is already of limited use compared to larger HV firearms, but a created HV SMG would be a gun you'd actually want to buy, unlike the Ingram Supermach 100. 3/10.
Worst Case Scenario: You make an SMG worth using.
Taser
12S Stun Damage. The two tasers in the game are 10S Stun and 8D Stun. Power wins fights, doubly so when it's something like a taser which is already not hitting on your full impact armor. 6/10.
Ceramic Components. Like most weapons, unavailable at stock. Unlike most weapons, uniquely suited for its use seeing as how a taser is an easy lights-out button. 5/10.
Worst Case Scenario: a 12S Stun taser with 3 ammo and a conceal of 7, or a 10S taser with a conceal of 6 and Ceramic Components 3.
Sport Rifle
Burst Fire. Unavailable outside of the weird, stinky combination rifles. 2/10.
Concealability. Bullpup Configuration and Barrel Reduction stack, meaning you can get a rifle up to a conceal of 6. 8/10.
Worst Case Scenario: a 9S SA/BF rifle with a concealability of 6 and 4 extra points of recoil compensation.
Assault Rifle
9M Damage. Power wins fights and this rivals MMGs for stopping power combined with full-auto capability. 9/10.
Concealability. See Sport Rifle. AR gets both of those as well, netting you a conceal of 7. 9/10.
Recoil Compensation. AR is the best candidate for a silenced gun that still does burst fire or full auto, and the 4 recoil compensation you can easily reach helps compensate for the loss of the gas vent.
Worst Case Scenario: a 9M SA/BF/FA weapon with a concealability of 7 and 4 extra points of recoil compensation. Yikes.
Sniper Rifle.
16M Damage. The other book-listed sniper rifles are 14M and 14D. The one that's 14D also comes with a lot of baggage, see previous weapon discussions for more info. 7/10
Worst Case Scenario: That.
Machine Guns
All three of these frames can get 1pt of power higher than the best book-standard guns in their category. They also benefit from the 3 easy points of recoil comp available to them. Finally, this is the only source of a high-velocity MMG or HMG. 5/10.
Assault Cannon
20D damage. The other two assault cannons are 18D. 5/10.
Worst Case Scenario: IDK man it's still only single shot, power wins fights(like I keep saying) but I doubt the difference between 18 and 20 is gonna matter much.
Parting Shots Thoughts
So, the only gun frame that's crunched for FCU is SMG. I wouldn't be surprised if the SMG frame was supposed to have 2 or 2.5 and the change got lost in the shuffle. Every other gun frame has ample FCU to fit whatever you'd like to put in it: SMG is the only one that has to make hard choices.
Balance isn't done in a vacuum. Remember that before you start trying to hand-edit these rules. It's okay for a gun to be notably more powerful than others of its kind if it was expensive or hard to get. Remember, the GM basically decides the availability of these weapons by themselves. Don't be afraid to say yes, then put an extra-high availability on it.
Watch out for people trying to sneak that godlike pistol-sized assault rifle past you, though. I wouldn't be shocked if a GM made the ruling that Bullpup and Short Barrel don't stack.
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