SPECIAL AMMUNITION By: Chris Van Deelen chrisv@nucleus.com I hate to admit this, but again, this article isn't an original. I wanted to write up an article which covered the various types of ammunition used by military forces today, and after doing some research on the net, I found this article on a Cyberpunk 2020 site. After long consideration, I decided to use it. I have converted the majority of the rounds to Morrow Project. I have to give full credit to the original authors 'The UK Cyberpunk thinktank', who beat me to this article by years. Armor Piercing This type of round has a steel core below its copper jacket, allowing greater armor penetration. Effects: Armor is halved when hit by this type of round. Reduce the Efactor by the armor value, then halve the damage (round nearest) for rounds that penetrate. Thus a 9mm round (Efactor of 9), hits resistaweave (armor 8). Half of its armor value equals 4. 5 points get through. halve this and you get 2.5 or 3 points damage Armor Piercing Incendiary: Use the above rules for armor piercing, but use the information on pg 22 MP TM 1-1 for the incendiary round. Armor Piercing Incendiary Tracer: Use the above rules for armor piercing, but use the information on pg 22 MP TM 1-1 for the incendiary, and tracer rules. Depleted Uranium Core Ammunition Uranium is extremely heavy, making it perfect as a armor penetrator. DUCA rounds can only be used in military weapons. Effects: Armor is only worth .25% of its original value. Reduce the Efactor by the effective armor, then reduce the damage by 25% (rounding nearest) for the rounds that penetrate. Example. a 7.62mm round fired from a M21 sniper rifle has a Efactor of 17. It hits a target protected by a 3mm boron/carbon filament plate (armor factor 35) 25% of the armor equals 9. It penetrates, causing 8 points of damage, 75% equals 6 points of damage. Dual Purpose This type of ammunition has a heavy metal core surrounded by a lead jacket. When the round hits, the soft lead jacket expands like a hollowpoint. If it hits armor the soft lead jacket is stopped and the heavy metal core tears through the armor, as an armor piercing round. Effects: against armor, the armor is decreased by half its value, and then the Efactor of of the round is at .75. Against bare flesh, the Efactor is increased by 1.5. DumDum Bullets with small cuts in the metal jackets that cause them to break up in the body, causing bad wounds. Effects: Armor is increased by 50%. If armor is penetrated, the damage equals Efactor that penetrated x1.75. Thus, a 9mm round (Efactor 9) hitting resistaweave (armor 8 increased would be 12) would cause no damage. If it hit bare skin however, it would cause 16 points damage, probably killing the target. Flechette ammunition, Shot Gun Flechette Package This round contains a pack of several flechette darts. At point blank range the flechette's hit as a group, all on the same location. Effects: This type of ammunition is totally ineffective against any type of hardened armor (the rounds shatter harmlessly). But against flesh, or even cloth or mesh armor, this weapon can be devastating, depending on the type of flechette. At point blank, and short ranges, the entire package hits the same location. At medium range, it begins to spread out. Take the total damage, and divide it up equally around the location. Example a shot hits the target in the torso, dead center. Divide the damage evenly between upper 1, 2, 3, and lower 1, 2, 3. If the round hit in the shoulder, divide up the damage between 4, upper 3, 2. Not exactly realistic, but it works. Now, if the weapon is fired at long and extreme range, use the automatic fire table. Each flechette that hits causes one point of damage. All shotgun rounds have a total of 21 flechette per round. The new Efactor is 12 (roughly /5 damage per flechette). Remember, any type of armor that isn't hardened, provides NO protection (this includes resistaweave). Flechette ammunition, Handguns and rifles. These contain a single sabotted flechette, which is fired like a normal bullet. When the round leaves the gun the sabot falls away allowing the flechette to fly free at very high speeds. Effect: As above, this round penetrates any armor except hardened. When it hits, it bends and twists upon entering the target. The wounds are more punctures and tears. Typically, the round is lodged in the target, requiring surgery to remove. At point blank range, the sabots do 1.5 times the normal Efactor in damage. At short range, the Efactor is increased by 1.25. At medium and long range, Efactor is normal, and at extreme range, the damage is Efactor at .75. Flechette Options Fragmentation Flechette rounds. This type of flechette is designed to break up upon entering the target, increasing the damage caused. It can be used with both the shot gun and the handgun and rifle rounds. Damaged caused is increased by .25%. This is cumulative with the range damage modifier. Poison. The flechette rounds have tiny hollows which contain poison that is injected directly into the target upon impact. So, not only does the target suffer the damage, but they then have to check against the poison. Hollowpoints Bullets with hollowed out tips to allow them to expand upon impact Effects: Armor is doubled. If armor is penetrated, the damage equals Efactor that penetrated x1.5. As mentioned with DumDum rounds, hitting armor would be ineffective, but hitting bare flesh would be devastating. Jacketed Hollowpoints Hollowpoint rounds with metal jackets that reduce expansion, to increase armor penetration Effects: Armor is increased by 25%. If armor is penetrated, the damage equals Efactor that penetrated x1.25. Again, if a 9mm round (Efactor 9) hits resistaweave (armor 8, increased to 10) it would cause no damage. If it hit an unarmored location, it would cause 11.25 or 11 points of damage. Magnum This type of ammunition is larger than normal, to accommodate more grains, increasing the rounds Efactor. Effects: The Efactor is increased by 50%. Example. A 9mm round with an Efactor of 9 would be increased to 13.5 or 14. The round can then be made into any other type of ammunition, such as armor piercing, hollowpoints, etc. Makes for a nasty combination. Mercury Tipped Hollowpoints Hollowpoints that are filled with mercury to greatly increase expansion upon impact, causing terrible exit wounds. Effects: Armor is doubled. If armor is penetrated, the damage equals Efactor that penetrated x2.25. Again, using 9mm rounds, odds are it will not penetrate most armor. But if it hits an unarmored target, the damage it causes is hideous. On top of that, if the target actually survives the round, they are subject to mercury poisoning, which is equal to poison class C. Titanium Rounds The bullet is solid titanium with a Teflon jacket. Titanium is almost half the weight of steel, yet has the same strength, so the bullet travels a lot faster than a standard round and slows down quicker in the target. Unfortunately it also slows a lot faster in normal travel, making it armor piercing only at point blank to medium ranges. Effects: Armor is halved if range is medium or less. No matter the range, Efactor remains the same. For example, a round from a 9mm handgun (Efactor 9) fired at point blank against resistaweave (Armor value 8) will halve the armor value (making it effectively 4) so the round will do 5 points of damage instead of 1. At any range beyond medium, the round will only cause 1 point of damage. Tracers: See page 22 of MP TM 1-1 for details. Tungsten Carbide Tungsten carbide is very heavy and very hard. It is very doubtful that anyone except the project will have this type of ammo, as the tools and the knowledge would have disappeared over the past 150 years. This type is an excellent armor piercing round. Effects: Armor is at 30% of its value. Efactor is halved for the damage when it penetrates. Again the infamous 9mm round has a Efactor of 9. Again it hits resistaweave (armor 8). The value is reduced to a third, which makes it now 2.4 or 2. The round penetrates, causing 7 damage, halved is 3.5 or 4 damage.