Am I the only one having issues understanding..., ...the Sakura Fubuki? Options

[Zeitgeist]

I fell in love the the 'Fubuki at first glance, but when I took a closer look at the stats for it, I was very befuddled. The ammo listing is "10 (ml) x4," which makes very little sense to me, especialy when you take into consideration the fact that muzzle-loading guns are single shot, and can't go burst fire. Can someone clarify this, or have I found something worth putting the the Errata thread?

[PBTHHHHT]

If I recall correctly, the fubuki is a special gun that uses technology similar to Metal Storm. The bullets are all lined up inside the barrel, so after you're done firing, you have to put into an entire barrel(?), which is why it's listed as ml. Well, that's what I think it means.

[Dissonance]

Remember, kids. Hot barrels are hot, so be sure to wear gloves.

I doubt that they'd be hot enough to, y'know. Cause damage worth noting on your sheet, but they'd still be uncomfortable. I am basing this observation on absolutely nothing.

[stevebugge]

It does sound a little strange. The diagram (when blown up to 400% on the PDF) looks like it shows a removable barrel, and the gun sounds like it has 4 of these. It must use some sort of special ammo, from the description it sounds like each bullet is fired by an electronic mechanism rather than by a hammer or firing pin like a traditional gun. They must be getting the lower recoild from the lack of any moving parts.

[Zeitgeist]

Well, I'm also looking at the picture of the thing, and it seems like it has a clip on top. And is it suposed to hold 40 rounds (10x4 equaling 40 and all)? Has anyone actually play-tested it? How do you handle it?

And as for the special ammo, I'm pretty sure caseless'd work fine. And I think the low recoil comes from the fact that it fires all of the four rounds in one go.

[hunter5150]

Where is this gun coming from? BBB? Web?

[Zeitgeist]

[Brahm]

Using the Search engine set to 365 days and the text fubuki turned up about a dozen threads. This might be your best shot.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=10523

[Butterblume]

It's still 3 rounds per Burst ;).

Since you are using 4 different barrels, each one can be loaded with a different kind of ammunition. Switching between them would be the typical free action with smartgun link or simple action without.

Even if it is not clear, you probably change the barrel (with 10 rounds inside). It would be nice to know if they are cheap throw-away ones or better ones for refilling.

[Zeitgeist]

[Shrike30]

You've got four barrels, each holds 10 rounds of ammunition. One barrel can be completely reloaded as a Complex Action.

The way the gun works, essentially, is you've got 10 rounds of ammunition lined up in a row. These rounds aren't cased apart from each other... it's just powder/slug/powder/slug/powder/slug from the back of the barrel to the front, with the slugs between the powder being what keeps one round's burning powder from igniting the next round's. The barrel has electrical igniters along the sides, spaced so that there's an igniter next to each powder charge, allowing the gun to fire one round after the next in a barrel without having to cycle or eject anything.

The best description I've been able to come up with for the mechanism of reloading is that you reload with a 10-round "clip" (not to be confused with Shadowrun "clips," which are properly referred to as "detatchable box magazines") similar to a Garand's enbloc clip. The user presses an ejection button (or sends a smartlink command) and the gun ejects the clip in that barrel, then the user presses a new clip into the empty barrel until it locks in the back. The flat black object depicted above the Fubuki would be one of these clips.

I have no problems with players loading different barrels with different types of ammunition. Selecting the barrel you wish to fire (out of order) is a Simple Action (or Free Action with a smartlink), just like selecting fire mode. This also means that a player can slam 10 rounds of gel into a gun loaded with standard without having to reload the entire thing (1 Complex Action, instead of 4... just gives you 30 rounds of standard and 10 of gel, rather than 40 rounds of gel).

[Dissonance]

Huh. I must be the only one who thought the burst action came as a result of multiple barrels firing at once.

[Brahm]

[Dissonance]

In that case, wouldn't the addition of multiple ammo types be, well. A logistics nightmare? Seriously, if you want that kind of thing going on, wait for, like, the Thumper from CC or whatever that troll shotgun was. Man, that thing was stupid.

[Butterblume]

Unfortunately, the rules don't state if the shots come from one barrel or three of them.

So we have to reason this out:

Q: Is it possibly to fire a burst from one barrel?
A: Of course, regular burstfire enabled guns do this all the time. Weapons built after the metal storm principle can fire more rounds with one barrel than a gatling gun with several of them, even with today's technology.

Q: Is it logical to fire a burst from one barrel?
A: Firing from several barrels, which are a few centimeters apart from each other, would, in my opinion, defeat the idee of a narrow burst: the shots would hit the target a few centimeters apart also.

Q: Does burst fire using only one barrel affect gameplay?
A: Yes. Even without burst fire capability loading 1-4 different kinds of ammunition is pretty good. In the long run, the Fubuki will probably the most used light firearm (if the equipment book won't bring something even better).

Q: Is this kind of gun overpowered?
A: I don't think so. It adds a lot of versatility to the game, and even unscrupulous chars might add a few gel rounds instead of the exex, since there is no point in blasting the janitor away, and the time penalty in changing weapons or ammunition is reduced to switching ammo with a free action.

(This compilation of thoughts is my work, the actual thoughts were mostly thought by others first ;)).

[Adarael]

I should point out that the changing weapon vs changing ammo issue can be a free action either way.

Free Action = switch ammo types in the fubuki.
Free action (2) = drop weapon, quickdraw new weapon with alternate ammo type. Just pick up the dropped weapon later.

This idea came out of my discovery while playing a smartlink-less mage that it's faster to drop your pistols and pull new ones than reload.

[Ryu]

If you consider it unbalanced, rule that it is the size of a heavy pistol. Than the burst-fire capability is accounted for.

[Frackula]

What is that rectangular thing above the pistol in the artwork?

What if I want to put a silencer on it? Do I need 4? Will it affect my loading ability?

[Brahm]

@Frackula

Please read the thread I linked, it addresses those questions and much more. http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=10523

[Zeitgeist]

The thing in the picture is the speed-loader/"clip." As for the silencers (I'd say four), I think it all depends on how your GM and group thinks it loads. Does it actually change out the barrels themselves, or it's behind the barrels. I'm pretty sure it's the former, so I'd be leaning towards a "NO" on the silencer thing.

[Austere Emancipa...]

The person who drew the picture of the Sakura Fubuki weighed in on the thread that's been linked twice now. He said it is supposed to be an uninstalled, preloaded barrel, and not any kind of speedloader or "clip".

Sound suppression might be possible with a special design that fits over all four barrels at once. Otherwise there would be no room for gas expansion chambers.

[neko128]

[Shrike30]

Preloaded barrel, eh? That'd get around the "fitting to the rifling" problem in a way that a clip wouldn't be able to. Nice.

As for suppressing this puppy... I can imagine how you'd do it, but it'd make reloading a pain in the ass and possibly the hand, if you were trying to insert preloaded barrels through a hot suppressor. The wonk in me would make the suppressor a hinged accessory (you could flip it down off the barrels, and it would leave them exposed, then snap it back up once you're done swapping out preloaded barrels... think something like breaking open a shotgun). It'd be *big* though (since it covers 4 barrels in a vertical stack), and probably burn a Simple Action to unlock or relock the suppressor module to the gun.