Packing an Arsenal, Favorite guns of 4e Options

[FuelDrop]

This is a bit of a nostalgia thread, but the purpose is simple: What are your favorite guns from 4th edition and why?

I have many, but will try to restrict the list to one per category:

Tasers: Defiance EX shocker. Best in class for damage, and works in melee too. Combined with being one of the cheapest weapons available, having no availability requirements at all, and I challenge you to find a better option for a disposable weapon.

Holdout pistols: The Raecor Sting is easily best in class here. Not because of a marginally better damage profile, but because its stock composition makes it undetectable by MAD scanners at a bargain price. Holdouts aren't here to deal damage, they're here to be a surprise and the ability to ignore one of the most common ways to find a hidden weapon makes this an excellent choice.

Light Pistols: Light pistols fill a stealth role. Silent weapons that are easily concealed but can be used effectively in a more extended fight. Ideally it's also cheap enough for you to melt down afterwards without too much regret if you're afraid of ballistic evidence coming back to bite you. Therefore, while the frankly ridiculous damage on the Krime Stopper almost wins the top spot for raw damage and the Fichetti Security 600 is extremely close for its 30 round clip and integrated features, the Ares Light Fire 70 with its extra cheap, super effective silencer has to take the cake as top light pistol.

Heavy Pistols: Finally, guns that have some stopping power. Every gun in this category has to compete with the Ares Predator, and honestly that is a hard bar to clear. Good price, good magazine size, integrated smartgun system... few guns can honestly compete for such an all-rounder. The other classic I would be remiss not to mention is of course the infamous Ruger Super Warhawk, which trades the ability to mount a silencer or hold a good number of rounds with raw damage output. I have known runners who load this badboy up with AV rounds and use it to take out drones and light vehicles.
But if you want me to pick a sidearm, I HAVE to go for the Nemesis Arms Praetorian. While it loses a few shots compared to the Predator it compensates by coming out the box with integrated recoil compensation, a smartgun system, and enough durability to use it as a club... assuming you're sick of killing folks with the bayonet.

Machine Pistols: A machine pistol is the sidearm for those who'd rather put a lot of lead downrange than use something that packs more punch. That means that here we are searching for 3 things: Rate of Fire, Ammo capacity, and Recoil Compensation. Few weapons exemplify why this balance is needed more than the Ultimax 70, which leans heavily into Rate of Fire without regard for either of the other factors. Sure it CAN fire 2 long bursts in a pass, but the second one is just going to be spraying bullets into the air and then it'll require reloading immediately. On the other end of the scale the FN 5-7C is little more than a light pistol with burst fire. The native recoil comp is nice, for sure, but who gets a machine pistol with a maximum rate of fire of "burst"? Someone getting a Ceska Black Scorpion is who. Unlike the 5-7C the Black Scorpion has an ammunition capacity that exceeds anything a light pistol has to offer, quickly distinguishing it from "bulky light pistol with burst fire" for its endurance. But the best in class is probably the B&P MP9. Good ammo capacity. Full spectrum of rate of fire options. Integrated foregrip, leaving room for plenty of custom additions for recoil compensation, the B&P MP9 is top of the class... unless you're willing to drop 5k+ on a machine pistol before mods.

SMG: The Machine Pistol's big brother, SMGs are good mid-ranged weapons for those who want stopping power, stealth, and rate of fire in one package. There are three guns here that, to me, compete for the top spot: The Ingram Smartgun X, the HK 227X, and the FN p93 Praetor. The HK and Ingram both integrate smartguns and suppressors, with the Ingram having an integrated gas vent 2 while the HK boasts a retractable stock. When modded these guns are pretty comparable. The third on our list is a bit of a different beast, with a huge ammo capacity and the ability to get an electronic firing mechanism without costing too much or taking up mod slots, plus having native recoil compensation. If you don't mind an after market smartgun and silencer this gun has a lot of potential for being fully modded.

Alternatively the Krime Spree is great if you just want a bullet hose and don't care where the bullets go. This gun fires full auto, and only full auto. it has a small amount of native recoil but no integrated aiming aids, stocks, gas vents or the like. Fun, but not likely to be super effective...

Assault Rifles: Ares Alpha. Integrated smartgun, 2 native recoil, underbarrel grenade launcher. If you do not have specific features you need from an assault rifle, you cannot go wrong with this one.

More to come later.

[KCKitsune]

Heavy Pistols: I'd go with the Viper Slivergun. Burst fire, large magazine, and sound suppressor built in for a comfortable price tag. Add in a smartlink and you're golden.

Good against hoard monsters, and if you choose the right kind of ammo (nothing says you can't armor piercing ammo... Fluff reason is that it is using ultra hard slivers (artificial diamonds for the win!). You might even be able to fluff in explosive ammo.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

The Sakura Fubuki is one of the best backup weapons you can pack: Easily concealed, not only a lot of ammo but also different kinds of ammunition, no moving parts, burst fire and no real recoil.

As an added Bonus, it's kind of hard to find out what exactly is in one of those barrels.

[FuelDrop]

The Sakura Fubuki is one of the best backup weapons you can pack: Easily concealed, not only a lot of ammo but also different kinds of ammunition, no moving parts, burst fire and no real recoil.

As an added Bonus, it's kind of hard to find out what exactly is in one of those barrels.

It's an absolutely awesome piece of kit, the only flaw is the pricetag makes it a lot less disposable than other options.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Why would you want to dispose of the entire Fubuki? The barrels are disposable by default...

[Sengir]

For heavy pistols I've always liked the Enfield Merlin (one of the German extras to Arsenal, IIRC): Revolver plus Smartgun System plus Ammo Skip System means you can have gel and Ex-Ex loaded and switch between them with a Free Action.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

I've always marveled at the amount of weapons not coming smart-linked from the factory... especially security / military ones.

In that regard:

The best sniper rifle / assault cannon is the errata'ed version of the Ares Thunderstruck Gauss rifle. Halving armor before subtracting it's AP modifier makes all it's logistical problems worth it.
And of course, there is no problems with chem sniffers either, nor a muzzle flash... or a report, for that matter. Though very few will miss the sonic crack of the tungsten dart...

[Stingray]

I've always marveled at the amount of weapons not coming smart-linked from the factory... especially security / military ones.

In that regard:

The best sniper rifle / assault cannon is the errata'ed version of the Ares Thunderstruck Gauss rifle. Halving armor before subtracting it's AP modifier makes all it's logistical problems worth it.
And of course, there is no problems with chem sniffers either, nor a muzzle flash... or a report, for that matter. Though very few will miss the sonic crack of the tungsten dart...

..me too, considering Goggles,Classes and Helmets w( SmartLink are so cheap and easily available..

[FuelDrop]

Smartlink is great, but full auto tracer + laser sight is an insane +4 if you can handle the recoil. So if you want to use a full auto weapon laser sight can actually be better.

[Stingray]

Smartlink is great, but full auto tracer + laser sight is an insane +4 if you can handle the recoil. So if you want to use a full auto weapon laser sight can actually be better.

..true, nut if Secutity is using full auto's, they would be either very high level or Corp's own (Ares), military is whole different ballpark

[FuelDrop]

..true, nut if Secutity is using full auto's, they would be either very high level or Corp's own (Ares), military is whole different ballpark

For sure.

I suspect the real reason is so they can then sell them as after-market accessories and charge for installation. It's a matter of squeezing out extra money.

Lack of an integrated smartlink could actually be a selling point to a certain market. A lot of the stuff from a meta point of view is not branded, but it's entirely reasonable to suggest that a purchaser might prefer a specific brand of smartlink. Or they might like to customize their electronic aiming aids in ways that might destroy the entire gun if they screw up on an integrated smartlink but will only damage the accessory if they attach an after market model. "Ready-wired to accept your favorite electronic targeting aid" turns this from a bug to a feature.

[psychophipps]

Remington 890 for me. Legal just about everywhere, plenty of "oomph", capacity and range are rarely an issue in most situations, and a ton of ammunition options. Low cost means you can destroy it without too much worry about the costs of getting a new one.

One thing I tossed for my games was the in-game mod limitations on firearms. Plenty of modern pocket pistols have a spot to mount an underbarrel light/laser without really affecting concealability from a practical standpoint and can get cans for them with an aftermarket threaded barrel, are perfect examples of this. Assault Rifles with lights, lasers, scopes, combination collapsing *and* folding stocks, suppressors, and attached grenade launcher all on the same gun exist now and are readily available on public websites for crying out loud (minus the GL). If it makes sense with how you describe it, you can have it. If it doesn't make immediate sense to me, I'll work with you to see if we can't figure something out.

[Sengir]

"Ready-wired to accept your favorite electronic targeting aid"

Let me guess, the logo looks something like this? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[FuelDrop]

Let me guess, the logo looks something like this? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Almost certainly.

I imagine that in addition to a bunch of competing hardware systems for gun electronics there are dozens of operating systems and programs. Huntsman Pro systems smartgun systems come with integrated thermal and low light systems and can recognize common hunting targets and highlight them in the hunter's vision, even giving a warning if they're spooked.

Ares Special Forces Elite, on the other hand, has an integrated MAD system to highlight which targets are armed and armoured and which are not, and has an extensive database on firearms and armour designs, including weak points to aim at (amazingly Ares produce armour has no registered weak points, and the recommendation is to purchase Ares Manhunter APDS rounds to compensate)