where does it say how much it costs to convert something into a minigun? I found the cost for high velicity weapons, but not for the miniguns.

By the time you get done modding it you'll have added a new reciever, changed the ammo feed, and added a power source, and the only original piece is the barrel. So if you want a mini-gun you need to buy it, not mod to it. HVAR works by increasingthe cyclic rate to an uber high measure.

As per page 30 of arsenal, "Only light, medium, or heavy machine guns can be constructed as miniguns."

I just want to know how that modifies the cost and availability. Something that seems to have been left out of the book.

It seemed to me that they have to be specifically bought as minigun to get the merits and flaws of it.

However, aside from a couple of the vehicle main guns, there's only one minigun actually listed in the book, and it's a LMG. I believe the OP is more looking for a frame of reference for buying say... a minigun that shares the stats of a RPK HMG (aside from the changes caused by it being a minigun). And even if that's not what they were asking about, I know it's something I'd apreciate.

Exactly.

Time to start making stuff up then kiddies. There are no rules under the modification section for converting a normal machine gun of any size into a minigun. As Warlordtheft has already stated, such a conversion would essentially be building a new gun from scratch using a few (very few) components from the original machine gun.

As far as for there being "something missing" from the rules, I doubt that the writers really intended for people to be able to modify guns in such a manner. There is an omission, but I would say it's a deliberate one rather than an ommission of error. The rules sidebar is there to describe the functioning of all miniguns, man-portable or not. I'd guess that the line about "only light, medium or heavy machine guns" is there as guidance for GMs who might want to make up their own miniguns for use in a campaign. Although I might debate that limitation, as it's been proven that if you really wanted an assault riflle sized minigun that does Light Pistol damage, it can be done...

If you really want a different man-portable minigun to use, you'll have to get together with your GM (or player) and work out the details, then work out what sort of build/repair and knowledge tests are required to design a new gun from scratch, and how you will have it made. Cost will be dependant on how much of the designing and building you can do yourself, availability of tools (some sort of nano-forge will likely be useful), and your contacts and what they can provide you (for a price of course). There really is no "off the shelf" solution here, you're looking at a custom job.

If it were me, I would just buy the "Minigun" at triple the cost os the LMG, MMG, HMG Variant that you are looking for... the drawbacks fo the weapon will equal or far outweigh the positive qualities, so this sounds fair...

I do not believe that there are rules for buying as a Modification, as the text indicates that they must be manufactured as such... though they would be far from the status of unique or customized weapons...

My Two Cents...

BTW... WHY would you need such a weapon? Just curious...

I suppose there's the hillarity factor.
Due to a mistake at character creation, one of my group had a mini-gun for the opening scene, a small scale race riot.
Nothing funnier then a Riddick clone pulling out a mini-gun mid-barfight, unlocking the saftey with a ray-bentos tin key and firing a "Warning shot" which due to a critical glitch, one humanis member walked in to.
Earlier that session I got told not to "escalate the combat" when I pulled my viper slivergun.

That sidebar about miniguns is confusing. But the MMG and HMG miniguns are already in ARS, on pgs. 123 and 124. They're called the Vigilant and Vanquisher autocannons, and they're not man-portable, but vehicle mounted.

In a game I'm in there is an elven heavy weapons adept. With the restricted gear quality he was able to start the game with a vindicator and through some incredibly lucky rules and some carrying help from our minotaur was able to sneak up behind a corrupt lone star officer while he was about to beat up some innocent slummers for not doing what he wanted and unleashed a minigun sneak attack. If I remember right with his 7 agility, 9 (powers + spec) in heavy weapons, smart link, and the bonus from sneak attacking the final damage was about 15-18. The funny part was we use a house rule for bullet penetration having a chance of going through someone and hitting things behind them so the bullets went through and hit the slummers aswell. There was an awkward silence followed by one of my friends saying "Way to fuck up hero." Needless to say the gms face was priceless.

Except for one simple fact. Those are not MMG/HMG miniguns - they are autocannons (that just happen to use the minigun rules).


Edit:

A few problems with that.

First, Vindicator base DV is 20P (assuming Narrow Burst - no reason to use Wide in the claimed circumstance).
Second, there is no attack or damage bonus for 'sneak attack' - there is no such thing as a sneak attack, only 'Defender Unaware of Attacker', which results in no defense.
Third, it takes a Complex Action for the Vindicator to 'turn on' before firing, which is very audible; unless the officer critically glitched a Perception or was a significant distance away, he should not have been caught unaware.

Ya we messed up on the math with that one which we didn't notice till our rules lawyer re-read it.

I know, thats just the term I am used to using when it comes to sneak attacks. A habit cross over from other systems.

Thats weird cuz my copy of Aresnal says

"When activated, the barrels require 1 Simple
Action to reach firing speed and makes an easily recognizable and
audible electric whirring sound."

Okay, I was a little off on that. Does not affect the end result though, as firing a Full Burst is a Complex Action, & miniguns can only fire a Full Burst.

Like I said we kinda messed up on that one. I mean heck, for 3 seperate fights we were using the dodge skill without going full dodge cuz we were used to it from other systems. It was basically a matter of system polution which has happened to us multiple times. Once from switching from werewolf the forsaken to pathfinder 3.5 then to Blue Rose for a bit, skip ahead 2 systems and then you find a bastardized shadowrun.

Alright, after coming back to look at this again, and doing a bit of math, here's what I've come up with-
The vindicator is 5,500¥ and has no accessories or modifications.

Stripped of the extras that come with them, the remaining value on the Ares MP and the SA Nemesis are 1,000¥ and 1,550¥ respectively (lacking a clear way to value a gas-vent system that provides 5 points of recoil compensation, I can't accurately estimate the worth of a stripped-down White Knight). Now, using these figures (and throwing in the average of the two), provides a few possible answers for how much it should cost for a MMG or HMG minigun:

If we assume that the minigun switch adds to the price (most things do), the increase is:
+4,500¥
+4,225¥
+3,950¥

If we instead assume that it multiplies the price (as internal smartgun systems or ceramic/plasteel components do), the multiplier given is:
x5.5
x4.3
x3.5

Using these, we have 6 possible prices for doing an M202 as a minigun:
8,450¥
8,725¥
9,000¥
15,750¥
19,350¥
24,750¥

In other words: There's not that much consistancy for trying to figure this out. Make something up. Tymeaus' suggestion of x3 sounds as good as any (and comes fairly close to what you'd get as the average of those prices)