The topic may have given away my questions, but here I go:
1. The two weapons in the title of this topic have the same DV and AP, but the Gauss has less recoil. I could effectively use that as a sniper rifle. Does the Barret have anything on the Gauss?
2. Pertaining to the above: I would have classified the Gauss as a sniper rifle, perhaps because I played Crysis. What determines a weapon's class?

Some pertinent discussion

Actually, we just had this thread. Hold on, I'll find you the link. Ha, ninja'd!

The short answer is that a sniper rifle fires a high-powered rifle cartridge, while an assault cannon fires a small *cannon* round, like a very light tank or autocannon.

Hm. In terms of game mechanics I don't see much difference, but I guess you do need to buy different ammo for it. Thanks.

Anyway, how about question 1?

Well... The Gauss has a better AP (Half -4), which is loads better than the Barrett. The Barrett has a better selection of Rounds which it can use.

The Gauss is a little more illegal and expensive, fewer ammo options, and it's a Heavy Weapon. … And it's a giant cannon.

Indeed, what more need be said?

Maybe he will listen to Reason

Actually, I'd call the Thunderstruck a rather small "cannon". But it IS awfully big for a personal weapon, I'll give you that. And it kicks ass.

You're right. I did mean it's giant, and it's a cannon.

Which book shows Gauss to have Half-4 AP? my copy of arsenal says just -4.
I didn't think of the Barret's ammo selection though, good idea. couldn't I use AV rounds in it for stacking AP (-4 and -4 = -8 )?
Aw, dang, those are for Assault Cannons.

It's in the description rules.

The Gauss must use Gauss rounds.

Wait! nevermind, AV rounds aren't just for assault cannons.

Yes, but the gauss rounds don't have any AP, so I still don't see where he got half-4.

That's innate to the gun. Be sure to read that other thread, too.

I looked at the other thread and it said the feature was in the errata. I didn't see any related entries in the table of contents for Arsenal, so I just looked up every use of the word "Gauss" in the book. All the mounted Gauss cannons have AP half-X, but I didn't see any generalizations.

Yup, it's in the errata (cuz it's an error). Gauss weapons all get it. Without it, it's just a very expensive assault cannon with SA, so I can see your confusion.

Thanks for that, but is the errata listed somewhere online, or is it just generally accepted? I didn't see it in the book.

If it were in the book, they wouldn't need errata! It's on the official website.

Good point. Thanks!

Everybody listens to reason.

CAn you provide a link because I am not finding it on the official site. Maybe I am being dense and missing it.

I think it's here

So is the Barrett.

Nuh uh. That's giant, but it's a rifle.

So, I just re-watched Robocop recently, and I noticed that their assault cannons had no recoil (unbraced and hip-fired). *That* must be why the SR ones don't, hehe.

Barret's advantages:
Weapon cost
Availability
Ammo cost
Total modifications (Barret has builtin mods that the Thunderstruck does not)
Portability (arguable)

Thunderstruck's advantages:
Armor penetration

Well the SR fluff say assault cannons have massive recoil, and the optional rules in Arsenal make you take 5 stun damage worth of recoil for firing one.

I always though the Cobra Assault cannon was just a .50 rifle using some fancy ammo, doing a little research I found it actually was a Barrett:

Yeah, I'm just kidding around. Still, the Cobra led to the Panther, so we have to pretend that it's actually a bigger, larger caliber 'cannon' firing crazy explosive shells. We do require the heavier weapons to be braced/tripod/whatever in our games.