The RP Guide to Weapons

Introduction

Part of the Decepticons' trend towards individualism concerns favouring customised weapons over stock factory weapons. After all, many mechs are known not only by their names and colours, but also by their particular model of machine gun or the weapon they carry. This cultural trait has lead to the development of many exotic individualised weapons. However, most of these so-called 'unique' weapons are based on stock factory components (with the exception of 'experimental research weaponry', such as Megatron's cannon, but it must be noted that this quite rare and not common.) The average Decepticon has to make do with customising the stock weapons to suit their own individual style and sense of self.

Autobots favour external weaponry such as hand-held guns and cannons that can be detached and stored away in times of peace. Decepticon culture, with its more militant favour, prefers inbuilt weaponry. Part of this is the "intimidation factor" ­ a belligerent infantry soldier will feel more respect towards an officer who displays obvious weaponry such as a large shoulder-mounted cannons. In the line of Decepticon commanders, this social quirk has been taken to the extreme, where officers such as Megatron, Shockwave and Straxus transform into powerful cannons.

As explained in the Decepticon Cultural Guide, the drive from being a homogenous robot (in a unit of similar robots) to being an individual is an inherent part of Decepticon culture and is seen by many as a "rite of passage." The traits that proclaim one's individualism include colours, names ... and of course customised weaponry.

Rather than focus on the hardtech of weapons, this guide is primarily a roleplaying guide to the use of the various weapons in the TF universe. Entries will describe the basic stock variety of its weapon and usually how to roleplay its usage in combat. Entries are in the following format:

Name: The type or category of weapon.
Description: A basic description of the weapon.
Stock Version: The base version of the weapon as it comes straight off the assembly line.
Customised Version: How you can customise the stock version to suit yourself and your own armourments.
Who'd Use One?: What psychological types are attracted to the weapon or who would be most likely to use one.

Transformer Warfare

The arms race between the two factions of Transformers has overdeveloped to the point of stagnation. "Anything that you invent, I can counter." This has lead to judicious weapons research into "superweapons" that will finally give the home side the advantage once and for all ­ however, soon the enemy side will have a counter for this and so the internal stalemate continues. Typical warfare revolves around "trying to gain an advantage", as the armourments of the two factions are quite evenly matched.

Melee Combat:

Transformers have a decent amount of armour, so the purpose of melee combat (either as hand-to-hand or with blunt weapons) primarily serves as a display of strength and might. Bashing continually at an enemy's armour is a long and tedious process and victory relies on causing enough damage to the internals to smash the opponent into shutdown. Hence, melee combat relies primarily on an odd assortment of cutting weapons coupled with inhibitors, to cut away the armour revealing the internals and to use an inhibitor to bring the target down.

Gun Combat:

Our esteemed source material for gun combat, the cartoon, consisted of many ineffectual laser shots and misses. The aim of gun combat is to cause enough collateral damage to the enemy, but this results in all sorts of interesting designs and tradeoffs. If you want to be strong enough to carry a rocket launcher, you're sacrificing agility, if you want to be light and agile, one direct hit with a plasma cannon will smelt your insides. When creating a character, think of these options in the design process.

Firepower and You

With projectile weapons, assume that the bullets and shells are stored in a subspace pocket and are normally contained in drums. It'd be good roleplaying once in a while to rip out the old drum from your handheld and jam the new one in.

What about lasers?

Lasers and energy weapons are normally "built in" into your mechanoid framework and use your internal powersource for energy. External energy weapons will have a small battery that you'll have to recharge after extensive periods of use, normally by sliding it away into your exostructure. Like Robocop's hip.

Armour

For the purpose of this guide, assume that Transformers were developed in "waves", and each wave is typified by its own armour. Shockwave, who was part of an early wave, has thick armour but it is tremendously heavy. As time passed, better alloys were invented. There's a "mid-wave", where people have strong armour and a "later wave" typified by light, fibrous and plastic armours.

MELEE WEAPONS

Clangs

A "clang" is military slang for a "rough and ready" melee weapon, usually something such as a stout, blunt object like a bar or a post. Clangs usually grabbed up and wielded in the heat of combat and normally only good for one or two blows, although the legendary general Starhammer had been documented as often using a thick length of eternium piping, often in festival combats. Clangs are really only good for denting armour or smashing in optics or prying open vital bits. Although wielding a clang pits your brute strength directly against your opponent's, it isn't much of a feasible weapon when you're up against projectile fire.

Stock Versions: A handy bit of post that you find lying around

Customised Versions: If you want to customise your clang, you're better of making a more advanced melee weapon, such as a hammer or sword.

Vibros ­ "Electronic Chainsaws"

These are especially constructed blade weapons that have been modified with a sonic pulse unit to vibrate at an extremely high frequency, giving the blade the potential to cut through most alloys. As a side effect, the sonic "whine" of the vibro's pulse unit will cause minor static around transmission and communication devices. The sonic pulse unit is powered by a rechargeable battery that plugs directly into your own power source when not in use.

Stock Versions: Vibro Sword

Customised Versions: Vibro Dagger, Vibro Bayonet (clips into most of the GR-series of handheld guns)

Who'd Customise One?: Those who prefer to use clangs and "raw" melee weapons

Inhibitors

This category of melee weapon covers short-term stunning and shocking weapons. They disrupt the electrical flow of circuitry by discharging bursts of static and can either cause 'seizures' or temporary shutdowns. As most transformers are heavily insulated, the inhibitor is applied to best effect through an existing entry point into a transformer's exostructure. Those who prefer metal-cutting melee weapons, such as vibros, will normally deliver the coupe-de-grace with an inhibitor charge.

Stock Versions: Tarn Alpha Plus Inhibitor Unit

Customised Version: Neural Mace, Electron Whip, Stunstick

Who'd Use One?: Those that want to bring the prey in one functional piece. Popular with Decepticon Military Police, hunters and intelligence types.

CHEMICALS

Acids

Metal-eating acids were originally developed as part of a manufacturing process, though now they serve as a type of weapons. Because of the "splatter range" of acids, they are useful in blinding or distracting a target or weakening their armour so a project shot can get inside and do damage to the delicate internals.

Stock Versions: Corous Industrial Acid

Customised Versions: Acid Pellet Gun

Who'd Use One? Chemists or those "psycho" warriors who enjoy handling dangerous chemicals and watching their enemy's optical visor being eaten away.

PROJECTILES

Pistols

These small projectile-firing units are available either as handhelds or as built-in accessories. Pistols are lightweight, easy on the power reserves and are generally a favourite sidearm of non-combatant classes, such as scientists or analysts. Pistols will usually fire the G38 series of armour-piercing shells, which are 'cycloned' (scored so they drill right through armour plate) and deliver a minor explosive charge on contact with the target's internal mechanisms.

Stock Versions: G38 Built-In or G38 Handheld.

Customised Versions: Semi Automatic/ Automatic Machine Pistols

Who'd Use One?: Scientists, technicians.

G38 "Coldstar" Autocannon

Developed to compete against the line of lightfire Autobot handhelds (such as the Zargon Z Alpha and the Quarter 5), the Coldstar is the top weapon in the G38 range, offering full automatic and semi-automatic settings. Using slingshot magnets, the Coldstar can fire up to eight shells per second, guaranteeing to crack most heavy armours under its barrage. When utilised as a built-up option, the Coldstar is normally mounted on one's shoulder rack.

Plasma Weapons

Plasma is the fourth state of energy (after liquid, solid and gas) and can be said to resemble a superheated gas, found in stellar bodies. Plasma weapons consist of a superheated gas control chamber regulated through the gas release valves and kept in check by a cryogenic conductor and cooling system. When fired, a steady stream of white-hot plasma will emerge from the weapon, smelting the target's armour. Plasma weapons should be checked carefully for overheating and should not be used for long periods of use. Plasma weapons are expensive to issue and maintain. They can only fire as a beam making contact to a direct target and are unsuitable for scattershot work.

Stock Versions: #754 Plasma Chamber (with Cryogenic cooling system)

Customised Versions: Plasma Rifle, Plasma Handblasters

Who'd Use One?: Heavy infantry, troops who see a lot of groundfire, military field officers.

Plasma Pulse Cannon

This rapidfire cannon shoots plasma as a series of rapid-fire pulse bursts, rather than in a steady stream as most plasmic weapons do. The secret of the plasma pulse cannon is in its special plasma expansion range control regulator. The most danger with the PPC consists of overheating the cooling system, but pauses between pulses give the coils time to cool down.

Scattershot Weapons

Scattershot weapons (shotguns, scatter-burst machine guns) are useful because of their ability to cover a large area with projectfile. Scattershots include buckshot weapons and machineguns. Scattershots have an important place in Decepticon culture as large areas of territory can be quickly covered from the air.

Stock Versions: Tarn Regular Infantry SMG

Customised Version:

Who'd Use One?: This is a standard weapon, usually given to the infantry.

Gyrojet Weaponry

Gyrojet weapons are recoilless projectile weapon closely related to a rocket launcher. Gyroject projectiles do not drop in velocity over distance and explode upon impact, making them useful for long-range targets.

Stock Versions: Gyrojet Rifle, Heavy Gyrojet Gun

Customised Weapons: Gyroslug Rifle (holds more rounds than the standard rifle)

Who'd Use One? Heavy infantry.

LASERS

A laser is a high-powered beam of light, usually kept as an external gun because the crystals (through which the light is focused) is delicate. Lasers are energy- efficient, common (nearly everyone has one) but cause little damage (when used short bursts) to a target's exostructure apart from scoring and smelting. Short-burst laser-fire can cause flash damage to a target's optics, or can cut through delicate areas, such as exposed coolant cabling or gaps in the armour plate. However, if the beam is kept up for a decent period, the laser can be directed to cut through thick metals. Such an opportunity occurs rarely in field combat, where the focus is on causing the most amount of damage as quickly as possible.

Stock Versions: Laser Pistol

Customised Versions: Cutting Laser, Laser Rifle

Who'd Customise One?: Intelligent operative or technician

FLAMERS

Flamers are only effective at extremely high temperatures and newer model transformers have the upgraded R-Series of coolant transmission which is heat resistant to some extent. Nonetheless, chemical fires are useful especially in the later stages of combat when the target's armour has been shot away. Flames are sprayed out as a wet, sticky chemical and then ignited. Some flamers use a sodium based chemical mix that explodes on contact with air.

Stock Versions: Sodium mix, Zeta Paste

Customised Versions: Hellfire Flamethrower, Starburner Epsilon

Who'd Use One? Generally those who prefer close combat, especially those among the heavy infantry.

GRENADES

MicroGrenade - Explosive
Light grenade, fills an area with armour-piercing shrapnel.

MicroGrenade - Flash
Used to overload optical receptors. Causes blindness in an area

MiniGrenade - Explosive
A heavy version of the micro.

MaxiGrenade - Explosive
This grenade explodes causing huge amounts of armour-ripping damage.

SONICS

Sonic weapons use high pulses of UHF sound that effect the internal systems of the target. Vision is impaired is obscured by static, radios are rendered inoperative and internal systems are shorted out.

Stock Versions: Sonics blast unit.

Customised Versions: Sonic pulse cannon.

Who'd Use One? Communications units.

COMPRESSED AIR WEAPONRY

Although they do not cause large amounts are damage, airguns useful especially when coupled with armour-piercing shells. They are hard to detect as they are silent and admit little heat and do not rely and dangerous chemical reactions to take effect.

Stock Versions: B354 Air Rifle

Customised Versions: Compressed Air Cannon

Who'd Use One? Intelligence operatives, stealth units.