(Based on Pyramid #3/37 with input from G.U.R.B., Hard Maths, Panoptesv.)

This is a customized system for building laser and blaster weapons. The weapon designs should be reasonably similar to their equivalents in GURPS Ultra-Tech. (They won’t be precisely identical, since Ultra-Tech’s weapons were balanced against each other rather than built using design rules.)

Choose a TL for the weapon; it may be TL9 to TL12. Decide if the weapon will incorporate superscience (TL^) technology.

Look up the Base TL of the weapon you are building. If you are building a weapon of that TL then use the design system as is, but if:

• If the weapon is two Tech Levels before Base TL, multiply the weapon's empty weight by 32.
• If the weapon is one Tech Level before Base TL, multiply weapon's empty weight by 4.
• If the weapon is one Tech Level after Base TL, multiply weapon's empty weight by 0.5.
• If the weapon is at least two Tech Levels after Base TL, multiply weapon's empty weight by 0.25.
• If the weapon is marked with an asterisk, it is a superscience weapon (normally depicted with TL^.)

Example: This will be a TL12 beam weapon. It’s a handgun for the galactic police, to be known as the Vega Machine Pistol. It won’t incorporate superscience technology. The goal is to design an easily concealed but devastating weapon for undercover Space Patrol officers.

Select the type of beam, within the limits of the weapon’s TL. Force and graviton beams are always superscience. Other beams can incorporate superscience (e.g., a “TL9^ super laser” or “TL10^ super blaster”) if desired; this will make the weapon twice as powerful as it would be otherwise.

For explanations of damage modifiers, see pp. B104-105 and B111.

Laser (TL9): A high-energy laser fires a beam of coherent light, usually in near-infrared frequency. It inflicts tight-beam burning damage with a (2) armor divisor. For more information, see High Energy Laser.

Plasma Flamer (TL9^): Flamers fire a low-velocity stream of high temperature plasma. Hydrogen fuel is fed into a magnetic containment chamber and electromagnetically pinched to form a plasma and then released as a continuous jet. Flamers do burning damage, not tight-beam burning damage. Flamers usually have a medium focal array and single-shot generator.

High-Output Pulse Laser (TL10): Unlike normal lasers, high output pulse lasers do piercing damage with a size based on how powerful the beam is (see below) with the incendiary modifier and a (3) armor divisor.

To figure the high output pulse lasers type of piercing damage, find which of the below ranges the weapon's damage falls under:

• 3d or less, damage is small piercing (Pi-).
• If over 3d through 6d+2, damage is piercing (Pi).
• If at lest 7d-1 through 10d-1, damage is large piercing (PI+).
• If 10d or greater then damage is huge piercing (Pi++)

Electrolaser (TL9): Electrolasers use a pair of low-power UV lasers to ionized an path through the air, then send out a electrical discharge that follows this path to the target. They are normally less then lethal weapons that delivers a HT based affliction attack with a (2) armor divisor with a linked attack (the priming laser) that does tight-beam burning damage. Damage of the priming laser depends on the HT penalty of the main attack: 1d-3 for -0 to -5, 1d-2 for -6 to -7, 1d-1 if -8 or more. Add +3 to HT past the half damage range. If the target fails their roll, the shock stuns them. They may roll against HT every turn at the same penalty (but without the DR bonus) to recover. Electrolasers also affect machines that are Electrical. For more details, see Electrolasers in Ultra-Tech (pg. 119-120).

Microwave Weapons (TL9): The rules for microwave weapons can be found starting on page 120 of Ultra-Tech. There are two types of microwave weapons, MADs and microwave disruptors. MADs uses microwaves to trigger a pain response and are (in theory) a good way to break up crowds without causing actual injury. Microwave disruptors generate a directional EMP and are basically MAD for electronics. Both weapons use a HT based affliction and project a very wide area beam which uses the rules for cones. For MAD, if the HT roll to resist is failed, the victim suffers from the Agony affliction (p. B413) for as long as they are in the beam's area and for one second after leaving. For disruptors, a failed roll means that the device is shutdown for an amount of minutes equal to its margin of failure. A superscience upgrade adds Armor Divisor 2 to make them more effective against armored targets.

Both types of weapons fire high powered beams of microwaves. MADs operate at around 100 gigahertz and can penetrate up to 17mm into the skin of an average person. There it heats the water and fat which tricks the nerves into thinking you're being burned worse then you actually are causing severe levels of pain. Microwave disruptors pulse their frequency between 1 megahertz and a 100 gigahertz causing arching across conductive material shorting out electronics. They both cause HT based afflictions with no armor divisor. The only difference between them is MAD only effects living targets and disruptors only effect electronics. For more details, see Microwave Weapons in Ultra-Tech (p. 120-121).

Sonic Screamers (TL9^): Sonic screamers inflict corrosion damage with no armour divisor. They are cone attacks, with a maximum width of 1 yard. Use Beam Weapons (Projector) to hit.

Sonic Stunners (TL10): Sonic stunners have an affliction attack resisted with HT and a (5) armour divisor.

Plasma Guns (TL10^): Plasma guns fire a toroid bolt of super heated, ionized matter at super sonic velocity dumping so much energy onto the target that the matter located at the point of incident violently explodes! It inflicts burning damage with a (2) armor divisor and has the explosive and surge damage modifiers.

Given their penetrating and explosive nature, Plasma Guns can create issues if fired in built up areas (such as in home defense situations) or if fired in thin hulled air or spacecraft. To combat this, Plasma Guns can shoot more diffuse bolts which are no longer focused enough to gain an armor divisor or cause matter to explode but tend to create larger wound channels. These more diffuse bolts have less range however.

• Build a plasma gun as normal.
• Multiply its damage by 1.5, drop its (2) armor divisor and change its damage type to just burn sur.
• Halve its range.

A Plasma Gun can be built so it just fires more diffuse shots or so that it can switch between normal focused shots and diffuse ones. This does not effect the cost in either case. It takes a ready action to switch between modes for guns with both options.

In settings with this option most civilian Plasma Guns will be restricted to diffuse mode only. If that is the case then only diffuse Plasma Guns will have LC3 and ones that can fire focused shots will have a minimum LC of 2.

Plasma Blasters (TL10^): A Plasma Blaster forms a full sized bolt and after it starts accelerating it, it passes through a magnetic filter which splits the bolt into several sub bolts which act much like buck shot. This process make the sub bolts more unstable, dropping accuracy, and makes them more diffuse then their parent bolt, which means that like a diffuse plasma gun bolt, they lose their (2) armor divisor and have their injury type changed to just burn sur and their effective range drops a bit but their basic damage is increased.

• Build a plasma gun as normal.
• Figure a number for your Diffusion Factor (Df). This will determine how much the guns damage is reduced by and the guns new ROF.
• Divide the guns damage by Df. Drop the (2) armor divisor and change injury type to just burn sur.
• Reduce Acc by -1.
• Divide range by the square root of Df.
• ROF becomes n×Df cubed.
• Rcl becomes 1.
• Within 10% of the guns half damage range the sub bolts are still tightly packed together enough that they act almost like a standard full sized bolt. Ignore the ROF multiplier to the weapons ROF. Instead multiply both the bolt's basic damage and the targets DR by Df. If you want a little more cinematic boomstick action then multiply the bolt's basic damage and the targets DR by Df × 1.5 or 2!

A Plasma Blaster can make use of the smart choke options listed on page 6 of the Pyramid 3/55- Tactical Shooting Tomorrow.

Just as with the diffuse option, a gun can either be built to only fire in plasma blaster mode or can be switched between modes as a ready action. Either option does not effect cost.

Plasma Lance (TL10^): Plasma Lances fire a relativistic beam of super focused high temperature plasma. In effect its the unholy love child of a Plasma Gun and a Flamer. Plasma Lances do burning damage with the explosive modifier and have a (10) armor divisor.

Neural Disruptors (TL11^): Neural disruptors have an affliction attack resisted with HT. They are ranged contact agents, so ignore DR unless the target has the Sealed advantage, in which case there is no effect. They are cone attacks, with a maximum width of 1 yard. Use Beam Weapons (Projector) to hit. You must choose the effect: agony, death (+1 TL), ecstasy, neural stun, paralysis, or seizure. A neural disruptor may have more than one setting: +0.5 CF per additional effect.

Mind Disruptors (TL12^): These act identically to Neural Disruptors (above), except that the affliction is based on Will and the available effects are: hypnogogic, death, or insanity. Normal DR, including Sealed DR, has no effect.

Plasma Flamers (TL9^): Damage is non-tight-beam burning. Flamers are jets; treat as a melee attack with a very long reach.

Force Beam (TL10^): These are tightly focused gravitic beams that deliver a powerful kinetic impact. Force beams inflict crushing damage with the double knockback modifier. They can also be set to stun, delivering a beam with a wider impact; on “stun” the beam has no wounding effect (no HP are lost), but it still has its usual double knockback modifier. For additional details, see Force Beams in Ultra-Tech (pp. 128-129).

Blaster (TL10/11^): A blaster fires a bolt of ionized charged particles at relativistic velocities. It inflicts tight-beam burning damage with a (5) armor divisor and the surge damage modifier. In vacuum, the charged particles repel each other, so Acc is halved and it has only 20% range. For extra rules, see Charged Particle Beams (“Blasters”) in Ultra-Tech (p. 123).

Neutral Particle Beam (TL10/11^): Similar to a blaster (see above), this is a neutral beam composed of both positively charged ions and electrons. It inflicts tight-beam burning damage with surge and radiation modifiers, but won’t work in atmosphere. However, at the flip of a switch, it can reconfigure to fire a blaster beam with identical stats except using half the power (giving it twice as many shots in this mode).

Plasma Guns (TL11^): Plasma guns inflict non-tight-beam burning damage with a (2) armour divisor and the explosive damage modifier. Plasma guns have recoil, so increase to Rcl 2 and multiply the final ST requirement by 1.5, rounding to the nearest whole number.

Disintegrators (TL12^): Disintegrators inflict corrosion damage with a cosmic (∞) armour divisor. Force screens protect with 1/10 DR. Disintegrators require cosmic power cells to function. Optionally, a disintegrator using non-cosmic power cells may divide it's number of shots by 1,000.

Rainbow Laser (TL11): This type of laser fires a nanosecond pulse that is focused through interaction with the atmosphere into a needle-thin beam of polychromatic light. It inflicts tight-beam burning damage with a (3) armor divisor. The beam only focuses properly in a very thin to superdense atmosphere; in vacuum or trace conditions, it has 10% range and no armor divisor. See also Rainbow Lasers in Ultra-Tech (pp. 116-117).

X-Ray Laser (TL11): An advanced laser firing coherent Xrays, an X-ray laser inflicts tight-beam burning damage with a (5) armor divisor and the surge damage modifier. In air, range is limited to 7/20 yards divided by the pressure in Earth atmospheres. See X-Ray Lasers in Ultra-Tech (pp. 117-118).

Graviton Beam (TL11^): These weapons project oscillating hypergravity fields that crush or vibrate internal organs. Gravity beams inflict crushing damage with the no-knockback damage modifier. Although their damage is low, they have a cosmic armor divisor (∞) that ignores all normal DR. Force screens can protect against them, but do so at 1/100 of their normal DR. For extra rules, see Graviton Beams in Ultra-Tech (p. 129).

Pulsar (TL11/12^): A pulsar is an anti-particle beam; it fires antiparticles, usually positrons or anti-hydrogen atoms. It inflicts crushing damage with a (3) armor divisor and the explosive, radiation, and surge damage modifiers. In air, range is limited to 1,000 yards divided by the pressure in Earth atmospheres. See Antiparticle Beams (“Pulsars”) in Ultra-Tech (p. 124).

Graser (TL12): An advanced laser firing coherent gamma rays, a graser does tight-beam burning damage with a (10) armor divisor and the surge damage modifier. In air, range is limited to 70/200 yards divided by the pressure in Earth atmospheres. See Gamma-Ray Lasers (Grasers) in Ultra-Tech (p. 118).

* The TL before the slash is for cannon; after the slash is for beamers, pistols, and rifles. See Configuration (p. 13).

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is a pulsar.

This is the weapon’s focusing system, which helps determine range. Decide if the weapon has a tiny (x0.1), very small (x0.25), small (x0.5), medium (x1), large (x1.5), very large (x2), or extremely large (x4) focal array relative to typical weapons of its class. The parenthetical number is the effect on range. Most weapons use a medium array, but a smaller array means reduced range with some saving in weight, while a larger array is heavier but longer-ranged.

Example: This is envisioned as a snub-nosed weapon, so the Vega Machine Pistol will have a very small focal array, reducing its weight somewhat at the expense of a shorter range.

Decide on the beam generator, which determines rate of fire.

High-Energy: The generator charges up between shots. Choose a Rate of Fire of 1 per 3, 5, or 10 seconds.

Single Shot: The generator can only fire one shot per second, but is lightweight. MAD weapons are always single-shot.

Semi-Auto: The generator can be built to fire at up to RoF 3, and can use Fast-Firing rules (HT84).

Light Automatic: The generator can be built to fire at RoF 4 to RoF 10.

Heavy Automatic: The generator can be built to fire at up to RoF 20.

The primary difference between Semi-Auto and Light Automatic is rate of fire; usually civilian models are set to semi-auto rather than light automatic.

Example: As the weapon was named a “machine pistol,” it seems logical to make it capable of rapid fire! It will have a light automatic generator.

For generators locked at a particular RoF, choose an RoF. Your weapon will fire at this rate, and weapon weight will be determined later. This is recommended for Gatling-style weapons that are intended for high rates of sustained fire. A Gatling action requires a minimum of three barrels.

Choose the dice of damage the weapon inflicts. The greater the damage, the heavier and more power-hungry the weapon will be. Partial dice of damage can be specified as a decimal value, e.g., 2.5d. This will be converted to dice plus adds as detailed in Rounding Damage (below), but the decimal value is used for all other design calculations.

To create man-portable weapons, give a beam pistol 2d to 5d, a beam rifle 4d to 8d, and heavier weapons even more damage. Pulsars and “super” versions of ordinary non-superscience beams (that is, not graviton or force) are more energy-efficient and so can usually be built to do twice that amount of damage (four times damage for a superscience pulsar). Graviton beams are less efficient at doing damage, so will usually be about half as lethal (e.g., the average graviton pistol is usually 1d to 2.5d damage).

After the damage dice are assigned, determine the basic empty weight of the weapon (see below). That will give an idea if the weapon is practical. If not, choose a lower or higher damage and recalculate weight again!

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol will inflict 7d damage, high for a normal pistol but about average for a more efficient pulsar.

For weapons that cause an affliction like microwave disruptors, they cause an HT based affliction with a minimum modifier of -1. Superscience versions have an armor divisor of 2. Treat the HT modifier as if there were dice of damage, -3 would be treated as 3 dice of damage for example. Pistols usually do up to HT-3 aff, rifles up to HT-6 aff and cannons are over HT-7 aff.

When recording partial damage, convert it to dice plus adds as detailed below:

Damage Under 1d: 0.01-0.032 = 1d-5; 0.33-0.42 = 1d-4; 0.43 to 0.56 = 1d-3; 0.57-0.75 = 1d-2; 0.76-0.95 = 1d-1; 0.96+ = 1d.

Damage 1d-12d: 0.14- = no modifier. 0.15-0.42 = +1 damage. 0.43-0.64= +2 or +1d-2. 0.65 to 0.85= +1d-1; 0.85-0.99= round up to next full die.

Damage 12d+ (Optional): Record damage as 6d x Nd, where Nd is number of dice / 6, rounded to nearest whole number. Ignore adds.

Calculate the weight in pounds based on the design decisions and this formula:

Empty Weight = (D x S / E)^3 x F x G x Bw x Bt x Mb.

D is the dice of damage or HT modifier.

S is 1 for most beams, or 0.5 for “super” versions of non-superscience beams (i.e., superscience weapons that aren’t force or graviton beams).

E is 6 for a pulsar, plasma lance, or plasma gun, 5 for high-output laser, 4 for force, 3.1 for electrolasers, 2.75 for sonic screamers/disruptors/stunners, 2.75 for neural or mind disruptors, 3 for flamers, 7.5 for plasma guns, 1.1 for MAD weapons, 1.5 for graviton beams, 32 for disintegrators, or 3 for any other beam type.

F for the focal-array value: 0.25 for tiny, 0.5 for very small, 0.8 for small, 1 for medium, 1.25 for large, 1.6 for very large, or 2 for extremely large.

G for the beam-generator value: 1 for single-shot, 1.25 for semi-auto or light automatic, 2 for heavy automatic or Gatling.

If using High Energy, G is changed to 0.7 for a 3 second charge delay, 0.6 for a 5 second charge delay or 0.5 for a 10 second charge delay.

If using More Detail, consult the following chart:

For ROF greater then 20, G can be figured as 1+(ROF/20)^2, or multiple beam generators can be used to develop a Gatling-style weapon.

For weapons that project a cone rather than a single concentrated beam, Bw is the cube root of the cone's maximum width in yards. Otherwise, Bw is 1.

Bt depends on barrel type; Bt is 1 for standard energy barrels, 1.5 for standard energy machine gun barrels (double sustainable rate of fire), or 2 for heavy energy machine gun barrels (quadruple the weapon's sustainable rate of fire).

Mb is 1 if the energy weapon is not a gatling weapon or number of barrels × 0.45 if a gatling weapon (minimum 3 barrels).

Round the weight off to the nearest 0.1 lbs. if the weight is less than 10 lbs., or to two figures if it weighs 10 lbs. or more.

If the weight seems wrong for the desired weapon, adjust the dice of damage and try again!

For MAD/disruptors, to line things up better with Ultra-Tech's stats, weapons with the pistol configuration multiply their weight by 1.25 while ones with a rifle configuration multiply their weight by 1.5. Quadruple weight at TL8, halve weight at TL10 and halve again at TL11+.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is a pulsar that inflicts 7d damage. It has a very small focal array and light automatic beam generator. Empty weight is (7 x 1 / 6)^3 x 0.5 x 1.25 = 0.992 lbs., rounded to 1 lb. That seems fine for a handgun.

Decide on the weapon format. This is independent of weight, e.g. one can build a massive pistol (for a huge robot) or a tiny rifle (for a miniature alien). However, if built for human-sized users, most beamers are well under a pound, most pistols are 0.5 to 4 lbs., and most rifles are 5-15 lbs., with cannons anywhere from a little bit to a lot heavier.

Sub-Compact/Beamer: The weapon is handheld but has no stock or handgrip and no special aiming systems. These include small holdout or “flashlight” weapons, laboratory devices, and cutting tools. This reduces Accuracy but lowers Bulk. This configuration should be used for either small “holdout pistol” style beam weapons or tool shaped beam weapons (like the ever awful dustbuster phaser from Star Trek: The Next Generation) up to about pistol sized. Bulk should be no more then -1.

Pistol: The weapon uses a pistol grip. Pistol-form weapons should be small weapons that could be fired with one hand and be Bulk -3 at the most.

SMGs: A two-handed weapon that is shorter than a rifle, resulting in a shorter sightline and focusing array, but more stable than an equivalent pistol, with a more compact frame with a lower bulk. Typical of PDWs, short carbines, and weapons designed for CQB.

Staffs: A long, thin weapon of the size and shape of a staff, with the optics, accelerators, or other internal components distributed through the long haft. The lack of a stock or proper sights reduces accuracy, though advanced shooters can mitigate this by holding the staff over the shoulder like a rocket launcher to use the entire length of the weapon as a sightline.

Carbine: These are rifle from long arms with a built in stock as default though attaching a stock to a pistol from weapon effectively makes it a pistol carbine. In general they can be anything from pistol sized up to a bulk of -5.

Rifle: The weapon is a rifle format with a shoulder stock and grip. A larger, fulled long arm beam weapons. Bulk should be up to -7.

Support: A support configured beam weapon can be any sized up to a large rifle up to cannon in sized and in fact cannons are just mounted support weapons. They can be any Bulk -6 and up.

Cannon: The weapon is a heavy weapon designed to be mounted on a tripod or installed in a turret or other weapon mount. A mounted support configured beam weapon and such and be anything with a bulk of -6 and up.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is, unsurprisingly, a pistol.

Determine the weapon’s full combat statistic block.

Record the dice of damage chosen for the weapon.

Indicate the armor divisor, if any, in parenthesis: (2) for laser, (3) for rainbow laser or pulsar, (5) for blaster or X-ray laser, (10) for graser or plasma lance, or infinite for a graviton beam.

Record the damage type: burn for laser, rainbow laser, blaster, neutral particle, X-ray laser or graser; cr for graviton, force, or pulsar, burn ex for plasma lance.

Record any damage modifiers: dbk for force, sur for blaster; ex, rad, and sur for pulsar; rad and sur for neutral particle beam.

Example: As the Vega Machine Pistol is a pulsar with 7d damage, the damage is recorded as 7d(2) cr ex rad sur.

Use the Accuracy Table to determine Acc based on beam type and configuration. This is sourced from the following:

With an expanded number of beam types, it's simpler to use this equation:

Acc = Ca×Ab

Ca depends on configuration. It is 0.5 for beamers, 1 for pistols, 2 for rifles and 3 for cannon. Ab depends on the beam. It is 3 for sonic screamers and sonic stunners; 4 for electrolasers and plasma guns; 5 for blasters, neutral particle beams and pulsars; and 6 for all other beam types. Round down. Plasma flamers are jet attacks, so don't have an Acc statistic; write “Jet” in the Acc column instead.

Sub Compact/Beamer: This configuration should be used for either small “holdout pistol” style beam weapons or tool shaped beam weapons (like the ever awful dustbuster phaser from Star Trek: The Next Generation) up to about pistol sized. Bulk should be no more then -1.

Staffs: A long, thin weapon of the size and shape of a staff, with the optics, accelerators, or other internal components distributed through the long haft. The lack of a stock or proper sights reduces accuracy, though advanced shooters can mitigate this by holding the staff over the shoulder like a rocket launcher to use the entire length of the weapon as a sightline.

Pistol: Pistol from weapons should be small weapons that could be fired with on hand and be -3 at the most.

SMGs: A two-handed weapon that is shorter than a rifle, resulting in a shorter sightline and focusing array, but more stable than an equivalent pistol, with a more compact frame with a lower bulk. Typical of PDWs, short carbines, and weapons designed for CQB.

Carbine: These are rifle-form long arms with a built in stock as default (attaching a stock to a pistol from weapon effectively makes it a pistol carbine). In general they can be anything from pistol sized up to a bulk of -5.

Rifle: A larger, fulled long arm beam weapons. Bulk should be up to -7

Support: A support configured beam weapon can be any sized up to a large rifle up to cannon in sized and in fact cannons are just mounted support weapons. They can be any bulk -6 and up.

Cannon: A mounted support configured beam weapon and such and be anything with a bulk of -6 and up.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is a pulsar with pistol configuration, so it is Acc 5.

The weapon’s half-damage and maximum ranges depend on the focal array and dice of damage. Use the formula below. Round range to two figures, e.g., 175 becomes 180.

1/2D Range (yards) = D x D x Rb for most beams, square root of D x 20 for plasma lances.

Max Range (yards) = 1/2D x2 for MAD/disruptors, electrolaser beamers and pistols, x10 for plasma lances, x3 for all other beams.

D is the dice of damage.

Rb is 0.4 for high-output pulse laser, 0.7 for disintegrators, 2 for screamers or flamers, 2.5 for neural or mind disruptors, 3.5 for stunners, 6.7 for plasma guns, 8 for pulsar, 10 for electrolasers, 11 for force, 32 for blaster or neutral particle beam, 40 for laser, 45 for MAD/disruptors, 56 for rainbow laser, 100 for graviton, 2,000 for X-ray laser, or 6,000 for graser.

Rf is based on the focal array: 0.1 for tiny, 0.3 for very small, 0.5 for small, 1 for medium, 2 for large, 4 for very large, or 8 for extremely large.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol’s 1/2D range is based on its 7d damage, pulsar beam, and very small focal array: 7 x 7 x 8 x 0.3 = 117.6 yards, rounded to 120 yards. Max range is 120 x 3 = 360 yards.

Choose a RoF based on the weapon’s beam generator and record it.

Single shot must have RoF 1.

Semi-auto may have either RoF 2 or 3.

Light auto may be given any RoF from 4 to 10.

Heavy auto may be given any RoF from 11 to 20.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is light auto, so we can choose RoF 4 to 10. We choose RoF 10.

Weapons are powered by power cells, classed as A ($2, 0.005 lbs.), B ($3, 0.5 lbs.), C ($10, 0.5 lbs.), D ($100, 5 lbs.), E ($2,000, 20 lbs.), or F ($20,000, 200 lbs.). Decide how many power cells the gun will use and their class and TL (usually the same as the weapon’s TL).

The Shots Table shows the number of shots that a weapon with 1d damage gets from a single rechargeable C cell; modify this based on the cell type, multiply by the number of cells, and then divide by the cube of the dice of damage. Round the quotient down and record this as Shots.

Superscience cells (Ultra-Tech, p. 133) are available in some settings; they store five times as many shots. Nonrechargeable cells store twice as many shots.

Note that for TL8 energy weapons, a TL8 C cell holds 1/8th the number of shots of a TL9 version using a TL9 cell. If a TL9+ power cell is used, a TL8 energy weapons gets 1/2 the shots a TL9 energy weapon would get using a a power cell of a given TL.

Since TL9 power cells don't quiet have the punch yet, use the energy provided by chemicals reactions is the way to go till TL10 powers cells show up to power laser weapons. A Chemical Power Packs that weighs as much as an C power cell will provide 160 shots for a TL8 laser, 320 shots for a TL9 laser and 640 shots for a TL10+ laser. Ultra-Tech gives no mention of a Chemical Power Packs cost, assume they Cost $20 per pound. See the box on pg. 114 as well as pg. 115 of Ultra-Tech for the full rules for Chemical Power Packs, Chemical Power Packs can only be used to power Infrared Lasers.

While plasma guns and flamers don't use power cells per se, instead using self contained “power cartridges” that hold a non-rechargeable power cell and a bit of hydrogen, they are effectively just “reskinned” power cells and weigh and cost the same amount as a normal rechargeable power cell.

* When a neutral particle beam operates in charged particle (“blaster”) mode it drains only one-half of a shot.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is a TL12 pulsar powered by four TL12 B cells. It would have 20 shots: 17,280 (TL12 pulsar) x 0.1 (B cell) x 4 (four cells) divided by 343 (the cube of its 7d damage).

The reloading time depends on the weight of the heaviest power cell. It is noted in parenthesis after the number of shots. The reloading time is (3) for A, B, or C cells, or (5) for D or larger cells. However, each cell must be reloaded individually, so a weapon with 10 A cells would actually require 30 seconds to reload all of them.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol has B cells, so reloading time is (3). Its Shots are therefore recorded as Shots 20(3).

A weapon’s weight is its empty weight modified by the weight of its power cells. Decide if the weapon’s power cells are built into the weapon or stored in an external power pack, vehicle, etc. External power packs don’t count toward loaded weight, but do require removing the pack first before the weapon can be reloaded. Use the already-calculated empty weight and the choice of power cells to determine the weapon’s loaded weight:

Weight = Empty Weight + PB.

PB is the weight of all power cells built into the weapon, excluding cells stored in a power pack, vehicle, etc. Weight per power cell is 0.005 for A, 0.05 for B, 0.5 for C, 5 for D, 20 for E, 200 for F.

Record the type of power cell after weight; if more than one cell is used, also record the number, e.g., 2C. If the cells are in a power pack append p after cell type.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol’s empty weight was 1 lb. Its power cells are built in; with four B cells that are 0.05 lbs. each, so it weighs 1.2 lbs. Its weight is recorded as 1.2/4B. If the B cells had been in an external power pack, they wouldn’t count; the weight would be recorded as 1/4Bp.

This option allows you to cool weapons that would normally overheat rapidly with sustained use, by installing a cooling system.

For this design system you have two options, a Passive Liquid Cooling System that is cheap and easy and a more complicated Active Liquid Cooling System that increases how effective your cooling system is many time but needs power and is more costly and heavy.

To build a Passive System just use the rules below.

To build a Active System, first you need to build a Passive System and then build the Active System components afterwards.

Passive cooling is a very simple concept. Wrap a container of some kind of liquid, usually water, around the barrel of the weapon. As it fires the water will conduct the heat the weapons generates from the barrel and into the water where it will boil off, carrying that heat with it. This lets you keep on firing your weapons safely, at least until the water all boils away.

Now to a degree this boil off can be countered. By adding a condenser, the boil off water now has somewhere to go, condense back into water and cycle back into the main coolant container. While this does add extra weight and cost to the design and the coolant will still eventually boil off completely, it lets a given amount of water last roughly ten times as long so is more than worth it and condensers are assumed to be included with the Liquid Cooling Systems this design system covers.

To design a Passive Liquid Cooling System look up the weapons type (including which TL version it is) your are adding the system to on the Beam Type Table below. Some beam types are more efficient than others, which will determine how much coolant you will need. Less efficient weapons will generate more waste heat which will reduce how many shots you can get off before the coolant boils away.

The Shots/lbs column shows how many shots 1 lbs of water can cool before needing to be replaced, assuming 1d worth of damage for a given weapon type. Multiply this value by how many pounds of water the cooling system will use. For more powerful weapons divide shots/lbs by dice of damage cubed. Divide Shots/lbs by the weapon's ROF to get how many seconds of fire the given amount of coolant will give you.

Example: A 5d TL10 laser will get 400,000/5^3 or 3,200 shots out of 1 lbs or water. If the weapons used 0.5 lbs then it will be able to sustain 3,200×0.5 or 1,600 shots before the water needs to be replaced. If the laser had an ROF of 16, it could fire for 100 straight seconds before the coolant is depleted.

While water is an excellent coolant, especially for its price, the ultra technology available at TL9 and beyond gives access to superior, but far more expensive, coolant choices. Possible future coolants are an oxygen free perfluorohexane-based coolant at TL9, liquid nano-diamondoid fluid at TL11, or a super dense hyperfluid at TL12. Multiply shots/lbs by 1.5 at TL9, by 2 at TL10, 3 at TL11, and by 5 at TL12.

Cost: For water, cost is generally free (or maybe $1/lbs if you have to raid a grocery store in a pinch) but for baseline Ultra-Tech coolants the costs is $10/lbs.

More advanced coolants are available at each TL for a higher cost; advanced coolant that increases the amount of shots/lbs by 1.5× costs $50/lbs and coolant that increases the amount of shots/lbs by 2× costs $200/lbs.

Coolant containment system and condenser unit: Once you have figured how many pounds of coolant you need, it is time to figure how much the coolant containment system and condenser unit weighs and costs.

Wt= Cw×TL.

Cw is the coolant weight in pounds. TL is 1.3 at TL9, 1.2 at TL10, 1.15 at TL11 and 1.1 at TL12.

Cost= Cw×TL.

Cw is the coolant weight in pounds. TL is $60 at TL9, $40 at TL10, $30 at TL11 and $20 at TL12.

An energy weapon with an Liquid Cooling System can safely fire its full ROF for as many shots as its coolant gives it. After this many shots have been fired, the weapons can still fire but the normal sustained fire rules are in effect (see this post here for the more detailed sustained fire rules for beam weapons).

While passive cooling can be very effective on its own, by adding powered pumps to increase the circulation rate, heatsink and fans (or a more powerful pump and a larger heatsink with radiators if being designed for space use) you can increase the cooling to an even greater effect but with the downside of increased weight, cost and a need for a power source.

Before designing an Active Liquid Cooling System, design a Passive Liquid Cooling system as normal first. Just keep in mind that it will not need to be as massive if this system is added.

Weight: The weight of an active liquid cooling system is based on how much coolant it needs to move.

Wt= Cw × TL.

Cw is the weight of the coolant in pounds. TL is 1.5 at TL9, 1 at TL10, 0.7 at TL11, and 0.5 at TL12.

Cost: This is based on the weight of the active liquid cooling system in pounds.

Cost= Uw × $80.

Uw is the weight of the active cooling system in pounds.

Duration: The more coolant that the system needs to move, the more power you are going to need to move it. The formula below will determine how many seconds a C cell for a given TL will run the active liquid cooling system.

Duration= TL / Cw

TL is 9,000 at TL9, 36,000 at TL10, 144,000 at TL11, and 576,000 at TL12.

Cw is the weight of the coolant in pounds.

To increase duration, add more or larger power cells.

Increased Effect: How much of a boost to your liquid cooling system an active system gives depends on the systems TL. It boosts it by 3× at TL9, 5× at TL10, 7× at TL11 and 10× at TL12.

Add the cost and weight of the Active Liquid Cooling System and the weight of power cells needs to run it to the weight and cost of the base Passive Cooling System it is attached to.

There may be cases where you don’t want the whole cooling system entirely mounted to the weapon.

If the weapon has a Passive Liquid Cooling System then half of the empty Coolant System weight needs to be attached the weapon, the other half acts as the Condenser Unit. The full weight of the coolant is still added to the weapon however.

If using an Active Liquid Cooling System less of the Coolant System and water needs to be attached to the weapon since the water is going to be cycling at a faster rate. With an Active Cooling system, only a quarter of the empty Coolant System and half of the coolant's weight needs to be attached to the weapon. The remainder of the Coolant System acts as both the Condenser Unit and a secondary coolant reservoir. The other half of coolant is stored here as well as the weight of the Active Liquid Coolant System.

In either case there needs to be cord that runs between both parts of the system to allow coolant and power to flow. These cords weighs 0.4lbs and cost $4 per yard of length.

One down side of a gatling action is that is needs power to work. While there are workarounds to this, since energy weapons need electricity to run anyways, it's usually just simpler to use power cells.

Power Requirement = Gw × ROF × 0.00054kW

Gw is the weapons empty weight.

ROF is the weapons rate of fire.

Calculate the weapon’s ST requirement using the formula below with loaded weight.

Beamer or Pistol ST = (square root of weight) x 3.3.

Staff / Cannon ST = (square root of weight) x 2.4.

SMG / Rifle ST = (square root of weight) x 2.2.

Round to the nearest whole number.

If weapon is a rifle, staff, or SMG, append a dagger after ST to indicate two hands are used. If the weapon is a cannon, append M after ST (e.g., ST 20M).

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is a pistol that weighs 1.2 lbs., so its ST requirement is the square root of 1.2 x 3.3. This is 3.61, rounded to ST 4.

While it is possible to make a rifle-form gatling weapons (Ultra-Tech even has an example, the Gatling Carbine, on pg. 136 and 37), most classic gatling weapons would be statted as mounted weapons (aka cannons). If modified to be man-portable then re-figure its Acc as if its a rifle and multiply its ST by 0.7 and add a dagger. Increase a plasma guns Rcl to 3 and figure its new ST as old ST ×0.75. In either case the skill to use it stays Gunner (Beams).

Modifying a gatling weapon to be man portable usually involves adding a handle strong enough to support it as well as an firing mechanism. This adds 4lbs and $800.

Calculate Bulk using the formula below, and express it as a negative number (e.g., 3 becomes -3).

Bulk = (square root of weight) x SB.

SB determined from the configuration: 1.5 if rifle or cannon, 1.25 if pistol, 1 if beamer.

Round Bulk to the nearest whole number, and tack on a minus sign. However, the minimum Bulk is -6 for a cannon, -3 for a rifle, -1 for a pistol, or 0 for a beamer; the maximum bulk is -10.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is pistol configuration. The square root of its weight of 1.2 lbs. is 1.095 x 1.25 = 1.369, rounded to Bulk -1.

All beam and laser weapons have Rcl 1. Plasma guns have Rcl 2.

Cost depends on beam type, configuration, and weight using this formula.

Cost = Empty Weight x Bc x G x Bt.

Bc based on the beam type: $500 for force, laser, MAD/disruptor, stunner, flamer, disintegrator, or rainbow laser; $1,000 for X-ray laser, screamer, or electrolaser; $1,500 for graser; $2,000 for blaster, neural disruptor, plasma gun, plasma lance, or graviton; $3,000 for pulsar or neutral particle beam; $5,000 for mind disruptor.

G is the value of G used earlier for generators (1 for single-shot, 1.25 for semi-auto or light automatic, 2 for heavy automatic or Gatling, or G calculated by RoF.)

Bt is 1 for standard or quick-swap energy barrel systems; 1.5 for standard machine gun barrels; 2 for heavy machine gun barrels.

When building cannon sized energy weapons, sometimes cost is a bigger factor then weight. Energy weapons can be built with older or off-the-shelf parts, increasing weight by 1.5x but also halving the cost as well. This is a deliberate design choice, effectively taking the Cheap (Clunky) Value modifier.

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol cost is based on its 1 lb. empty weight, generator, and beam type. This is 1 x $3,000 x 2 = $6,000.

As is usual for ammunition, the cost of power cells are not included in the specified Cost of the weapon but must be bought separately.

Laser Options: An ordinary laser built using this system may have the blue-green, blinding-mode, or ultraviolet options added as detailed in Ultra-Tech. Lasers, X-ray lasers and grasers, but not rainbow lasers, may have the pulse laser option (Ultra-Tech, p. 118). Apply any modifiers for these options after the weapon is fully designed.

Blaster Options: A blaster or neutral particle beam may incorporate the omni-blaster option (Ultra-Tech, p. 124) at +100% to cost.

Superscience Options: Any beam weapon designed using this system may have the field-jacketed, superscience power cell, gravitic focus or FTL options (Ultra-Tech, p. 133) if desired. Again, apply these modifiers after the weapon is fully designed.

Calculate the weapon’s LC. The basic LC is 4 for force beams, 3 for blasters, graviton, neutral particle beams, lasers, flamers, rainbow lasers, X-ray lasers, and grasers, or 2 for pulsars. Reduce LC by 1 if the weapon weighs 5 lbs. or more (loaded) or by 2 (with a minimum LC of 1) if it weighs over 15 lbs. (loaded).

Example: The Vega Machine Pistol is LC2 for being a pulsar. Its weight does not modify this.

Every TL9+ weapon has smartgun electronics (p. B278 or Ultra-Tech, p. 149) at no extra cost. Other accessories from Ultra-Tech (pp. 151-152) can be added.

Cannon and other mounted beam weapons use Gunner (Beams) skill.

Pistols and beamers use Beam Weapons (Pistol). Rifle-configuration weapons use Beam Weapons (Rifle). SMGs use Beam Weapons (SMG); shotguns use Beam Weapons (Shotgun); LMGs use Beam Weapons (LMG).

Pistol and Rife class Flamers use the Energy Weapons (Projector) skill, cannon class Flamers use Gunner (Beams) instead.

Example: A Vega Machine Pistol requires Beam Weapons (Pistol) skill.

Adding a stock to a stockless weapons, such as the default for pistol-form weapons, increases its Acc by the same amount as making it a Fine (Accurate) beam weapon (see Cost Factor Modifiers). This will in fact bump up its Acc to the Acc of a configuration one size bigger (i.e. a pistol will have the same Acc as a carbine). Likewise removing or collapsing the stock of a beam weapon that has one, such as the default for carbines and bigger, subtracts and amount from its Acc equal to the bonus it would receive for being Fine (Accurate). Mounting a beam weapon so its fixed tight and securely to a weapon mount, also increase its accuracy. Mounting a beam weapon increases its Acc by the same amount as making it Fine (Accurate) and removing an already mounted weapon from its mount reduces its Acc by the same amount. Cannon are already considered mounted, if removed from their mounting treat them as support weapons.

Designing a disposable beam weapon is simple. Build the beam weapon you want as normal. After the weapon is built divide its weight and cost by 10.

Of course the downside of getting the weight of a energy weapon to this point is that the insides basically melt themselves after firing. This creates a discharge that needs to be vented, creating a backblast hazard. For plasma weapons this can simply be vented out of the rear of the weapon like a recoilless launcher. This counteracts their normal recoil giving a disposable plasma weapon Rcl 1 (which also reduces the weapon's ST requirements). For other beam weapons things get a bit trickier. Since most beam weapons are essentially recoilless already, just having the discharge vented from the rear would kick the weapon forward throwing off the weapons aim! To counter this the discharge has to be vented from both the front and rear of the weapon.

To help reduce the dangers of the weapon venting, it can be assumed that most reinforced bits of the weapon internals are positioned in front of the discharge helping to eat of energy and dampen the backblast acting much the same way as counter-mass on more modern real world recoilless launchers does. This reduces the backblast to crushing damage and limits the backblast danger zone.

To figure your weapon's backblast, look up the type of beam weapon on the chart below and multiple its actual damage by the relevant backblast modifier. This damage is crushing and damages everything in a 60° cone out to two yards per dice. For every beam weapon except for plasma ones this backblast comes from both the front and rear of the weapon, for plasma weapons the backblast only emits from the rare of the weapon and reduces their Rcl to 1. Multiply a plasma weapon's ST by ×0.8.

Several other features can be added to almost any beam weapon. Multiple modifications are possible; e.g., “expensive” and “styling” commonly occur together. Each modifier has a “cost factor” (CF). To find final cost, multiply the modified item’s list cost by (1 + total CF). If total CF is below -0.8, treat it as -0.8; thus, final cost cannot be below 20% of list cost.

For a cost factor of +1 (double base cost), a weapon can be Fine (Accurate), receiving a bonus to their accuracy based on their type. Very Fine (Accurate) has a CF of +4.

For a cost factor of +1 (double base cost), a weapon can be Fine (Reliable), receiving a +1 to Malf. Very Fine (Accurate) has a CF of +4 and adds +2 to Malf.

Cheap gadgets use inexpensive materials. They’re either clunky (weight is x1.5) or fragile and finicky (weight is unchanged, but apply -2 to HT and halve DR). Either way, CF is -0.5. Expensive gadgets are made of lighter, stronger materials. Weight is x2/3. CF is +1. Neither option is available for weapons or armor.

A weapon may be disguised as something else of similar shape, such as a laser rifle built into an umbrella or a knife built into a belt buckle. Finding the hidden item requires the Search skill. CF is +1 for a mass-produced disguised item; +4 for a custom-built one.

Styling alters the device’s appearance in as “fashionable” a manner as possible. All sorts of options are possible, including airbrushing, sculpted curves and designs, embedded gemstones, or even built-in lighting. Styling grants a bonus to reaction rolls from collectors and potential buyers, and to Merchant skill rolls made as Influence rolls (p. B359) on such people: +1 to rolls for +1 CF, +2 for +4 CF, or +3 for +9 CF.

Rugged gadgets are built to withstand abuse, harsh weather, and physical damage. Rugged systems incorporate modifications such as shock-mounted brackets, heavy-duty heat sinks, and redundant power supplies. A rugged gadget gets a +2 HT bonus and has twice its normal DR. Weight is x1.2, CF is +1.

Record the standard statistics for the weapon in the usual format, including skill required and defaults.