Gauss Rifles

The Gauss Rifle: A Pilot's Worst Enemy
In-Universe Media by Matthew Cross
Publication
Published	15 September 2020
Published in	Shrapnel Issue 2
Publisher	Catalyst Game Labs
Pages	4
Chronology
Era	Dark Age era
Timeline	18 September 3125

The Gauss Rifle: A Pilot's Worst Enemy is a transcript of an in-universe lecture held at the New Avalon Institute of Science on the Inner Sphere-grade Gauss Rifle and its derivatives. It is written by Matthew Cross and published in the second issue of Shrapnel.

Summary

Dr. Kiran Suzuki hosts the fourth of a series of lectures as part of "BME 210: Advanced Weaponry Engineering for MechWarriors" this time discussing the ubiquitous Gauss Rifle. Suzuki touches on the history of the weapon, its "LosTech" construction and basic operating principles as well as warning of both its benefits but also negatives to the firer; the sheer electrical power required to fire the weapon being problematic for BattleMechs not designed to properly support them let alone the issues caused for ICE-powered combat vehicles.

Suzuki then moves on to talk about the BattleMech-scale variants of the weapon developed by Inner Sphere, briefly discussing the Light Gauss Rifle before focusing on the problems and complexities of the massive Heavy Gauss Rifle and its expensive and even heavier Improved version. Next Suzuki discusses a less well-known variant of the weapon, the Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle, and the reasons for its lower popularity over the standard model.

The transcript concludes with Suzuki preparing the cadets for laboratory exercises with real 'Mechs and weaponry so they may learn first hand of things like the "power-loss stutter" caused by firing Gauss Rifles not quite adequately evident in simulators, but not before they undertake an in-depth review of the design specifications of the NAIS Mk. I Gauss Rifle first.

Featured Characters

• Dr. Kiran Suzuki

BattleMechs

• AS7-S3 Atlas (mentioned)
• Blackjack B (mentioned)
• Stinger (mentioned)
• CRN-7M Carronade (mentioned)

Vehicles

• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Gauss Variant) (mentioned)
• Yellow Jacket Gunship VTOL (mentioned)

Notes

• Dr. Kiran Suzuki was created by 2019 Clan Invasion crowdfunding campaign backer Jonathan Lung.