Weapon Analysis - Part 2 (System Specifics)

As described in part 1, there are gaps in game-balance for weaponry, specifically in the lower accuracy weapons. As a way of correcting this, we can use the weapon systems as described in UACFH to flesh out the chart. What follows is a weapon system chart to see which components are missing. The chart will list illegal weapons only when necessary, and will be limited to 1-3 spaces as much as possible:

1. Autocannons
   1. 1 Space = none
      
   2. 2 Space = none
      
   3. 3 Space = Autocannon (6acc, 3d)
2. Flamethrowers
   1. 1 Space = Light Flamethrower (6acc, 1d-2)
      
   2. 2 Space = Flamethrower (6acc, 1d)
      
   3. 3 Space = Heavy Duty FT (6acc, 2d)
3. Gauss Guns
   1. 1 Space = none
      
   2. 2 Space = Gauss Gun (6acc, 3d)
      
   3. 3 Space = none
4. Grenade Launchers
   1. 1 Space = none
      
   2. 2 Space = Grenade Launcher (7acc, 1d*)
      
   3. 3 Space = none
5. Lasers
   1. 1 Space = Light Laser (6acc, 1d)
      
   2. 2 Space = Medium Laser (6acc, 2d), Laser (6acc, 3d)
      
   3. 3 Space = Heavy Laser (6acc, 4d) XRay Laser (7acc, 4d)
      
   4. 4 Space = none
      
   5. 5 Space = Heavy XRay Laser (7acc, 5d)
6. Machine Guns
   1. 1 Space = Light MG (7acc, 1d-1), MG (7acc, 1d), Heavy MG (7acc, 2d-2)
      
   2. 2 Space = Vulcan MG (6acc, 2d)
      
   3. 3 Space = Heavy VMG(6acc, 4d) (Illegal)
7. Missiles
   1. 1 Space = RGM (7acc, 3d), WGM (6acc, 3d)
      
   2. 2 Space = none
      
   3. 3 Space = none
8. Recoilless Rifles
   1. 1 Space = none
      
   2. 2 Space = Recoilless Rifle (7acc, 2d)
      
   3. 3 Space = none
      
   4. 4 Space = Blast Cannon(7acc, 4d)
9. Rockets, Guided
   1. 1 Space = Micro Missile Launcher (8acc, 1d)
      
   2. 2 Space = Rocket Launcher (8acc, 2d)
      
   3. 3 Space = none
10. Rockets, Unguided [all 9acc]
    1. 1 Space = Mini (1d-1), Light (1d), Medium (2d), Heavy (3d)
       
    2. 2 Space = MFR (9acc, 6x1d)
       
    3. 3 Space = VFRP (9acc, 1-6d)
11. Shotguns
    1. 1 Space = Vehicular Shotgun (6acc, 2 hits), Flachette Gun (6acc, 1d+1 to tires)
       
    2. 2 Space = none
       
    3. 3 Space = none
12. Tank Guns
    1. 1 Space = none
       
    2. 2 Space = none
       
    3. 3 Space = Anti-Tank Gun (8acc, 3d)

Many other game-wizards, like me, have tried filling in the gaps: here from NOVA (light Gauss Gun and light Recoilless Rifle), here's a very comprehensive list from Oliver Bollmann (PDF, main site here).

Combining my two lists together (i.e. here and this post), we can come to some conclusions:

1. Consolidation of weapon categories - for example, and Bollman recognizes this as well, the Autocannon is basically part of the Machine Gun family and should be placed there; the Flachette Gun could really just be a Vehicular Shotgun with Flachette loads, and to be honest both of them could be under Grenade Launchers (the same way that the M203 can fire grenades or shot); and the Missile-Rocket category is a huge mess.
   
2. Certain categories are populated/distributed well (MG, FT, Laser) and others not (RR, ATG) - despite the true availability of variation within present day weaponry. There's major differences between calibers in Recoilless and regular artillery and that makes a simple scaling system. The best example of how logical this is comes from GURPS Autoduel (see here for the Light RR).
   
3. There may be entire possible weapon systems missing (e.g. mortars).

We'll deal with the new possible weapons in the next post.