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Game News Mass Effect 2 : Nuke Gun revealed

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2

BioWare's upcoming Sci-Fi action/RPG/Shooter Mass Effect 2 will have some new RPG Elements : <a href="http://www.thelostgamer.com/2010/01/20/mass-effect-2-receives-nuke-gun-heavy-weapon">The Nuke Gun</a>.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#ffffff;padding-left:5px;">Titled the M-920 Cain, the weapon has been created by Normandy’s scientists whom have prototyped a modified version of traditional high-explosive rounds that are able to be applied to a 25 gram slug. When these are accelerated to a speed of 5 km/s, the round is becomes absolutely devastating. Though not necessarily encompassing nuclear materials, the prototype weapon has been nicknamed the ‘Nuke Launcher.’</p>
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I can't believe this isn't FO3.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com/#14243">rpgwatch</A>
 

WhiskeyWolf

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M-920 Cain
M-950 Calico?

calh.gif
 

CrimsonAngel

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Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Hey let's be fair at least it makes more sense then the Fallout one.

At least this one dose not shot actual nukes.
 
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They actually established the basis for this in the original. It was mentioned that the way Mass Effect fields work, it was theoretically possibly to make a piece of material the size of a penny hit with the force of the Hiroshima bomb. The problem was miniaturizing a power source strong enough to pull it off, and keep the soldier's weapon from ripping apart due to the forces.


Ships already use something similar.
 

Norfleet

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There's nothing particularly unrealistic about the weapon. Or impressive. The bullet fired is about half the mass of a .50 BMG with a speed of about 6x as fast, so it'll have about 3x the kick. The damage inflicted will not be all that spectacular by sci-fi standards and it certainly won't be a "nuke". The description seems to similarly be ignoring the definition of "slug". A 25 gram slug fired at 5000m/s is simply not that impressive of a projectile, and given that a "high-explosive matrix" seems to entirely discard the definition of "slug", it begs the question of why they need such an extreme muzzle velocity if inflicting damage through kinetic impact is not their goal. Rather than trying to design a weapon capable of achieving such velocities, it would make more sense to just use a regular gun that can fire these things full auto.
 

Norfleet

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Emotional Vampire said:
Maybe it's some kind of mini HEAT
Well, it's obviously some manner of shell, and not a "slug" as described, as there is simply no way it can inflict the damage described through pure kinetics, and a slug is explicitly defined as a single-piece projectile of solid material, which excludes any such artifice as a "high-explosive matrix". Slug weapons are purely kinetic, and the values given would simply not inflict the kind of damage needed. Given that the weapon is not a kinetic impact weapon, it then makes you wonder why it is necessary to drive it at such speeds at all, given that this gives it a mean, although not unmanageable, recoil, with little appreciable again in destructive power. As opposed to giving it conventional levels of recoil, but the ability to be fired at full auto.

As for its ability to explode impressively at all, that is something I am going to write off as being part of the phlebotinium. But the terminology abuse is inexcusable and the concept design is pretty stupid.
 

Malakal

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Seems totally plausible. It's good to hear that ME2 went for realism in its scifi.
 
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Norfleet said:
Emotional Vampire said:
Maybe it's some kind of mini HEAT
Well, it's obviously some manner of shell, and not a "slug" as described, as there is simply no way it can inflict the damage described through pure kinetics, and a slug is explicitly defined as a single-piece projectile of solid material, which excludes any such artifice as a "high-explosive matrix". Slug weapons are purely kinetic, and the values given would simply not inflict the kind of damage needed. Given that the weapon is not a kinetic impact weapon, it then makes you wonder why it is necessary to drive it at such speeds at all, given that this gives it a mean, although not unmanageable, recoil, with little appreciable again in destructive power. As opposed to giving it conventional levels of recoil, but the ability to be fired at full auto.

As for its ability to explode impressively at all, that is something I am going to write off as being part of the phlebotinium. But the terminology abuse is inexcusable and the concept design is pretty stupid.

Hmmm....or it's entirely possible that Bioware's lore folks aren't being consistent or logical.
 

GarfunkeL

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Typical mistake. Few people understand & appreciate the damage that purely kinetic weapons are capable of inflicting. Folks are always putting useless amounts of HE on them, even if it's superfluous. Sabot has no HE in it, for a good reason - it would be useless.

The energy that the slug has can easily be calculated: mass x velocity = energy. So we have a 25 gram of slug, in other words 0.025 kg, having velocity of 5000 m/s. Then little math - 0.5*0.025*(5000*5000)=312,500 joules which is 312,5 kJ. Compare that with the kinetic energy of an AK-74 (5.45mm) bullet which is only 1.42 kJ. Or for other comparison - Volkswagen Beetle Convertible has a mass of 1823 kg and if it struck you on a highway, going measely 100 km/h, the energy would be 0.5*1823*(27.8*27.8)=704443.66 joules, meaning 704 kJ.

So our lovely M-920 strikes target with 220 times the power of a single assault rifle bullet. You don't really need the slug to explode any more - it does it naturally as the heat energy transferred on impact probably ignites anything around it. On the other hand, you are still better off driving over you enemy with a Beetle!

tl:dr - Beetle is better than Nuke Gun, though it is better than AK-74

2008-Volkswagen-New-Beetle-Convertible-Driver-Side-Angle-1280x960.jpg
 
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Official Xbox Magazine (XBOX ROX!) awarded Mass Effect 2 with a rating score of 9.5, which in real world terms is a 5.5, or a Keira Knightley, depending upon which scale you use. Although it has some tough competition in the extreme/Whatever It Takes department with this year's "Extraordinary Measures"

al5e06.jpg
 

janjetina

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GarfunkeL said:
The energy that the slug has can easily be calculated: mass x velocity = energy.

That's not energy, that's momentum. Kinetic energy is (mv^2)/2, which supports your argument even better. You even used the correct formula in your calculation.
 
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GarfunkeL said:
TL;DR for stupid people

Essentially this is why an asteroid just a few km's across could cause worldwide catastrophe. Considering they only impact earth at an average speed of around 30 km/s, you can see how a gun that shoots slugs at 5 km/s would be ridiculously powerful. While the physics behind propelling it is obviously the SF BS that bioware made up, the actual effects appear sound.
 

Big Nose George

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Overweight Manatee said:
GarfunkeL said:
TL;DR for stupid people

Essentially this is why an asteroid just a few km's across could cause worldwide catastrophe. Considering they only impact earth at an average speed of around 30 km/s, you can see how a gun that shoots slugs at 5 km/s would be ridiculously powerful. While the physics behind propelling it is obviously the SF BS that bioware made up, the actual effects appear sound.

Too simple for real world. Actual effects would have to depend on material/mass/form of the projectile and material/mass/form of the target.
For example: a glass bullet would burst on a diamond shield. Not only not penetrating it but also by far not delivering the full kinetic energy. Great example, hun? ^^
 

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