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Guide to Small Arms on Furscape
This reference is designed to give furs a better understanding of the technology level for small arms (handguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, etc). This guide does NOT cover machine guns, anti-armor weapons, vehicle-scale weapons, or LITE weapons. This document is not intended to strictly lay out each and every weapon we have on the MUCK, but rather to give an idea of the acceptable/available technology.
Chances are that if something is not specifically stated as being allowed or prohibited, it is prohibited. However, if you feel something has been left out please consult with someone on RP Staff.
Handguns/Sidearms:
Handguns haven't made any remarkable improvement in the past 200 years. While some models do come with electric firing systems, the majority are similar to what exists today. Metalstorm-like firearms are allowable, but would be very rare. Common features on weapons would be built-in laser sights, and digital ammunition readouts (tracked by the position of the follower in the clip, rather than by a “shots fired since last reload” method).
Shotguns:
This is another area that has made some improvement, but nothing remarkable. Like handguns, there are some weapons in this category that use electric firing systems, but the majority are still based on the basic shotgun design that exists today.
Rifles:
This includes sniper rifles, assault rifles, and standard rifles. Because of their size and abilities, this is an area that has made marked improvement in the past 200 years. The majority of rifles are electrically-fired, and use caseless rounds. The combination of no moving trigger parts as well as the fact that caseless rounds have no shell to eject simplifies the operation, and increases rate of fire. Rifles still have a mechanism to eject faulty or jammed rounds.
The inclusion of on-board computers allows a number of additional features. For example, because the rifle is entirely electrically-fired, the operator could select a custom rate-of-fire, firing mode (semi-auto, burst, full-auto), and burst size. Another good example is small cameras mounted near the end of the rifle, connected into the rifle's on-board computer which the operator could connect a viewing device to, allowing them to see around a corner without putting themselves in the firing line.
Sniper rifles also have on-board electronics, though they generally are not as complex as assault rifles. Many glass-optics sniper rifles still exist, though equally common are high-res electronic scopes, which would allow for a number of viewing modes (thermal, night-vision, custom zoom) as well as other features.
Non-lethal weaponry:
More considered to be deterrents or devices to incapacitate an attacker without causing permanent harm, non-lethal weaponry is commonplace. The most common incarnation of this breed of weaponry is pepper spray. Point-blank-range tasers exist, as well as projectile models designed to fire a wire path to the target and incapacitate them. Also available are Myotrons, which are similar to cattle prods, but instead of just hurting they temporarily disable the muscles without rendering the target unconscious.
Examples of things that are NOT allowable (some apply just to small arms, others apply MUCK-wide):
Laser/plasma weapons (laser weapons are allowed in LITE combat), disproportionately large caliber (you would have trouble operating a .65 caliber hangun), or “smart” ammunition (able to track a target, etc). Perhaps the biggest no-no is a fur-portable minigun (which technically doesn't fall under small arms, but it is important enough to mention).
In short, if you are thinking about designing a laser rifle, or a minigun, or a laser minigun, DON'T.