As the twentieth century progressed, a new projectile-based weapons system was needed. While missiles were becoming the primary standoff and first-strike weapon, a ruthlessly efficient cannon was needed for dogfighting and as a desperation weapon once the missiles were gone. After experimenting with more conventional machine guns and explosive cannon of varying caliber, American military engineers went back in time a hundred years.
In the 1860s, Doctor Richard Gatling invented the world's first rapid-fire "machine" gun. The French and British dispute this, arguing that "machine gun" requires the pressing of a trigger and actuation through gases rather than a hand crank. No matter--Gatling invented a six-barreled hand-cranked machine of death forever after known as the Gatling Gun. This multibarreled monstrocity had one up on the later Renault, Browning, and Lancaster "true" machine guns--it did not jam. As the automatic fire was actuated through a hand crank rather than the expelled gases of a bullet, dud rounds were simply passed through the system and de-chambered to litter the ground.
Jams were bad in aerial combat, so American engineers took the time-tested six-barreled design and attached it to an industrial motor. They soon had a twenty-millimeter autocannon that, with a reverberating part-wail and part-thrum, was churning off rounds at 2000rpm, an order of magnitude greater than conventional machine guns. Codenamed "Vulcan," this autocannon could be found on nearly every United States jet fighter ever constructed after its invention.
TME has resurrected the Vulcan in the form of a heavy machine gun that burns through ammunition at ten times the standard rate. While its range remains depressingly short and accuracy is actually diminished due to the wild corkscrew imparted to the bullets, its damage potential is greatly increased, possibly achieving even heavy autocannon status with a amazingly small mass.
The TME/BTSTS-MG:3062 is a motor-driven six-barreled weapon that uses standard machine gun ammunition. Massing four times greater and with twice the size of a standard machine gun, it is a monster of a machine gun. Spewing out 2000 rounds a minute, it can quickly spray an area with a tremendous amount of damage. The kinetic energy it produces from such rapid rotation causes a great deal of heat for a machine gun. It costs 60,000 C-Bills.
GAME RULES
Decide on what special to use before play.
MG:3062 "Vulcan" Machine Gun
Heat: 3 Damage: D10(2) Range: 1 / 2 / 3 Mass: 2t Critical: 2
Shots/ton: 20
Standard Special: -3 to-hit number bonus. Roll 1D10 to see
how many shots hit, then multiply by 2 for damage. Apply damage to single location.
Causes quadruple damage to infantry; double damage to aircraft (VTOL, Conventional,
Aerospace fighters).
Alternate Special 1: Automatically causes 20 points of damage to
a single location. Causes double damage to infantry.
Alternate Special 2: -1 to-hit number bonus. Automatically
causes 20 points of damage in four 5-point blocks, scatter damage as with missile hit.
Causes double damage to infantry.
Cost: 60,000 C-Bills