Outsider page 213

I forgot to update the image here with the typo fixes. Thanks for the reminder.

Arioch

Psst, I think the first bubble should say "any alternatives" :) Also how am I just now noticing that Fireblade's hair is outside her helmet?

Alyssa

A "pin" sound makes me imagine someone energizing their weapon. In real life the sound of a safety being disengaged makes this a easy mental jump for me.

Bee

what kind of sound is "pin" supposed to indicate, or am I not getting something? "pin" just doesn't work for me as a sound effect, is that just me? bit late with the question, I know but only on re-reading did I realized that it bothered me a bit.

Robin

Plz don't kinkshame our love for overanalyzing minor details. It's fun.

Mk_C

This thread, wow. What's wrong with you people? Are you kidding us?

GhostlyYorick

SUDDENLY a dome.

Mk_C

Caseless ammo in a piece of gunpowder? Thats odd that TCA uses outdated tech like that. Also to the Mk_C: Weapon with short barrel will have unreasonable recoil for the same muzle velocity and much worse mechanical accuracy. There is absolutely nothing that prevents current weapons from using more potent propellents which are used for example, in smoothbore tank canons, but there is no need in it. Currently small arms are 3 generations behind tank canons in terms of general firearms development. Looks somehwat like this Rifled barrel -> smoothbore high velocity -> liquid propelant electro-chemical smoothbore -> liquid propelant electro-chemical smoothbore with electromagnetic accelerator. Also modularity is something everyone wants on almost any piece of firearms today, expect the most exotic types, even glorius motherland have to do that nowdays (the people who would still use mosins if they werent forced to do otherwise).

COMANDANTE

Yeah, I highly doubt that they went through full on infantry training, probably a week or two of shooting and small unit tactics, but not much else.

Zac The Lizard

Yes, but it is written in the insider that Umiak suffer terribly.

Steely Snark

Dosent he suffers from jump sickness like umiak?

COMANDANTE

What I find more interesting is: Alex had his training at Hellas Planitia. That memory is from Mars. 215X AD Hellas Planitia seems to be capable of supporting greenery under open skies. Terraforming efforts must be going mighty fine.

Mk_C

- Modularity is a feature characteristc of an extremely diverse ecosystem of accessories and variable parts on multi-purpose designs. It does not emerge on systems that are used for a specific purpose and which they fit well enough in their vanilla getup. Right now, most state-scale customers in the world don't really focus on modularity, it's more of a thing for US and it's allies - and TCA is not Space America, it's got people, practices and tech that did not originate in the Solar system. There's no reason to naturally assume persistence of the same paradigm of modular firearms design even without accounting for a hundredsomething years gap. - Muzzle velocity depends on the round specifics as much as it does on barrel length, and given the novel caseless round utilizing a currently unknown propellant and an unspecified slug - we have no reason to think that short barrel indicates subpar muzzle velocity OR excessive recoil which would make a foregrip desirable. - We don't know the type of sight it uses. It's overall shape just looks somewhat like a red dot, but we should remember that it's about as far away from us today as we are from invention of the concept of firearm optics. The lil' box can be anything, from a simple red dot to something completely different. - Consider also that right up until very recently, the Colonial Fleet was barely a military, and Alex was trained for joining what is probably it's least militant branch. Even if what they have is the cutting edge of XXII century arms tech - it's probably cutting edge in being cheap and convenient, not in being effective, and the Infantry Combat Training Course overall is extremely unlikely to be the highlight of the Academy's SC program.

Mk_C

A problem with caseless ammunition that have so far made them an upopular choice in weapon design is that they give mechaical problem that a fresh brass tube doesn't do. There are also the issue of gasses from the exploding gunpowder getting into places it should not be so again, a brass casing are typically preffered. The rounds themselves are also more redilient to rough handeling. I am not saying thst these problems are not going to be solved eventually but as of now, traditional brass cased rounds sre preferable.

Michael Pettersson

This looks like an excellent start for a "Human / Loroi Small Arms" Outsider Insider article, if you ask me. ;-)

Dark possibility: Who wants to bet there are more than Umiak on the shuttle, and the Loroi intend to shoot the 'slaves' too.

ANTIcarrot

Caseless rounds are much shorter than current conventional rounds with brass casing... the rounds are encased in blocks of propellant, and so straight magazines work better than curved ones.

Arioch

They're M1 laser carbines in the 40 watt range, clearly. The "magazine" is just a battery. They shoot blue laser bolts like GI Joes.

whale

maybe that part was competition -- or they were working on improving aim when you're stuck somewhere without their gear (like the main character is in this series)

Anthony Docimo

fantastic thoughtful work

Anthony Docimo

not sure if all those "pin pin pin" is more or less worrisome than if it had been "ping ping ping"

Anthony Docimo

No modularity or adjustable design. A very short barrel so lower muzzle velocity and there is no real benefit to it even in ship to ship fighting. If that short of a barrel is needed you would make a bullpup design to keep the velocity and penetrating power. That magazine is tiny and a must fire pistol rounds instead of full sized. Also a curved magazine is far better in terms of ammo capacity and maneuverability. The optic looks to be a Red dot which is fine, we have better these days but the mounting system can not be seen. In the background we see a long barrel version of the gun but still the same small magazine. No place for a foregrip which are great in CQC. Then in the modern military we train as we fight, full battle rattle to the range, even when zeroing. Here we have no equipment on the men, not even a space suit or vest. They might be able to hit a target but they will shoot far worse without practicing in full gear. It is more like a competition shooting thing then infantry training .

Joshua Samuel Lapple

Why so? o.O

Carl Miller Jr.

Those human rifles make me unreasonably angry.

Joshua Samuel Lapple

"We want you Solider Girls, Solider Girls~!"

Sunphoenix72