Favorite Pistol/Rifle/Small Arms

[Rimmerdal]

The retactible staff for one of my my Psi-techs. has the wilk's laser torch Scapel and wand plus a Wilk's 320 built in.

for those times melee is needed a staff with Neural disruption can be used.

the weapon it was inspired from should be clear...

[Nekira Sudacne]

the weapon it was inspired from should be clear...

'fraid not

[Rimmerdal]

I thought the retractable Neural-Stun staff would have given it away...

[Kalinda]

Triax pump pistol. Good damage, even against mages.

Wilks 237 'backup' pistol. Good damage and accuracy.

Wilks 325 'mariner' Almost as much firepower as the 'backup' with much better range and the same accuracy.

Wilks 300 'Hideaway' Very concealable with good damage.

CFT 'auto-shooter' pistol. Can use either MD rounds or normal 45 ammo, allowing me to carry silver rounds and still be able to switch to MD quickly.

NG-11s 'sawed-off' Same reason as the CFT.

NG-IP7 Ion pulse rifle. Compact and easy to carry, bot with respectable damage.

NE-300 'stutterer' Just good close range firepower.

CP-50 'dragonfire' Good range and damage, plus a grenade launcher.

JA-12 laser rifle Duh...

WI-GL8 Autoshotgun/grenade launcher. Ability to use either grenades or large bore shotgun rounds, great for hunting vamps with silver 10 gauge buckshot.

WI-SR15 15mm sniper rifle. range, price, and the ability to use either normal ammo or ramjet rounds. ramjets do respectable MD too.

[Qev]

Still the NG-57 for me. And since it's a heavy pistol, when you run out of e-clips, you can just throw the thing at them and still do decent damage.

[Danger]

Wilks Hero Pistols - Good Damage & Payload, Look Damn Cool
Triax Pump Pistol - Good Damage & Physical Damage VS Pesky Mages
Big Bore Revolver - Knockdown, Physical Damage VS Pesky Mages, Look Damn Cool

[Ice Dragon]

K4 Pulse Laser Rifle
Wilks 457 Pulse Laser Rifle
NG-7P Partical Beam Rifle

[Jefffar]

I prefer multi-purpose weapons, unless I'm a aprt of a large group and can afford to be specialized.

Particular favourites include:

JA-11
JA-12
I-11 Long Gun (for my sniper types)
Shotguns (Best multi-purpose weapon in the game, if you need to hunt, it works, if you need silver bullets, it works, if you need MD explosive shells, it works, if you need to fire a blast of pepper spray, ti works . . .)

[Killer Cyborg]

I still like the classics:

Wilk's 320
C-12 (although I play it differently from other people)
NG-P7
JA-11
L-20
NG-57
NG-Super
C-18
Wilk's 457
Wilk's Laser Torch
M-21 Ion Pistol
M-15 Plasma Rifle
M-30 Robot Variable Laser Rifle

Some of the newer guns I like:
JA-12
FIWS
WI-GL4
Wilk's 330 laser pistol

[Comrade Corsarius]

Mindwerks M-30 Dual Energy Rifle. Can't go past the versatility of a laser, the sheer power of the particle beam, and the fact that the sucker seems to run on perpetual motion as it is constantly self-recharging. Oh, and it is one of the coolest-looking weapons in Rifts. So what if it's a bit oversized for humans? (designed for Brodkil) I'm a Crazy.. I can carry it!

For sentimental value alone, I'll take a NG-Super laser pistol and Grenade Launcher. Sort of like having a miniature C-14 on your hip.

I'm also quite partial to the Wilks 227 pistol and Wilks 557 VFLAR rifle for looks, utility (ie: magazine capacity) and accuracy. (in my games, Wilks' after-sales-service is also second to none, but that's just icing on the cake)

[Qev]

Maybe the weapon charges in the same manner as a recent development.. the very motion of the rifle itself causes a magnet to pass through a coil of wire, inducing a current that feeds into an internal battery.

You'd need a Juicer shaking that sucker to recharge an e-clip with that technology... oh man, I can just see that.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Pistol - Bandito IP-10 (New West)

Rifle - Wilderness L-20 Pulse Laser Rifle (Main Book)

Sm. Arm - New Navy M-160 Assualt Rifle (Underseas).

~ Josh

[Rimmerdal]

Sick stick? from Minority Report

Lynx

An I the only one who remebers andromeda?

[Kagashi]

I like a weapon with versitillity. I also like Northern Gun stuff. So I guess the NG-LG6 is my first choice. Decent rechargable MD, with a kinetic kick for those baddies who are resistant to energy. The Coalition version is a good way to go too, assuming the weapon you have will not make you the target of a company of Dead Boys...

I also like the JA-11 because it uses an SDC bullet, dishes out laser and ion damage, and its 300 years old

Triax Pump weapons are pretty cool too cause they deal decent damage and they pretty much hurt everything.

Heck, a simple AK-47 with ramjet rounds is cool. Why not carry an AK with a few clips of ramjet, a clip with silver coated rounds, and a clip of regular ammo? Throw in a suit of Plastic Man and a vibro knife, drive around on a Highway Man or Wastelander motorcycle and you are acutally doing pretty well for very little money.

Of course, the best "frontieer" weapon would be any TW weapon (assuming you are psychic and/or magic in nature) because you have effectivly unlimted ammo.

[Kagashi]

I always loved the versatility of the JA-11. My favorite was the C-12, although it appears they changed it slightly for the UE. I haven't seen the JA-12, but it seems to be getting alot of votes. How different is it from the JA-11?

Munchkins like it cause it deals heavy rail gun damage and its a side arm... Thats the only appeal.

[Comrade Corsarius]

Heck, a simple AK-47 with ramjet rounds is cool. Why not carry an AK with a few clips of ramjet, a clip with silver coated rounds, and a clip of regular ammo? Throw in a suit of Plastic Man and a vibro knife, drive around on a Highway Man or Wastelander motorcycle and you are acutally doing pretty well for very little money.

Heck, that's not a bad starting package for any adventurer. I often start my RPA players with Chipwell Assault Suits (no, not the SDC one, the 150
MDC one), as they are also pretty cheap and cheerful, but can dish out decent damage.

Its surprising to find that a player who starts with so-called 'crud' weapons and thinks 'the only way is up' will develop an attachment to said device/weapons and will continue to use them, even when other, 'superior' weapons are available. To me as a GM that's real 'role playing', as you'd obviously know the more-used weapon a lot better than a new shiny one that you might not trust so much (or you find is an energy hound, sucking life from power packs, or is heavy, or doesn't have the same effect as the old one... etc etc etc)

[Jefffar]

I always loved the versatility of the JA-11. My favorite was the C-12, although it appears they changed it slightly for the UE. I haven't seen the JA-12, but it seems to be getting alot of votes. How different is it from the JA-11?

Drop the Ion and the Slug thrower, replace with a repeating grenade launcher. Laser does 4D6 on a single shot or hase puls mode that does 1D6x10. Laser targeting keeps the single shot accuracy from the old JA-11.

[Killer Cyborg]

does anyone still have a copy of the original rifts main book? The c-12 had 3 different damage settings (6d6 sdc, 2d6MD and 4d6 MD) and the ability to fire a burst of 5 (FIVE). This allowed you to do 20d6 damage per attack. I don't know if that was changed or not. My edition was the first print, so they might have changed it. The c-12 in the UE doesn't have the 4d6 MD, and only allows for a burst of 3. at least it still looks cool.

Actually, that's not how it worked.
Don't feel bad for making that mistake; I played it that way for years.
The 4d6 MD setting WAS the 5-shot pulse setting. It did 2d6 MD per single shot, and a burst of 5 counted as a short burst (as per p.34 of Rifts) and did 2d6x2 MD, which was written as 2d4 MD.

The real nature of the gun came up here a while back and I confirmed it with Kevin Siembieda himself when I was at Gencon.

Unfortunately, the way the weapon actually worked made it one of the worst weapons in the game. Why bother with the C-12 when the L-20 was far better?
And the RUE version is exactly the same as the CP-40, which was supposed to replace the C-12 in CWC... but it doesn't make sense for the CS to replace the C-12 with an identical weapon (although the military might well do exactly that), and the flavor text isn't supported by the stats of thew weapon.

I started a thread a while back called "Fixing the C-12" and posted my personal fix for things (this was pre-RUE, but it still works):

The C-12 inflicts 2d6 MD per single shot.
It has a 5-shot pulse setting that inflicts 1d6x10 MD.
While powerful, the CS was concerned about how swiftly the soldiers were chewing through ammo, so the made the CP-40 as a replacement gun. While the burst is less powerful than the C-12, the CP-40 is more efficient with ammo (a lot of times three shots for 6d6 MD is all you need to use... any more is wasteful).
So there is a reason for the CP-40 to exist, and there is a reason for the C-12 to still be used and to be considered a favorite weapon by many of the soldiers, as it is described.

(I mentioned this to KS at Gencon and he made a note of it. I have no idea if anything will ever come of it though, especially since RUE has the new stats. Maybe the CP-40 will be upgraded instead, in a later book.)

[Killer Cyborg]

oh, thanks killer cyborg. now i know that it does actually suck, like most of the coalitions weapons in the main book, although i did like the plasma cannon, and the samas will always be one of my favorite power armors. the original samas, not all of the gay revamps they did in CWC.

No problem.

4d6 MD wasn't actually that bad back when the main book came out, but it's certainly not impressive.
The JA-11 can do that on a single shot, and as I mentioned the L-20 beats it cold. Apparently, the only differences between the C-12 and the C-10 were that the C-12 had extra ammo and gave up the full-auto option in favor of the 5-shot burst.

[Dead Boy]

Is it the C-30 that's the Dragonfire...the over-under that fires the micro-fusion grenades? I love that thing.

You're thinking of the CP-50 "Dragonfire", which just so happens to be my favorite small arm of the game. And not just for its awesome cosmetic stylings, but because of its super payload (with power pack) and god-like damage with a volley of four ballistic grenades. Of course that volley is only available depending on which book you read and how you interpret things, but that's the nature of the game.

Actually, that's not how it worked.
Don't feel bad for making that mistake; I played it that way for years.
The 4d6 MD setting WAS the 5-shot pulse setting. It did 2d6 MD per single shot, and a burst of 5 counted as a short burst (as per p.34 of Rifts) and did 2d6x2 MD, which was written as 2d4 MD.

The real nature of the gun came up here a while back and I confirmed it with Kevin Siembieda himself when I was at Gencon.

Ya know, I still don't fully buy that explanation. I'm wondering if Kev did a little retroactive continuity there because if the C-12's 4D6 setting was intended to be the 5-shot burst, that makes the rifle stand out in stark opposing contrast to the NG-57 Ion Blaster (having a 2D4 and a 3D6 power setting) and the JA-11 (having a 2D6 and 4D6 setting). The NG had no pre-set burst settings and th JA was alwas a single shot weapon. The C-12's change raises the question, if its higher setting was a burst, what the heck is going on with the other two? That aspect of RUE made a pre-existing question into a mess, if you ask me.

[Killer Cyborg]

Ya know, I still don't fully buy that explanation. I'm wondering if Kev did a little retroactive continuity there because if the C-12's 4D6 setting was intended to be the 5-shot burst, that makes the rifle stand out in stark opposing contrast to the NG-57 Ion Blaster (having a 2D4 and a 3D6 power setting) and the JA-11 (having a 2D6 and 4D6 setting). The NG had no pre-set burst settings and th JA was alwas a single shot weapon. The C-12's change raises the question, if its higher setting was a burst, what the heck is going on with the other two? That aspect of RUE made a pre-existing question into a mess, if you ask me.

Yup.
I've looked at it a zillion different ways, and it's a mess no matter how the gun is supposed to work.
But KS has no problem admitting when he changes things from what I've seen, so he'd likely have said if the C-12 was supposed to work a different way.
But he wrote Rifts 15 years ago, so maybe his memory is a bit fuzzy.

It gives you something to ask him at a convention sometime...

[Jefffar]

I have always (and will continue to if I GM) played that the C-12 had 3 damage settings (6D6 SDC, 2D6 and 4D6 MDC) and a short burst function (5 shots fired, double damage as standard short burst rules).

Then again, I changed the burst rules for my standard game so that 5 shot burst does have the possibility of scoring upto 5 hits, though you have to roll really well to do that.

[Colt47]

My favorites? Lets see...

Bandit Big Bore Shotgun. Why? Because I shot a damn mega juicer off off a 20 story building with it.

TX-30 Triax Ion Pulse Rifle. It has better range than the LP-20, gives a +1 to strike when used two handed, and has the same damage and ammo capacity as the LP-20. And it's not like I ever use it with one hand anyway so the -2 penalty for using it one handed almost never comes into play.

WI-23 Missile Launcher. A missile launcher that is man portable is good. A missile launcher that is man portable and has a six shot box magazine is even better. I love loading CS Mini missiles into this sucker and watching the little guys run for the hills.

WI-NFT-1 Napalm P. Flame thrower. I like this weapon simply because it puts one of my favorite types of ground assault weapons in MD format. I have my PA use these as handguns and fire em wild all over the place. Burn baby BURN!

Wilk's 547 Double Dealer. If I could only choose one energy rifle to use for a whole game, this would be it. The gun can fit two standard e-clips giving it 80 shots, it has +1 to strike on aimed shots like all wilks rifles, and it has a grenade launcher that fires 3d6 MD grenades up to 500 ft!

And finally, the weapon that pretty much made my GM cry when I used it in his game: The H-11A Howitzer. My Operator managed to get his hands on one of these babies when our party had our outing in South America. Not ONLY does it deal 4d6 MD per fragmentation grenade, it does so to a 100 ft. AREA! Needless to say, it really didn't matter if the nade missed it's target, it would still take damage from the huge blast radius. Had my operator convert the weapon into a Anti-Air flak cannon that pretty much ripped up a squadron of Coalition smiling jack SAMAS.

And yes, I do realize what the topic asked for. These are my "Small arms".

[Rimmer]

Wilks CFT Auto pistol with SDC ammo, Ramjet rounds and MDC laser rounds, the most versatile weapon out there, and its MDC construction, so won't break when you smack someone with it