Most lethal ballistic firearms (editorial)

  Updated:  To conform with recent updates to the source material.

  Today I will make some personal opinion comments on the data from the previous post.

  High-Power Chambering

  As expected, high-power chambering did not fair well in terms of pure damage.  However, with some examples to look at, it seems the niche for HPC is in low recoil reasonably high damage weapons, assuming you fit enough recoil compensation on the weapon.

  Ammunition Capacity

  The Ares Crusader does slightly more (average) damage than the Ceska Black Scorpion, despite having all the same modifications, due solely to it's slightly larger clip.

  Recoil

  The Ares Viper Slivergun edges out the Ruger Thunderbolt by a small margin (about 4%), but I would personally prefer the latter for it's reduced recoil.  The greater chance of hitting the target far outweighs the increase in damage output.  Additionally, the Ruger is more likely to do lethal damage due to it's better armour piercing (assuming killing is your thing).

  This argument can be made for the M-4A1 Carbine versus the HK 229-X as well.

  Holdouts in general suffer from too much recoil when attempting to maximize damage output.  Don't expect to score many hits.  A compromise in damage, accuracy and concealability is the Fichetti Security 600.

  Gyro Stabilization

  The Boyd & Richards Desperado isn't a great choice (and the gyro mount option option makes it ridiculous), but it is a shotgun, and is a small package to be able to deploy special shotgun rounds from.  In reality the magazine makes it a non-starter for use as a full auto weapon.

  I can't say enough good things about the Auto-Assault 16.  It does considerable damage, even with few modifications (leaving 5 slots for adding non-damage related toys), and since it's a shotgun can fire a great variety of ammuntion.  One option I would suggest would be to forgo the gyro stabilization for a personal grip and auto-adjusting underbarrel weight (for a total recoil 0 and slots 0) making it a little bit more subtle but with just as much stopping power.

  The HK G12A4m (personal grip alone gives 1 recoil and 2 slots remaining), Ares PLD (auto-adjusting underbarrel weight gives 0 recoil, 0 slots) and Ingram White Knight (personal grip gives 2 recoil, 3 slots left) can likewise be outfitted to not use the gyro stabilization

  Machine Guns

  Light, medium and heavy MGs are all nearly perfectly configured off the shelf for dealing death.  Little can be done to increase their damage output.

  Sourcebooks

  In general the War, Gun Heaven and State of the Art 2073 supplements do not increase the lethality of the game that significantly.  Once your have incorporated Arsenal in you game, and are modifying weapons (especially with high-velocity), you already have a pretty high damage, lethal game.

Most lethal ballistic firearms (results by range)

Updated: Pistols (including machine pistols) can not use underbarrel auto-adjusting weight.  Fixed relevant entries.

Updated: Added HK 229-X and removed some others (as redundant).  Also fixed reload (drum) for high-power chambering weapons.  Fixed Ingram White Knight entry (data errors).

For the impatient, the highest damage weapon is the AVC-7.62 battle rifle. If you lack the War supplement, look at the Ultimax HMG-2 or Ares Alpha.

Included are a number of choices from different source books, as well as different amounts of recoil (for those with lower skill), more armour piercing (for more lethality), and more free modification slots (damage isn't the only thing).

The weapons are grouped by their range categories, as follows:

Short Range	Extended Range	Typical classes
5	50	Light Pistol, Holdout, Machine Pistol, Heavy Pistol
5	60	Heavy Pistol, Light Pistol
10	150	SMG, Shotgun
50	550	Assault Rifle
100	750	Battle Rifle, Sporting Rifle
75	800	LMG
80	1200	MMG, HMG
100	1500	Assault Canon
150	1500	Sniper Rifle

Extended Range: The range category, as above.  Does not include changes from modifications (such as barrel extension, or armour piercing rounds).
Average Damage: The calculated average damage (per combat phase) with all modifications and accessories.

Recoil: The uncompensated recoil for firing one long and one short burst (full auto) or two long bursts (high velocity), including doubling for heavy weapons, shotguns, high-power chambering, etceteras.  Negative recoil is for informational purposes only, and should be treated as zero.
Armour Piercing: Does not include the -1 virtual AP bonus for impact armour.
Slots: The remaining modification slots.
Reload: The ammunition reload method.

Extended Range	Average Damage		Modifications
50	20.58	Ares Crusader Machine Pistol Recoil: 2 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Small) Folding Stock Gas-Vent Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock Underbarrel Weight
50	20.34	Ceska Black Scorpion Machine Pistol Recoil: 2 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Small) Folding Stock Gas-Vent Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock Underbarrel Weight
50	19.64	Fichetti Security 600 Light Pistol Recoil: 3 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Folding Stock Gas-Vent Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock
50	14.48	Enfield M1098 Holdout Recoil: 6 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Gun Heaven	Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Folding Stock Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock
50	13.87	Cavalier Scout Holdout Recoil: 6 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Folding Stock Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock
50	13.13	Streetline Special Holdout Recoil: 6 Armour Piercing: -half Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Folding Stock Personalized Grip Smartgun External Stick-n-Shock
50	10.87	Boyd & Richards Desperado Shotgun Recoil: 0 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: magazine Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Firing Selection Change (Large) Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Personalized Grip Smartgun External
60	21.22	Ares Viper Slivergun Heavy Pistol Recoil: 2 Armour Piercing: 5 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Small) Flechette Rounds Folding Stock Gas-Vent Personalized Grip Smartgun External Underbarrel Weight
60	20.33	Ruger Thunderbolt Smartgun Heavy Pistol Recoil: 0 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Small) Folding Stock Gas-Vent Personalized Grip Smartgun Underbarrel Weight
150	26.79	M-4A1 Carbine SMG Recoil: 5 Armour Piercing: 0 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: Gun Heaven	Armour-Piercing Flechette Extended Clip Drum Firing Selection Change (Small) Folding Stock Foregrip Gas-Vent High Velocity Laser Sight Personalized Grip Tracer
150	25.69	AK-147 Carbine SMG Recoil: 5 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: War	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Drum Folding Stock Foregrip Gas-Vent High Velocity Laser Sight Personalized Grip Tracer
150	25.09	Ingram Smartgun X SMG Recoil: 5 Armour Piercing: 0 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: Shadowrun	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Drum Folding Stock Foregrip Gas-Vent High Velocity Laser Sight Personalized Grip Tracer
150	24.47	HK 229-X SMG Recoil: 0 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: War	Extended Clip Drum Folding Stock Foregrip Gas-Vent High-Power Chambering High-Power Rounds Laser Sight Tracer Underbarrel Weight Auto-adjusting
150	23.75	Auto-Assault 16 Shotgun Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 5 Reload: drum Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
150	19.44	Mossberg AM-CMDT Shotgun Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: 5 Slots: 4 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Barrel Extension Extended Clip Flechette Rounds Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
550	28.96	Ares Alpha Assault Rifle Recoil: -1 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 1 Reload: drum Source: Shadowrun	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Drum Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization High Velocity Laser Sight Shock Pad Tracer
550	27.00	HK G12A4m Assault Rifle Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -2 Slots: 3 Reload: drum Source: War	Barrel Extension Extended Clip Drum Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization High-Power Chambering High-Power Rounds Laser Sight Shock Pad Tracer
750	30.74	AVC-7.62 Battle Rifle Recoil: 0 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: War	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Drum Firing Selection Change (Small) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization High Velocity Laser Sight Shock Pad Tracer
750	29.36	AM-884 Battle Rifle Recoil: -2 Armour Piercing: -2 Slots: 0 Reload: drum Source: War	Armour-Piercing Flechette Extended Clip Drum Firing Selection Change (Large) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Laser Sight Shock Pad Tracer
750	20.27	Mannlicher Wildhunter Sporting Rifle Recoil: -2 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
800	28.41	Ares PLD LMG Recoil: -6 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 4 Reload: clip Source: SotA 73	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Laser Sight Shock Pad Tracer
800	26.82	SA Nemesis LMG LMG Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 4 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
800	26.52	Ingram White Knight LMG Recoil: -8 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 4 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
800	26.09	Ares PLD LMG Recoil: -6 Armour Piercing: -1 Slots: 5 Reload: belt Source: SotA 73	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
1200	29.63	Ultimax HMG-2 HMG Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -3 Slots: 4 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
1200	26.70	Stoner-Ares M202 MMG Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -2 Slots: 5 Reload: belt Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
1200	25.93	Stoner-Ares M107 HMG Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -3 Slots: 5 Reload: belt Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
1500	30.00	Panther XXL Assault Cannon Recoil: -4 Armour Piercing: -6 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Firing Selection Change (Large) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization High-Power Chambering High-Power Rounds Shock Pad Smartgun External
1500	28.98	Barrett Model 121 Sniper Rifle Recoil: -2 Armour Piercing: -4 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Arsenal	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External
1500	27.23	Ranger Arms SM-4 Sniper Rifle Recoil: -2 Armour Piercing: -3 Slots: 0 Reload: clip Source: Shadowrun	Armour-Piercing Flechette Barrel Extension Extended Clip Firing Selection Change (Large) Gas-Vent Gyro Stabilization Shock Pad Smartgun External

High Power Chambering

  Continuing on to determine the most deadly weapon(s) in Shadowrun, today I take another look at the high power chambering (HPC) modification.  Since I had missed the rule about armour piercing flechette reducing range, I had previously dismissed HPC as inferior (I mistakenly considered it to be the same damage as armour piercing flechette, but with a higher modification cost at the expense of other damage increasing mods).

  As before the graphs represent reload interval multiplied by damage value to give damage over time.  Also as before, the damage is calculated as if all recoil is uncompensated.  Full auto refers to one long and one short burst, and high velocity to two long bursts.

  Here I will add the ammunition modifier to the per initiative pass damage value, either high-power chambering, or armour piercing flechette, as shown in my last post.

Scarce Modification Slots

  First, let us take a look at possible builds incorporating HPC for weapons requiring modification to full auto (SS and SA), leaving insufficient modification space for extended clip (together with either high velocity or HPC).

  The graph depicts a weapon of Power 4, but as in previous posts, the results scale and hold true for higher Power weapons as well.

  For no values of ammo do smartgun high-power chambering full auto or laser sight tracer rounds high-power chambering full auto produce the most damage output.  This is as a result of the better reload interval provided by extended clip modification and greater damage output of high velocity modification.

  (Note: Only those builds which generate the greatest damage for some value of ammo are shown, plus the HPC builds.)

Full Auto and Burst Fire

  For weapons that have enough modification slots available (such as FA and BF, or if you allow modification removal), the situation changes only slightly.

  It is difficult to see in the graph, but smartgun armour piercing flechette full auto extended clip initially is best (except for the extended clip drum options).  Smartgun high-power chambering full auto extended clip takes a slim lead for a very small interval before smartgun armour piercing flechette high velocity extended clip surpasses it.

  For drum modifications, laser sight tracer rounds high-power chambering full auto extended clip drum is inferior to laser sight tracer rounds armour piercing flechette high velocity extended clip drum for all ammo values.

Conclusion

  While high power chambering provides more damage output per shot, over time it produces less damage than other options in nearly all cases.  The only instance where HPC does (marginally) better are for very small ammunition capacity burst fire or fully automatic weapons.

  When other options are unavailable (non-clip non-high velocity weapons), high power chambering is best only because it is the only option.  Even in such cases, however, HPC means loosing the option to use other specialized ammunition (such as gel rounds for non-lethal take downs), and dealing with double uncompensated recoil.

Ammunition

  Updated: Fixed a mistake in text and graphic related to previous fix (fixed a mistake in the calculation of Armour-Piercing Flechette).

  The quest continues to determine the most deadly weapon(s) in Shadowrun.  There seem to be numerous stops on this path, and todays will be ammunition types.

  Below are the ammunition types that are contenders for causing the most damage.

  Armour Piercing was normalized with a -1 bonus for rounds affecting impact armour, as discussed in my previous post.  I consider this the minimum adjustment that impact armour should receive to make realistic comparisons between ammo types.

  Virtual damage bonus is calculated as Power - (Armour Piercing / 3), with the above normilization incorporated.  Armour is either Impact or Ballistic.

Ammunition	Virtual Damage Bonus	Armour
Gel	-0.33	I
Flechette	0.67	I
EX-Explosive	1.33	B
Anti-Vehicle	1.33/2.00	B
Anti-Tank	2.00	B
Armour-Piercing Flechette	2.13	I
High-Power	2.33	B
Stick-n-Shock		I

Comments

  While Flechette provides a large damage bonus, the armour piercing penalty is too large for it to do much damage, even with the impact armour adjustment.

  For those wishing to do lethal damage, EX-Explosive falls short of other rounds with better armour piercing.  Against heavily armoured targets the armour piercing rounds will do physical damage more often (see SR4A page 161), and unarmoured targets will have less resistance test dice meaning more or less equivalent damage (in my opinion).

  APDS was left out in favour of Anti-Vehicle rounds.  Both confer the same damage versus soft targets, but AV is superior against vehicles and drones.  Anti-Tank rounds would trump both APDS and AV if not for the deficit that they are only for large bore weapons.

  Armour-Piercing Flechette was adjusted for impact armour, and reduced by 0.2 due to it's range reduction of 20% (each range modifier is 1 threshold, which reduces net hits by 1, effectively reducing the modified damage value by one, therefore a 20% reduction is equivalent to a 0.2 damage value reduction).

  High-Power does provide the greatest damage bonus, but requires a modification to the weapon (at the cost of other modifications which could potentially increase damage), precludes the use of other rounds (such as Gel for non-lethal engagements), and is incompatible with the high velocity modification (which adds significant damage, as argued in a previous post).  Overall, I feel that Armour-Piercing Flechette are vastly superior to High-Power rounds.

  Stick-n-Shock provides a stickier (pardon the pun) dilemma, since the Virtual Damage bonus is dependent on the Power of the weapon it is fired from.  What we really want to know is when Stick-n-Shock is better than our current leader, High-Power.  In other words, when does it confer more than 2.33 damage bonus.  Graphs to the rescue!

  The pattern is easy enough to see.  Stick-n-Shock becomes better than High-Power when the targets armour is greater than 6(Power - 4).  For Power of 4, that means that Stick-n-Shock is equal or better in all cases.  After that, it will depend on the game you play in.  I suspect campaigns incorporating the Arsenal sourcebook will likely see Stick-n-Shock used for weapons with Power 5, and adding War! may increase that to Power 6.

Conclusion

  Assuming that stun damage is sufficient for your needs, Stick-n-Shock is the superior round for lower Power weapons, High-Power is the winner for higher Power weapons in terms of pure damage, and Anti-Tank is probably best for ensuring lethality when applicable.

  If you don't have access to the War! sourcebook, but do have Arsenal, Anti-Vehicle is your winner for higher Power weapons.

  If you are running without any additional sourcebooks, then for higher Power it's APDS when you can get it, EX-Explosive when you can't.

Smartguns, Laser Sight + Tracer Rounds and Extended Clips

  Building on the last post, today I will examine smartguns, laser sights, tracer rounds, and the extended clip modification.  These four factors are codependent, and determining the most damaging accessories and modifications means looking at which of these are better as a whole.   (Warning:  This one is even heavier on the math.)

  Firing mode

  See my previous post for details.  In summary, one long and one short burst (full auto) or two long burst (high velocity) cause the greatest damage.  Therefore, I will only be looking at full auto and high velocity weapons for this comparison.

  Reload Interval

  I define this as the time spent reloading the weapon instead of firing it.  I calculate it as a multiplier of the damage.

  Formally, let
d = damage multiplier (the goal)
a = ammo capacity
b = bullets fired per initiative phase
n = number of simple actions to reload (where 1 complex action = 2 simple actions)



  Example:  A full auto smartgun with an ammo capacity 18(c) firing a long burst and a short burst per action phase (9 bullets) spends 4 simple actions firing and 1 simple action reloading out of every 5.  4/5 = 0.8.

  a = 18, b = 9 and n = 1.
  d = 18 / (18 + 9 / 2 * 1) = 0.8.

Reload Interval	Full Auto (long + short burst)	High Velocity (2 long burst)
Smartgun (clip reload)
All Others
Smartgun, Extended Clip
All Others, Extended Clip
Extended Clip Drum

  Here we can clearly see that smartguns will benefit from their quicker reload times over non-smartguns (smaller "n").  We can also see that extended clip shrinks the impact of bullets fired and reload time (bigger "a" compared to same size "b" and "n").  Last but not least, we see that high velocity creates a smaller reload interval (bigger "b").

  By making an inequality of the reload intervals of the extended clip options compared to the non-extended clip counterpart and solving for "a" we can determine that extended clip reduces reload interval (increases damage) for all a > 0.  We will therefore only consider the extended clip reload intervals.

  Whence Additional Clip?

  The additional clip modification does double the ammunition capacity of a weapon, but does so by introducing another clip to reload.  The reload interval therefore stays unchanged, and for the purposes of increasing damage over time, gives no bonus.

  Smartgun vs Laser Sight

  At short range, smartgun clearly wins over laser sight alone.  Not only is the dice pool modifier larger, it reduces the reload interval of a clip weapon by reducing "n" in our formula (see above).

  For the remainder of this post I will focus on the longer ranges.

  P is the (base) Power of the weapon.  These values include all recoil for the extra bullets, as if there were no recoil compensation on the weapon.  Adding recoil compensation does increase the (probable) damage, but it doesn't change the relationship of the options.

Reload Interval	Full Auto (long + short burst)	High Velocity (2 long burst)
Smartgun	2P + 5.67	2P + 7.67
Laser Sight with Tracer Rounds	2P + 6.67	2P + 9.00

  In terms of raw damage, laser sight with tracer rounds is simply better.

  Bringing It Together

  A smartgun does not influence the reload interval of a non-clip weapon, and is inferior to laser sight with tracer rounds in straight damage.  Therefore, for non-clip weapons, we should always choose laser sight with tracer rounds.  For the rest of the post, I will focus on clip weapons.

  The average damage of a weapon (over all action phases, including those spent reloading) can be derived as the modified damage value multiplied by the reload interval value.  In other words, DV * RI.

  For this initial comparison, I will fix the power of the weapon at 4 since power (literally) adds a whole other dimension.  This includes the damage value bonuses from full auto or high velocity, each combined with either smartgun or laser sight with tracer rounds.

  As we can see, the situation is complex.  Initially full auto smartgun takes a very slim lead, but in the long run it finishes last.  Conversely high velocity laser sight with tracer rounds begins lowest, but by the end is ahead of all the others.

  High velocity smartgun is best for mid range ammo capacities.  Full auto laser sight with tracer rounds is poor throughout.

  Weapon Power

  Here we incorporate the power of the weapon as a third dimension (mostly just because the graph looks so cool).

  From this we can see that the trends set out in the previous section continue to hold for all weapon powers 4 through 10.  The points at which each group becomes dominant changes; as power increases everything shifts diagonally up and to the right.


  Scarce Modification Slots

   For single shot (SS) and semi auto (SA) clip weapons, a choice must (sometimes) be made between extended clip and high velocity modifications, due to the number of modification slots used to convert to full auto.   The graph is again for power of 4 only.

     We can see that full auto laser sight with tracer rounds and extended clip is never the leader.   It should never be used.

   Full auto smartgun with extended clip would initially be the leader for small ammo capacities, except for full auto laser sight with tracer rounds and extended clip, drum.   Next is high velocity smartgun for mid range ammo capacities, with high velocity laser sight with tracer rounds the winner at the high end.

   In reality single shot and semi auto weapons tend to have low ammo capacities, and most will be full auto smartgun with extended clip, drum.

  Note: full auto smartgun with extended clip, drum is a horizontal line (the apparent slant is an optical illusion) because it is not derived from ammo capacity.

  Summary

  The selection of options depends on the firing mode, power (P) and ammo capacity (a, shown here as the base before modification) of the weapon.

	Full Auto (long + short burst)	High Velocity (2 long burst)
Burst Fire & Full Auto
Laser Sight, Tracer Rounds, Extended Clip Drum	-	a < 2P + 28
Smartgun, Extended Clip	a <  P + 1.25*	a < 7P + 27
Laser Sight, Tracer Rounds, Extended Clip	-	a > 7P + 26
Single Shot & Semi Auto
Laser Sight, Tracer Rounds, Extended Clip Drum	a < P + 27	-
Smartgun	a < 2P + 28*	a < 9P + 30
Laser Sight, Tracer Rounds	-	a > 9P + 29
Non Clip Weapons
Laser Sight, Tracer Rounds**	a < 2.5P	a > 2.5P

*Only for non SMG, assault rifle, or battle rifle (which use extended clip, drum).
**Not shown in graphs in this post.

Most damaging firing mode

  Updated:  Added some graphs to better visualize the data.

  In today's post I will investigate what firing mode causes the most damage.

  Methodology

  For purposes of calculating probable damage value,  -1 dice pool modifier (from recoil) is synonymous with -1/3 damage value (DV).  This is because each die in a roll has a 1 in 3 chance of garnering a hit, and each hit increases the modified DV by 1.  Therefore -3 dice equals -1 DV, or -1 die equal -1/3 DV.

  To get a true comparison, we must normalize damage over a single action phase.  Therefore semi-auto and burst fire are calculated based on firing twice, while single shot and full auto will only get one shot. I will assume narrow bursts for all bursts (short, long and full) as this maximizes damage.

  This table shows the results of this normalization.  "P" stands for the power attribute of the weapon.  Total DV is Damage - (Recoil / 3).  By subtracting the recoil from the calculated damage, we can simply add any recoil compensation as a positive damage value modifier at a later time.  HW Total DV is Damage - (Recoil * 2 / 3), for heavy weapons.

Firing Mode	Damage	Recoil	Total DV	HW Total DV*
Single shot	P	0	P	P
2 x Semi auto	2P	1	2P - 0.33	2P - 0.67
2 x Short burst	2P +   4	5	2P + 2.33	2P + 0.67
Long burst + short burst	2P +   7	8	2P + 4.33	2P + 1.67
Full burst	P +   9	9	P + 6.00	P + 3.00
2 x Long burst	2P + 10	11	2P + 6.33	(2P + 2.67)
High velocity full burst	P + 11	11	P + 7.33	(P + 3.67)
Minigun full burst	P + 14	14	(P + 9.33)	P + 4.67

* Heavy weapons, shotguns, high power chambering and others for which uncompensated recoil is doubled.

  Results


  Base Damage

  Looking at fully compensated recoil first, we can see from the graph that minigun full burst starts out as a clear winner, but two long bursts overtake it once base weapon power (P) reaches 4.  Most firearms (those with firing modes anyway) have a minimum power of 4, so we conclude that two long bursts do the most damage.

  However, only high velocity weapons can fire two long burst.  For all others, one long and one short burst is the next best, trumping minigun full burst by power 7, and even high velocity full burst by power 3.

  These two clearly beat everything else with power less than 4.

  Single shot was left out of the graph because my graphing program will only show seven colours.  Rest assured, it falls behind everything else immediately.

  Recoil

  When we incorporate the added (uncompensated) recoil the situation becomes even more clear. Two long bursts takes the lead at only power of 3, and power 5 for one long and one short burst to do the same, or power 3 if you don't count miniguns.

  Miniguns are always heavy weapons, and their uncompensated recoil is always doubled, which is why it is shown in parentheses.  They are included for theoretical comparison.

  Heavy Weapon Recoil

  High velocity weapons are never heavy weapons, and therefore never suffer from double uncompensated recoil, indicated by parentheses.  Here we see two long bursts would supercede everything by power 2, one long and one short burst at power 3.

  Summary


  Here is shown the best candidate from the "complex action" group, minigun full burst, versus two long bursts and one long and one short burst, for all (correct) recoil variations.

  In all cases we see that two bursts (whether one long and one short, or two long) is the most efficient way to cause damage in a given category of weapons, with two long bursts being best overall.

  Full burst, whether it be normal, high velocity, or minigun should be relegated to suppressive fire.

  Other Factors


  Clearly rate of fire and recoil are not the only factors for calculating damage.  Other factors, such as range, armour piercing, modifications, accessories and reloading interval will be the subjects of my next few posts.

Most lethal ballistic firearms (methodology)

  In this post I will summarize the methodology I used to obtain the results (the subject of the next post, feel free to skip ahead if the details don't interest you).  The results will likely surprise you.

  As usual, the Arsenal supplement is necessary for this post to be useful.  War! is also helpful for some options, but is not required.

  Simply comparing damage codes would be too obvious.  I am going to delve deeper into the topic by exploring range modifiers, firing modes, armour piercing, modifications, accessories, reload interval, ammunition, etceteras.

  For purposes of calculating probable damage value,  -1 dice pool modifier is synonymous with -1/3 damage value (DV).  This is because each die in a roll has a 1 in 3 chance of garnering a hit, and each hit increases the modified DV by 1.  Therefore -3 dice equals -1 DV, or -1 die equal -1/3 DV.  Similarly, 1 threshold modifier is the same as -3 dice pool modifier, which is again equal to -1 DV.

  Note: Muzzle load and breach load weapons were not included in my results.  A cursory comparison showed that they faired extremely poorly as a result of their poor reload interval.

  Ranges

  I will categorize weapons based on their range category, not their class.  This eliminates a lot of messy math to normalize the damage values based on range modifiers.

  Firing mode

  See my previous post for details.  In summary, one long and one short burst (full auto) or two long burst (high velocity) cause the greatest damage.

  I will use the recoil adjusted values, so recoil compensation will count as a positive modifier.

  Modifications

  Which modifications and accessories (and ammunition) to choose is a convoluted and intertwined subject which depends on a number of factors.  For the most part, the modifications listed below are in order of what will yield the most damaging, but it is not nearly as simple as checking off a list.

  Recall that restrictions disallow certain modifications, most of which are related in the notes.

Modification	Damage Value / Slots	Notes
Firing selection change	Single shot: Power / 4 + 1.0833 Semi auto:  1.0833 Burst fire: 2.0	Fully automatic. Non high velocity only.
Extended clip (large drum)	Varies	SMG, assault rifle and battle rifle, low ammo, clip reload only.
Extended clip	Varies	Clip reload only.
High velocity	Burst fire: 1.055 Full auto: 1.33	Fully automatic included. SMG, assault rifle and battle rifle only.
High-power chambering	Varies	Incompatible with high velocity.
Personalized grip	0.33
Under barrel weight (auto adjusting)	0.25	SMGs only.
Under barrel weight	0.16	Light Pistol to SMG only.
Barrel extension	0.10

  Note that there does not seem to be a benefit to converting a weapon to burst fire, as that functionality is available in full auto weapons and the cost (in modification slots) is the same.

  Barrel extension reduces the threshold in 10% of cases, and can be considered equivalent to 0.1 DV.

  Accessories

  Barrel Mount

  For all (except Holdout) weapons, I recommend a gas vent 3.

  If modification slots are scarce in your chosen weapon, and stealth isn't as important (preposterous!), you may wish to use a gas vent modification, and a silencer/sound suppressor accessory instead of the other way around.

  Gas vent 3 is worth 1 DV.

  Top Mount

  This was (in part) the subject of my previous post.  In short, for smaller ammo capacity clip weapons, smartgun is better.  Otherwise laser sight (with tracer rounds) is better.

  Under Barrel and "Butt" Mounts

  Your choice of under barrel accessories is limited by the class of weapon and the recoil compensation restrictions from Arsenal page 148.

  While the rules don't refer to a "butt" mount, there does seem to be one implied by several accessories.  These are only restricted by the recoil compensation rules.

  To summarize, the recoil compensation from the gas vent 3, under barrel and butt mount accessories is totaled, and then divided by 3 to calculate it's probably damage value bonus.

Class	Under Barrel Accessory	"Butt" Accessory	Total Recoil Compensation*	Damage Value*
Holdout pistol	-	Folding stock	1	0.33
Light pistol	-	Folding stock	4	1.33
Heavy pistol	-	Folding stock	4	1.33
Machine pistol	-	Folding stock	4	1.33
SMG	Fore grip	Folding stock	5	1.67
Assault/Battle Rifle	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
Shotgun	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
Sporting Rifle	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
Sniper Rifle	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
LMG	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
MMG	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
HMG	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33
Assault Cannon	Gyro stabilization	Shock pad	10	3.33

* Includes gas vent 3.

  Reload Interval

  This reflects the time spent reloading the weapon instead of firing it.  I calculate it as a multiplier of the damage.  See my previous post for details.

  Pre-filled belt with capacity 100 for all belt feed and speed loader are assumed for all cylinder firearms.

  Armour Piercing

  Each point of armour piercing is worth 0.33 DV.

  While it can be argued that armour piercing is not always applicable as a modifier, I know I don't leave the house without my armour underwear, and I expect anyone that I have cause to shoot at does the same.  For this reason, and to simplify things, I will always include it at full value.

  Recoil

  Likewise, uncompensated recoil counts at a rate of 0.33 DV (0.67 DV for heavy weapons, shotguns, etceteras).

  Ammunition

  Impact armour based ammunition was given a (virtual) -1 armour piercing bonus, as per this previous post.

  All weapons marked as Flechette only remained Flechette.  Assault cannons were compared using either AV assault cannon rounds, or high-power rounds.

  Stick-n-Shock was used for weapons with Power < 5.

  Armour-piercing flechette was compared to high-power rounds for other weapons.

  Other modifiers

  Other modifiers are typically environmental and beyond the scope of these computations.  Please leave a comment if you think I missed something.

  Execution

  Instead of attempting to calculate all the combinations of the above by hand, I wrote a small program to do it for me.  The methodology used in the program is more exhaustive (and therefore more accurate) than that laid out here, but the all the steps are essentially the same.

Removing firing selections

  Updated:  As a result of the changes to the previous weapon modification post, this post needed to be updated as well.

  You will once again require the Arsenal supplement to use the information in this post.

  The firing selection change modification allows you to add more firing modes to a weapon.  It stands to reason that removing firing modes should free up modification slots.  All such removals can reasonably only be considered small modifications, freeing up only a single slot.  For weapons with three firing modes (typically SA/BF/FA) this can mean up to two extra modification slots, provided you are willing to sacrifice some of the weapons versatility.

  Game masters beware of players attempting to add full auto (FA) to a burst fire (BF) weapon, and then remove burst fire.  This would total zero modification slots, and feels like cheating.  The same can be done with single shot (SS) to semi automatic (SA) modification.  If you don't agree with this, simply disallow players from making these modification.

  This list contains all those from the previous weapon modification slot list, as well as some additional entries.  The slots listing includes the base, plus removal of all modifications, and all but one firing mode.

Weapon	Source book	Slots
Battle Rifle
Ultimax 150	Gun Heaven	19+
FN SCAR-H3	War!	12
Assault Rifle
Jianshi QBZ-14	Gun Heaven	13+
Ares Bravo	War!	13
Ares Sierra	War!	13
HK G12A4m	War!	13
Ares Alpha	Shadowrun 20th	12
Colt M22A3	Arsenal	12
Nitama Optimum II	Arsenal	12
Sniper Rifle
Barrett Model 121	Arsenal	12
Steyr Minotaur Anti-Material Rifle	Gun Heaven	11
HK PSG Enforcer	Arsenal	11
SMG
HK Urban Combat	Arsenal	13
Heavy Pistol
HK MK31	Gun Heaven	10
Ares Viper Slivergun	Shadowrun 20th	10
Light Pistol
Hammerli 620S	Shadowrun 20th	8
Ares Light Fire 70 w/ Silencer	Arsenal	8
Machine Pistol
Ruger T-983	Gun Heaven	10
Onotari Equalizer	Gun Heaven	9
Ares Crusader	Arsenal	9
B&P MP9	Gun Heaven	9
LMG
SA Nemesis LMG	Arsenal	10
MMG
FN MAG-5	Arsenal	8
HMG
Stoner-Ares M107	Arsenal	9
Shotgun
Auto-Assault 16	Arsenal	9
Grenade Launcher
Enfield GL-67	Arsenal	7
Ares Antioch-2	Shadowrun 20th	7
Holdout
Morrissey Elan	Arsenal	7
Assault Cannon
Ares Thunderstruck Gauss Rifle	Arsenal	7
Sporting Rifle
Ares Canadian Sportster	Gun Heaven	7
Taser
Defiance Protector	Arsenal	8

Editorial

Based on what I have read from the rules, burst fire (BF) is a subset of full auto (FA), and weapons with both are redundant.  See "Full-Auto Mode" in Shadowrun 20th Anniversary edition page 154.

Most modifiable weapons by type

  Updated:  Included State of the Art 2073, giving a new best in the LMG category.

  Todays post is about the most modifiable weapons in the game.  To use this information, you need the Arsenal supplement.

  The rules don't specifically state that you can remove standard modifications, but they do say you can remove modifications.  Assuming your game master allows it, this means that some weapons have more slots than others for the purpose of modification.

  The slots listed include the 6 default modifications slots that every weapon has.

  Since not everyone has every source book, I am including options from different books.

  Game masters should increase the (nuyen) cost of these weapons if they become grossly more popular than other weapons (supply and demand).  Additionally, it might be prudent to institute a house rule that standard modifications recover less slots, for example half.

  The Ultimax 150 and Jianshi QBZ-14 are listed with "+" slots because Gun Heaven doesn't specify what rating the powered slide mounts on these weapons are.  I estimated a rating 3 (taking 4 slots) since this is average, and sufficient for mounting an under barrel weapon (the most common scenario for a powered slide).

Weapon	Source book	Slots
Battle Rifle
Ultimax 150	Gun Heaven	18+
FN SCAR-H3	War!	11
Assault Rifle
Jianshi QBZ-14	Gun Heaven	12+
Ares Bravo	War!	11
Ares Sierra	War!	11
HK G12A4m	War!	11
Ares Alpha	Shadowrun 20th	10
Colt M22A3	Arsenal	10
Nitama Optimum II	Arsenal	10
Sniper Rifle
Barrett Model 121	Arsenal	12
Steyr Minotaur Anti-Material Rifle	Gun Heaven	11
HK PSG Enforcer	Arsenal	11
SMG
Ingram Smartgun X	Shadowrun 20th	11
HK Urban Combat	Arsenal	11
Heavy Pistol
HK MK31	Gun Heaven	10
Ares Viper Slivergun	Shadowrun 20th	9
Nitama NeMax	Arsenal	9
Light Pistol
Hammerli 620S	Shadowrun 20th	8
Ares Light Fire 70 w/ Silencer	Arsenal	8
Machine Pistol
Ares Crusader	Arsenal	8
Ruger T-983	Gun Heaven	8
Onotari Equalizer	Gun Heaven	8
LMG
Ares PLD	State of the Art 2073	11
SA Nemesis LMG	Arsenal	9
MMG
FN MAG-5	Arsenal	8
HMG
Stoner-Ares M107	Arsenal	9
Shotgun
Auto-Assault 16	Arsenal	7
Boyd & Richards Desperado	Arsenal	7
Franchi SPAS-22	Arsenal	7
Enfield AS-7	Arsenal	7
Grenade Launcher
Enfield GL-67	Arsenal	7
Ares Antioch-2	Shadowrun 20th	7
Holdout
Morrissey Elan	Arsenal	7
Assault Cannon
Ares Thunderstruck Gauss Rifle	Arsenal	7
Sporting Rifle
Ares Canadian Sportster	Gun Heaven	7
Taser
Defiance Protector	Arsenal	8