From:	Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject:	Re: Ares Viper Slivergun
Date:	Thu, 6 Apr 1995 21:44:32 +1000

Paul Jonathan Adam writes:

> Since everything else lists the damage for a single shot (even weapons that
> only fire full-auto) then it's 12D(f) for each of two bursts. Ouch. Even
> with double impact that's going to hurt. And you have two bursts instead of
> the one you get with, say, a Savalette Guardian. Ouch twice in succession.

Yep, by the rules, that is correct. Very nasty. I have decided that it is,
as the book says, a light pitol with heavy pitol ranges. Hence it does 6L =>
6M(f) => 9S(f) with burst. The most important thing to remember is that it
suffers fairly shockingly from recoil, since you cannot put a GV onto it as
it already has a silencer on the barrel.

> SR2 says it's silenced. I go with the silencer modifiers, but there is an
> extra penalty for burst fire.

Yeah, treat it as a combination silencer/sound suppressor. So if you are
firing SA, it gets the +4 perception modifer, while if you fire BF, it only
gets +2. The thing is, after all, built into the weapon.

> Technically I mumble that it's because it only fires a specific type of
> flechette ammunition which is easier to suppress but also rather unusual.

Actually, as far as the rules are concerned, it fires the exact same ammo as
other light pistols. It is only peoples interpretations of just what the
Viper is that have given it different ammo types. If you just rule that it
fires standard ammo, then you have very few problems.

> but it's not universally used, which is the hallmark of an unbalanced
> weapon. When *everyone* uses the same gun, the system's out of balance :-)

BTW, do you find that the Ingram Smartgun is vastly superior to all other
SMGs?

--------------
P Ward writes:

> [Good Viper explanation]

OTOH, one can make the Viper something really special. Like this, with its
own set of ammo etc. Pretty cool actually.

--
Damion Milliken Unofficial Shadowrun Guru E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au

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