This is more of an aesthetics than a rules question. I am writing a book for a Victorian Sci-Fi setting (Setting Info|Combat Rules) on weapons and equipment for use in space. I'm trying to figure out what data should be included with the weapons. Of course the gameplay data will be (to-hit mods, to-damage, weight, cost, etc...) included. Because it is in space, there will also be some thermodynamics info (e.g. rounds before overheating, cooldown time, etc...)

What other data could be useful? Either for gameplay or just to improve your immersion and engagement?

Draft design sketches:

You definitely want to consider that there is no cooling in a vacuum other than radiant cooling, and you must always take into account Newton's Third Law of Motion, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". The muzzle energy of a projectile weapon is also a thrust vector in the opposite direction.

Quote from: avaia on December 15, 2021, 08:43:00 AM
You definitely want to consider that there is no cooling in a vacuum other than radiant cooling, and you must always take into account Newton's Third Law of Motion, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". The muzzle energy of a projectile weapon is also a thrust vector in the opposite direction.

–


Hi avaia– 

Thanks! I've been modeling the radiative loss of the guns with a simple Stefan-Boltzman radiative model for the barrel and a 1D finite difference method for radiator fins. For bullet friction I think I used a model from Carlucci's Theory and Design of Guns and Ammunition, Third Edition and for the hot gas transfer in the barrel some empirical formulas from an old DoD publication 'Engineering Design Handbook:Automatic Weapons'.  For recoil, I account for bullet and ejected gas momentum, minus any exhaust momentum (for recoilless) and basic diversion through any muzzle device (using another DoD pub 'Eng Design: Muzzle devices'). 

This seems to work reasonably, well, but it produces a lot of data. I guess my question is, for a player or referee in a game, what data would be most useful to present?

thanks!