Possible Mass Effect Upgrade

[Colonel_Krukov]

"Accelerator design was revolutionised by element zero. A slug lightened by a mass effect field can be accelerated to greater speeds, permitting projectile velocities that were previously unattainable. If accelerated to a high enough velocity, a simple paint chip can impact with the same destructive force as a nuclear weapon. However, mass accelerators produce recoil equal to their impact energy. This is mitigated somewhat by the mass effect fields that rounds are suspended within, but weapon recoil is still the prime limiting factor on slug velocity." Mass Effect Codex

This applies to all characters with weapons. Durability too since shields are designed to deflect shots.

Harbinger should be Large Town level for easily surpassing this level of firepower.

Note:This could be an outlier but I'm welcome to opinions

 

[Follow_Doctor_Freeman]

Hmm... Well, all we have to do is acertain that Mass Effect weapons do accelerate to the necessary velocity. How about we keep the AP ratings but add a bit about the weapons' piercing armor with such and such a durability? Many Red vs. Blue profiles utilize something similar to this.

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

I recall that the projectiles accelerate to relativistic speeds and the projectile is the size of a grain of sand, however I can't find where I remembered this from.

 

[Legion350]

I agree with the upgrades.

 

[Follow_Doctor_Freeman]

As long as there is enough evidence altogether, my suggestions about piercing power should be fine. Instead of shooting a guy with armor and turning him into gibs, the nature of the weapons is to pierce armor and shields. This, coupled with the verse's amazing healing technology, is what keeps the weapons grounded logically and what keeps Colonel Krukov's findings from being altogether absurd or outliers or anything like that.

Unless something really significant or extreme is brought to light, I support the upgrades to piercing power alone.

 

[Volundox]

I recall that the projectiles accelerate to relativistic speeds and the projectile is the size of a grain of sand, however I can't find where I remembered this from.

Are you perhaps remembering it from this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQQgrumo760

Around 3:40 or so.

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Not the video, but yes, exactly his words.

 

[Lina_Shields]

If accelerated to a high enough velocity, a simple paint chip can impact with the same destructive force as a nuclear weapo

If there were any instances of those slugs hitting something shown to us, did those slugs make a massive explosion upon making direct contact with an object/ground?

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

There does seem to be an explosion when rounds make contact with a solid object.

 

[Lina_Shields]

If there was a cutscene shown where said round makes contact with a solid object, what type of damage did it do?

Is there a picture, or a video of this?

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

I was just taking potshots in-game

Here is a cutscene that shows a few mercs shooting rounds

 

[Follow_Doctor_Freeman]

Bump. Do we yet have enough information to confirm or debunk the suggestion of a piercing power upgrade?

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Bump

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Bump

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Does anyone find 7-C piercing power okay?

 

[The_Everlasting]

I don't mind the upgrade, though I despise the use of "piercing power" and find that it being all-around would be better.

 

[Legion350]

I agree with the Everlasting.

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Okay, thanks for the feedback. Is this enough for the upgrade?

How does 7-C (Rounds impact with enough yield of a Nuclear weapo) sound?

And I'm assuming that this scales to durability too?

 

[EliminatorVenom]

It looks alright.

 

[LordXcano]

Except they don't. The text is speaking as a hypothetical. The actual rounds themselves move some 90,000 m/s. Like you said, they're about the size of a grain of sand. Even if I go as high as possible with "grain of sand" and assume it weighs a kilogram this is still only getting 0.96 Tons of TNT equivalent.

Not to mention, the Reapers max out at kiloton level outputs. Specifically, 132-454 kilotons. And you can't really argue this is "feats disagreeing with the stated numbers" here, because both of these are stated numbers.

Not to mention, the text says right after "However, mass accelerators produce recoil equal to their impact energy." Which means they don't output nuke level bullets, or else they would blow their arms off.

tl;dr The text is just answering the question of "Why don't they just make their bullets go 0.9999c and blow everything up?", to which the answer is "They would shoot their arms off"

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

A lot of weapons can break the arms of people, in universe some of the more powerful sniper rifles need soldiers to have enhancements to use so it doesn't break their arms. Also, we have weapons only rated at "At least 9-B" which is seriously underpowered. Like, it would make no sense in using weapons at all if tech/biotic abilities are clearly way stronger. Weapons should at least scale to being able to down kinetic barriers easily.

 

[LordXcano]

Yeah, but Accelerator Rounds can be used by pretty much anybody. They're basically just the ME equivalent of a pistol.

Not to mention, you're ignoring pressure here. It's entirely possible for a bullet that can, as you said, break someone's arm, to break through a City Block level barrier. This is because the pressure the bullet exerts would be way way higher than just a blunt hit.

However, the bullets themselves are most definitely not 7-C. As the text says, the recoil is equal to the energy of the bullet. And as you said, the only concern about higher-powered rifles is "breaking your arm", not pulverizing your body.

 

[The_Omnipotente]

Bump

 

[HalfAsianFan]

I feel a bit out of place commenting here since I don't know much about ME, but isn't the statement "If accelerated to a high enough velocity, a simple paint chip can impact with the same destructive force as a nuclear weapon" just an 'if'? Straight after saying that, there's a 'however' which seems to suggest that each round isn't actually accelerated to such a speed.

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Clearly 7-C isn't being accepted, but what tier can we rate Mass Accelerator Weaponry at?

 

[LordXcano]

@Krukov

"Unknow, likely City Block level piercing ability (Can hurt biotically amplified beings and Shephard, who took a blow from Harbinger's weaponry)"

 

[Colonel_Krukov]

Thanks, although would it be better to keep the Wall level rating instead of it being Unknown?

 

[LordXcano]

Yeah that seems fine.