Introduction

This guide is intended as a basic primer for aspiring gunsmiths. In it, you will find explanations for, and information about, the basic mechanics of mass effect-based weapons, their construction, various case studies, best practices, and some history lessons. This is the sixtieth edition of this best-selling guide, and the first rewrite by a human editor; Aaron Close, owner, CEO, and Chief Engineer of the Close Corporation.

Mechanics

Understanding the mechanics of a mass effect weapon requires a basic understanding of mechanics and mass-energy relations, what humans refer to as Newtonian mechanics and relativity. The key concepts to recall are the basic laws of mechanics, universally postulated by every species in the galaxy:

1st law: An object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an external force.

2nd law: The sum of forces on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration, giving the famous equation F = ma.

3rd law: Any action has an equal and opposite reaction; any force exerted on an object by another, is met by a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first object.

Further, an understanding of a basic tenet of mass-energy relations in physics is required: Mass can be considered concentrated energy, according to the formula E=mc2, which states that the total energy of an object is equal to its mass times the square of the speed of light.

What these laws tell us about weapons is that an energy-based weapon – lasers, for instance – must output an unrealistic amount of energy in order to equal the energy output of a mass accelerator weapon firing projectiles at relativistic velocities. Which leads to the first law of gunsmithing: For any reasonable and achievable energy production on the scale of a usable weapon, the acceleration of a mass will always have a higher energy output potential than any reasonably comparable directed energy weapon.

Another key principle informed by these laws is that the energy output – the power – of a mass accelerator weapon is determined by the product of the projectile's mass and its muzzle velocity, in simplified terms. And since projectile mass is naturally limited – lugging around ten kilo rifle projectiles is an absurd proposition – the main modifier to stopping power is how fast the projectile is moving. This is where mass effect mechanics come in.

Mass effect generators allow us to temporarily lower the mass of a projectile enough that it is essentially negligible, which in turn allows us to accelerate the projectile to significant fractions of the speed of light. This allows us to produce enormous energy output even with tiny projectiles. However, once the projectile leaves the accelerating barrel of the weapon, the mass effect field dissipates and the projectile regains its mass. This generates a lot of inertia on the projectile, which begins to disintegrate from friction and veer off course almost immediately.

The result is that mass effect weapons generally have relatively short in-atmosphere range, but due to the immense velocity of the projectile it will still travel a significant distance before being affected by these effects. Which brings about one of the most basic problems in mass effect gunsmithing: Optimisation.

Broadly speaking, weapon optimisation is an exercise in compromise; you can optimise for range, accuracy, stopping power, rate of fire, and penetration, but generally not for all of them. Accuracy and range are tightly linked, and generally optimising accuracy can be done independently of the others, though it is obviously limited by the weapon's range. Accuracy optimisation is done primarily through alignment calibration of the weapon's accelerator and guiding rails, which is a complex science unto itself. Range is adjusted by varying the grain size and velocity of the round, where larger projectiles with lower speeds generally will achieve better range, but there are compromises to be made there as well. The size and shape of a projectile affects its maximum range, that is the distance at which it disintegrates and/or veers sharply off course due to aerodynamic forces (drag, friction), but it is in turn modified by the velocity at which it is fired. Optimising for stopping power with higher velocity generally decreases range, as larger projectiles are required, rate of fire optimisation involves a lot of work on heat management which often means compromises on velocity and grain size, and penetration is a whole other ballgame with a myriad approaches with their own advantages and disadvantages.

The basic structure of a mass accelerator

Most common mass accelerator weapons are constructed according to the following basic blueprint:

1. An ammo block, from which projectiles are crafted

2. An ammo shaver, which uses strong micro-scale mass effect fields to sheer off projectiles from the ammo block with varying degrees of precision

3. A loading chamber, wherein the shaved projectile is mass-reduced and inserted into the barrel

4. The mass effect generator, which reduces the mass of the projectile and powers the weapon

5. A trigger assembly, which operates the weapon

6. Accelerator rails, which accelerate the projectile through the barrel

7. Guide rails, which controls the trajectory of the projectile through the barrel

8. A heat sink assembly, which siphons off heat produced by and in the various parts of the weapons and prevents the weapon from overheating and melting down

9. A VI-controlled self-repair mechanism, which usually forces the weapon into a cooldown mode, vents excess heat, and allows recovery of melted-down components

Additionally, you will often find that many mass accelerator weapons sport a secondary barrel assembly. Most commonly, this is used as an exhaust mechanism of sorts, where excess chips and grit, which naturally accumulates within the weapon's mechanism, is accelerated out and away from the weapon. Often, these barrels indicate the use of low-cost and imprecise ammo shavers, which produce a significant amount of waste metal as it shaves projectiles. However, it is not necessarily an indicator of a poor weapon, as manufacturers have found clever ways to make use of this material. For example, the most common way to produce concussive shots is by overcharging the waste ejector, accumulating more waste in the waste loader, compressing it, and accelerating it out of the second barrel at velocities it's normally not designed to handle. This will always damage the weapon and engage the self-repair mechanism, which is why concussive shots can't usually be fired in rapid succession.

Other manufacturers have had some success in adding a compressor component which compresses and shapes waste material in the waste loader, and fires it like a 'bonus projectile' through the secondary barrel at regular intervals. Others still have had success in modifying other designs with high-end shavers that produce little to no waste, and upgrading the secondary barrel to work as a fully functional secondary barrel assembly, thereby increasing the weapon's firing rate and/or stopping power or penetration by fully utilising both barrels. We will cover a few ways in which manufacturers have made use of the secondary barrel in the extensive case study section of the book.

Different weapon classes, different design decisions

Different use scenarios often require different types of weapons, and this has lead to a wide variety of weapon classifications in a very malleable taxonomy. Broadly speaking, the most common weapons on the galactic market today fall into these categories:

1. Pistols

2. Submachine guns (SMGs)

3. Shotguns

4. Assault rifles

5. Sniper rifles

This taxonomy is not without its controversies. For instance, it combines the categories of light pistols and hand cannons, which is particularly controversial since many consider some of the most common pistols on the market today to be SMGs that default to semi-automatic firing modes. However, the taxonomy has been chosen based on the design mechanics that make up the weapons that fit into the different categories, as well as their different use modes. Though even this causes some problems, for example with where you should place some marksman's rifles.

In this introductory chapter, I shall briefly cover these standard classifications of mass effect weaponry, their mechanics, their use, their place in the market, and some history.

Pistols and SMGs

Broadly speaking, pistols use one of two types of ammo shavers; either a high-precision, low-mass capable shaver, or a lower-precision, high-mass capable shaver. The former is also ubiquitous in SMG design, while the latter is often seen in assault rifles. Generally, higher-mass varieties belong to the hand cannon variation of the pistol theme, while the lower-mass variety belong to the light pistol type. Almost no pistols come with a single barrel, as the shavers that are precise enough to cut out the waste are usually too big to fit within the frame of a pistol.

This size limitation is the greatest limitation to the output power of a pistol, and is the reason why the distinction between a hand cannon – a weapon that fires high-powered rounds, but with a limited clip and firing rate – and a light pistol, which is essentially just an SMG in semi-automatic mode, exists. The only true distinction between an SMG and a light pistol is the semi-automatic default, and that light pistols generally fire slightly larger rounds with more stopping power and less penetration.

One benefit of the limited frame is that heat generation scales exponentially, which means that lower-powered weapons make progressively less heat, which means that at the scale of a pistol you can limit yourself to a much smaller heat sink assembly. As an example, the relatively compact heat sink assembly of the legendary M7 Lancer assault rifle takes up about 30 percent of the weapon's internal volume, while a Kessler K2 light pistol's heat sink volume is at about 8%. This is why a pistol frame can produce stopping power equal to low-powered sniper rifles in the case of some hand cannons, or firing rates equal to some assault rifles. SMGs are optimised for firing rate and penetration, which allows them to minimise the shaver and loader assembly as well, increasing their firing rate well beyond what even a machine gun can achieve.

Shotguns

Among the standard weapon types, shotguns may be the type with the widest variety of designs. However, the basic functionality of the weapon is usually quite straightforward: Propel multiple projectile masses at a target, with less attention to accuracy than other guns. Of course, there are the odd exceptions, such as slug-based shotguns, but generally all shotguns fall into this functionality model.

The most common, and by far the cheapest, design of a shotgun uses an array of ammo shavers to shave projectiles in parallel before loading into the loading chamber or barrel. Usually, these are shavers designed for pistol frames that are simply connected together and controlled by some VI hack-job. Shotguns are otherwise identified by their wide barrel, necessary to allow its multiple projectiles. Conveniently, the wider barrel allows the use of more guide- and acceleration rails, increasing either accuracy (in the sense of 'true flight' of the projectile) or projectile velocity for higher stopping power. Most shotgun designs, however, stick to the standard cross-structure of four guide rails, filling the wider gaps with more acceleration rails to increase the power of the weapon. The exceptions usually belong to the subcategory of slug-guns, such as the Alliance's Crusader series, though some higher-end specialist shotguns also sport an increased number of guide rails in order to accommodate medium-range engagements. Such weapons are popular choices with biotics, as they often move between very close quarter and medium-range engagements very rapidly.

Additionally, 3rd party guide rail barrel extensions make up a popular modification market for shotguns, and allow users to tailor their weapon to better suit their combat profile. Interestingly, the hunting market holds a nearly 40% market share for these extensions.

Assault rifles

About 90% of assault rifles use the same ammo shavers used for most hand cannons, which combines with greater heat capacity and longer barrels to allow a higher firing rate without compromising too much on stopping power. And with the significantly larger frame volume of assault rifles, designers have a lot more freedom to optimise for specific purposes. As an example, since military operations usually involve a large number of operators, it is generally more purposeful to equip soldiers with weapons with sufficient stopping power combined with a high and sustainable rate of fire. This is why nearly all standard military assault rifles are medium-powered bullet hoses. The Lancer, the Avenger, and the Turian Phaeston models, to name a few, all fit this general description. Beyond that, they are all designed to be reliable, which is a much more interesting design challenge.

Reliability begins and ends with heat management. Any and all weapons that are considered reliable by military standards are capable of handling heat generation much quicker than the competition, and to dissipate that heat away from internal components quickly and efficiently. Often, this involves some process of continuous self-repair of the heat sink medium, a technique known as dynamic heat sinking. A common, but somewhat expensive technique is to use a metal with relatively poor internal heat conductivity and a relatively low melting point, which 'melts away' at the heated surface and is then captured and re-processed. Fabricators continuously extrude heat sink material into contact with the heating surfaces, which effectively means that the heat sink is continuously replaced. This is the method used in the design of such weapons as the famous Revenant machine gun, and is also the reason why it takes so long to cool down after it has finally been brought to overheat. When such systems overheat, the fabricators break down and must be repaired. Additionally, the melted heat sink medium has to be collected and re-processed, which takes time, and new heat sinks must be extruded into contact with the heating surfaces. This is a massively complex process, and militaries tend to shun this particular technique both because of its cost and because they consider this complexity as detracting from the weapon's reliability.

The M-7 Lancer, by contrast, casts its entire barrel assembly, and most of its mass effect generator, in a permanent heatsink containing a liquid metal internal medium. The outer layer of the heatsink is structured to encourage self-arrangement of the molecules of heatsink material within it, which mechanically automates most of the self-repair required in the case of an overheat. Essentially, as the weapon cools itself down, the melted internals of the heatsinks cool into their appropriate structures, with internal pressures and material separation leaving the liquid metal medium a liquid. This is the secret behind the weapon's famed reliability, and it allows for a quite compact heat sink assembly by the standards of other assault rifles. Even when compared with the newer M-8 Avenger models, based on the same basic designs, the 30%-by-volume figure is impressive, as the A2 Avenger model comes it at nearly 35%-by-volume. The reason for this is that while impressive, the M7's heatsink assembly is rather expensive, as it contains minimal standardised parts. This wasn't a problem prior to the Alliance's introduction to the wider galaxy, as this assembly was the standard, but the economies of scale quickly changed that and necessitated the development of the Avenger line to replace the Lancer.

No discussion of assault rifles would be complete without discussing marksman's rifles. These are rifles that optimise for stopping power and/or penetration, and of course for accuracy, and compromise on firing rates. What separates marksman's rifles from sniper rifles, is that they do this within the standard frame envelope of an assault rifle, with relatively short, assault-rifle calibre barrels as well as significantly reduced range which makes medium-range engagements the optimal range compared with the long-range optimum for sniper rifles. The higher accuracy compared to regular assault rifles is achieved mainly by replacing some accelerator rails with guide rails, and compensating for the lost acceleration with a larger-calibre projectile. But at this scale, and particularly with specialist weapons such as marksman's rifles, other effects are often significant enough to enter into design decisions.

For example, projectile shaping techniques are relatively common with assault rifles and larger-frame weapons. Different shapes provide different flight and penetration profiles, which significantly affect the use of the weapon. Shaped projectiles can provide greater penetrative abilities, or greater stopping power, or otherwise different damage profiles such as projectiles that flatten or shatter on impact, causing greater damage to organic tissues. Shaping usually occurs in one of two places: The loading chamber, or the shaver. The former tends to dramatically reduce firing rates, while the latter is significantly more expensive but a lot more adaptable.

A third manner of projectile shaping is found in that class of weapons that flout the standard ammo block design by employing omni-gel fabrication of projectiles, such as the infamous Graal shotgun or the Batarian Kishock 'harpoon gun'. While neither of these are classified as assault rifles, they still offer perhaps the best examples of inventive projectile shaping. These weapons replace the ammo block and -shaver with an omni-gel deposit and flash fabricator assembly, similar to what is found in the common omni-tool, used to flash forge their projectiles on demand. Such weapons always fire at significantly lower velocities than more standard mass effect weaponry, since the significantly increased mass and volume of the projectile means that applying a mass effect field to the entire projectile takes much longer and produces a lot more heat than normal. This is why these weapons often offer different firing modes, charged and non-charged, where the non-charged mode applies only minimal mass effect enhancement, and charged mode applies a mass effect field to the entire projectile for dramatically increased velocity and resulting energy output.

The fact that such weapons effectively incorporate omni-tool capabilities within the weapon's frame has made some more adventurous designers toy with ideas of fabricating specialised munitions, such as explosives of various types, based on the idea of modifying omni-too-constructed tech mine designs to fit into a projectile envelope. So far, none of these attempts have panned out, though it is a poorly kept secret that every major manufacturer and military R&D service have ongoing research projects dedicated at developing such technology.

Sniper rifles

A class of weapons nearly as diverse as shotguns, the sniper rifle market is massively diversified and constantly changing. A common differentiator is the dichotomy of the 'specialist' and 'support' sniper, where the former holds the more traditional sniper role, keeping at a distance from the fighting in a recon and assassination role, and the latter is the more modern variant that takes its place on the front lines alongside other soldiers. Not many modern militaries still use the traditional sniper, as most recon duties are performed by drones or front-line infiltrators, who are generally classified under the support sniper category. However, the traditional market is still big enough that weapons are developed especially for it. These weapons tend to be larger-bore, longer-range weapons, with the legendary M-98 Widow being one of the longest-serving weapon frames still in active service.

Weapons in this class negatively affect the user's mobility in a major way, such that it is known that professional assassins will often simply leave their rifles behind – often destroying them as they do so – rather than lug them around and risk the weapon slowing them down enough to be captured. So these weapons are most commonly used in fire teams or mounted on light vehicles. There are also examples of attempts at mounting such weapons on mech frames, as they are generally less impeded by their massive size and weight. However, most such attempts have failed due to the stutter-motion problem shared by most VI-run mech systems, as it makes accurate fire at range a very difficult proposition.

Most of the common sniper rifle models on the market sit squarely in the support sniper/infiltrator class market, with just a few being capable of more traditional deployments given the right 3rd party modifications and adjustments. Broadly speaking, infiltrator rifles balance guide rails and accelerator rails at a nearly 50/50 ratio, which greatly increases accuracy compared to assault rifles (and even marksman rifles), and only lowers velocity slightly since the gain/loss per guide rail is of a greater magnitude than the gain/loss per accelerator rail. The larger frame allows for better heat management, however, so the rails can be up-tuned compared to assault rifles, which means nearly all sniper rifles fire at greater velocities compared to any assault rifle.

The greatest variation in this market is in projectile size and shape. Nearly all higher-end infiltrator rifles incorporate projectile shaping technology to improve the flight and/or impact profiles of the projectile, and the same 3rd party modification can have dramatically different effects and efficiency from one weapon to the next because of these subtle differences. This is part of why the sniper rifle is still considered a weapon for the truly skilled, as much care and maintenance is required to optimise them, and the optimisation potential is similarly vast. Very slight changes to the calibration of the guide rails can in some cases result in double-digit gains in accuracy and power. Few weapons differentiate so much based on its user's skill as does the sniper rifle.

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Author's notes: I do not own the Mass Effect.

Figure I would try something different, here. Part of the work I've put into MI:CC includes a lot of theorising about how mass effect weapons and other technologies actually work. I've got it all pretty well figure out now. This work will cover some specific weapons, as well as mods, ammo mods, design quirks, and such things. For example, there's going to be a whole chapter dedicated just to the secondary barrel concept, and things like Warp Ammo.

The idea here is that I'm sticking to what we know from canon, and elaborating on that. None of what I write here should be directly counter to canon, and much of it will in fact provide necessary explanations for how these things can possibly work, for example the whole mechanic behind the Kishock, or why ME guns appear to have such short ranges (generally speaking). The ammo mod bit is also going to be... interesting. Essentially, this project is me trying to make cohesive sense of what some game designers threw together because it played well. Fun times :)