Educate me on how elite mech suited soldiers with possibly self cleaning cleaning weapons, who fight alongside werewolves, behave 175 years in the future IRL! Or maybe if the guy is doing it, it's because he knows his weapon is advanced enough to handle it?
Alternatively, educate me on how you advance beyond "Whoops, I packed the barrel of my weapon with dirt". Firearms technology has not progressed all that much in the LAST 175 years but I am interested in these self cleaning/self clearing weapons! I am just hoping the hand is not part of the gun component so I can just flip the weapon to have the stock in the dirt. Not a lot smarter to have your hand over the muzzle either but these are really advanced weapons we're talking about. Maybe they sense friendly hands and go on safe...
@BaronVonZorcula: If you were looking for a rational discussion regarding likely advancements to firearm technology in the next two centuries, you've come to the wrong place. Many have advanced similar "but that makes no sense" arguments on the N3 forums regarding this or that issue in the past. There's no winning when confronted with, "but they're just that advanced because it's the future so of course they are, and look, werewolves!!!!" *shrugs*
I'll get back to you on that, but I suspect the answer will be "the weapon would bite you if you handled it that badly".
Whilst Dawn was isolated for a long time advancements from the Human Sphere are starting to creep in. Teseum alloy barrels coated with frictionless neomaterials stop dirt, sand, unburnt propellant, and other foreign objects adhering to the inside of the barrel. In addition a pulse of low level static energy is sent down the barrel when the trigger is touched to ensure it is clear. These two advancements were quickly integrated into the advanced weapon systems equipped by the Blackjack regiment as the additional costs were considered acceptable to reduce maintenance and enhance operational reliability. The systems were famously demonstrated to the USAriadnan president by submerging a modified HMG in cheese whiz and then immediately firing a sustained burst of over 100 rounds of Teseum tipped ammunition without malfunctions. Some Blackjack operators have been observed to be rather cavalier about their treatment of these new weapon systems but the lack of reported issues suggests that these guns might truly have been rendered "Squaddie Proof".
Right now we have weapons that can recover from dirt and grim and other such issues. The problem is your weapon is still your life blood. Why would I want to risk it functioning less that perfectly when the time comes. At best it is parade ground pose. Even then I would still be worried about damaging the bipod or sights by pointing it down barrel first. Especially considering I am in a giant robot suit where I might not know my own strength.
My point is not necessarily that this would render the weapon inoperative (but it does introduce the potential). More the point that soldiers are trained not to do this.
Yea I am agreeing with you. I was trying to say the idea that the weapon would be fine doesn't excuse putting the weapon into unnecessary risk of damage or even minor degradation of combat effectiveness. As you pointed out every soldier is ingrained since the moment they are handed a weapon to treat it with respect and to take care of it so it will take care of you.
Yeah but at the same time, real soldiers don't do a lot of the stuff that they are doing in Infinity. Like shooting two rifles at once, or shooting a machine gun one-handed, or whatever. But it looks cool so whatevs.
The new black jack is 10 times better than the previous one. I find the sniper version hideous, and not fit to join the ranks of my esteemed collection! But the hmg... perfection. You can stick that barrel anywhere you like, my friend. Dirt, mud, sand, grass, snow.. I have faith in thee.
Me too. First Blackjack model was poorly balanced, this one is perfect to be painted for shelf duty even if Ariadna is not my faction.
Hey now, I can tell you that one time when doing training the stars aligned and a SAW gunner picked up a fallen M249 and then went down the center of a herringbone with a M249 in each hand and laser tagged about 75% of the convoy just to do it. The trainer couldn't figure out who to yell at and just stood there facepalming. In a world with cubes you know somebody did it live at some point. As for the general Blackjack thing, they are resting the weapon on it's bipod. Honestly it wouldn't even be auto disbelief if it didn't have the bipod extended. I'm 99.99% sure I likely rested the barrel of my SAW on the toe of my dirty boot, a rock, or dry hard packed earth at some point. Just touching the outdoors with a weapon isn't going to give it cooties, you just don't want to take a core sample with your barrel or get dirt into the internals, and a simple visual inspection would tell you if whatever you are going to do is going to result in that or not.
