CAWS buckshot (no ontology)
From Mazeworld
12 gauge belted (sometimes also called 18.5x76mm) is a special-purpose cartridge developed by Heckler & Koch and Olin/Winchester for use in the Heckler ＆ Koch CAWS. It is a non-conventional buckshot shotgun shell.
Real-life data
Not much is known about this obscure ammunition. Like the weapon it was designed for, the CAWS automatic combat shotgun, it has been shelved and remained an abandoned project.
The round was designed along with the weapon to be able to perform an anti-area, anti-materiel and anti-personnel purpose, all in one weapon and one caliber, with only different loadings. It isn't much different from a standard, 12 gauge buckshot shotgun shell in base mechanism, except for its peculiar belt which ensured the case head's solidity, and its incompatibility with standard 12 gauge shotguns.
Prototype loads included lead flechettes, but were quickly shelved for poor accuracy. Conventional lead buckshot, and anti-personnel tungsten pellets were also designed, the latter being able to pierce through light armor.
Mazeworld overview
The variant used in Mazeworld uses tungsten 00 buckshot, a load that was supposedly never made by H&K (tungsten pellets they developed only included #2 buckshot), for the sake of simplicity in order to keep the same pellet mechanics as regular buckshot.
| Type | Unarm | Light | Hardskin | Kevlar-2 | Kevlar-3 | Kevlar-4 | HEV |
| Bullet (1 pellet) | 18% | 16% | 13% | 10% | 6% | 3% | 0% |
The above chart applies for ONE pellet, and may be multiplied by the amount of pellets that hit the target (up to 8). How to read this?
| Dice score | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 or 7 | 8 or 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Pellets hitting | None | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight |
12 gauge belted ammunition is similar to standard buckshot, at the exception that it is harder-hitting and can damage Kevlar-4 armor class enemies - albeit not by much.
Because it is similar to standard buckshot, it has the same tactical perks that makes it different from bullets:
- The advantage: Even if the dice score is poor, the contestant may still be able to hit his/her target (although with minimum power) unless he/she scores a critical failure.
- The drawback: Whereas bullets almost always hit at full power, 12 gauge belted doesn't, unless the contestant scores 12, in which case all eight pellets hit. Because of this, the failure threshold is not useful - only your actual dice score is.
Because of these facts, 12 gauge belted ammo is played a little differently than other firearms. Whether those traits can be helpful or not depend mostly on the contestant's strategy and style, although there are a few recommendations:
- Avoiding heavily armored targets, unless the contestant is positively sure to hit a lesser-armored weak point.
- It must be noted that failure threshold modifiers work differently with 12 gauge belted than with any other type of ammunition, since the amount of pellets that hit the target are dependent on the total score. For every increased accuracy occurrence, the amount of pellets that hit is your score +1. Likewise, for every decreased accuracy occurrence, your score -1.
Due to its power, higher than standard buckshot, 12 gauge belted may seem to be a better choice. Unfortunately, it is also much rarer. It can be found at random in the rooms, or sold in a gun shop or a weapon shop if those shops sell the only weapon using it. Even then, it is only sold in boxes of 10 or 50, for the price of 3 P$/round. Despite it may sound cheap, rarity is the major problem with 12 gauge belted - unless the contestant is positively sure he/she can manage using this kind of ammunition, he/she should be careful with it and save the most possible.
Weapons compatible
Class 1 weapons
Gallery
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| Two dummy rounds, and a live round with plastic casing. |
