[FuelDrop]

Assault rifle                Damage          AP          Mode   Ammo      Avail             Cost.
Ares Helfire                        5P*         1/2B-1      SA/BF      20          30F   *To be determined*
*The Ares Helfire uses specialized ammunition that costs 100 nuyen per ten shots, and cannot use other forms of ammunition. It is powered by peak discharge batteries.

The Ares Helfire is the world's first Gauss assault rifle, effectively a miniaturization of the Ares Thunderstruck.
Edit: The Helfire gains no benefit from Gas Vent systems.

[Mirikon]

My initial reaction? Oh HELL no! This is a bad bad bad idea to be putting in the hands of players and NPCs. Just don't. Ever.

[FuelDrop]

My initial reaction? Oh HELL no! This is a bad bad bad idea to be putting in the hands of players and NPCs. Just don't. Ever.

Interesting. It's lower damage than laser weapons or stick-and-shock, requires both ammunition and power cells to run, is hard to get, and can't make use of specialized ammunition. I must be missing how this one is so much more gamebreaking than other options that are already out there.

[All4BigGuns]

The 1/2 Ballistic -1 armor penetration probably.

[FuelDrop]

The 1/2 Ballistic -1 armor penetration probably.

Much like lasers (AP 1/2B, better damage for rifle sized weapons) and Stick-and-shock (1/2I, better base damage).
Anyway, APDS/AV rounds are capable of giving similar penetration against most armour from a more conventional assault rifle. so yes it's powerful, but I'm still not sold on it being massively better than other options that are already out there (Trades worse base damage for more convenient skill with lasers, and is arguably less broken than stick-and-shock rounds)

[Mirikon]

And the fact that it would fall under Automatics instead of Heavy Weapons or Exotic Ranged Weapon.

[All4BigGuns]

Hey, I was just saying the only thing I could think of. It doesn't look so bad to me. Though I'd probably pull the extra -1 off of the armor penetration, personally.

[Mirikon]

I would classify it as a heavy weapon (if not exotic), and make it a flat -half AP (except smart armor). And even then, assuming I completely took leave of my senses and allowed it into play, I'd let any player who wanted the thing know that any guard or ganger with half a brain is going to see that thing, and set them right next to the mage in the 'to be geeked' list. Of course, I do the same to anyone wearing milspec armor or doing other such things.

[All4BigGuns]

I would classify it as a heavy weapon (if not exotic), and make it a flat -half AP (except smart armor). And even then, assuming I completely took leave of my senses and allowed it into play, I'd let any player who wanted the thing know that any guard or ganger with half a brain is going to see that thing, and set them right next to the mage in the 'to be geeked' list. Of course, I do the same to anyone wearing milspec armor or doing other such things.

How about putting it into Longarms?

[Mirikon]

I would classify it as a heavy weapon (if not exotic), and make it a flat -half AP (except smart armor). And even then, assuming I completely took leave of my senses and allowed it into play, I'd let any player who wanted the thing know that any guard or ganger with half a brain is going to see that thing, and set them right next to the mage in the 'to be geeked' list. Of course, I do the same to anyone wearing milspec armor or doing other such things.

How about putting it into Longarms?

No, there's already plenty of sniper rifles in Longarms that do the job just fine.

[All4BigGuns]

I would classify it as a heavy weapon (if not exotic), and make it a flat -half AP (except smart armor). And even then, assuming I completely took leave of my senses and allowed it into play, I'd let any player who wanted the thing know that any guard or ganger with half a brain is going to see that thing, and set them right next to the mage in the 'to be geeked' list. Of course, I do the same to anyone wearing milspec armor or doing other such things.

How about putting it into Longarms?

No, there's already plenty of sniper rifles in Longarms that do the job just fine.

Then shorten the range and make it a shotgun

[FuelDrop]

I put the 1/2b -1 because the gun's big brother (Which is effectively an assault cannon) deals less damage than other assault cannons (minimal difference, but there) and has 1/2 -4 penetration, which is about the same as having a normal assault cannon's penetration and halving the armour.

Good catch on the smart armour.

If a guard saw you running around with a 30F weapon (IE cutting edge milspec) hell yes is he going to prioritize you as a target! much like if you were wielding a laser, or any other cutting edge weapon.

as to why make it an assault rifle rather than an exotic weapon or the like: Exotic weapons that give 1/2B penetration already exist, they're called lasers. This is for all intents and purposes an assault rifle...

Hang on, if we cut the underbarrel slot from it then it can't take a Gyromount. without access to a Gyromount or gas vents, it'll be very hard for an enterprising young player to mod it for full auto and let rip. Let's double the penalties for recoil while we're about it, as a mini-gauss rifle is going to have serious kick.
Does that seem a better balance?

[Whiskeyjack]

I would classify it as a heavy weapon (if not exotic), and make it a flat -half AP (except smart armor). And even then, assuming I completely took leave of my senses and allowed it into play, I'd let any player who wanted the thing know that any guard or ganger with half a brain is going to see that thing, and set them right next to the mage in the 'to be geeked' list. Of course, I do the same to anyone wearing milspec armor or doing other such things.

How about putting it into Longarms?

No, there's already plenty of sniper rifles in Longarms that do the job just fine.

Then shorten the range and make it a shotgun

Just shortening the range wouldn't make it a shotgun. 

[Mithlas]

I think that the "not ever" from others is a bit much for a weapon like this - it would probably be a later-period weapon due to the difficulties of miniaturization, but inevitably eventually something like this is going to be built. I think that since it's a scaled-down railgun (gauss rifle) that it would better fit under Exotic Ranged or Heavy Weapons: yes it's miniaturized, but it's still heavy and bulky and that's a big part of wielding Heavy Weapons. Automatics are relatively light and maneuverable and already are filled with "I kill you" weapons.

[Mirikon]

I put the 1/2b -1 because the gun's big brother (Which is effectively an assault cannon) deals less damage than other assault cannons (minimal difference, but there) and has 1/2 -4 penetration, which is about the same as having a normal assault cannon's penetration and halving the armour.

Good catch on the smart armour.

If a guard saw you running around with a 30F weapon (IE cutting edge milspec) hell yes is he going to prioritize you as a target! much like if you were wielding a laser, or any other cutting edge weapon.

as to why make it an assault rifle rather than an exotic weapon or the like: Exotic weapons that give 1/2B penetration already exist, they're called lasers. This is for all intents and purposes an assault rifle...

Hang on, if we cut the underbarrel slot from it then it can't take a Gyromount. without access to a Gyromount or gas vents, it'll be very hard for an enterprising young player to mod it for full auto and let rip. Let's double the penalties for recoil while we're about it, as a mini-gauss rifle is going to have serious kick.
Does that seem a better balance?

If it requires the power packs like the Thunderstruck, and is listed under Heavy Weapons, then I would call it acceptable. Though the idea of something like this even doing BF leaves a bad taste in my mouth, honestly. Any player trying to mod it to FA would be instantly phone booked repeatedly about the head.