Common Weapons In 2300

US M30 Laser Carbine

European Union 4mm FN40 Gauss Rifle

US M318 Squad Support Weapon- Rapid Fire Gauss Gun

European Union L20 14mm Gauss Sniper Rifle

 

Australian F50 Gauss Rifle

Chinese EW12 Heavy Laser Weapon

UK L37 4mm Gauss Rifle

Australian F50A2 Marksman Gauss Rifle

USMC New Washington Rebellion 2301

Pictured are two squads of USMC and an ubiquitous 40m automatic grenade launcher. Squad members carry the M8 Gauss Rifle and the M27 laser carbine as a marksman’s weapon.

The white on tan camouflage is designed to blend in with New Washington’s ice, snow and desert terrain.

 

Miniatures are by GZG and based on FOW bases.

SK21 Caseless 7mm

2230 saw the wide introduction of various new rifles designed to fire a new breed of caseless ammunition. The ammunition was designed with lower tech manufacturing in mind and delivered less flash for the same amount of punch as older types. The formula and manufacturing techniques were extensively licensed by Dynamit-Nobel to several independent colony worlds enabling them to build cheap and rugged weapons around it.

One such weapon was the SK21. Designed and built by Micasa AG based on the independent colony of New Ireland, the SK21 is representative of the myriad of versatile and inexpensive weapons distributed throughout human space. Standard accessory rails allow the attachment of advanced targeting systems and grenade launchers with the 7mm slug giving good range and penetration. Expect to see weapons like this in the hands of many colonial forces and some less wealthy mercenary or corporate units.

 

A Brief Departure, Back in Time

Some late war German Panthers

Human Space 2300- Populated planets 20ly from Earth

A map of the central sphere of human space out to about 20iy from Earth-

More work to follow detailing the separate systems and political affiliations to follow. A work in progress.

F50 Adavnced Combat Rifle

In 2270 the Australian military was looking for a replacement for its aging M8 caseless assault rifles which had been in-service for nearly twenty years. Developments in rail gun technology had seen the steady demise of the caseless chemical propelled ammunition and its associated weapons and most countries had headed down the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) route equipping their troops with weapons firing magnetically propelled ammunition. The ACR concept enable the weapon to interface with the helmet display of the soldier giving targeting information and allowing accurate fire from relatively untrained troops. The system also allowed IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) locking to reduce friendly fire incidents.

The F50 followed a bull-pup design with a 100 round magazine and an under slung 40mm single shot grenade launcher capable of firing all the current range of ammunition including the variable timing airburst rounds, both the grenade launcher and the main weapon are both powered from the magazines high capacity battery. Unlike other countries who have added magazine fed grenade launchers to their standard infantry weapons, the Australians opted for the larger grenade size over magazine capacity giving them access to a wider variety of more powerful grenades but lacking the rapid fire of other weapons. This was thought of as a fair trade off with the increased accuracy of the ACR targeting system.

Standard Version-

Marksman Version-

Habitable and Hospitable Space 2300

Some statistics as of the 1st Jan 2300

Number of Explored Systems: 90252

Number of Major Colonies (1 million+):53

Number of Minor Colonies (less than 1 million):51

Number of Outposts (includes mining, research, trade and military):815

Population: 44,565,135,940

Humans have explored over ninety thousand worlds, most only by automated mapping and scouting drones and have settled permanently on only one hundred and four worlds. In 2300 thirty-eight billion humans have classed themselves as living off world but most off world colonies are hard places to live, the vision of a green and lush water filled earth is not repeated very often through this part of the galaxy, most world are too cold, hot, dry or have the wrong atmosphere. Many worlds have been altered by terraforming operations originally pioneered on Mars, although far from bringing a planet to Earth standards the goal of the terraforming operation is to enable colonists to walk the surface of a planet with only the need for some warm clothes and no breathing aids.

Planets are divided into three categories-

Hospitable

Humans are able to breath with minimal aid and operate on the surface with unsealed clothing. Planet can be terraformed with little effort.

Habitable

Humans can operate on the surface but need artificial aids such as cold suits and breathing apparatus. Living on the se type of planets may require specialised sealed habitats. Planet can be terraformed at great expense.

Inhospitable

There is no atmosphere or the one that is there is poisonous, corrosive or otherwise not fit for consumption. Humans cannot live on these planets without extensive investment in life support.