Or is it more on par with a silenced stub revolver in terms of volume?

Am I the only one that finds the idea of putting a silencer on a standard (non-specialty build) stub revolver to be even sillier than trying to silence a lasgun?

HappyDaze said:

Heh, I guess I always just assumed that the 'ancient and well-tested design' the stub revolver was patterned after was that of the Nagant M1895.

It is worth remembering the weapons and presumably upgrades charts are just those available within the one specifc sector. Nothing says that other sectors or forgeworlds do not produce silenced lasguns. It is perfectly plausable for them to have developed quieter lasers in a universe where you also have giant titans.

A mercenary group may well have contacts outside of the sector.

I have never read any descriptions of how loud a laser weapon is, although like others I would have thought that orks would be using them if they were louder than SP type weapons they commonly use. If a lasgun was like a bolt of lightning, I think it would be somewhat more powerful than it is currently in the rules.

Ok I think I'll throw my two thrones in on this because I have a somewhat unique perspective on this subject. I am a jeweler and I actually work with a laser welder on a daily basis.

Now while I know that the laser I am using is no where near a Lasgun, it is powerful enough to shoot a hole through a piece of gold or destroy a gemstone in a single shot. If I crank the power up as high as I can, then when I fire the laser welder there is a fairly quite click/popping sound from the machine itself then there is a louder kind of swoosh/popping/explosion sound as a jet of fire and debris comes from whatever the laser hits. So, the loudest noise actually comes from the impact of the laser on the object not the machine firing the laser. (As a side note the jet of fire actually goes back in the direction that the laser came from which I have found rather interesting.) As far as visibility, the laser is basically invisible. Now, if there is smoke or debris in the air inside the laser welder then you can see the faintest light as the laser burns through the particles in the air, but that’s about it.

The laser welder does make a pretty distinct sound but it isn't very loud on the firing end so the idea of using a Las weapon as a sniper would make since to me (However if people watched the direction that the impact fire goes they might be able to get a general direction of the sniper... maybe a hard awareness check or somthing? <shrug>) Unless of coarse the gaming group would rather lasers act like they do in scifi movies then the idea of silenced las weapons is really up to the GM imo.

In every book they say that the lazgun gives a Crack as the lazer is being fired. I always assumed that it was as loud as a pencil being snapped in-half.

Light Amplification by Zimulated Emission of Radiation?

...will probly result in Lazer Burn.

We're talking Las here.

Snapping a pencil is pretty close actually to the firing sound of my laser welder. One other thing I forgot to mention there is also the low background hum of coolent running through the machine when it is idle that revs up when firing (sounds kind of like a loud computers fans reving up) but then again we are talking a much lower tech laser so that probably wouldn't come up with las weapons.

Dont you all know that Las make a Freeem sound?

No seriously, I remember reading about a cracking sound in the books.

Turpin said:

See, its this lack of detail in any of the DH books that causes the problem. Is the infamous 'crack' as loud as a pencil snapping? As loud as a whip cracking? As loud as a boltgun firing? A thunderbolt? A sonic boom?

Yes, I know that I, as the GM, am the final arbitrator of exactly how this sound affects the game world, but I'd really appreciate it if the book could be a trifle more specific about the issue. After all, there are MANY instances where being (relatively) quiet is in the Acolyte's best interests. Right now I'm trying to figure out where the balance is. Should I just recommend that all my players carry SP weapons equipped with silencers? Or should I let them use Las and assume its no louder than a pencil? The developers' intent would be very welcome in this instance, because I don't want to inadvertantly imbalance the dynamic within the list of weaponry or between my players and their potential opponents.

*SH Spoiler*I will note that the Shattered Hope scenario (which isn't necessarily the most authoritative source on the subject, I'll admit) specifically says that if the team uses las pistols in the first combat in the mines, the rest of the mine WILL be alerted due to the sounds of lasfire. That would indicate to me that the SH writers, at the least, intended lasfire to make as much noise as SP fire, if not more. But that module is so screwed up in so many ways as it is, I have a difficult time using it as my baseline for exactly how much noise las SHOULD make in my game world.

As it stands currently though, with the RAW the standard list of weapons is rather unballanced as it is always more advantagous, sfrom a munchkin POV, to use SP over Las weapons, better upgrades, better base stats, better ammo loadouts and options.

I was always of the opinion that the "snap-crack" sound wasn't some much a factor of laser weapons but of functionality for a combat weapon. I think it was in Star Wars D6 RPG that i read a section that went into the sound of blasters (I know, not an exact match... but you have to like the .44 bang with the shots in the movies) but I am not sure which book or article. The basic premise was that basic combat/assault weapon actually needed to make noise. First off, as mentioned earlier, there is the simple intimidation factor; go listen to a .22 revolver and then a .50 Desert Eagle and you will understand. The second, and more important point here, was that a silent weapon (laser beam?) has an inherent danger of not announcing when it is "accidentally" fired. Without starting a new thread, how bright, how brief, is it a pulse/beam/wave could all mean that the average person not looking in the direction of the muzzle would never know the gun discharged until bad things happened.

Mentioned elsewhere, a long las would really suck as a sniper weapon if you think about it. Unlike a Barrett Light .50 (i.e. SP sniper rifle) which makes a distinct sound when fired, a long las would make noise ("whip crack") and also a flash of light or some other visual component; just one more thing for the bad guys to have noticed.

As always, it is up to the GM. Maybe las silencers are pre-Imperial tech when mankind could pretty much do anything it could dream up. That being the case, they would be priceless and have the Adeptus Mechanicus eyeing you hungrily. Hehe... now is it really worth the chance for all that extra scrutiny just to be a little quieter?

-Cynr

Since I'm biased by the imagery of the "blaster" being the true "lasgun," I'm less concerned with silencing the weapon and more concerned with covering up where the bloomin' streak of light is coming from...

Kage

Charax said:

Shockwave said:

Wow, you completely missed the point of that, didn't you? It was in response to this:

Turpin said:

Posts to not exist in a vacuum, they rely on context to be understood - as you have amply demonstrated.

Wu Ming said:

This is precisely the reason my las weapons are counted as being silenced already. Not litterally silent, but much quieter than a standard sp weapon.

Kage2020 said:

I don't mind a coherant beam, or a 'cutter'. Mr. Watson (Ian not Ross) often used soild beam Las weapons which always lead me to envison them quite diffrent than the Lucaian Pistols made 'futuristic' (despite being ancient tech -- Dark Age I guesse) by calling them 'Blasters' and having them shoot 'light'. (And yes I am aware there are entire treatises dealing with the function of sabers, balster et al. I'm just being cheeky.)

In facte I only think that Las weapons should or would be visble IF they had the copabiliity to be used / fire as a sonstant unbroken beam which could, burn, cut, maime or damage anyhwere along its transveres as Jaq and his Acolytes had done on a few occasions and as has been used in other of Watsons's 40K pieces. Other wise there would be no need to make them visble, as to my understanding they are not usualy so.

Alasseo said:

Curse you FFG forum and your lack of PM options!

Interested in knowing what bits you don't agree with Alesseo. I'm always open to suggestions for improvement.

I believe I made a review on the old forum, and/or possibly on Dark Reign, but I just made a re-run through it in case I had changed my mind. It actually is only the descriptive text at the very beginning that I have a quibble with. Specifically, the description of lasers as Directed Energy Weapons. Yes, it's accurate, but the term also covers melta weapons, plasma guns of various stripes, and arguably some shaped-charge conventional explosives (assuming no shrapnel). As a result I prefer the term CREW (as I explained it earlier) as a narrower description. Admittedly, it could also be argued to cover melta weapons as well, but that's still narrower than DEW. I'm also a fervent believer in using frequencies outside of the human-basic visual spectrum for las weapons, particularly in the microwave or gamma-ray bands.

A player brought up this point in my game last week:

Most discussions regarding laser weapons in roleplaying games appear to make the argument that the power pack/battery/clip is electrical or some other energy generator. In reality, our modern military laser technology is chemical-based such as the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) system. Maybe the bang, whip-crack or whatever sound isn't the soft humming of a generator system but is really a contained chemical reaction in the clip/power pack (hmmm ... gunpowder + oxygen + catalyst spark = bang!) that makes noise.

I thought this explanation for the noise was pretty good.

-Cynr

We've always assumed that las weapons make the same noise as Star Wars blasters, in the same way that powerswords make lightsaber noises. And that Thunderbolts make the same noise as TIE fighters. And you can get past Imperial Guard Stormtroopers by saying 'These are not the servitors you are looking for'. Cultural capital has a lot to answer for

I've had difficulty in imagining the las-crack sound until recently (the Dawn of War sounds for them are pants)...I started playing Fallout 3 last week, and IMO, the laser pistol sound from that could come quite close to how I would imagine a lasgun/laspistol to sound