Why are Solid Projectile weapons put Average availability?

I got impression this type of weapons are fairly Common on most planets if not Plentiful.

There should be option during Standard Kit creation to replace Main Weapon for Autogun if someone wants to create Regiment from some technologicaly primitive planet or maybe its troops favour slugthrowers over lightbeams.

Any oppinions?

Honestly, its hard to say. Fluff wise, it makes perfect sense.

Mechanics wise, you are getting full auto (at the cost of more often reloads/an actual and significant risk of running out of ammo).

Given the ammo problem, I'm inclined to say its interchangeable. But as a GM, I would then have to start keeping greater track of all of that, which would stink. Its important to note that without tracking the ammo, its nearly a straight upgrade.

I would say it could be an equipment doctrine for 1 point, if only to allow greater flexibility for those that dislike those doctrines/want points elsewhere.

Grubisha said:

Simply logistical reason why las weaponry is more common than SP weapons: it's far easier to produce las charge packs that can be reused multiple times than to be constantly producing solid projectile shells. It's the same reason why Bolt weaponry isn't more common, because the ammo is so difficult to produce. Additionally, it's far easier to carry around 5 las charge packs than 5 heavy magazines for SP weaponry.

The idea is that Las weaponry has proliferated so much, and has no real downside compared to SP, that SP is actually rarer than las on most planets. With that said, if my players wanted to play a regiment with SP weapons, I'd let them swap it for a lasgun for free and just include it in the regiment background; it's not a hard conversion.

It may reflect availability for Imperial Guardsmen. Autoguns are relatively common, and there are unbits equipped with them, but they are less common than lasguns.

In OW, having a "full auto" setting is no longer a dealmaker as it was in previous titles, since now full auto gives a -10BS instead of +20. The added versatility of unusual ammo is nice, but lasguns have roomier clips that are infinitely rechargable, even in the field and they are more reliable.

From the Munitorum's perspective, las guns are superiour because it's a pain to keep track of all the bullets, but from an infantryman's perspective the difference is pretty much a matter of preference and should be freely swappable at regiment creation.

JuankiMan said:

Las weapons allow far more ammo to be carried for far less weight than SP weapons.

Weight is an infantryman's enemy.

On the other hand, if the infantryman manages to get a hold of some unusual ammo, each bullet can pack significantly more punch than a lasbolt. It all boils down to versatility and customization vs. convenience and reliability,

Right now the Lasgun lacks a bit of the potential punch that would compensate for having any special ammo whatsoever, but an improved version of the variable settings rules could make for an interesting rivalry between Las and SP classes.

A very marginal advantage in power at the same efficiency [so for a lasgun, double-ammo-use would put it a tiny bit ahead of SP weapons rather than basically equal-or-worse as they were in previous games] versus having a sick rate of fire and the perfect ammo for the job…

I also want to ask those who still consider Specialist Ammo the biggest advantage of SP (and it is) how often their Squad is actually going to make the Logistics tests to have plenty of special bullets. Especially when SP weapons eat through ammo extremely quickly. Manstoppers were legitimately awesome in DH, but keeping them flowing here might hack off the Munitorium's clerks, or get cut off in the field.

Night10194 said:

They are actually of far greater usage in things like handcannons, hunting rifles, shotguns etc - anything with a lower rate of fire but a greater degree of accuracy, making each and every special round count when fired. Using Manstopper rounds in an Autogun is a complete waste tbh and you'd be better off adding an underslung grenade launcher to it for versatility against heavier targets.

Presumably it's partly just a question of preserving the IG flavour. Slugthrowers and SP weapons are probably as common as lasguns *galaxy wide*, but they're nowhere near as common in the Guard.

I'd imagine its also because you'd need stricter ammo tracking with Sp weapons and a re-write of half of the comrade abilities and PC talents to include SP variants for all the Las options.