Did you know that the C-14 rifle in the original StarCraft is not the same model used by the marines in StarCraft 2? Or that the rifle uses hypersonic spikes? All this and more is explained in a report by l33telboi from SCLegacy.com. The report is not a light read. With over 11,000 total words written, Quantifying the C-14 “Impaler” Gauss Rifle digs deep into every speck of lore and statistics available to the public. From a 3D 360 degree video of an imagined Gauss Rifle to the physics behind the spikes launched, not a single detail is spared.So what is a gauss rifle? l33telboi explains that a gauss rifle is a rifle which uses electromagnetism to propel the slug, thus the C-14 is a specific type of gauss rifle. In the report, the Gauss Rifle is compared to real life rifles and ammunition such as the M-16 Rifle or the .50 cal BMG machine gun. Its 8mm hypersonic spikes are then compared with the rounds of each of those guns.
The article is split into several sections, based upon different aspects, to judge the performance of the C-14 gauss rifle. The first deals with technical aspects of the rifle through kinetic energy and momentum. This section basically deals with how powerful the weapon is and what we can measure the power by.
The second section examines the results of a C-14 shot: what it could do to a human and what it can do to a metal surface. Interesting questions examined are what could it do to a human body and what could it do to a human head.
The article then touches on secondary attributes that the C-14 rifle can be judged upon; recoil, momentum imparted to the target, and effective ranged. From there the next section places the C-14 rifle into the context of how it fits into the StarCraft Universe amongst other guns that exist in the lore and in the games.
The final section then tackles the common arguments against the C-14 rifle being a gauss rifle.
The article is an enlightening and interesting way to approach the StarCraft Universe. It is a fine example of putting the science back into what we know as an RTS, but to the wider public as a science-fiction game.
Links
SCLegacy.com - Source (Full article)
