Blaster automatic rate of fire in RotS: Analysis

[Darwin]

And just to be clear, MANY blasters in the RPG have multifire capability, which represents short bursts of fire, and seems pretty appropriate to what we've seen out of most of the weapons in Vympel's excellent analysis.

The DC-15 rifles may even count as light repeating blasters on their own anyway.

[Darth Wong]

Ah, I wasn't clear. What I meant was that in the RPGs, only "repeating blasters" have autofire capability. Instead, what we see is that most blaster rifles are capable of autofire.

The RPG material is sloppily researched. It seems almost ludicrous to imagine that there was a technical limitation preventing auto-fire in most blasters. The reason for the lack of auto-fire in 19th century small-arms weaponry was the fact that the trigger-pull or some other physical movement mechanically actuated the firing process. In a blaster, the mechanism is obviously not a mechanical linkage pushing a bullet into a chamber, so there's no conceivable reason why it could not easily be switched to full-auto fire.

[Cykeisme]

I'm assuming that the cyclic rate of fire of some blasters (smaller ones, like pistol-sized blasters) is quite slow.. a delay possibly caused by capacitors charging, or exciting a volume of gas, or whatever unknown mechanism is involved.
If it's a significant delay between shots (more than say, half a second), holding down the trigger will fire the weapon repeatedly, but the delay means it might be more effective to use it in the same manner as a real-life semi-automatic firearm is used.
Just a rationalization, I suppose.

The DC-15 rifles may even count as light repeating blasters on their own anyway.

You're right, the DC-15A blasters seem most closely related in size, appearance and performance to the T-21 that we see stormtroopers carrying on Tatooine. Not that this is any surprise, but the RPG drops the ball again here.

[Darwin]

Not that this is any surprise, but the RPG drops the ball again here.

Shocking.

The main limitations on rate of fire would likely be:

The time for the blaster's capacitors to refill after discharging, assuming they fully discharge with one shot, or limiting the number of rapid shots that can be made, if it is a partial discharge.

The heat dissipative capacities of the blaster. Some blasters (Like Jango Fett's pistols specifically) are implied to get very, very hot when used in rapid fire, and he did get a fairly good rate out of them when he was being charged by Obi-Wan.

Any artificial limitations on fire rate put into the fire mechanism of the weapon, to avoid problems like overheat. Of course this could be easily overridden by a skilled blastersmith. (as again was implied to have been done to Jango's blasters)

[Cykeisme]

Ah, that's an interesting fact.. about cyclic delays being introduced by design to avoid damaging heat buildup.

And, of course, experienced users removing those safeguards and relying on their judgment to keep the temperature at safe levels.. or pushing it a little bit far in emergencies.
On a related note, the Kaminoan rain probably helped cool off Jangos Westars a bit, which might have allowed somewhat more rapid firing. Interesting.

Oh, just to state something a little bit obvious that I forgot to.. T-21 light repeating blaster rifles appear to fill the same role (probably design offshoots) of DC-15As, while E-11s are obviously related to DC-15S carbines. In addition to the obvious evolution of trooper armor design, starfighters and walking armored vehicles, the visible PT/OT progression of standard Imperial small arms is nice.


I think there should be a list of links to certain informative threads like this. Perhaps not worthy of stickying, but if there's no one else to add this information to the main site, there should be a list of these threads somewhere.

[Vympel]

UPDATE

Upon random examination of the Battle Droid firing fully-automatic with it's E-5 already referenced, there is in fact a Clonetrooper who fires two shots in two frames- that's right- another incident of 1500rpm ROF:

The two frames in question:





The Clone appears to be holding a DC-15S.

Later on in the same sequence, the Clone fires 2 shots in 3 frames, for a ROF of exactly 1000rpm.

In light of this example of the same Clonetrooper firing shots at 1500rpm and 1000rpm in the same sequence, I would say that I'd say the ROF was equal to superior to the M16A2 as well.

[Cykeisme]

Makes me wonder about the cyclic rates in Republic Commando now.. it should be at least 600rpm, I think.

As soon as I get home from work I'm going to see how long it takes to empty the 60-round magazine. I've never modded UT engine games, but if anyone has the SDK (assuming there's one), feel free to find out the delay between shots from the source, of course.

[VT-16]

only "repeating blasters" have autofire capability

There's at least one scene in ANH where an E-11 blaster rifle goes on autofire (when the first stormtrooper goes through the turbolift door in the DS detention center).

[Vympel]

only "repeating blasters" have autofire capability

There's at least one scene in ANH where an E-11 blaster rifle goes on autofire (when the first stormtrooper goes through the turbolift door in the DS detention center).

As I noted in my first post, that Stormtrooper fires two shots in 6 frames, and Lando does the same in TESB. In any event, there's no reason to assume the E-11 and DLT-19 aren't capable of what the DC-15S and DC-15A are capable of in RotS.

[Cykeisme]

only "repeating blasters" have autofire capability

There's at least one scene in ANH where an E-11 blaster rifle goes on autofire (when the first stormtrooper goes through the turbolift door in the DS detention center).

Ah, I wasn't clear. What I meant was that in the RPGs, only "repeating blasters" have autofire capability. Instead, what we see is that most blaster rifles are capable of autofire.

B-b-b-but I pointed out that most blaster rifles have automatic fire

As

Probably every blaster that's large enough to be a "carbine" or "rifle" size has the sustained power output and heat dissipation to repeatedly generate bolts very quickly.

As Darwin pointed out, perhaps "multifire" doesn't represent a lower cyclic rate, but instead represents a lower sustained rate of fire. Heat issues and either intermediate (capacitors) or total energy storage probably limits smaller carbine types, preventing them from firing at maximum rate for a long period of time.. something that T-21s, DC-15s (and of course larger E-Webs and the like) are able to.

[NRS Guardian]

Another reason for smaller carbine sized weapons having lower sustained ROFs is the need to change power packs. Whereas the T-21 with a back-pack power generator is capable of firing indefinitely according to the EGtW&T.

[GeneralZ]

Nice, just a suggestion: Could some of the basters possibly have adjustable rates of fire? Seeing as the technology is highly advanced when compared to ours, the concept seems reasonable.

[Elheru Aran]

...were you trying to resurrect this thread at a literally ten year old point?

[Captain Seafort]

...were you trying to resurrect this thread at a literally ten year old point?

If so, it a failure - he's two weeks short. As for a variable rate of fire, I'm fairly sure some modern weapons (or even decade-old ones) are capable of that.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yes. The original Gatling gun of 1862 would fire as fast as you cranked it. The original Maxim gun had a adjuster screw for the recoil spring tension that varied it from 1rpm to 400rpm in principle. This was judged not important pretty quickly on but the screw was still a way to adjust for the curse of poor quality ammunition.

Given an electronic trigger or electric priming ammunition + a tiny circuit board piece you could have any variable ROF nonsense you wanted. Most weapons bigger then .50cal in the modern day already use electric priming ammo, but you can get it down to handgun calibers in niche roles. Back in WW2 Germany use electronic priming cannon shells as a way to synchronize guns firing through propellers. This amounts to a constantly varying rate of fire.

[NecronLord]