Gauss Rifle

Overview
In MechWarrior Online the Gauss Rifle is a long-range ballistic weapon that fires electromagnetically accelerated slugs instead of using chemical propellants, that deals out large amounts of damage even at long distances. Due to its higher initial damage and ballistic damage drop-off profile (maximum range is 3x of effective range, rather than 2x), despite its shorter stated effective range of 660m, it not only reaches out further, but also deals superior damage compared the ER PPC at all ranges. The drawbacks are that weight and vulnerability. At a staggering 15 tons it is the heaviest weapon in the game. The combination of the Gauss Rifle occupying 7 slots and having a low equipment health causes a significant susceptibility to destruction by Critical Hits once the armor on its housing 'Mech component is stripped. The destruction of the Gauss Rifle will cause further damage to the 'Mech, as detailed below. The Gauss Rifle now requires a 0.75 second charge before it will fire and if not fired during the 1.25 second charge, the Gauss Rifle will instantly dissipate the charge and require another charge to fire this will be indicated by both the cooldown bar and the weapon group ready light turning green when the Gauss Rifle is ready to fire.

Unlike most Ballistic weapons, the solid metal ammunition of a Gauss Rifle is inert and will not explode if destroyed by a Critical Hit. The Gauss Rifle itself, however, contains high energy capacitors, and will explode for 20 points of damage if destroyed. The Gauss Rifle's explosion behaves in much the same way as a normal ammo explosion: the damage from the explosion is first applied to the remaining internal structure of the location it is housed in. Then, if the location it is housed in had less than 20 remaining internal structure hitpoints to begin with, the excess damage is transferred inward to the next section (from arm to side torso, or from side torso to center torso). The excess damage is halved upon transfer to adjacent components, but is applied directly to internal structure, even if the adjacent component is still covered by armor.

If the Gauss Rifle is housed in a side torso section together with a CASE, the excess damage from the weapon's explosion can be contained and channeled out to the rear of the 'Mech. Thus, it will prevent damage to the adjacent center torso, and only the side torso will be damaged or destroyed by the explosion. However, if the explosion of a Gauss Rifle destroys a side torso with an XL Engine installed, the BattleMech will be destroyed, which is the normal result for side torso destruction on a 'Mech with XL engine. Therefore, CASE is an unnecessarily superfluous expenditure of weight and slots on 'Mechs with XL engines.

So, a good 'MechJockey knows what a Gauss looks and sounds like and checks where it sits on the enemy.