**Abstract**
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Thwomp made a series of wonderful sprites for us last year as apart of his XM conversion kit project that he worked on. He was intending for them to be added by me, but I had left, since I'm back, I'm picking it up.

I'm not interested in the conversion kit process, but I want this weapon to be the first in adding his XM weapons. I don't plan for them to be req locked, but available to squads the same as primaries - although under a different label that indicates these are more quirky. All of these weapons are intended as higher skill weapons that have unique mechanics or play differently, but shouldn't be more powerful than a primary, thus not limited like one.

The first weapon in this project is the GAU-76A, a carbine mix of the M4RA and M41 that Thwomp sprited.

Prototype designs.

The abstract goal for this is to make a weapon with high damage and a high ROF at close range, with a long delay between bursts that is extremely punishing for missing shots. More or less, it should mirror Xeno gameplay on the backline, rewarding precise clicks, and severely punishing misses as a high skill, high reward weapon alternative to the M37.

**Upsides**
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- High damage (85.)
- High ROF (600.)
- Integrated UBS.
- Fits in a belt.

**Downsides**
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- High falloff (10 damage lost per tile.)
- Long delay between bursts (2 seconds.)
- UBS has a smaller magazine size (1 compared to 5) and no slowdown.
- Must be manually reloaded and ejected.

**Content**
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As designed by Thwomp, the intention is to make the GAU-77A proficient in close quarters combat, while failing elsewhere. It'll take the 10x24 rounds of the M41, and the magazines of the M4RA, giving it 25 rounds. It has an integrated underbarrel shotgun, which can carry 1 rounds that can break down doors, and stun smaller Xenos, but doesn't apply a slowdown. I believe in only carrying one round to encourage the kind of fight and flee behavior of the backlines.

The GAU-76A should feature high damage and rate of fire, at the price of a long burst delay and incredibly high falloff, while having an extended reload process that punishes spamming bursts. The planned reload process would go as such:

Ejecting magazine manually - loading the new magazine - unique action to chamber it.

This, the low magazine size and unique reload, long burst delay and high damage are intended to make the GAU-76A a weapon that has a high skill-ceiling and plays uniquely from other USCM weapons.

**Challenges**
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- Damage can't be too high as to make the weapon overpowered.
- New players need to know how this weapon works mechanically with its reload.

**Lore**
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The GAU-76A was designed by the United States Aerospace Force as a backup weapon for its pilots. It fits in the ejection seat of all USASF aircraft in a 'broken down' state where the receiver and stock come apart. It's intensly lightweight, and features a majority of parts shared with either the M4RA or M41 Mark Two.

Due to its small size, at 29 inches, and the low weight of five pounds, it's become popular rapidly with other branches of the United Americas. Notably, the USCM has begun fielding the GAU-76A recently for those who are specialized in close quarters fighting.

While superb at CQC, the weapon has numerous flaws. It wasn't designed with an autoejector, and uses a burst fire mechanism; both were features intended to cut down cost in training and production, but each now harms the rifle in its new role as a breaching weapon for the USCM.

**Damage Sheet**
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Round Dmg: 85
Burst Amount: 3
AP: 5
Falloff begins after 1 tile
Falloff: 10 DMG per tile'
Mag Size: 25
Bursts Per Mag: 8

Damage Falloff - No Armor
2 tiles: 225
3 tiles: 195
4 tiles: 165
5 tiles: 135
6 tiles: 105
7 tiles: 75
8 tiles: 45

Damage Falloff - 15 armor
2 tiles: 195
3 tiles: 165
4 tiles: 135
5 tiles: 105
6 tiles: 75
7 tiles: 45
8 tiles: 15

Damage Falloff - 20 armor
2 tiles: 185
3 tiles: 155
4 tiles: 125
5 tiles: 95
6 tiles: 65
7 tiles: 35
8 tiles: 0

Runner:
250 health, 0 armor

Sentinel:
450 health, 0 armor

Defender:
500 health, 35 armor

Vampire:
390 health, 20 armor

Lurker:
500 health, 0 armor.

Drone:
500 health, 0 armor.

Warrior:
500 health, 20 armor