Traveller Tuesday: M202A1 66mm FLASH

A fellow on the Traveller Facebook group I frequent said this needed stats. I am happy to oblige.

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

Here is the 66mm FLASH (Flame Assault Shoulder Weapon):


Basically a 4-shot rocket pack that werfs flammen. This is easy to stat using the Central Supply Catalog.

First, we stat up the launcher. 

• It was designed in the 1960s, so that gives us a Tech Level of 6.
• Looking through the section on "Support & Artillery Weapons," I find something titled Reusable Launcher, Light (TL6). It is 60mm, which I decide is close enough. This will be our baseline. 
• It is designated as a Light Artillery Weapon. 
• Range is Rocket.
• Damage depends on the rocket, and will be addressed later. 
• Magazine is 4. 
• Auto is No. 
• Recoil is 0. 
• Cost  is 8,000 Cr.
• Mass is 12 kg when loaded (per Wikipedia). 

And now, the rocket.

This is a bit of a quandary for me; on the one hand, on same chart as the baseline launcher, there is another entry below it called Disposable Launcher, Medium, Incendiary. This sounds ideal... except for the fact that despite being a good 30mm larger than our baseline, it does less damage. (4d6 Flame vs 7d6). Perhaps incendiaries do less damage?

I check the table titled Artillery Weapon Payload Size Classes (CSC, p.109) and there I find "Extremely Light - 60mm - 7d6", which matches what's in the table for the Light Reusable Launcher. 

I then check p.112 for rules on incendiaries, and it says:

• No effect on hardened structures
• Damage is full for items in contact (I assume this means struck by the rocket)
• 1/2 the weapon's base damage (flame) per round within the primary radius
• 1/4 base damage per round within the secondary radius. 

So clearly the stats for the Medium Incendiary Launcher are incorrect, and its damage should be 8d6 Flame. 

On p.90 of the CSC, under Flame and Cryo Weapons, it states someone hit with a thermal weapon (which this is) takes additional damage each round (in agreement with the rules listed above), with the damage halved each round until it finally dies out. 

Therefore the damage for the 66mm FLASH is:

• No effect on hardened structures
• 7d6 flame damage for anything in contact/struck by rocket
• 4d6 flame damage per round for anything within 5 meters of strike
• 2d6 flame damage per round for anything between 5 and 10 meters of strike.
• Damage is halved each round until 0d6 is reached. 

Curiously, no cost is listed. However, the cheapest rocket we have a price for is the TL9 Anti-Personnel Tac Missile at 1,800 Cr. which give us an upper boundary. The Grenades table on p.114 lists incendiary grenades at 30 Cr. which gives our lower bound. 

As grenades are listed as 30mm weapons and this is a 60mm rocket, I decide that doubling the price is a good enough approximation. 300 Cr. per rocket seems perfectly fine to me. 

Et voila, it is statted.