Moderate Automatic Rifle
Automatic rifles use rifle ammunition and have greater range and penetration than SMGs. They fire in semi-auto, burst fire, or full auto modes. They are two-handed weapons.
Kinetic weapons damage the target by ring a hard impact projectile at high-velocities. Slugthrowers have evolved from the mechanical rearms of the early 21st century, however, and now fall into two categories: chemical rearms and railguns. Though their mechanisms for ring are different, they are roughly similar in effect. Railguns have a higher penetration and inflict more damage, which is offset by more limited ammunition choices. While modern beam weapons have their uses, they rarely match the punch of kinetic weapons, therefore slugthrowers are still perceived as the most versatile and effective weapon system.
Kinetic weapons are constructed from lightweight, reinforced plastoceramic materials, which are easily produced even without nanofabrication. By default, modern kinetic weapons are ambidextrous but more importantly feature safety and smartlink systems (p. 343) that automatically connect to the wielder’s mesh inserts for ring assistance, target recognition, and tactical networking.