Clip-fed weapons?

[Carda]

I'm trying to design my own mech for use in a future campaign, and I had an idea that it would use a weapon with a clip of ammo. That way the mech could fire on consecutive turns without needing to take extra time to reload (either physically or in-game). That way the mech could fire repeatedly until it ran out of ammo, at which point it WOULD take a turn to reload.

Does anyone have an idea on how to build a weapon like this? I have one potential prototype, but it seems to be a tad unwieldy for a standard mech (although I bet I could work it into a mobile fortress design).

[IVhorseman]

this sounds like something extremely hard and tedious to keep track of, unless you have a way of actually physically representing every shot.

that said, what about just getting 1x1 cylinders, slapping some long 1x2million plates on each side, and lining the interior with 1x1 cylinders? this way you get a sturdy stick of bullets, which can probably just slide right into the firing chamber of some gun.

[Atomsk]

I've seen people use treads as Mech-gun belts. They look pretty cool, but I don't think keeping track of ammunition is in the spirit of Brikwars.

[Rayhawk]

In general, most types of ammunition aren't kept track of, but explosives have always been the exception. And IV's suggestion of the 1x1 cylies is the usual way it's done. I think I saw the 1xn-plate gun clip in one of Nelug's random mecha battles, but usually I just mount the cylies on or near the weapon and remove them as they are fired. A pile of them on a plate make a good missile rack, a tray of them next to a cannon make good cannonballs, a couple of them sticking out the side of an assault weapon make good launcher grenades.

[Carda]

Well, my prototype seems to be working out better than I thought. Here's the setup I have:

I've heavily modified a Crossbow Attack (2007 Castle) set to allow a 1x12 brick to pass through it sideways. I've got said 1x12 brick (the kind with holes, this is important; I also lined the entire top of the brick with flat, studless plates, also 1 stud wide) passing through this gap, and every few holes I've stuck one of the ballista bolts the crossbow set uses as ammo.

It's tough to visualize, I'll take some snapshots in the morning. But the best part is that it works; once the loaded "clip" (aka the 1x12) slides into the gap, I can fire rounds one after the other, because the clip drops down, auto-loading the next bolt. Granted, you need a little bit of altitude to properly use it the way I've designed it, so I mounted it onto the stripped chassis of the lower half of my Hybrid Rescue Tank.

To be honest, I wasn't intending to keep track of ammo this way, I just thought it would be a fun way to create a semi-automatic Lego weapon of sorts.

[Rody]

I once did make a semi-automatic lego weapon (and only because I couldn't figure out how to make a fully-automatic one)
my bro hated that thing. It wasn't too powerfull and it shot bullets made from two of those round 4x4 brix stacked on top of each other.
the firing mechanism was simply a rod that you pulled back and let go to fire.
the reload mechanism was based on gravity(new bullet drops in after you pull the pin back)
it had a magazine on top.