Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Gyrojet Weaponry

"Don't you DARE bring up that umgak knockoff again, unless you want them dead, or I'll put you in my book of grudges!"

-A standard Coalition Dwarf response to the Syndicate Gyrojet

History
Allegedly. Robert Mainhardt and Art Biehl joined forces to form MB Associates, or MBA, in order to develop Biehl's armor-piercing rocket-propelled rounds. Originally developed in a 13 mm caliber, the cartridges were self-contained self-propelled rockets. Though rumors persist that they were a pair of thieves who tried to steal, and copy, the Coalitions Bolter weapons and failed, forcing them to salvage the parts that they managed to take and escape, with another rumor being that they also sold part of their idea to the Voshkod, leading to the Shock Troopers rocket rifles. (something which the Coalition and the Syndicate are locked in a major lawsuit battle, not to mention one of the pettier reasons why they go to war, with the Coalition demanding the Syndicate destroy all of their "umgak knockoffs" while the Syndicate filed against them for "slander")

A family of Gyrojet weapons was designed and built, including a pistol, a carbine, and a rifle, as well as a squad-level light machine gun. The space-age-looking weapons were tested by the Allied Military, where they proved to have problems. One issue was that the vent ports allowed the humid air into fuel, which it made the combustion considerably less reliable, something which the Bolter didn't have (helping the Coalition's case that its designers stole their Bolters). The ports themselves could also become fouled fairly easily, although it was suggested that this could be solved by sealing the magazines or ports. The weapon was eventually rejected and the funding cut off.

It was at that time, early in the 1960s, that the Syndicate was at the height of their feud with AseliaTech, and both megacorporations were greedily buying up any arms or technology company that might give them an edge in contracts. The Gyrojet was rescued by MB Associates being purchased by the Syndicate after a bitter bidding war, and unintentionally saving them from being obliterated by the Coalition. Beretta, to which MB became a subsidiary, poured money into the technology, which resulted in the modern Gyrojet, free of the previous issues that plagued the system.

Mechanics and Variants
The classic 13mm finless gyrojets are the sort the average citizen would be familiar with. When the hammer strikes the shell, the propellant ignites, in a similar manner to a normal round. The similarities end there as the propellant begins to burn rather than exploding, funneling out the nozzle on the back, sending the round downrange. Though the velocity is considerably slower than a regular round when it leaves the barrel, it gains speed over time; at three hundred meters when the propulsion cuts off, the rocket is traveling at nearly a thousand meters a second, faster than most powerful anti-materiel rifles. Because of the constant acceleration and a slight engineered bias in the nozzle, the user does not need to compensate for gravity, and the newest versions have a mechanical toggle inside that prevents the round from drifting in the wind. As a result, a simple MB1966 has range and power comparable to that of a sniper rifle, limited only by its low-magnification digital scope.

Though the finless models are the most popular, finned versions are starting to see use among elite units and larger gyrojet weapons. Finned rockets, known as gyrojet missiles, are longer and contain a small microchip as well as motorized flaps, and use data assembled from targeting computers to track enemy targets. Capable of avoiding collisions, tracking enemies around corners, and turns exceeding fifty gravities, these rounds can seek out targets based on a variety of factors, and with a final burst of power shed their fins and strike the target, but have a slower acceleration due to the need to acquire targets and their extra weight.

Limitations
Though Gyrojets would initially seem to be much better than conventional infantry weapons, they have many limitations. The first is one of cost; the average gyrojet round costs a little over a dollar, and when over a hundred thousand rounds can be expended in a single "mad minute" by a company-sized force, these costs begin to mount very quickly. Rate of fire is another consideration; as rounds do not clear the chamber as quickly as in conventional weapons, rate of fire is limited, usually to less than six rounds a second. Finally, there is the issue of power at short range. One could block a gyrojet round from leaving the chamber with a piece of cardboard, a fact that was demonstrated when a protester of a Pittsburg expansion of Legion Security stuck his finger in the end of a gyrojet rifle and caused a backup that blew out the gun and wounded the Legionnaire firing it. Under ten meters from the muzzle, the round cannot break skin; it has almost no chance of going through Peacekeeper armor before a hundred meters. For this reason, gyrojets are considered specialty weapons, and conventional skirmishers with shotguns or SMGs, such as the Cannon Fodders, are necessary to prevent the enemy from closing in.

Gyrojet, An Umgak Bolter?
It should be noted that when compared to the Coalitions Bolter, which has many (alarming) similarities. As both of them uses a mini rocket engine to launch their rounds. But that where the Gyrojets end and the Bolter begins.

The main, and only publicly known, advantage of the Bolter compared to Gyrojets is that it uses conventional combustion, using something stronger than gunpowder in smaller sizes, to initially launch the round, thus negating the main two disadvantages of Gyrojet at once (poor rate of fire and uselessness at close range). And since the Bolter shells are filled with explosives instead of a conventional lead means that a single shot is often enough to kill a person as they will detonate inside them, using any leftover fuel as extra firepower, like a grenade. Thus, statistically, the Bolter is outright superior to the Gyrojet.

Though it should be noted that this firepower comes at a heavy price. As a Bolter is five times more expensive than a Gyrojet equivalent and highly complex (since each round uses both a diamond-hard warhead and a special proximity fuse). And whereas a person can only buy a Bolter from the Coalition territories at exorbitant prices (since they WILL kill anyone who thinks about stealing their Bolter STC), a Gyrojet can be easily bought at a Syndicate, and Syndicate-affiliated, gun store at a relatively cheap price (though an argument is made in that each Bolter is built to last and reliable compared to most Gyrojets which needs frequent maintenance and unreliability issues). And there's also the fact that a standard Bolter is incredibly heavy and comes with a massive recoil meaning that the user must be an Astarte, Dwarf, or be wearing special equipment to fire one accurately without getting blown off their feet.

Just don't mention the Bolter's limitation to the Coalition, who considers the Gyrojet an insult to their craftsmanship, as they will beat you to death for insinuating that the Syndicate Gyrojet is superior.