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《Munitorum》节译:磁轨步枪

2022-12-10 18:18 作者:机兵苍熊式  | 我要投稿

Much to the Imperium’s disgust, the Tau are constantly improving their technology. Battlesuits, weaponry and even the simplest mechanical components are constantly being revised and reappraised. For the Tau, there is no pinnacle of perfection, only brief plateaus of reflection before the quest for improvement leads them steeply upwards once more. Indeed, the Tau language does not contain a word for ‘completion’ – at least, not in the same sense that humans understand it.

钛星人在不断提升自己的科技,这令人类帝国对其极为厌恶。战斗服,武器,甚至是最简单的机械部件都在被钛星人不断修改和重新评估。对钛星人而言,完美的至臻状态是不存在的,只存在(用于)反思的短暂稳定期,然后便是追求改进的阶段——这令它们(的技术水平)再度陡然提升。事实上,钛星人的语言中都没有“完成,结束”这类词汇——至少与人类所理解的含义并不相同。

The rail rifle is an excellent case in point. Rail technology has been crucial to the Fire caste’s mission since before the Second Sphere Expansion, providing devastating anti-armour weaponry for XV88 Broadside teams and Hammerhead Gunships. The theory behind the technology is simple enough: a linear accelerator propels a solid shot at hypervelocity, delivering a high-energy impact with impressive accuracy. Even before the First Sphere Expansion had drawn to a close, Earth caste scientists turned their efforts to further refining rail technology, the goal being to create a version compact and durable enough for use by a Fire caste infantryman. Thus did the development of the rail rifle begin.

磁轨步枪就是一个极好的例子。早在第二次天穹扩张之前,磁轨技术对于火氏族(完成)的任务便是至关重要的,它为XV88炮击战斗服小队和锤头鲨炮艇提供了毁灭性的反装甲武器。这种技术背后的原理非常简单:用一台线性加速器以超高速度推动固态子弹,以惊人的准确度进行高能撞击。哪怕在第一次天穹扩张接近尾声之前,土氏族的科学家们便在尽力改进磁轨科技,其目标是要创造出某种紧凑且轻便到足以让火氏族步兵单人使用的武器。磁轨步枪的开发便是由此开始。

Success was not immediately forthcoming. Early rail weapons required substantial shielding in order to avoid flooding their Hammerheads and battlesuits with harmful levels of radiation. These shields were inevitably formed of super-dense metal alloys, and contributed greatly to the mass of the weapon. Even when the payload of the prototype rail rifle was reduced, allowing a comparable reduction in power requirements, the weapon was too heavy to be carried by fewer than three Fire Warriors, and was therefore relegated to seldom-used defensive emplacements.

但成功也并非是即刻到来的。早期的磁轨武器需要(安装)大量的屏蔽盾,以避免锤头鲨炮艇和战斗服被有害水平的辐射所淹没。这些屏蔽盾必然是由极度致密的合金铸造成,并大幅度增加了武器重量。尽管磁轨步枪原型机减少了有效荷载,以此相应减少了能量需求,但这种武器仍然过于沉重,至少三名火战士才能将其抬动,也因此而被发配去了那些几乎从不被使用的防御炮位。

Progress was slow for many years. The Earth caste reduced the rail rifle’s bulk by increments, but never by enough to meet their stated objective. Nevertheless, their labours were not wasted, as many of these refinements were retro-fitted onto existing Hammerhead and Broadside railguns. Even though the goal of a shas’la-portable rail rifle was still some way off, rail technology as a whole was becoming more compact, more accurate and cheaper to produce with every year that passed.

在很多年的时间中,研发进程都是缓慢的。土氏族逐渐缩减了磁轨步枪的体积,但始终不足以达到既定目标。但无论如何,他们的努力并未白费,许多改进措施都被用于翻新现存锤头鲨与炮击战斗服的磁轨炮。尽管离实现创造出沙司’拉(单人)便携式磁轨步枪的目标还有一段距离,但磁轨技术在整体上正变得愈发小型紧凑化,随着时间逐年过去,磁轨武器变得更加精准,生产成本也变得更低。

The breakthrough finally came in the Second Sphere Expansion, during the campaign known to the Imperium as the Damocles Gulf Crusade. Here, the Tau were faced with better-equipped enemy than any they had faced before, and the resulting conflict spurred unprecedented advancement in all fields of scientific endeavour. Amongst the developments was a new ceramic, named or’es’var – literally ‘mighty bulwark’. Originally conceived as an ablative hull material to counteract the devastating effects of the Imperium’s fleet-borne nova cannons, the material was soon discovered to have unparalleled radiation absorption across a wide spectrum – and better than that, it was light, almost weightless.

突破最终在第二次天穹扩张中到来,成果获取于被人类称为“达摩克利斯深渊远征”的战役期间。在这场战争中,钛星人所面对的敌人比以往任何对手都更为装备精良,由此产生的冲突促使其在所有科学领域都取得了前所未有的进步。这些发展成果中就包括某种新型陶瓷材料,其被命名为奥尔’艾斯’瓦尔——字面意思上的“强硬壁垒”。钛星人对其最初的设想是用作船体烧蚀材料,用于抵消人类帝国舰载新星炮的毁灭性(杀伤)效果,但他们很快发现,这种材料在宽光谱上具有无与伦比的辐射吸收能力,而且它质量很轻,几乎就是毫无重量。

With the way forward finally revealed, the Earth caste presented the Fire caste with the first prototype rail rifles. At first, the relatively slow rate of fire, the still-imposing bulk of the weapon and the then unstable targeting mechanism did not meet the stringent demands of the Ethereal and Fire castes. Nevertheless, the conflict with the Imperium presented a wealth of opportunity for improvement. At last, Fire caste command cleared the weapon for use in Pathfinder vanguard and reconnaissance teams. Earth caste fabrication plants were swiftly re-tasked, and the first mass-produced rail rifles began to enter military service. This iteration of the rail rifle could not punch through a battle tank’s armour so effectively as the larger railguns, but it made a mockery of anything up to and including XV88 Broadside armour.

随着前进道路最终被揭示,土氏族向火氏族展示了第一批磁轨步枪原型机。最初,这些武器相对较低的射速、仍旧庞大的体积和尚不稳定的瞄准机件还满足不了以太和火氏族的严格要求。不过,与人类帝国的冲突为其提供了大量进行改进提升的机会。最终,火氏族指挥部正式批准寻路者先锋和侦查小队使用此类武器。土氏族制造厂很快被重新分配任务,首批量产型磁轨步枪开始用于军事行动。新一代的磁轨步枪击穿战斗坦克装甲的效率和更大型的磁轨炮相当,但它(的体积重量)嘲弄了至今为止的其他所有磁轨武器,甚至也包括XV88炮击战斗服。

Now, centuries later, the rail rifle is a common sight in Pathfinder teams, though it has not yet fully supplanted the pulse carbine. Indeed, Fire caste doctrine dictates that rail rifles never be fielded to the exclusion of all other weaponry. Even though the current models are considerably more reliable than the initial prototypes, they are still prone to occasional misfires or targeting system failures. These mishaps occur rarely – perhaps once in ten thousand firings – but until this minor unreliability is rectified, the Fire caste will consider the rail rifle an augmentation to Pathfinder teams, rather than a mainstay weapon.

在数个世纪之后的现在,尽管磁轨步枪还未能完全取代脉冲卡宾枪,但也是寻路者小队中的常见武器。事实上,火氏族的信条规定:决不能只使用磁轨步枪,而将其他所有武器排除在外。尽管目前的磁轨枪型号比最初的原型机要可靠得多,但它们仍然易于偶尔发生走火误射或瞄准系统故障。这种意外事故很罕见——或许在一万次开火中才会出现一次,但是在这类微小的不可靠性问题被纠正之前,火氏族仍会认为磁轨步枪只是寻路者小队的增强型装备,而非主力武器。

Whilst the rail rifle officially remains exclusive to Pathfinder teams, there are persistent rumours that more compact versions of the weapon are currently being trialled by Fire Warrior cadres on the Tau Empire’s eastern fringe. It is difficult to say whether there is any truth to these tales, though it is certainly the Earth caste’s avowed intent to oversee further refinement to the weapon. Their next goal is to evolve the rail rifle to a point where its killing power is comparable with its larger, Broadside-mounted cousins. From there, who can say where the Earth caste’s ingenuity will lead?

虽然在官方说法中,磁轨步枪是寻路者小队的专用武器,但一直有传言称:在钛帝国东部边境处,火战士猎核们目前正在测试某种更为紧凑的磁轨步枪。很难说这些故事是否真实,但很确定的一点是:土氏族公开宣称要监督对于此种武器的进一步改进。他们的下一个目标是发展改进磁轨步枪,令其杀伤力能媲美它们那些安装在炮击战斗服上的更大型表亲。谁又知道土氏族的才智能将这种武器的发展领向何方呢?


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