Rail gun

A rail gun is a weapon that employs electromagnetic induction to accelerate projectiles to an incredibly high muzzle velocity.

Usage


In 1974, a rail gun was used by the Chrysalis AI weapon, which was destroyed by Big Boss. After it was defeated, Big Boss and the Militaires Sans Frontieres salvaged its rail gun, as well as its radome, to build Metal Gear ZEKE. A man-portable version was also either procured or developed by the MSF. It required a separate exterior dynamo that employed an experimental microwave power transmission mechanism (which was under similar development in other countries), and at least two people to operate it due to its large consumption of electricity. There was also research being conducted on rail gun technology throughout the developed world during this time.

Post-Peace Walker
The rail gun technology was further developed for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), but was later scrapped. In 1993, rail gun testing was restarted, eventually culminating in the technology's advancement in the early 2000s, as the result of a joint venture between ArmsTech and Livermore National Labs.

In 2005, Metal Gear REX was equipped with a rail gun on its right shoulder, which was ostensibly designed to provide it with missile defense capabilities. However, it was actually designed without the chief designer's knowledge to enable it to launch stealth equipped nuclear weapons. By using a rail gun rather than rocket propellent, a warhead could be launched that would be undetectable. This also exploited a specific loophole that existed in anti-nuke treaties, since weapons fired from a rail gun were not technically ballistic, so limitations on ballistic weaponry did not apply. A country could therefore use REX to secretly attack any desired target without fear of retaliation through military or legal force. Solid Snake was successful in disabling REX at Shadow Moses Island, removing the danger that the Metal Gear posed. The US government then covered up the whole incident and REX was left on the island. REX's rail gun also had some glitches in regards to its warhead delivery system, to which served as the reason why ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker entrusted the MO Disc of REX's test data to Snake as well as why Jim Houseman severely needed the data.

In 2009, a man-portable rail gun was the main weapon of Fortune, the leader of Dead Cell. It had an extremely long reload cycle making it most suitable as a sniper rifle. It also had a massive recoil effect, as well as having a huge amount of bugs and errors (mostly related to the rail plasma and the inner rail electromagnetic release) due to it being a prototype model, making it far too dangerous for normal use in combat to the enemy and to the user, as well as being cited via evaluations to be unacceptable to be used as a field weapon for those reasons. Fortune was able to use it in normal combat without the gun accidentally discharging due to "being lucky." Fortune used the rail gun until her death at Revolver Ocelot's hands.

In 2014, Liquid Ocelot sent Vamp and Naomi Hunter to Shadow Moses Island to retrieve the rail gun attached to REX. The facility's stockpile of stealth "naked nukes" was the only way to directly attack JD's satellite without the Patriots knowing about it.

Crying Wolf, of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, used a man-portable rail gun (the same that was used by Fortune) against Solid Snake on Shadow Moses Island. However, Snake was able to defeat her and he ended up procuring the weapon himself. While compact, the rail gun packed as much firepower as a tank turret. It had the most penetrative power of any weapon in Snake's arsenal and dealt extremely high damage to targets. Snake later used it to hold off an entire division of Suicide Gekko.

Gameplay
The rail gun, which can be used in Metal Gear Solid 4, possesses 3 levels of charge. A Lv.1 charge is comparable to the DSR-1's punch, while a Lv.2 charge is comparable to explosives. A Lv.3 charge is even more powerful, allowing an instant kill on a Gekko, with one shot to the head. Ammo in-game is scarce and should be used sparingly, though more can be bought from Drebin 893 if the player has earned enough Drebin Points.

In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the rail gun has no use in single-player mode, as it requires an external Dynamo, making it a CO-OPS exclusive weapon. It was unlocked by getting an S-rank against Custom Chrysalis.

Railgun
"An electromagnetic accelerator cannon currently being researched throughout the developed world. It fires projectiles with a kinetic energy of over 10 megajoules, on par with those of a tank cannon. Naturally, this makes the rail gun orders of magnitude more powerful than anything else, able to destroy almost any target in a single shot. On the other hand, it also consumes an enormous amount of electricity, making it essential to have a CO-OPS teammate nearby to charge the weapon between shots."

- Weapon description from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Railgun Dynamo
"A remote charging system for the rail gun, employing an experimental microwave power transmission mechanism under development in several countries. This device is absolutely essential in order for the rail gun to unleash its full power. When using the rail gun in CO-OPS play, make sure somebody on the team has one."

- Weapon description from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker