Some Questions for Physics Junkies

[solidsamurai]

The variables for probable formulas (note: I flunked physics) can probably be gleaned from existing facts unvealed in lore about these various fictional devices.

- How much energy does a gauss rifle need for it's coils in order to fire one round? Twenty rounds (AKA a burst)?

- How much vector force (on the plates; but feel free to hypothesize more vulnerable locations like the helmet's visor too) does CMC protect its wearer against exactly? What about pressure? What's the energy required to penetrate it?

- From the above: How much force can a zergling output? How much energy does a zergling utilize? How invariably hard/tough are its talons and claws (a zergling probably uses its talons mostly for penetration and weighs about 300 - 400lbs. as one of the lightest of zerg strains apart from drones, larva and broodlings; just imo)?

- How does the above compare to the energy intake and output (probably only listed in calories, since its an organism) of an animal of similar size and shape in the real world? Ie. A wolf?

Feel free to ask other questions too. I'm sure a question like 'how much energy intake is needed to fire a yamato cannon' is not out of line since the lore compares it to a nuclear explosion.

[phazonjunkie]

T

- How much energy does a gauss rifle need for it's coils in order to fire one round? Twenty rounds (AKA a burst)?
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http://sclegacy.com/editorials/34-ge...er-gauss-rifle

[Kimera757]

- How much vector force (on the plates; but feel free to hypothesize more vulnerable locations like the helmet's visor too) does CMC protect its wearer against exactly? What about pressure? What's the energy required to penetrate it?

Apparently, it can resist a single .50 caliber sniper rifle shot from far away (but can be penetrated by a close-up gunfire shot). In Heaven's Devils, putting your visor down meant it took two head shots, often giving you enough time to throw yourself behind cover before a second shot could be made.

- From the above: How much force can a zergling output? How much energy does a zergling utilize? How invariably hard/tough are its talons and claws (a zergling probably uses its talons mostly for penetration and weighs about 300 - 400lbs. as one of the lightest of zerg strains apart from drones, larva and broodlings; just imo)?

Why did you decide on that weight figure? Anyway, a zergling can reliably (if they attack from behind) penetrate CMC armor, often crippling (spine!) or killing (vitals!) a marine in one hit (in lore). Especially notable a few times in Frontline and in comic issue #0.

- How does the above compare to the energy intake and output (probably only listed in calories, since its an organism) of an animal of similar size and shape in the real world? Ie. A wolf?

A wolf isn't bred to kill armored soldiers. I doubt a wolf could penetrate power armor no matter what kind of modifications are done to it.

[almostfamous]

I hate to be a nit picker, but wolves are a sorta bad example. Wolves usually come in at a maximum of 140lbs, but the largest live one seen was 170lbs.

But then again, I don't think a zergling would be 400lbs, unless they are packed super tight and their carapace is super de duper hard, I would guess they would weigh between 250 and 300 pounds. So I think a Jaguar would be a better animal in comparative size/weight.

[Norfindel]

Anyways, it would be impossible to calculate how much energy does the Zergling needs, as that depends more on it's claws than raw strength. I bet they have super-strong, very pointy claws.

IIRC, Ultralisks are said to have mono-molecular blades, which probably means that Zerg claws are designed to be very strong and very pointy, instead of needing insane amounts of force.

Hydralisk spines would need to be about as dense and as fast as the C-14 projectiles. That's probably impossible to do for muscles, but they could rely on chemical reactions to explosively accelerate it.

The armor of some of the strains, like the Roaches should be still better than that of the Marines, and at this proyectile speeds, density is probably the most important factor for the armor, which means they likely weight a lot, and use a lot of energy to move around.

Zerglings and Hydralisks probably cannot stop even conventional rifle bullets. They could bleed out much slower than humans, however, which would make them difficult to kill fast. IIRC, in some of the novels, Zerglings are taken down with a shotgun, which sucks for armor penetration.

[The_Blade]

First of... true physics junkies use the metric system *shakes fist*

All data is subject to speculations and assosiations with real life situations.

If a Zergling weights around 70-90 kgs and can travel at a speed of 40 km/h (speed at the cinematic "The Betrayal"), through the laws of momentum we would get 888.89 N of impact against a Marine which could weight around 110 kg of convict and 300 kg of armor. On impact both bodies would travel at the speed of 4.05 km/h which would for sure take down the Marine if the Zergling leaps toward the head. If the 888.89 N force doesn't breaks the lower back of both the armor and the marine then the Zergling could start stabing. Unlike human arms, I belive Zergling claws work like springs and may be related with the Hydra spines which penetrated Warfield's armor or 2 cm of neosteel.

Instant kill for the Marine as Kimera said. A death Zergling could even kill you on impact if the force of the bullets doesn't stop or slow it on time.

[solidsamurai]

Why did you decide on that weight figure? Anyway, a zergling can reliably (if they attack from behind) penetrate CMC armor, often crippling (spine!) or killing (vitals!) a marine in one hit (in lore). Especially notable a few times in Frontline and in comic issue #0.

I thought of it, because I've seen cinematics where zerglings have been knocked around like dolls - also one ling did a direct (head on?) impact with a confederate patrol jeep in one of the SC 1 cinematics, and the wind shield of said jeep didn't shatter or even fracture.

And incapacitating a marine (a human) doesn't necessitate targeting the spine (cut off a person's arm, you can bet he'll be reeling and unable to concentrate).

If you mean incapacitating the armor, only if it's of the kind that would shut down on armor breach - the older CMC models; they did this possibly because the sealant would disrupt servos, so the servos shut down, the computer systems hit stand by and the sealant flows in quickly to negate exposure to the extants like vacuum or toxins. Newer CMC probably simply doesn't shut down but (theory), it can be injected with sealant foam and then given a shut down routine for hostile planetary conditions. Obviously, a marine's battle effectiveness is reduced significantly if the shut down proc is true on the mechanical systems (in-alterable function of the BIOS).

In-game, shut down armor probably reflects 'stun 20 seconds after 5 damage' or 'stun unless at max hp', meaning a medic can repair a stun effect faster. In other words, marines would suck. I'm guessing the original 'lock down' concept was imposed to reflect why marines could lose to zerglings, when normally the idea of 'zerglings as weak mere animals turned feral' was thrown around on the power scale; which seems terrible and significantly less awesome than my idea and hardly makes sense if the point of CMC is actually 'hostile environment facilitator' and the armor plates are make it 'armor'; hence a zergling getting through the armor plates contradicts them being feral animals (why such hard claws and no spunk? Almost makes the zerg about equipment rather than raw bio-rampage).

Note also that a 1000 zombies piling on top of a marine probably isn't enough pressure to crush him - the suit and all; 1000 zombies equals 100 short tons which equals much less over all pressure and I'd argue that CMC as good at resisting pressure extants but not necessarily abrupt force extants such as vectors or high enough yield explosives - note also that 'hand grenades' are small arms; in StarCraft, I'd say hand grenades with explosive radius of 6 meters or less maybe - and concussive grenades give more pressure while vulture frags might have armor piercing fragments (sub-sonic) and a particularly massive 'nade, or whatever.

Note that the below is all theory, but you can let me know whether or not you like it.

But being comparatively light doesn't necessarily make them weak - in fact, their muscles are composed of cords and strings fusing (at the limbs) and their bodies are incredibly efficient at outputting energy. Hence, they're quite strong (at least the strength of 2 or 3 average men, I'd estimate). Their talons are their most vital weapon - capable of puncturing a few centimeters of low density neo steel (roughly 3 - 5 times as durable as diamond; basically, a little harder and a lot tougher - the latter lends malleability for shaping). In metallurgy terms, 'ling talons are hard but not tough (this is characterized by a few breaks and chipping that have been seen on some 'ling talons in the art). 'Ling claws are quite tough but much softer on the other hand - good for digging and climbing.

A 'ling talon is hard, but it needs to stab in order to get through resistance similar to CMC. Against, stronger armor, a 'ling hammers his talons at a high enough frequency that eventually the building pressure causes the armor to break and/or indent/crumple.

A zergling has zero percent body fat - it conserves energy via some other means (maybe it just stores it in bile; which would explain why they seem to salivate green goo in some art). Zerglings output so much energy, that, combined with their weight, they can move up to speeds of 60km/h or more. Their maneuverability is limited by vision - zerglings tend to focus on singular targets and operate in packs. They rely on overlord telepathic vision cohesiveness to provide peripherals - without it, zerglings see less and are ultimately less prepared.

A zergling outputs so much energy that its muscles are hard wired like a system of robotics - hence, it can continue running even when technically dead. A zergling can also swing its talons while technically dead, so typically soldiers prefer to engage them from a distance. This is combined with the fact that zerglings can operate at 100% combat effectiveness with anything but less than all of their vitals (their three or four hearts and livers, etc.).

The above was proven in Speed of Darkness, when maiming rounds couldn't put down a zergling without emptying nearly a full clip (but 'kill rounds' had the property of expansion inside the impacting body, hence they could cause more severe rupturing and could actually sever the limbs of lings until they were 'wounded and unfit' at probably a 100:1 efficiency ratio over regular, high hardness maiming rounds).

The same zergling also body checked Ardo Melnikov and then fell to the ground while 'still breathing and moving its eyes'. It was technically dead, but some anatomical wonkiness made the 'robotic system' apply to breathing and eyes too.

When a zergling breathes, its air intake filters out any harmful toxins; breathing is its way of retaining energy while away from creep (it loses energy on its tongue as well) by inhaling the heat. Zerglings can't live in vacuum since - when they do, they go into 'hibernation' and their consciousness floats in a 'stasis' provided by an overlord's psionic matrix.

Zerglings can live in extremes of temperature - their energy output means they output a lot of heat as well and their bodies can heat up to high extremes. A zergling never actually tires; the only reason it would ever pause to rest is due to its internal temperature rising beyond a programmed limit. Even then, a zergling only rests when it is safe from harm (otherwise it will fight until its organs are internally boiled and it shuts down from lack of ability to supply energy to its functions), and usually while burrowed deep enough that its heat shedding conducts with the ground. Zerg usually try to burrow deep enough that a ground's overall temperature doesn't rise too much to be noticed. Zerg usually burrow deep enough that terran hand held detectors (civilian mine sweepers made to detect more than just metal and also agricultural floor contaminants, nanites and the like) cannot reach them (a 'ling might burrow 15ft. into the ground while a detector typically only detects up to 10ft.).

Such is just one of the things zerg have learned (quickly) when facing their enemies and such knowledge requires no actual evolution or newly created strains and as such the knowledge typically can be applied quickly (in the middle of battle even).

A zergling's brain requires comparatively low energy, but its vitals typically are the greatest demand. Its hearts beat quickly and its muscles demand high efficiency blood to be supplied to them. If a zergling has no vitals to supply blood, it's brain can still remain active until its metabolic processes (requiring more energy) can heal quickly. In order to do so, a zergling must breathe in order to retain energy that it built up. The presence of creep gives it more energy (which explains why they heal faster on creep in SC 2).

Zerglings not immediately given no direct commands will often indulge in their z'gashi instincts and consume the meat of designated slain enemies such as terran. Soft terran (unarmored) are often eaten alive, but in rare cases soft parts of terran (such as an exposed face in a helmet) can be eaten.

Small amounts of energy are derived from fallen foes and is more beneficial than breathing (since it's a positive value rather than a diminishing negative), but still not as good as creep. On creep, zerglings always have peak energy and will shed large amounts of heat (unfortunately making them easy to detect).

Hydralisks are much mightier eaters than zerglings though despite being herbivores prior to infestation and induction as a strain - perhaps they have better digestion/energy conversion? Hydralisks will be explored later.

Zerglings have high heat tolerance, but their internal temperature doesn't increase with external heat due to the insulation provided by their carapace and muscles layers. Only immense external heat (in excess of 4000 degrees celsius?) can defeat a zergling. If a zergling's internal temperature rises without being accounted for, a zegling can be quickly defeated.

A zergling can also contain heat by 'holding its breath'. In this way, it doesn't expose its anatomy with less insulation (such as the tongue and other glands used for cooling). It's internal body temperature also doesn't lower but its external temperature can nearly equal that of the air surrounding it, hence making it harder to make out in heat-vision or infra-red (whatever makes actual heat visible). Only some zerglings are given this knowledge (if this were a roleplaying game, it'd be something like a racial feat for a zergling; not actually a genetic thing).

Firebat plasma also has been known to actually obliterate zergling bodies very quickly and turn carapace into brittle ash, making firebats a preferred weapon against a 'ling rush. Firebat plasma is in excess of 10,000 degrees celsius (???) but quickly cools due to sublimative phenomena. The great amount of heat was made to get through the insulation and temperature control of most power suits (but vehicle and building armor is typically too thick; even so plasma can melt hulls which is why it still damages).

Sometimes, the plasma liquifies partially due to rapid cooling upon exposure - this was mistakenly thought to be ejected fuel from the perdition weapons itself but 'rines aren't scientists. Perdition flamethrowers have no fuel beyond the compressed chemical that is heated into a plasma via energy from an on-board cold fusion nuclear reactor (hence it's not actually a fuel; the only 'fuel' for a bat is plutonium).

The plasma was made so hot for other reasons as well - plasma cools quickly in the various cold environments of 'off world/space' so 'flash heating' can allow damage to be done via rapid melting and severe burns inflicted upon a target. Due to the rapid cooling from various extant environs, plasma doesn't always leave behind flames and napalm is actually more effective at doing such (in reality, perdition plasma simply allows wide damage without as much collateral).

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A recently burrowed zerg can leave behind a heat signature though when it makes a 'mistake' (the commander didn't account for the ground's heat absorption and cool off and/or the zergling didn't burrow deep enough).

Finally, a zergling can recover from grievous and seemingly fatal wounds. Reflected in-game in SC, it heals what little hp it has over time.

So really, the only way to make sure a zergling is 'really dead' is to obliterate it entirely, or remove its head or destroy its brain (theory); zerglings hardly ever die of blood loss unless the cerebrate deems them unfit. Even though zerglings can 'fast heal', they can't regrow or re-attach limbs, so it's possible that a zergling wounded badly enough is deemed unfit. When such happens, it becomes a liability to the brood. It's fast healing shuts down and creep stops fueling it.

Whatever energy it has remaining in its body trickles away like heat convection (after all, I'd say the energy required to sustain its hearts alone is immense - this is because the (more than one?) heart is kept on overdrive right from birth (and even faster with metabollic boost and adrenal glands, obviously); it's 'resting' rythm is probably 200 BPM while it's 'peak' is 500 or more BPM - as opposed to a human's 20 - 60 resting BPM and 180 - 250 peak BPM). A zergling isn't 'programmed' to rest. So all its hearts beat on overdrive until it runs out of energy to fast heal and dies of blood loss (without fast healing, blood loss death is possible; zerglings bleed regardless in either case, but 'fast healing' means they produce blood as fast or faster than they bleed rather than 'scab over' more quickly).

A zergling's nervous system is wired in a way that it will never suffer spinal paralysis or shock (blood loss/heavy pain disorientation/paralysis). A zergling doesn't often get brain damage, but when it does it's considered 'wounded and unfit' and dies. A zergling can suffer a concussion, but this won't usually cause it to pass out - instead, it's disoriented. Even then, the zergling still continues to fling itself at an enemy, but with less accuracy (and even then, it might use intelligence and select a larger target to make up for lost combat effectiveness in said avenue). Even a zergling without vision can still depend on an overlord to offer peripherals (otherwise it's screwed... finally).
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In a full scale battle, zerglings have many applications - usually, they burrow and then ambush, rending soft flesh quickly and crumpling armor with hammering talons (they can also rend power conduits and disable exposed vehicles quickly; since power conduits are much softer than marine armor despite being potentially tougher).

Offensively, zerglings may charge in a direct wave to waste enemy ammunition or to act as a diversion, or to test the enemy's mettle (usually the latter if the cerebrate is bored or genuinely needs to scout).

Communication: Zerglings don't communicate with one another, although the presence of an overlord provides a sort of telepathic matrix upon which they can act and work together. The presence of a cerebrate 'paying attention' can allow them to act more intelligently and learn (note that even cerebrates are often primal savages that must learn about warfare before acting on it). Overlords on the other hand are sluggish creatures - their strength of 'will' retains a connection. Overlords, even with hardly any free will, prevent zerg from acting mad as they are their own sort of psi-emitters to an extent (of course, even overlords can get out of control if a connection is too distended from a commander like a cerebrate or Kerrigan; in which case, the overlord projects its psionic wave off into the abyss and nowhere useful for any zerg in its radius). An overlord can control zerg up to 100km (theory), since that's the radius of its psi-emitions before their 'voltage' is too faint to continue a wave pattern (of course, fans have agreed that in-game is not to scale and the ranges of simple ranged units could be as much as entire kilometers; I'd easily say firebats and vulture frag grenades have a lot less though).

A cerebrate typically pays attention to overlords the most on the battlefield, so an overlord overhead will usually inspire zerglings into wiser tactics simply due to the tendency of the cerebrate to 'ride it' (be of two minds).

Post BW, without cerebrates, zerg have become 'stupider' - although the presence of kerrigan can inspire some individual hives to ends beyond even those of any cerebrate due to her own natural brilliance. Kerrigan has greater telepathy than cerebrates and can reach overlords across many worlds, but even her attention wanes from a hive from time to time (and the zerg can get out of control too, exploring beyond their limits and requiring great numbers to act without the presence).

Recently, overlords have begun acting more independently without cerebrates to keep them in check - but they are still sluggish and (relative to a human) quite stupid (yet somewhat sapient; maybe a little above a chimpanzee?). Overlords are basically just 'mobile radio towers'.

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A zergling has a very strong jaw combined with very tough serrated teeth, and it can use it to help keep hold of enemies as it rends them with its talons. Soft enemies fall victim to the ability of zergling talons able to slash them open. So a zergling can remove the head of an unprotected human in a flash and sever an arm with its second talon, all in one motion. It's jaw is also strong enough to bite off half a human's skull alone (zerglings can dislocate their jaws, but they hardly ever do it since that reduces their jaw strength).
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That's it so far.

A wolf isn't bred to kill armored soldiers. I doubt a wolf could penetrate power armor no matter what kind of modifications are done to it.

Yes, but a zergling looks like a canine and was compared to 'feral animals' in the wiki. That's about the only similarity.

If the 888.89 N force doesn't breaks the lower back of both the armor and the marine then the Zergling could start stabing.

Definitely not enough force. At worse, the marine would get a concussion from his head slamming into the back of the spacious helmet (the helmet is actually padded in most depictures; so I think it's only a forward fall that would actually hurt at all - in Speed of Darkness; Ardo cut his lip or broke a tooth (I think) by having his face slam into the lower rim of the helmet below the visor; but that was after a nuclear warhead went off in the distance).

Note that the force of a person weighing 90Kg (average weight of a 6ft. tall man) falling from 1 meter up above onto another person is 882N. Basically imagine your bro body checking you in jumping from the couch high rise onto you while you are laying on the floor - not very much force (and not that painful; at best, you'll get a bruise or a concussion if he hits you in the head and manages to distribute all force to your head). A martial arts style kick that can topple something with 100Kg of lower body weight is much more painful, but that's because it's at a more focal point. The vector is the result of directed force being distributed in a way that the force tries to travel in the vector - hence the path of the leg is a vector (probably a curvature) of a curve passing through the bottom-heavy object. Hence, simply put, the force is more directed.

AND I STILL DROPPED OUT OF PHYSICS. Yeah, I gotta take it again.

Anyway...

When a zergling impacts with CMC; the force is actually dispersed along the surface of the CMC. So the marine would barely feel anything. His body is probably cushioned by an underlayer.

A marine could probably withstand another marine colliding with him too - unless said marine were travelling 60km/h or so. A marine can probably survive getting hit by a truck (though it'd definitely knock him over) as long it doesn't hit him in the back so that he falls forward rather harshly (zerglings are built differently -_-).

CMC suits aren't clumsy arrays like the mech from the ending scene in Alien 1. Basically, they allow a wearer to retain the same force at the base of his feet that allows him to stand - possibly even stand with more stability than if he wasn't wearing the armor. Most of the initial clumsiness comes from adjusting to the servos and positioning your body properly (CMC's are 'one size fits all' except maybe in the case of Findlay, I suppose). Cushioning means wearing is comfortable for most people (sometimes actual metal can be used to cushion via a soft metal layer on top of another layer on the inside).

I'd confirm that a zergling can probably travel faster and weighs more. A zergling that knocks over a marine in his suit may be a result of the marine just trying to get away. Most zerglings probably grapple with standing marines (which allows their big, prehensile, elongating talons to be brought to bear). I'd also guess at a suit weighing close to 1000lbs (about 450Kg).

In order for a zergling to knock over a marine, it'd have to behave like a missile traveling only 60km/h - 80km/h. Maybe a 'ling's tusks help disperse the collision force on its own body (primarily the head containing the brain needed to communicate with an overlord; a zergling pretty much ignores damage to other parts), much like a simple car's bumper (or better example; the front of a freight train?).

A zergling would need to have high forward force which lends to greater acceleration, but for whatever reason, lings would travel slowly despite ridiculous acceleration. They'd also have to be very good at getting over any sort of terrain with little interruption (they probably just leap most places; and the wings of a ling in SC 2 might help it drift forward and maintain acceleration rates. Like an indy racer, it doesn't drift into the air when inputting too much forward force (is that because of forward force or is that just lack of air pressure due to drift or whatever)), because of downward suction (I wouldn't bet it depends on pure strength; maybe it just has aerodynamic chitin or suction pores originally given by webbed feet).

Solution: A ling can accelerate very quickly. A single leap can take to the speed of an arrow (700km/h), meaning lings are like cheetahs. When traveling over land however, terrain interruptions mean that it's speed is effectively reduced down to an even 60 - 80km/h of continuous stop/starting. Doing so uses up lots of energy so metabolic boosts helps in this.

A ling has to worry about wear a quick leap takes it, however. This is because it isn't the most stable of creatures. It needs to stop/start quickly when traveling over terrain (in the animation, it jolts when it lands which seems to reflect that it stops and then starts again with another hop). When landing, a ling has to land on its feet instead of using its arms to help drag in for a landing (a ling that performs a drag landing usually somersaults or slides on its chitinous flanks) - either because it was programmed OBEY OR DIE to do that due to retained combat effectiveness of always keeping your talons/claws up and to the ready (if one ling is screwed due to programming getting in the way of something else; well, there's a lot of lings out there to get it right).

The new 'ling art reflects lings that use both arms and legs for this purpose. Possibly, the new 'ling has weaker legs to offset it and keep the power scale pretty much the same.

[Norfindel]

On impact both bodies would travel at the speed of 4.05 km/h which would for sure take down the Marine if the Zergling leaps toward the head. If the 888.89 N force doesn't breaks the lower back of both the armor and the marine then the Zergling could start stabing.

Actually, 4 km/h isn't much. People walk at an average speed of 5 km/h.

Still, how do you got that speed? I followed this: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...lacol2.html#c1 and got -25km/h for the Zergling, and 14 km/h for the Marine. The Zergling will suffer terrible damage, it's running at 40 km/h, collides, and is thrown backwards at 25km/h. Still, it's likely that the Zergling loses energy by tissue compression, so it's not really an elastic collision.

If they have different mass, they won't travel at the same speed after a collision. Think about a truck vs motorcycle collision.

[pure.Wasted]

Actually, 4 km/h isn't much. People walk at an average speed of 5 km/h.

The other factor to keep in mind here is that Marine suits are in all likelihood designed to keep them as balanced as possible. I would assume that the same technology that keeps Marines standing despite the ultra high recoil of their weapons would keep them standing here, too.

But that's just a guess, I know next to nothing about the physics at work. And I'm enjoying the discussion very much so keep at it.

[solidsamurai]

Still, it's likely that the Zergling loses energy by tissue compression, so it's not really an elastic collision.

Actually, I'd rule that some areas of a zergling's body are more immovable than others. So like, if it collided with its tusks at the front, then it wouldn't bounce backwards. It could fall right to the ground on its feet, at which point it can quickly nip the legs (get into a hold wherein it can't be pried off with anything less than a massive nutcracker and/or the jaws of life) and then hack them off with several quick talon strokes. It'd be interesting to see some art, of marines with dead zerglings stuck to their armor protected limbs (basically, lucky marines).

So zerglings tend to either think ahead and have remarkable physical intelligence (but then again, so do most predators like cheetahs and tigers), or they were just aerodynamically designed that well.

There's no point in leaping at an enemy so fast if you'll just deflect off of them. And zerglings weighing more than marines doesn't make sense either. In the BW intro cinematic, the zergling was able to hold the marine down and punch into him with its talons because it used raw strength rather than body weight.

Granted, marines at a fair distance from 'lings can make them drop like flies (if the 'lings perform a deliberate forward assault from such a wave); marines can shoot pretty far (like, at least a klick with gauss rifles and holo-p'd targeting and motion prediction). But zerglings prefer to ambush too - and both have the logical outcomes in-game.
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despite the ultra high recoil of their weapons would keep them standing here, too.

I'd venture an estimate that a gauss rifle weighs about 40lbs. Which means it shouldn't have all that much recoil despite the incredible energy outputs. Still some amount of recoil (it probably vibrates in a way that would jar every bone in someone not wearing powered armor). It's probably also (almost) as loud as a grenade per shot - so one grenade exploding continuously. Imagine that? No wonder CMC is sound proofed.

That's a dB output resulting from a sonic boom that manages to resound every now and then plus the sound resulting from the necessary energy output itself. I imagine the steel spikes often warp in incredible ways too. 'Kill rounds', AKA expanding rounds, are probably easy to design - give it a different alloy so that the warping properties of a round on impact cause it to inflate - or, heat causes expansion in materials and a gauss rifle makes a round pretty hot - steel is probably used for 'maiming' so it doesn't expand as much but still warps after one or two impacts in its trajectory. Ardo Melnikov might have been studying high school/first year chemistry and physics (but note that science is more uniform in the starcraft universe, based on that other discussion) prior to 'his event' and was able to figure this out so that he could make the new rounds.

The firearm is detonation based rather than deflagration (enough energy to make it 'hyper velocity'). Detonation is probably one of the prime reasons why gauss guns haven't yet been designed much in real life (it's taking time to build a rail gun they were working on in britain I recall; it was very loud wasn't it?) - detonation reactions are harder for engineers to devise a means to control them without the gun simply breaking after the first shot since it doesn't use heat conduction but actually has to involve a chamber for a controlled explosion - I believe a car engine uses detonation reactions, but car engines are much larger and heavier too; I'd say the weight of a gauss gun comes from its size needed for some primitive coil lay out and the motor or 'distributor' for the electrical energy needed for them from the capacitor.

Another possibility is that a built in battery is what causes the weight (before then, the free recoil of the gun increased, so powered armor was still needed).