[Critias]

Weird.  I guess they changed it between printings, or something, 'cause everything else matches up (even page number, etc) but mine's got +5.  I'd try for a better scan but the last thing I want to do is damage my book 'cause my scanner chewed on it like a Hungry, Hungry, Hippo: 

[Kontact]

It's in the errata.
Everything flechette is +5 to AP.

[Ten-Hex]

Personally, I've always liked the idea that the Viper isn't just another pistol (that happens to shoot flechette).  This is nothing canon, and no book says so, but it's so much better than other heavy pistols in a few key ways, that the explanation that makes sense (to me) is that it just doesn't work like any other gun.  It's got the rate of fire that it does, it's got the magazine capacity that it does, and it's got the built-in lack of sound that it does, by being something besides a traditional firearm.  The "magazine" is some sort of solid polymer brick, and the gun fires by scraping slivers off that brick and hurtling them down the barrel a whole lot of slivers at a time.

I know a lot of people that rule it works pretty much the way you described. Considering the description states, "it fires metal slivers that count as flechette ammunition (already factored in to the Damage Code)," RAI seems to agree. It doesn't fire standard bullets, it fires slivergun ammo that counts as flechette for stat purposes (to save from printing an identical line other than name in the ammunition tables).

[savaze]

Personally, I've always liked the idea that the Viper isn't just another pistol (that happens to shoot flechette).  This is nothing canon, and no book says so, but it's so much better than other heavy pistols in a few key ways, that the explanation that makes sense (to me) is that it just doesn't work like any other gun.  It's got the rate of fire that it does, it's got the magazine capacity that it does, and it's got the built-in lack of sound that it does, by being something besides a traditional firearm.  The "magazine" is some sort of solid polymer brick, and the gun fires by scraping slivers off that brick and hurtling them down the barrel a whole lot of slivers at a time.

I know a lot of people that rule it works pretty much the way you described. Considering the description states, "it fires metal slivers that count as flechette ammunition (already factored in to the Damage Code)," RAI seems to agree. It doesn't fire standard bullets, it fires slivergun ammo that counts as flechette for stat purposes (to save from printing an identical line other than name in the ammunition tables).

If I remember the Viper got the nickname, Slivergun, from a popular trid (I can't find the reference at the moment - it was either in 2e or 3e that it happened, I wanna say 3e). Prior editions didn't describe the Slivergun as firing different kind of ammo:

Ares Viper Slivergun: The Slivergun is a sleek weapon with burst fire capabilities and built-in sound suppression. It fires metal slivers that count as flechette ammunition (already factored in to the Damage Code).

Ares Viper Slivergun: This pistol fires flechette ammunition (which is already factored into its Damage Code). It has the range of a heavy pistol and features a built-in silencer.

Area Viper: The pistol fires flechette ammunition (already factored into it's damage code). The slivergun has the range of a heavy pistol even though it is really a light pistol. The Viper features a built-in silencer.

Area Viper: The pistol fires flechette ammunition (already factored into it's damage code). The slivergun has the range of a heavy pistol even though it is really a light pistol. The Viper features a built-in silencer.

I like the idea of the blocks of material being inserted and shaved off for ammo, it kinda reminds me of the nanite material ammo blocks from Old Man's War.  The only thing I'm trying to understand is how that fits in with SR 2070's explained tech.  Does a separate block of propellants have to be inserted as well?  Or are we moving into the realm of the railgun? Coilgun?

I made my assumptions above because of the "metal slivers that count as flechette ammunition" and, I'm gathering, because of the lack of errata in my SR4A...

[Critias]

No, you're right, it's never actually been said (clearly) anywhere, and especially not in older editions.  It's just been my internal justification for it, because otherwise I just don't understand how the thing has the stats it does, at the size it does, and at the price it does.

Why can it hold 30 flechette rounds in a mag when the Predator (the gold standard) can hold half that?  Why can it fire on bursts when the Savalette Guardian and Ruger Thunderbolt were the remarkable, awe-inspiring, death cannons of their day when they could fire bursts? 

So the zany solid-block of ammo that gets shredded and launched is what I came up with...maybe inspired by some other fiction I'd read, maybe half-remembered from a movie, I dunno, but it made sense to me.   

[FastJack]

No, you're right, it's never actually been said (clearly) anywhere, and especially not in older editions.  It's just been my internal justification for it, because otherwise I just don't understand how the thing has the stats it does, at the size it does, and at the price it does.

Why can it hold 30 flechette rounds in a mag when the Predator (the gold standard) can hold half that?  Why can it fire on bursts when the Savalette Guardian and Ruger Thunderbolt were the remarkable, awe-inspiring, death cannons of their day when they could fire bursts? 

So the zany solid-block of ammo that gets shredded and launched is what I came up with...maybe inspired by some other fiction I'd read, maybe half-remembered from a movie, I dunno, but it made sense to me.   

It was in some novel, 'cuz I remember it too. Was it Secrets of Power?

[Ten-Hex]

No, you're right, it's never actually been said (clearly) anywhere, and especially not in older editions.  It's just been my internal justification for it, because otherwise I just don't understand how the thing has the stats it does, at the size it does, and at the price it does.

Why can it hold 30 flechette rounds in a mag when the Predator (the gold standard) can hold half that?  Why can it fire on bursts when the Savalette Guardian and Ruger Thunderbolt were the remarkable, awe-inspiring, death cannons of their day when they could fire bursts? 

So the zany solid-block of ammo that gets shredded and launched is what I came up with...maybe inspired by some other fiction I'd read, maybe half-remembered from a movie, I dunno, but it made sense to me.   

It was in some novel, 'cuz I remember it too. Was it Secrets of Power?

It was Never Deal With a Dragon, yep. Ghost gives Sam a slivergun and he winds up shooting someone for the first time. It describes it as firing plastic flechettes, which probably impressed itself on the memories of many old-timers.

[Critias]

That would be it, then, yeah.  I haven't read those things in forever.  I can never quite bring myself to get rid of them, but I haven't opened them in probably 15 years.

[CanRay]

Also why he's the most peaceful Shadowrunner around, even up 'til the 2060s, as he never found out he was responsible for the guy's death after all.

Good series, and good pistol when used right.

[savaze]

The funny thing is... I just checked my first printing Special Edition 4e book, the monogrammed version (the cool one), which I never check any more because it's so full of typos that I bought a new one to not have to deal with it, and the stats are the same as my copy of SR4A.

Is there an official ruling on this (+2 AP or +5 AP).

@ Critias
I understand the issue being not cannon, but it still sounds cool so I was rolling with it!

EDIT:
Never mind on the official ruling... it's in the SR4 errata, but not the SR4A or Arsenal (it mentions Fichetti Tiffani Needler) stuff.

[savaze]

Don't they have tungston flechete in War! that has better armor defeating traits? Wish I had my books

The Armor-Piercing Flechette in War! adds +2 P, bringing the damage code to 10 P (f).  I'm not sure I'd play with it because it shares the same damage code with the Panther Cannon in the size of a light pistol, though there is a 10 AP difference between the two (imagine the Viper tricked out to be FA and to absorb recoil doing called shots)...

EDIT:
I just got to thinking and perhaps I read the Armor-Piercing Flechette wrong and you just get the +2 P with no AP modifier instead of an additional +2 on top of Flechette...

[Mäx]

Never mind on the official ruling... it's in the SR4 errata, but not the SR4A or Arsenal (it mentions Fichetti Tiffani Needler) stuff.

Actually, as my earlier post said its in the Arsenal errata too, check the section at the end that has errata for the tables in the back.

[Elizara Dane]

The shearing slivers off a single block of metal sounds exactly like the tech in the first Mass Effect game.

From the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_effect#Weapons_and_equipment

"Ammunition is unlimited; instead of needing to reload, a weapon will build up heat until it overheats, and cannot fire until it has sufficiently cooled down. In-game, the reasoning for this is that weapons are loaded with "blocks" of ammunition material, and each round fired is sheared off from this central supply of ammunition. The rounds themselves are described as being the size of a "grain of sand" and are launched through mass accelerator technology at extremely high speeds."

I've always been a fan of weapons with odd/unique ammunition and just figured that the Slivergun had something like triangular casings.

[savaze]

Actually, as my earlier post said its in the Arsenal errata too, check the section at the end that has errata for the tables in the back.

You're right...  Someone should get word to the errata guys to put it in the SR4A stuff too

[Stahlseele]

The Slivergun has been wrong since 2nd edition. At least since 3rd edition.
In 1st Edition it was a LIGHT Pistol, NOT a Heavy Pistol.
Also, this weapon is based on Molly Millions Needler from William Gibsons Neuromancer.