Durandal expressed grave concern over expected difficulties in vanquishing the Pfhor a second time. In accordance with his preoccupation, he has “borrowed” a few weaponry ideas from the Auraen Stormtroopers, an elite band of terrestrial peacekeepers who are widely acclaimed (and feared) for their highly illegal modifications. At the risk of the Pfhor filing an intergalactic suit against him for breaching battle conduct regulations (who would want to try that case anyway?), the renegade AI has redesigned your suit and modified your implants to accept the new weaponry. Be prepared to whack somebody's action, 'cuz you are now armed to the teeth and beyond.
Durandal's Weapon Modification Details:
The Fist--My first order of business was to reroute the power supply from your left arm. As a result, your left arm now only functions to fire weapons and may not be used to punch. To make up for this lack of versatility, I built in a nasty little fusion generator that runs off the capacitor in your suit. Hold down the secondary trigger to charge up, then let it rip when you feel the need. You will release an unstable fusion ball, which will flutter erratically but will remain in the same general area. As its polarity is attuned to that of your suit, you may pass through it unaffected. Contact with any other surface, however, will cause the rapid nuclear decomposition of the projectile, affecting all those within the area.
The Pistol--A wondrous bit of deadly mechanics, the new pistol bears only an outward resemblance to its former structure. Your display will still recognize it as a .44 Magnum, but it has in fact been bored out to .62 caliber. The bullets are hardly standard-issue Galactic Marine ammunition: A mixture of aluminum and iron oxide powders are jacketed by a magnesium sheath. The upshot of this construction is that one of these projectiles that passes through armor or shielding of any type is going to heat up significantly. A well-aimed shot at thick armor will even ignite the magnesium, initiating a thermite reaction. I hereby give you leave to laugh your sadistic marine's chuckle as you watch the innards of your foes boil and spill messily out to litter the ground in less than a second. Naturally, the downside is that an indirect hit with a powder-based bullet may not even do sufficient damage to kill an assimilated BOB. On the other hand, one good shot can eviscerate a Major Trooper. Internal stabilization and correction mechanisms ensure the accuracy of every shot fired. I know you won't be disappointed with this one.
The Fusion Pistol--Using S'pht knowledge of subnuclear physics, I managed to devise a method of shaping the fusion charge to make it more aerodynamic and thus quicker. I have been particularly successful with the overload blast.
The Shotgun--Grinning an electronic grin to myself at the unlikely prospect of improving a weapon that had withstood the test of centuries of close-quarters performance, I decided to move on to greener pastures.
The Machine Gun--This formerly heavy, cumbersome, unwieldy weapon has been refined and completely restructured by yours truly. An ultralight spaceframe made of modular plastics provides for lighter weight and therefore greater accuracy; naturally I also modified the firing mechanisms. Built on the same principles as a twentieth-century Vulcan cannon, this gun is now one bad belt-driven son of a bitch, pouring hollowtip 12mm slugs into your target at an astounding rate. Admittedly, each single shot inflicts little damage, but the cumulative effect is devastating. Enjoy all 300 rounds per bandolier; they run out more quickly than you might expect when you are busy watching the empty casings fly. Your suit display (an infinitely stupid machine, manufactured by some technologically backward, hopelessly underachieving company called “Intel”) will only keep track of the last 52 rounds, serving as a warning that you are running out. The only caveat to this otherwise flawless killing machine is that the recoil is noticeably greater than that of the original MA-75. Stop your griping--them's the breaks when you fire sixty bullets per second!
In this version of your modifications I trashed the riot clusters 'cuz they just didn't do any damage. Now you can fire specially-modified subatomics from that grenade housing. I didn't really have any time to design a casing for these weapons, so they are. . . well, sort of exposed to the elements. Anyway, it's a good thing you aren't human or the radiation would make you into a blistered, bleeding ruin in a few seconds. Since there is no case, I installed a sporadic-fire motor that ensures a relatively slow, even flight without the nasty premature detonation that would occur at higher velocities. It looks odd, but the S'pht have assured me that it will work. The motor also keeps the subatomic on a level flight path. One final caution: The Auraen word for “subatomic” also means “stand far away,” and I would strongly advise you to do just that. Don't worry about limited supplies; I have managed to secure plenty of these to spare for your amusement.
The SSM Launcher--Again applying the advances of S'pht physics and propulsion, I have provided you with missiles that are three times faster than previous models, at the cost of a little extra recoil. Better still, when two missiles remain, the secondary trigger will fire both at once on slightly diverging paths. The twin rockets will exit with slightly less velocity than a single one does to prevent the backblast from knocking you into next Tuesday.
The Napalm Blast Furnace--Although I was unable to prevent the primary function of this weapon from effectively blinding you, I did manage to include a secondary shot here. The secondary trigger now belches forth gobs of liquid napalm instead of spraying the vaporized form. This method of operation is disgusting but highly effective, as each gob will coat the target with a superheated layer of flaming petroleum, enough to deep-fry almost anything. Of course, the napalm unit cannot release the gobs as rapidly as it dishes out the spray, but that's life.
The Alien Weapon--With a copy of this weapon now in my possession, I have designed for you a cybernetic chip that takes certain “advantages” of the firing mechanism. Similar to the fusion pistol, charging this sucker up will enable you to fire the secondary shot. The quantum capacitor in this device stores the energy in light for its own use, making it, effectively, a solar-powered weapon. Your chip will fool the capacitor into charging way beyond its limit, storing massive amounts of energy in about half a second. Let it go and. . . notice the different color and behavior of the shot. When this thing hits something it WILL implode, and the shockwave will be outrageously powerful--don't stand anywhere near your target. You may notice that those affected by the secondary shot do not decompose immediately; the resonance left by the blast actually holds their bursting corpses intact for a time, almost in stasis. The stasis is an illusion; the properties of the projectile are similar to those emitted by Dai'krull Planet Disruptors, horrific weapons that have been banned in every major system. Animate entities caught in the blast are actually torn apart molecule by molecule, occasionally even seeming to teleport from one spot to another while the shockwave continues to resonate through them. Some think that this process is the key to flawless long-distance teleportation, but the gruesome nature of the experiments had brought them to an indefinite halt--until now. You have to see it to believe it, but don't get too close. Unfortunately, the increased capacitance will also burn out the gun with a single shot. Savor your victory. . . then find another one.
Durandal's Creature Features:
The BOBs--I have given them the same magnum pistols that you were issued, just not the same ammunition. . . I advise you not to irritate them as they will kill you swiftly and without hesitation.
Hunters--Idly amusing myself one day, I drew up some plans for improving these killing machines. Unbeknownst to me, a defector within the ranks of my S'pht leaked the modifications to Pfhor high command. Alas, I was too late to prevent my the integration of my concepts. All three varieties will now fire their weapons liberally and with no provocation. The giant blue ones are particularly dangerous: a bulky fusion driver allows them to shoot more often than ever before. Be careful when killing them; as you know, a damaged fusion driver tends to destroy itself in a rather spectacular fashion. . .
Juggernauts--These bloated, grossly disproportionate tanks are nonetheless extremely dangerous, especially since the major ones now fire hunter bolts. Avoid these at all costs when they have sustained critical damage. If it were only possible, you should avoid them at all times.
All right, now for the mumbo-jumbo. This physics model doesn't screw up my computer or any of those owned by my friends, so I apologize but take no responsibility if it does anything to yours. I don't play a hell of a lot of net games, but I assume that this would be OK for them. You may want to tone down the damage of some of the weapons if you plan on playing against people most of the time. ATTENTION: The “Network” version of this model does just that, and I've even included it in this archive for you, in case you don't have the guts or inclination to ask me for it. If you are a primarily solo player who can kick ass on Normal but gets it kicked on TC (like me), you will enjoy the extra firepower and the nuances of the bigger enemies. If you want to distribute this physics model, please include this readme file 'cuz I wasted a lot of time on it and it makes things so much better if they are explained. If you like the way this changes the game, if you hate it, or if you just have an opinion or suggestion, don't hesitate to email me, send me money, et cetera.
Credit where it's due department: Thanks to the creator of the Iron Fist Physics Model (whose name I never got), whose machine gun idea I borrowed (sorry, but it is technically public domain and it was such a great concept that I couldn't help it). If anyone wants to use any of the ideas from this model in one of their own, go right ahead. It's a free world, right? Send me a copy and I'll tell you what I think.
Thanks to Rage Against the Machine for providing better Marathon accompaniment than anyone else.
