Miscellaneous Tech

Iceburg-5 - where you at??
"No need for alarm, right now I'm cruisin to the sound of my enhanced CD-ROM"
Hurry up 5, yo you know it's about to get thick
I see this cat away behind my back about to do a stick
"Tell me where you at, I will be there in 10 seconds flat, you know I got your
back, I'll be there just in time to counteract"
Busta Rhymes, Fire it Up
There are plenty of unconventional weapons out there - things that make technophiles, terrorists and tacticans drool. This is an area the TU has a real advantage: it contains plenty of expertise in making stuff that nobody else expects.

Pulse Bombs

Pulse bombs produce an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP), disrupting or damaging electronic systems. While some devices are hardened (like essential hospital equipment and military systems), electronics in general is easily damaged by the EMP. The pulse induces kilovolt potentials that can burn out integrated circuits, overload communication systems or randomize data in computer memories. Even if the device isn't destroyed it can be wounded, making it work but with much lower reliability. Since there are electronics just about everywhere, a pulse bomb will bring practically all aspects of modern life to a halt - phones don't work, cars won't start, appliances malfunction and computers break down.

The most common form of pulse bombs is Flux Compression Generators; explosives are used to rapidly compress a magnetic field, transferring energy from the explosion into a pulse. The device is fairly simple to build by an engineer with knowledge of electronics and demolition, and has a "kill radius" of several hundred meters. The military has developed even more powerful pulse bombs ("E-Bombs") intended to take out even some hardened targets using high power microwaves.

Needless to say, antiterrorist agencies will swarm to the place where a pulse bomb has been detonated. While there have been some international attempts to limit the spread of E-weapons, they are too easy to make, and they are rapidly becoming a terrorist weapon of choice against information society. Even if vital systems are hardened the breakdown of other systems are often enough to prevent operations.

The Electromagnetic Bomb - a Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction

Jamming

ECM: Electronic Counter Measures are the bane of all the wireless communication systems. Originally developed for military uses, but now also employed by the TU (and worrying enough, some of the anti-TU groups). ECM jammers simply jam certain radio frequencies with loud noise, making communication impossible. A correctly tuned or sufficiently broad jammer can wipe out use of wearable net access, cellular phones, GPS, drones or similar radio systems in the area. A well placed jammer device can turn a C3I system into a liability by breaking communications just when they are needed; on the other hand, the military is constantly developing systems that are harder to jam. There are also military ECCMs, weapons such as small missiles that follow the emissions of the jammer and blow it up. There are also rumors that Trillicon Arms is developing the "Concordat ECCCM", a tiny missile intended to ride on top of the jammer and attacking the attacking missile.

Non-Lethal Weapons

Killing people is generally considered bad form, and after PR disasters such as Waco, Somalia and the Nanjing riots most western states deeply realized the need for non-lethal weapons. The idea is to subdue or disable the opponent without undue harm, which of course looks much better in the media and also avoids the problem with "dead men tell no tales". They are quite attractive to use as crowd control, antiterrorism, arrest of violent criminals and hostage rescue, even if they are far from safe. One side effect is that police and others are less inhibited from using them than lethal weapons.

The most common non-lethal weapons are tasers, tanglers and various crowd-control gases:

Taser guns fire two small needles that inject a electric shock into the target. The effect stuns most targets, although some might be slightly more resistant and people with weak hearts might suffer from shock. Tasers are in widespread use among security firms; several nations have tried to introduce them among the police, but generally police forces have refused to let go of their guns.

Tanglers fire nets, quickly expanding sticky foam or "spaghetti rounds" that entangle the target. They are not as popular as tasers since they require more skill in handling (and proper equipment for handling the incapacitated adhesive target), but are much easier to hit with and are not as hindered by armored wests. A direct hit to the head can suffocate the target. Tanglers are usually employed by SWAT teams, especially when targeting a group of people.

Chemical crowd control (CCC) weapons involve tear and vomit gases, tranquilizing aerosols and foam weapons that quickly expand and harden. While most are intended for use against riots, they also exist in an "indoor grenade" form for antiterrorism or hostage situations.

In addition to these there exists other non-lethal weapons not in wide use, especially prototypes that never got off the ground (such as infrasonic riot control systems) and military sabotage weaponry. The sabotage weapons range from E-bombs over stuff like Lime to zero friction dust (teflon microdust that ruins sensitive equipment and is practically impossible to get rid of).

http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/nlw/

http://mprofaca.cronet.com/atpc1.html#5.

http://www.cdsar.af.mil/apj/mcgowan.html

U-2 "Cool It"

A crowd control gas used first in the US, but imitated in EU and PRC. It consists of a skin absorbed aerosol tranquilizer, making people very calm and damped. Perfect for handling riots, wild parties and unlawful demonstrations.

[ Unless the victim can manage a Great MIND roll or a Fair Emotion Control roll, he or she becomes passive and cannot initiate anything more than routine actions for the next few hours. ]

Tear Gas (haloacetones)

Old classics, as nasty then as now. Highly irritating to the eyes and throat, causes strong coughing, tears and sometimes vomiting. No longer the preferred method in enlightened places like the EU and US, but popular everywhere else. Look out for little old ladies with tear gas cans.

[ -3 to all actions, unless a Great END or a Fair Body Control roll succeeds, which reduces the penalty with one for one step of difference. ]

Fluff Bomb

Another "nonlethal" weapon. When it explodes it fills a volume of 30 cubic meters with foam that instantly hardens to a strong solid. In the open it is mostly a nuisance since the foam tends to fly off in all directions, but a grenade can fill an entire room and immobilize everyone inside. Breathing is still possible since the foam is porous, but most feel suffocated. Getting rid of the foam from everything is very tiresome.

[ To move, a person in the foam needs to succeed with a Good STR roll for each action; visibility is of course nil. ]

Liquid Metal Embrittlement ("Lime")

A handy little sabotage device originally developed for use against terrorists but now used by some of the more physical groups of the TU. The device looks like a felt-tip pen, containing a clear mercury solution that weakens metals it comes into contact with. It has obvious applications of painting car brakes, hull plates in a ship or supporting beams in buildings. After a while the embrittling agent has diffused into the metal and made it brittle, and a shift in the load can make it break. The residues are detectable, but only if the investigator specifically looks for them.

Flexiknifes

A handy invention from N Conspiracy, a nanotech knife made of flexible "smart" plastic. It looks and feels like a thick rubber strap, but when it is sharply flipped the polymer reacts and the whole knife stiffens into a fairly workable weapon with an edge sharp enough to cut flesh. After being flipped the knife will return to its original state in half an hour. N Conspiracy also markets other designs based on these smart materials, and can design custom tools based on them. Recipe: 230 IOU
InfoWar