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- Jan 8, 2017
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Heavy Power Pack
Affiliation:
Open Market
Manufacturer:
Various
Type:
A portable blaster
power pack Power Supply:
Rechargeable Internal battery
Lasts as long as the pack
has gas left
Sensors:
Internal pressure sensor
Size:
Varies, but most are
0.5m to 0.75m across
with up to 2m of cable
The units normally weigh
around 20kg
Composition:
The casing is durasteel
the rest a mixture of
plasteel or durafiber
DESCRIPTION
With the rise of the man-portable repeating blasters came a drive for increased ammo capacity. One of the relatively new solutions to his problem is the heavy back-mounted power pack. Developed simultaneously by several major weapons manufacturers almost 50 years ago, the early days of the device were mired by litigation and accusations of industrial espionage. After a few tumultuous years the Imperial republican courts ruled it a case of convergent design to meet a growing market demand and dismissed all suits and cases. Since then there have been several different makes and models but they all perform essentially the same task and have a similar shape and design.The packs consist of a Durasteel framed drum that contains a battery and a gas canister and cables and tubes that lead down to connect to a blaster's power pack's refilling socket. This allows the pack to extend the amount of ammunition the weapon has by effectively connecting the power pack to a store of additional capacity. The amount of capacity is dictated by the power of the weapons, the more powerful, the more gas and energy is used per shot. Light damage weapons get an extra 50 shots, medium get an extra 30 shots and heavy get an extra 10.
By default these packs are only designed to work with repeaters or machine guns. Only weapons that rapidly cycle gas can draw from the pack without causing pressure feedback and potentially fatal malfunctions.
The devices while useful haven't seen widespread use in the galaxy. This is for several major reasons. Firstly the pack is heavy enough to make it impractical for troops that need to be mobile. Secondly sales were restricted to military personnel out of concerns that these packs might empower pirates or similar individuals that would see no downside to the employment of these devices. Thirdly the temperamental nature of the device:
When damaged by blaster fire or similar levels of impact and heat the pack has a chance of exploding. This chance is at 10%, results of 00-10 on a d100 role or equivalent. When they explode they go off dealing medium damage in a manner identical to a thermal detonator with a radius of 15m if above half full, 5m if half or less.
LEGALITY
Restricted to military personnel, normally only licensed for use at outposts and other similar defensive positions.INTENT
To make a weapon upgrade that was designed to make repeaters more effective but with a challenging inherent risk to use.ADVANCED TECH
YES, the relative infancy of the technology and restriction of sale makes them difficult to acquire. 1-2 tech threads of reasonable difficulty.
