"Right... What to start with first..."
Read the gauss rifle, laser rifle, scout eye, battle suit and shard launcher manuals, in that order.
The Gauss manual talks mostly about how the overcharge is dangerous and can damage the coils of the rifle. Boring.
The laser rifle manual goes over the intensity and diffusion knobs as well as the strange fact that it can be coded to fire remotely.
The Scout eye manual is filled with warnings about how flying the eye into a wall is a very bad idea. Apparently the little drone actually has little legs with which it can attach itself to things or walk around, albeit very slowly. It makes notes to a underslung panel on the robot that needs to be removed, as well as a circuit system that needs to be activated before the legs work.
The battle suit manual is goddamn massive, a fucking text book worth of diagrams, optional equipment, underlying commands and technical specs. Reading this all in one setting would take...god a long time...so you skim it a bit before setting it aside for now. You catch a few interesting things, like the fact that the suit actually has built in Kinetic Amps in the hands, but that they're not activated in standard models, or that is actually designed to accept what they call "Extended Rocketpods" which allow it to fly like a MK III, albeit for shorter periods. (if you want to read more of that manual, It will take several turns. There's lots of stuff.)
The shard launcher is another oddity. Beyond it's standard firing and charge mode, it also has the ability to "Print" objects made of the crystal it uses. The examples shown in the book are that of a knife blade that, when slotted into a normal handle, gives you a single use stabbing weapon that literally explodes in the target and a trip wire that is, in and of it self, a trap.
Model the aerodynamics of the rod after an oversized modern bullet, as shown here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet
After that, experiment with a ball and chain setup, using a modern cable that can retract into a modified glove, and embedding the kinetic amp inside the metal ball.
How big a rod we talking here? Because just rounding the tip of a 2 foot rod isn't gonna make it fly straight, especially if there's any wind or anything. Something like the feathers on an arrow would probably be better.
As per your ball and chain glove thing, there are a few possible problems here. The first is that having the Kinetic amp in the center of the ball won't do anything. The amp is basically a postage stamp sized square of metal that takes the force imparted to one side and multiplies it before releasing it from the other side. So inside the ball it just won't do anything, however, studding the ball with them like the spikes on a mace would work. Only problem with that is making sure you don't catch it and accidentally blow your own hand off.
Jim redoubled his efforts; he was going to break this man's nose no matter what.
[str:4]
[Man str:3]
[man end:1]
You bring your knee up into the struggling man's face with a solid crunch. He collapses instantly, unconscious, and the program proceeds to the next opponent, a man with a knife.
((Yep, same rifle in same position))
You aim at the sentinel and fire. The shot does absolutely nothing. You realize a bit sheepishly that you must have turned the diffusion up to max.