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[Aseaheru]

"Its a pity they are so transparent. Our walker missed the first time at point-blank range."

[MonkeyHead]

"I do worry about how lasers may perform against them. Maybe we should test one of these corpses against some curde laser prototypes before putting any laser weapons into production."

[Aseaheru]

"Good point, please do."

[MonkeyHead]

Addon request to alien autopsy - test crystal structures response to laser light.

[Aseaheru]

"Hey, what happens when you shoot something with a laser through them?"

[Wrex]

Addon request to alien autopsy - test crystal structures response to laser light.

The laser refracted through the crystaline material, and caused minimal visible harm. However, further autopsy revealed interior damage that was quite extensive, to the "tissues" that we suppose comprise it's sensorium.

Spoiler: Crystaloid Shardcaster researched! (click to show/hide)

This strange weapon accepts ammunition in the form of a hexagonal prism of a blue, opaque crystal. This material seems incredibly resistant to damage, as well as chipping. When properly heated, however, the crystal undergoes a rapid change in structure, becoming a light, transparent orange colour. In this state, stimulus of large amounts of thermal energy causes the crystal to explosively fracture. The Alien weapon, which in ballistic tests resembled a shotgun more than a rifle, supplies sustained heating, as well as pulses of extreme heat in a controllable manner, causing a spray of exceedingly sharp projectiles with velocity exceeding that of modern shotguns. While a given crystal is good for 60 rounds, the weapon has an exceedingly long reload time, as it needs to heat the crystal to the proper temprature. 

[MonkeyHead]

"So, laser weapons might not kill them, but will render them blind. In the medium term future we could use this to obtain living specemins! As for thier weapon... it seems half shotgun, half flamethrower. All the more reason to engage at range where possible. Reccomend that soldiers wishing to carry a shotgun into combat consider one of these as an alternative, at least until we can reverse engineer these shards into our own weapon that adresses the drawbacks of the alien design."

Question: is reverse engineering of this weapon feasable at the current moment in time? Either just the ammo in some kind of self contained round fired from a shotgun, or a complete weapon pattern to replace the shotgun/flamethrower with a more lethal human tech weapon based on the alien tech?

[Execute/Dumbo.exe]

what about redesigning it so there are multiple chambers, each one used in succession after one has been exhausted, meaning that reload time is decreased. after the reverse engineering.

[Wrex]

The scientists noted, with some trepidation, that the mass of the slugs fired was considerably greater than the mass of the slug in it's whole state, by almost 33%. The scales, as far as they are aware of, were properly calibrated.

[Aseaheru]

I wonder if we can link three of them into one weapon...

[Turalisj]

"I would like to suggest studying alien metals to use in equipment such as armor and close combat weapons."

[GreatWyrmGold]

The scientists noted, with some trepidation, that the mass of the slugs fired was considerably greater than the mass of the slug in it's whole state, by almost 33%. The scales, as far as they are aware of, were properly calibrated.

"Intriguing, isn't it? They can completely ignore the laws of thermodynamics, or else have an absurd reserve of energy."

[Dragor23]

Overheard in the cantine :

"So, these Crystaloid seem to have a dermis largerly consiting of sensory organs."
"Yeah, I heard that as well... I wonder what they pick up? Sound? Light? Smell?"
"Probably either sound or light or even heat. Much more feasible for them, when they use ranged weapons."
"True! I wonder if common flashbangs would work against them... Maybe even knock them out, due to a large scale sensory overload?"
"That could be possible..."

[Turalisj]

 One scientist begins looking at the materials the aliens use. They seem to be lighter, and stronger, than anything on earth and perhaps can be scavenged for use by X-COM personnel.

[MonkeyHead]

"So, laser weapons might not kill them, but will render them blind. In the medium term future we could use this to obtain living specemins! As for thier weapon... it seems half shotgun, half flamethrower. All the more reason to engage at range where possible. Reccomend that soldiers wishing to carry a shotgun into combat consider one of these as an alternative, at least until we can reverse engineer these shards into our own weapon that adresses the drawbacks of the alien design."

Question: is reverse engineering of this weapon feasable at the current moment in time? Either just the ammo in some kind of self contained round fired from a shotgun, or a complete weapon pattern to replace the shotgun/flamethrower with a more lethal human tech weapon based on the alien tech?

Seeing as we have time for one more research before the upcoming mission...

Regarding the above: submit a request for development of some kind of crystal-flechette round, ideally shotgun fired, but potentially a rifle round with some kind of sabot system.