Alright so what I'm seeing here is a laser that can effectively fire across the wave spectrum and is more powerful then a normal laser, if given time to warm up. How long is that Cook time, exactly? And would you be firing the beam the entire time it cooks or would it be cycling internally? And if it is the latter, would that require a loop within the gun or could that loop be made in the wiggler?
((Conventionally, I think the biggest problem of the FEL in real-life is the electron acceleration, so normally the charge-up time would be the electron accelerator spooling up. With that disregarded (say, by having the accelerator always spooled up since it runs off a generator - kinda like the proton packs, but without the packs), as far as I could find the real FEL reaches its nominal output within a short enough time as to be inconsequential, even unseeded.
I'm not sure how wrong I am on this and in which direction, but erring on the side of longer and taking future developments and the fact that it's being crammed into a personal weapon into account let's say that it will reach its nominal continuous power level within one second of continuous firing if the shot is not charged.
If the shot is charged, the output of the beam is looped back into the wiggler, amplifying the power of the beam exponentially as the electrons clump together more rapidly. Taking all of the above into account, I'd say that within some two seconds of charging the beam will reach its maximum theoretical power, at which point it is dangerously close to just burning through the weapon itself. While the shot charges no beam is emitted. When the shot is discharged, the initial microsecond pulse could be over twice the power of a standard laser, rapidly falling off to the beam's regular maximum power.
This is all highly theoretical. Current-tech FELs are the sort of thing you build a building around. 
Since my explanations always work better with pictures (that's not to say they always work, sadly ), here's some pictures.
The weapon is powered by the generator in the stock. Resting directly on top of it is the cyclotron accelerator for electrons, which is activated when the weapon is turned on, and maintains a stream of accelerated electrons ready for firing. The main body consists of the linear electron accelerator on the bottom, the magnetic oscillator (wiggler) chamber in the center, and the focusing array on top. On the topside of the weapon is the electronic sight. The forward grip on the bottom is adjustable. The thumb button above the main trigger controls the charge-up procedure, and the two small twist dials on the side control beam power and dispersion. The frequency control dial is larger, located on the side of the stock, next to a small LCD display detailing the chosen frequency.
Blue rectangle - Generator location.
Yellow line - path taken by electrons.
Red line - path taken by generated laser.
Going by the above descriptions, the weapon would have a cyclotron accelerator that would work all the time, feeding a ready stream of electrons into the linear accelerator on the underside when the weapon is fired. The stream is accelerated and directed into the wiggler, where electrons wiggle around and generate the beam, which is then reflected into the focusing array on top, and out the weapon muzzle. The beam can also be redirected at the end of the focusing chamber, back into the wiggler, seeding the electron stream and charging up the following shot.
...What is it with me and drawing all of the stuff I plan? ))
I think someone up above talked about this one shot capacitor thing. As per size, it depends. The energy output per crystal isn't set, even if they're all the same size, unfortunately. It's not a huge variance normally, but if you wanted to get it juuuuust right and keep it as small as possible, you're gonna need to do a hell of a lot of testing with various sized shards in real life, since the VR can't accurately simulate the variables of their lattice makeup.
((Fair enough. I'd still like at least a ballpark estimate on the size for the things I mentioned - kill a human, fire a gauss rifle, fire a gauss cannon. There might be no point working on it if it takes a crystal roughly the size of a grapefruit to fire a gauss rifle, for instance - even with possible improvements, it's just not practical.))
Lets see...
Ok, fair enough, I'm ignorant enough to go with that.
Alright.
*looks at pictures*
Hmm works for me.
Mental note, Source Sean for later needs with Unnamed project. Combination of skills shall prove helpful.
Well, I believe someone made a needle rifle and I gave some numbers there. Assume the smallest crystal he's firing is able to kill a man, or at least kill them 50% of the time and the rest of the time make them very close to dead. Electricity is weird. It has an odd habit of not killing people when it should and killing them when it shouldn't. Hm.
Gauss rifle, normal shot...eh...Not grapefruit fat, but a bit unwieldy, like 8 inches long or so, but thin.
Cannon is even larger, scale up several times in fact.
((Sean, those both look rather... unergonomic. Especially the plain laser rifle - that battery port does not look like it would make a good grip. [/nitpick]))
Make one, but only just one remote-capable Will uncompensator. Also, make enough tracker/electrification implants (like the ones put in all HMRC prisoners/ARM operatives) to be able to put one in all the captured civilian workers+Xanclone and Grate, while we're making implants.
Anton, how are things on the front of us getting rid of that abomination?
Saint, I'm making some implants, mostly for the captured civilians - when they're done and you're ready, I'd like you and Charles to go, him convincing - just the canned speech he's made should be fine, and you implanting. Nobody works here without an implant, am I clear? And yes, that means the new Grate will get one as well. Also, there's another implant being made, alongside the usual tracker and electric implant, especially for Xan, whom we have a clone of in stasis. It should render him... mostly harmless. I have the keys to the room his chamber is in, and his chamber, so I'll open it when you're ready to put it in. The second key will be left in your possession at this time - both must be used to open it.
Done and done. Though I suggest you get the hospital machines to implant them, since fucking up generally kills or brain deads you.
((Sean, those both look rather... unergonomic. Especially the plain laser rifle - that battery port does not look like it would make a good grip. [/nitpick]))
((Damn it Pyro, I'm an artist, not a weapons designer! [/McCoy]
More seriously, I've actually been given the impression that the standard lasers are exactly that - boxy, slightly unergonomic, quintessence of function-over-form sort of things. The grip on the battery port is probably more a result of lousy sketching on my side.
I'll happily make any adjustments you think should be there. Anton will probably design it as-is first - he is likely more concerned with the part that shoots lasers, not the part that lets a person comfortably hold it. Also, that place where you would normally press your face against the eyepiece of the digital sight is right on top of the particle accelerator - the one with all the powerful magnets and high-energy matter streams. Better hope you have a nonconductive ceramic face or can use the remote camera feed from the sight for firing.
Also, this thing will require like 4 strength to hold. It's probably heavier than the gauss rifle.))
Anton Chernozorov
Anton, how are things on the front of us getting rid of that abomination?
"First batch of bombs and drones are ready to go, just need a plan. Do we just send them in one by one until the whole thing's dead, or something else? I'll be sending them on the way now, it's sort of a long way down. We'll sort it out on-site."
Have the 5 bomb-drones descend into the affected area. Borrow some of Saint's relay drones to get the signal down to the contact area. If no better plan manifests itself, let 4 bomb-drones wait outside of the projected effect radius, have 1 bomb-drone approach the fleshmonster, set the timer to "enough time for everything else we have there to get clear", pull out all scout eyes and relays so they're safe from any electromagnetic effects, and wait for the neutron bomb to initiate. Then move in some scout eyes and observe results.
While the above is happening in the real world, see about getting that FEL portable-ized in VR, and get the rough estimates for PSL shard power output.
You send one of your flying bombs in and, after a while of pulling everyone back and getting everything prepared, you set it off.
See bottom of post.
((I was gonna type up a whole new turn, focused on finishing the Testament, but typing is hard because I got one've my hands burned. So old turn it is.
Also, Sean, I really like your art- but if you ever redraw the FEL, add a thumbhole to the stock. Also, the stock is super short, although that's not a bad thing for CQB. Just makes it a bit more awkward when aiming.))
"Damn. I spent centuries in stasis, and DF's only up to version 8. √2? I envy those people who saw releases every other decade."
Turn below
1.Yes, I want the bodies to be perfectly normal for now. We might make different bodies later, but normal's good for now.
2.Those flesh samples that Anton was testing on- I want to try something on them. Take chlorine pentafluoride (ClF5, basically it's ClF3 but with 66.6% more concentrated hatred per mole. It reacts with every element except noble gases, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine.), and dump some on a flesh sample. Does it resist that?
3.If the flesh does resist it, check how it does so. Does it go the way of metals, and form a protective fluoride layer? If so, dump water on the ClF5- supposedly, that creates heat, hydrogen fluoride, and chloryl fluoride, which apparently dissolves that protective fluoride.
4.If it resists all that, then make note of how it does so. That seems like it might be useful. Yay for advanced chemistry where none of the participants actually understand what they're working with.
Now, finally, back to the Testament & power suit or whatever I named it.
5.About the powered gloves on that suit I modified, and making them safe: I'm not certain what it's called, but there's a method to monitor the integrity of a conductive surface by having electricity flow into it from one side, and measuring it at the other. It can detect holes and other abnormalities in the material. I want to set up something like that, and as long as it doesn't detect any abnormalities, it transmits a 'safe' signal. If it stops transmitting, the power is cut. To make sure it stays working, at all times have a very tiny amount of electricity flowing, just enough to measure the integrity, but not enough to damage a person. Also, make sure it's possible to override the shutdown, although make sure it gives a BIG warning.
6.Additionally, see if I can make a similar power transmission surface over the glove's knuckles, so that a person can punch rather than grab.
7.Lastly, I want to know if the crystal rifle can penetrate milnoplate/longcoats when fired in automatic mode. And can it penetrate synthflesh sufficiently to damage the braincase?
Fires a small crystalline shard, about two inches long, and probably about a quarter inch thick in the middle, tapering to sharp points.
Damage: Penetration and electricity do most damage, detonation does local damage but isn't as spread as larger rounds. Still probably fatal or at least really damaging if you manage to hit someone in the chest
Power draw: Far less than standard PSL, which draws 4 TPU on average. Supplies 4 TPU anyways, dial allows semiauto shots to take advantage of higher charge level.
Rifle sized.
Has a fire selector with five settings: Auto at 480 RPM - Semiauto - Safe - 4 shard fluid volley - 16 shard fluid volley
'Assault' magazines, presumably a little larger than real magazines, 1728 (123) shots.
'Gunner' magazines, back mounted, a third the size of a propane tank, 17280 shots. Assault magazines can refill from this, without interrupting fire of a weapon attached to the gunner magazine.
The gun is lightly insulated around parts that are sensitive to electric shock, so that some fool can grab the barrel or whatever without frying his gun.
Suit has a 4 TPU generator between the shoulders, and a cable running down each arm to the palm. There's a conductive surface on each palm, capable of transferring 4 TPU to anything the user grabs. The gloves are turned on and off individually with voice commands, and if the cable's integrity is damaged, it shuts off automatically.
8. Can I get an estimate for the price of the Testament, in tokens? Not including the suit.
Hmmm.
1.Ok.
2.The flesh does not like this thing, however it appears to adapt via separating effected sections. Explosively.
3.See above.
4.Above.
5. Sounds fine to me. There will always be ways for it to break, but this is about as safe as possible without embedding it in lead at the bottom of the ocean.
6.Sure, no problem there. Might need to be of a sturdier material to survive much use, but sure.
7. It takes a few hits,in the same area, but yes. And yes, though with fewer hits.
8. Hmmm. Cost as a one off or production cost if we set up a production line of these things? Because the second is going to be 50% cheaper, if not even better.
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