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[Sean Mirrsen]

"Low kiloton" is meant to be read as 1-10 kiloton, in my experience, as opposed to 11-999 kiloton. The term for what you are thinking of is "sub-kiloton".

[Radio Controlled]

Hmm. Seeing as how this stuff doesn't 'scale linearily' with most anything, it might be that applying more force doesn't increase the speed at which two forcefields move through each other. Something to test I guess? Hell, when you initially shoved them into each other, was that done manually? Or with two big hydraulics pushing the fields or something?

For the fingers, I was more talking about the resistance between the hinges on the fingers and their attachment points on the hand and such. A finger joint motor won't be as strong as one in a shoulder, for example, so there the resistance might be problematic again.

I was asking cause pw might not have been aware such materials exist. But you're right, if you ask for 'strongest material we can reasonably get' it probably doesn't even matter what it really is.

Also, I'd maybe look more into the laser thing, check what constitutes a 'harmful laser'. Though yes, hexsand coating makes sense either way! Also, how does it distort the light, and what implications does that have for something inside the shield looking out? Will they have trouble aiming due to the distortion?

Well, a particle beam is a loose bunch of (possibly charged) particles, while a block of metal is a bunch of uncharged linked matter. Of course, all particles have the wave/particle duality thing, but a neutron/electron beam does behave differently from a lump of metal. I'd check it either way, so far this stuff seems very... Random with a lot of it's properties, so for all we know a charged electron beam going above a certain speed can penetrate it, 'because reasons'. Not saying it's extremely likely, just that it behaves too wierdly to be sure.

I don't really get the last part. Survive inside the fireball? What survives? The shield? The projecting material? Won't the first just dissapear when the second goes off?

Oh, and does increasing the amount of projecting material increase the blast?

[syvarris]

I'll just not answer each question and point out that I have never gone into deep detail with most of this stuff.  Look at all these potential holes!  This is what I've been trying to get across--all the tests I've done point towards stuff being okay.  But, I make assumptions, because I try to avoid getting too detailed and in-depth with PW.  I figure that if any of this stuff matters, he'll bring it up.  Yes, the resistance might be a maximum speed rather than a function of increasing force for increased speed.  Yes, the distortion could be so bad that it effectively blinds the pilot.  If so, things won't work, and I get told about it.  If not, things are fine, and everything gets done sooner and with fewer death threats.

And I was saying it might survive the fireball if it's completely contiguously covered by FFs.  If it's not, we're going to have trouble with acids, lasers, plasma, heat, and all sorts of other coverings and AoE effects.

Increasing the amount of PM may or may not affect the blast notably.  It might be that a given FF's material will always explode with exactly X kilotons of force regardless of size, since it'll absorbs Y amount of force regardless of size, or maybe a poung of fragplate explodes with X kilotons force and so three pounds will explode with 3X kilotons.  I dunno.  If it's the former, then I suppose we could have some very compact nukes.

[Radio Controlled]

... I certainly understand why you'd not want to pester pw with too much in-depth questions, but that does leave us wide open for a surprise. Eg "the enemy rolls a grenade through the field. Apparently, things moving in slow aren't affected. And now everybody explodes!"

Random example, but you see my point.

There is also the fact pw might only realise a potential problem later on, and then explain away nottelling you with "you didn't ask".

Finally, if one part of the shield fails and explodes, won't that automatically set of the other forcefields near it? After all, now the blast can reach the projecting material directly.

[Parisbre56]

I agree with Syv. Once the armour is constructed, it will be tested in their shooting range by some unfortunate sods with multiple weapons. If there are problems or ways to bypass the field, they'll come up then. No need to worry about all the details and bother piecewise with them.

Also, hexsand just looks cool.

I dunno, don't you think that an army of mindless sods covered in hexsand has some unfortunate implications?

Finally, if one part of the shield fails and explodes, won't that automatically set of the other forcefields near it? After all, now the blast can reach the projecting material directly.

There's really no point worrying about this. The thing explodes like a nuke. You can't contain a nuke going off at point blank unless you're a Titan (and with the kind of armour it has, a titan would only have use for fragplate if it was in danger of being attacked by things like sharkmist). So once one part of the shield is gone the unit is dead, no matter what.

Hexsand could have a chance of stopping a nuke, I suppose. They're supposed to be able to withstand almost unlimited energy and a single kinetic impact. So if you put the forcefield projectors in a hexsand bowl, you could direct the blast away from the suit and absorb all of its energy, but you'd still have the problem of the suit being pushed back at lethal speeds, depending on how much of the kinetic energy the hexsand can absorb.

And even then you now have a giant hole in your armour and are pretty banged up. Your only hope is that the shaped blast destroyed anything in front of you.

Although if that works, the shaped nuke could be a fun one time use weapon for battlesuits.

[Radio Controlled]

I agree with Syv. Once the armour is constructed, it will be tested in their shooting range by some unfortunate sods with multiple weapons. If there are problems or ways to bypass the field, they'll come up then. No need to worry about all the details and bother piecewise with them.

Also, hexsand just looks cool.

I dunno, don't you think that an army of mindless sods covered in hexsand has some unfortunate implications?

Finally, if one part of the shield fails and explodes, won't that automatically set of the other forcefields near it? After all, now the blast can reach the projecting material directly.

There's really no point worrying about this. The thing explodes like a nuke. You can't contain a nuke going off at point blank unless you're a Titan (and with the kind of armour it has, a titan would only have use for fragplate if it was in danger of being attacked by things like sharkmist). So once one part of the shield is gone the unit is dead, no matter what.

Hexsand could have a chance of stopping a nuke, I suppose. They're supposed to be able to withstand almost unlimited energy and a single kinetic impact. So if you put the forcefield projectors in a hexsand bowl, you could direct the blast away from the suit and absorb all of its energy, but you'd still have the problem of the suit being pushed back at lethal speeds, depending on how much of the kinetic energy the hexsand can absorb.

And even then you now have a giant hole in your armour and are pretty banged up. Your only hope is that the shaped blast destroyed anything in front of you.

Although if that works, the shaped nuke could be a fun one time use weapon for battlesuits.

If you wanna trust on pw being nice and telling us every potential loophole even if we don't ask about it/test it, then yes, that works. So, question is, would he?

For the second thing, I'm basically wondering what he meant by 'it' in

PW said it exploded with 'low kiloton forces'.  For some reason I've been thinking of that as 'fraction of a kiloton forces'...  Hmm.  Well, maybe it's tough enough that it can survive inside the fireball?  It's pretty amazing so far.

Mind you, it might not be a bad idea to ask anyways. If shield of material A explodes, is the explosion powerful enough to destroy another shield also of material A? If not, you could layer shields.

[Parisbre56]

If you wanna trust on pw being nice and telling us every potential loophole even if we don't ask about it/test it, then yes, that works. So, question is, would he?

There's no way around this, unless you want to give piecewise a giant list of tests to perform with every weapon in any configuration you think will matter and ask which of these work (which I assume PW won't like and even then there's always the chance there's something you haven't thought of or some alien device) or spend an enormous amount of time performing small tests (which I assume Syv won't like).

A simple test that tells us that a soldier can use the thing comfortably and what it would take to kill him with a couple of simple tests (like a barrage of overcharge shots) is best.

[Radio Controlled]

Oh, I know we can't cover every possible situation. But not specifying anything seems too much in the other extreme. A few broad tests/questions to cover the most obvious potential problems seems reasonable, no? I mean, had any of you thought about the possibility that there was a lower limit for kinetic energy, just like there seems to be a lower limit for laser energy that gets stopped?

Edit: then again, chemicals slide off of it, so it's unlikely it seems.

[Parisbre56]

If there is a lower limit, then it's so low it doesn't matter, because Syv has put things on a force field and they didn't God through it. Only loophole I can think of in that vein is if the material the anchor is made of can go through it, but I think one of the tests syv made covers that too.

Edit: Maybe it follows the e=mc^2 formula? So matter always has very high energy but light can have lower?

[Radio Controlled]

If there is a lower limit, then it's so low it doesn't matter, because Syv has put things on a force field and they didn't God through it. Only loophole I can think of in that vein is if the material the anchor is made of can go through it, but I think one of the tests syv made covers that too.

Yeah, edited that in, badly chosen example. Still, the example of particle beam still stands (I think?), and there might be other things. I don't think 'and check how various particle beams interact with it' is such a big hassle to check, but if you say 'and test with every weapon imaginable in every configuration' you also get that... But then you are just asking pw stuff straight on. And didn't he say he wanted us to roleplay our Hep stuff a little more? I guess it's one of those 'try to find an agreable balance' things.

[Nikitian]

Spoiler: Tinkertime! (click to show/hide)

03:41:37 <Nikitian> Here comes the dread; Tinkertime!
03:42:08 <Nikitian> So, let me start with something that would be of use both to me and to Syvarris
03:42:11 <Egan_BW> T I N K E R
03:42:16 <Nikitian>
03:43:09 <Nikitian> What is the smallest (and cheapest) possible single "scale" of fragplate?
03:43:42 <Piecewise> Maybe a postage stamp size
03:44:00 <Egan_BW> is that cheapest for the size?
03:44:01 <Nikitian> Okay; now onto interesting stuff
03:44:22 <Nikitian> (Yeah, is it cheapest for the size?)
03:44:33 <Toaster> Armor thickness
03:44:37 <Nikitian> NOPE
03:44:49 <Egan_BW> no more
03:44:53 <Nikitian> I *never* mentioned anything about thickness
03:44:53 <Piecewise> yes, smaller is cheaper
03:45:03 <Nikitian> Only coverage!..
03:45:03 <Piecewise> You can't handle this thickness
03:45:16 <Nikitian> T_T
03:46:25 "darkmyst:Beirus" (!Mibbit@107.77.py.qk) joined.
03:46:30 <Beirus> back. what'd I miss?
03:46:31 <Nikitian> Okay, can we make the projected forcefield thinner (sideways) than the stamp-sized projector's size?
03:46:37 <Nikitian> Nothing, basically
03:46:46 <Egan_BW> let's fire a blazooca of 126% power at some hexplate layered with battlesuit plate of 23.4 millimeters of thickness
03:47:09 <Nikitian> Naaah, I'm not even going to design armor here!..
03:47:16 <Piecewise> I should make saying words like that at me a capital crime
03:47:38 <Nikitian> (and I solemnly swore not to take up deathtube tinkering ever again)
03:47:48 <Egan_BW> 1.7263 centimeters!
03:47:59 <Egan_BW> exactly.
03:48:16 <Piecewise> Alright, I think we know what we're throwing out of the ship to lighten it up
03:48:19 <Beirus> Nikitian, maybe you could design better prosthetics or something.
03:49:23 <Nikitian> Well, probably impossible while keeping them 'free', but I'll consider looking into it another time
03:50:11 <Nikitian> Piecewise: To put it simpler, can we have a blade out of forcefield?
03:53:36 <Piecewise> Yes
03:53:38 <Piecewise> sure
03:55:04 <Nikitian> Okay, how thin can we make it? How close to single-atom-wide can we come?
03:55:49 <Egan_BW> (or farther)
03:56:28 <Egan_BW> the blade's not made of matter, why limit yourself?
03:57:59 <Piecewise> Pretty damn close nik. The precision of the shield will increase in the same way the strength does
03:58:20 <Piecewise> so if you use the right material, you can bet it to be sharp on a molecular level
03:58:29 <Piecewise> Delicious atomic slicing
03:58:46 <Egan_BW> slish!
03:59:09 <Egan_BW> cut that atom in half!
04:00:35 <Nikitian> Piecewise: Oh, nice; how much such a forcefield monosword would cost (and would it be cheaper/more expensive than the older true monosword, like the one Renen uses)?
04:01:54 <Piecewise> It would be cheaper. And wouldn't dull
04:02:02 <Egan_BW> ohh
04:02:06 <Egan_BW> ahh
04:02:14 <Nikitian> How much of a bang would it go off with?
04:02:46 <Devastator> I'm not sure how you have a forcefield that can slice matter properly.
04:03:05 <Devastator> why would the end be sharp?
04:03:17 <Nikitian> Because it's tuned to be sharp?
04:03:20 <Egan_BW> a sword that can cut anything... that expodes with the force of a nucular bomb
04:03:23 <Beirus> So it's a lightsaber...er, forcesaber? Give it to an amper with the mass amp and they could be jedi.
04:03:29 <Devastator> yeah, but if you can tune it, why make a sword at all?
04:03:43 <Devastator> just kill your opponent with forcefield bullets that blow it up from within.
04:03:44 <Nikitian> Because monoswords are nice?
04:04:01 <Egan_BW> can only tune when you make the feild
04:04:03 <Devastator> or make it orbital artillery that cuts things apart from kilometers away.
04:04:18 <Nikitian> And yeah, forcefield bullets is a nice design, but I cannot work on it due to certain obligations
04:04:25 <Nikitian> Maybe syvarris could
04:04:38 <Devastator> it's no difference, you have enough gear already.
04:05:04 <Nikitian> How should I put it...
04:05:34 <Nikitian> I know full well that we have enough gear already, in the sense that newer and better wouldn't make that much of an impact
04:05:43 <Nikitian> I know it really well, so it happens
04:05:45 <Egan_BW> chalange him to a duel!
04:06:08 <Piecewise> It would blow up pretty big nik
04:06:39 <Beirus> Hey Piecewise, does the MCP pressure thing help to slow the bleeding in my arm?
04:06:46 <Egan_BW> how big is that?
04:07:09 <Piecewise> a bit
04:07:18 <Egan_BW> some?
04:07:26 <Piecewise> The bleeding
04:07:42 <Piecewise> as per the blade blowing up, depends on the lenght
04:08:10 <Nikitian> Let's say the same as current true monosword, for the purpose of this discussion
04:08:19 <Piecewise> Hmm
04:08:23 <Egan_BW> can we make a claymore explode into a new star?
04:08:23 <Nikitian> (also, thanks for the hint that it varies with length)
04:08:42 <Piecewise> Well, assuming a very thin core in a metal rod or something
04:09:23 <Nikitian> 'core' as in the blade itself, or in the handle?
04:10:32 <Nikitian> Because I was assuming that it is projected right from the handle (a bit difficult to keep the blade single-atom-thick if it has to have a non-forcefield bit inside it, isn't it?)
04:10:43 <Nikitian> (if it isn't a problem, all the better)
04:10:58 <Piecewise> About this
04:10:59 <Piecewise> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nMDIyaCXAI
04:11:33 <Nikitian> Coolio!
04:12:07 <Piecewise> I imagined it as being a handle with a long metal rod attached to it. I mean, mainly so you can actually tell how long the blade is
04:12:39 <Piecewise> I mean, the blade is invisible
04:12:55 <Piecewise> without a thing to tell how long it is, it's gonna be really freaking hard to estimate where it is
04:13:08 <Piecewise> I foresee lots of severing of own limbs
04:13:15 <Nikitian> Yup, very possible
04:13:29 <Egan_BW> how are you gonna sheath that?
04:13:46 <Nikitian> I am not going to sheath that
04:14:02 <Nikitian> But actually, quite easy
04:14:24 <Nikitian> The part that cannot come through is the handle; affix the handle and the blade is sheathed.
04:14:38 <Egan_BW> ACTION Waggles eyebrows
04:16:36 <Nikitian> You don't even need to cut out a hollow space in the sheath! You can merely take a slab of iron, put it on belt, and add some simple clasp to hold the handle in place. And it's complete!
04:17:23 <Egan_BW> you'd probably end up cutting it in half
04:17:57 <Nikitian> Nah, just take a bigger slab and make sure to do the clasp correctly
04:19:13 <Nikitian> And the thing is, IIRC school course of physics, due to the quality of the cut, even if you cut it in half, it could be attached right back!
04:20:19 <Egan_BW> if that can happen, how did it split in the first place?
04:20:47 <Piecewise> There's a sci-fi story about that
04:20:57 <Piecewise> someone invents a sword that cuts on the molecular level
04:21:16 <Piecewise> so someone invents a suit that just keeps the two severed pieces pressed together and they just reattach
04:21:51 <Nikitian> ... but only the heart cannot stop and wait a single moment to reattach the cut parts?
04:22:10 <Nikitian> (I think I read it, or something that was a homage to that story)
04:22:46 <Nikitian> Oh well
04:23:48 <Nikitian> So, would adding in that thin metal rod impact the performance of the weapon as a monoblade in any meaningful way?
04:25:35 <Nikitian> And furthermore, does the length of the blade in this case impact the cost as much as width does? I.e. does depth of the forcefield also increase the cost exponentially, just as area does?
04:25:49 <Nikitian> size of area*
04:28:29 <Piecewise> No
04:28:49 <Piecewise> Well length effects total area
04:28:51 <Piecewise> so yes
04:29:04 <Nikitian> Ah, okay
04:29:25 <Piecewise> You can't just have a tiny thing of material with a long, large forcefield
04:31:20 <Nikitian> Ah, I see
04:32:39 <Nikitian> Hmmm, we can easily make forcefield appear at certain distance from the projecting material, right?
04:32:53 <Beirus> Hey Piecewise, do you ever play RTDs anymore, or just GM?
04:34:04 <Piecewise> Yes
04:34:18 <Piecewise> I don't think I ever really played rtds
04:34:38 <Beirus> Not enough time?
04:35:15 <Piecewise> *shrug* I always find myself more drawn to creating suff then playing it
04:37:26 <Nikitian> Okay, how about this: a four-inch-wide crescent-shaped forcefield of that same monothickness, projected at a distance of a meter from the hilt:
04:37:27 <Nikitian> ==+|                      ))
04:37:48 <Beirus> ah, I see. well, you make awesome stuff.
04:38:13 <Nikitian> (you truly do)
04:38:57 <Devastator> "Onrath, The coward, who tried to get through 10 missions by just staying back and hiding. He made it through 8 before someone on his team shot him."
04:38:59 <Devastator> Hmm.
04:39:27 <Devastator> up to what, five?
04:40:37 <Nikitian> Hm?
04:40:52 <Nikitian> Also, "Onrath" sounds like something from HMRC Pantheon
04:41:11 <Piecewise> Hmm
04:41:24 "darkmyst:SeanMirrsen" (!SeanMirrse@31.13.tly.m) joined.
04:41:32 <Beirus> Onrath, Demon of Non-tactical Cowardice
04:41:49 <Beirus> Hey Sean, I got that thing you wanted.
04:42:09 <Nikitian> Hi, Sean, we're tinkering here, come join us!
04:42:25 <Beirus> RUN, PIECEWISE!!!
04:42:38 <Piecewise> Oh dear
04:44:09 <Piecewise> Are we talking like a forcefield shotel here?
04:44:14 <Piecewise> Or a scimitar?
04:44:54 <Nikitian> Not scirmitar, certainly (don't know what shotel is)
04:45:02 <Nikitian> More like shovel, really
04:45:28 <Piecewise> I suppose that could work
04:45:54 <Piecewise> though  a meter from the handle? You're gonna have to be careful with that
04:46:33 <Nikitian> Yeah, I know; but it really cuts down on the cost and the explosion, doesn't it? And probably allows for some neat tricks
04:47:26 <Nikitian> (possibly wider, maybe six inches or something)
04:48:48 <Nikitian> The idea is that most of the time you need to pierce to the tip; and even if you want to cut wide, you can simply pull it out then
04:50:24 <Nikitian> Furthermore, the lesser the actual size of the blade, the lesser the chance that something might catch it mid-swing and break (and even if it does break, the explosion is farther away from you, possibly even on the other side of the enemy's armor)
04:51:53 <Nikitian> Actually, can we have the depth of the forcefield also approach single-atom in width? That would allow for some meatgrinding options with such a weapon
04:59:19 <Beirus> Hey Piecewise?
04:59:43 <Piecewise> ?
05:00:15 <Piecewise> Also, you really need to draw me a picture of this nik, I'm losing my capacity to visualize it
05:00:47 <Nikitian> ==+|                    ))
05:01:03 <Nikitian> It is placed horizontally
05:01:29 <Nikitian> And assuming a swordlike handle
05:02:56 <Nikitian> (drawing already)
05:03:49 <Piecewise> Horizontal?
05:04:39 <Nikitian> Ugh, as in, it is pictured there as if held sideways, not upright
05:06:04 <Piecewise> So like swinging around a deadly piece of paper made of slicing forcefield?
05:07:21 "darkmyst:Remalle" (!Variety@i2246816zi629tu21.vc.shawcable.net) joined.
05:08:21 <Nikitian> No, well... like a pickaxe, only one that is deadly thin and can be thrusted (and with the handle that does not extend all the way to the cutting head)
05:08:52 <Piecewise> Ah
05:09:49 <Piecewise> So like...http://www.shaolinlohancenter.com/images/Crescent-Moon-Spade.jpg
05:09:56 <Piecewise> That kind of blade shape
05:10:04 <Piecewise> the shovel shaped one
05:10:16 <Nikitian> Yeah

Summary: Minimum size of forcefield-projector is about stamp size (as usual; must be some universal constant in ER!); I figured you could use the data to speed up your experimentation, Syv.
Forcefield can be set to very thin, even single-atom-thick (with right projecting material, it has to be "strong" forcefield, according to Piecewise); a forcefield monosword identical in size to current true monosword is possible, is cheaper, and in case of breaking blows up with the force of (very roughly) about 100 lb. of C4. (And, of course, it never grows dull, and all other nice things about the forcefields.) It was suggested by Piecewise to include a thin core of metal in the blade to make it clearer how long it is (because, you know, invisible) which, in fact, does not decrease the effectiveness of the weapon. Perhaps we could invent other ways to help designate the invisible blades?
Finally, a new melee weapon design.

Spoiler: New weapon (click to show/hide)

A new weapon design was developed by me (and which I humbly request to review and help refine): a mono-thick crescent (six inches wide) made of forcefield, projected a meter from the handle: "like a pickaxe, only one that is deadly thin and can be thrusted (and with the handle that does not extend all the way to the cutting head)". It is intended for thrusting and also cutting; the small size of the "blade" amounts to much cheaper cost and much smaller explosion, among other things. It might also be possible to decrease the depth of the blade to the same mono-thickness, resulting in a fixed piece of monowire rather than a blade (and allowing the weapon to cut in all six degrees of freedom).
I am currently wondering what distance of projection and width of of "blade" would be optimal; at first, a meter and four-six inches seems right, inherited from certain melee weapons (namely rapier), but I am optionally reconsidering it in the light of exoskeleton-wearers and synth-flesh-bodied people wielding it (who are clearly higher than average human). Perhaps 1.5 meter distance and 8-inch width? This is furthermore compounded by the fact that, apparently, the handle does not need to be a traditional hilt. It could even be horizontal (like a katar's), or it could even be a wrist/forearm mounted weapon - the distance between the projecting material and the blade is certainly big enough to permit at least some use with that hand.

[Parisbre56]

Suggestion: since the durability of the hilt is not that important, why not have the blade be projected about .25 metres away from it and have the hilt be extendible. You could even add extra modes like "Jackhammer" where the blade rapidly oscillates back and forth or "Spinner" where the blade rapidly spins around, either on the axis of the hilt or on an axis perpendicular to it. You could even make the hilt really flexible, extendible and programmable, like a thin but long tentacle-like robotic limb, and call it monoatomic whip, although that night be a bit overkill. Don't know what Uncon users would enjoy having. They're supposed to be all about weird weapons, swords and explosives, right?

[Radio Controlled]

Make a vibrating rapier, with a small bit of forcefield shield at the end that's molded into a sharp needle. Add a very little radio reciever and a wire to pulse some electricity through the shield projecting material, thereby damaging the material and making it explode. You now have a weapon that can pierce a foe, and with a tip that explodes on demand (make the shielded tip expendable, meaning you can place a new one on the rapier).

Same principle also works for other forcefield items, like a riot shield that can be used as a high explosive. Or exploding bullet or whatever.

[tryrar]

Oh hey, nik, did you get an answer from PW about my question?

Edit: NVM, I see the PM, thanks! So it's totally possible to make a battle ambulance/APC with options including full revival(assuming the medic in charge doesn't screw up, of course )

In that case, here's the preliminary idea of the Asclepius Combat Ambulance:

A half-tracked lamelar-force-field armored van with a full medical suite inside the cargo area, including machinery for full revival of temp-dead troopers as well as trauma surgery for limb and organ replacement and ability to install brains into full robobodies. The cab has a top-mounted remote-operated gauss machinegun(same as on the APCs) for self defense, and enough room for a driver and gunner. The cargo area has space for a medic and a couple assistants(basically the thing can carry a 5 man squad)

Any comments, improvements, critiques?

[Nikitian]

@Paris OOoh, a monoatomic whip! That would probably be on the same page of danger to self and friendlies as kinamp nun-chucks, but it'd be sooo cool! And I loved your other ideas too. Thank you very much!


@Radio Controlled ...I'll look into it, but I'd say it has its use if and only if it can be made extremely cheap, and far cheaper compared to other options. You see, from mechanical standpoint, rapier's damage, unlike that of a sword, and closer to that of a spear, comes from tip and tip only. Thus, the main problem that I see with the suggested design is the rapier's long 'blade', which is clearly a structural weakness in the design: the main reason for such weapon design is that, IRL, we cannot have a tip of the blade "floating" in perfect concert with the detached hilt - and so we have to have physical connection between the two in the form of (not even sharp!) 'blade' (and also maybe for parrying purposes, but that doesn't work here in ER).  Here, we don't have to anymore!
So, how about instead the same design, even with the vibrating and projecting-material-damaging parts, but with the tip levitating at the distance of earlier design's blade length? Since it is firmly connected to the projecting material in the hilt, that part can be vibrated directly, resulting in vibration of the tip. And now this design, while comparable in price, is more efficient at what it does; and upon that can some of Paris's ideas be added.

As for forcefield bullets and riot shields... Dunno. I foresee some problems with that, but it might or might not really work.

@tryrar Happy to be of help 
Well, it would probably work as well as any vehicle currently does in this game. And by that I mean (do not let that discourage you!) that it'll be far too expensive and use fairly outdated tech (see the long archives of our unsuccessful discussions on what a proper modern vehicle should be). Personally, I'm not a big fan of tracks in the era where we can cheaply get legs (or even rockets), but that is a question of preferences. However, what actually I can suggest, is this: substitute a PSL "Testament" for that gauss machinegun. Between the gauss weapon tech being really old and outdated, and the Testament's extreme effectiveness (compounded by that its ammo is liquid, and thus can be stored in far more creative ways that steel bullets have to), I believe it would be a clear improvement with no extra cost involved.