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[Corsair]

Submit design, attach note
The design is purposed to act as a long range option that would theoretically impart a very large amount of force into a small area meaning that it can be used to take out a target with minimal damage to surrounding area thus a battle suit could be taken down by killing the pilot then recaptured given minimal repairs and redeployed (although either side could do this unfortunately)

[PyroDesu]

I find it interesting that both Grate and Saint opted to experiment with auto-manipulators. I must admit, I did not expect that.

Anton, your solution is good: multipurpose, mostly reliable, and with what is almost becoming a signature with you, kinetic amp boosting. Along with prior experience with you, you pass by a wide margin. If you want to stay, you have my approval. And I meant no offense with my remarks about your project, mind.

Saint, your solution is also good: Again, multipurpose, though in a different manner to Anton's project. A creative use of auto-manipulators, using just enough power to kill the pilot without causing major damage otherwise. Not as reliable, and can be defended against if the pilot is sufficiently skilled, but still very good, if a bit more expensive up-front. I also note your research into battlesuits before you began work. I'm not sure exactly what you got out of watching Altered tear one apart, but it shows a more scientific or observational behavior. Useful both in a lab and in a tactical situation when applied properly, I think. You may stay if you wish, but I might recommend you go with the Sword - you can still engineer, but you'll also be of help tactically.

Grate, you never really focused on one particular solution. This is at once a good and a bad thing, good in that giving multiple solutions, or, since we ran out of time, potential solutions, implies flexibility. The bad part being that the overall process is slower. I think the good outweighs the bad, though. Now, you gave 4 different attempts: 2 based on transmutation, turning the affected area of the battlesuit to hydrogen. An interesting, if high-powered, solution. One in a rocket or mortar shell format, similar to Saint's without the glue and an impact trigger, and an auto-manipulator 'gun'. I'm not entirely sure about your incendiary solution - a hotter burning thermite - actually a nano-thermite, according to your description, aluminium-tungsten(VI) oxide hydrate type, it seems. The effectiveness against battlesuits is potentially questionable, but you didn't have time to complete your design, so it could work. And an extremely high-temperature explosive device, to which I respond similarly to the 'thermite prime'. You may stay, even without your extenuating circumstances - staying here will keep you off the front lines. Though a word of warning - if you stay, you might not see Feyri or Jim in person again for quite some time, though you will be able to keep in touch.

Joseph, yours is a simple, yet effective design. A hypervelocity gauss rifle that can easily crack layers of battlesuit plate. Probably not a one-hit kill, mind you, and you would severely damage the battlesuit's armor as you cracked though the successive plates to reach the pilot - they're designed to crack on impact, to minimize damage to the next layer in. However, with a long-rod penetrator instead of a simple small bullet, you could crack multiple plates with one shot. Doesn't help much with the wrecked armor, but does reduce the number of hits required. However, I might note a potential personality conflict from your 'interview', such as it was. You seemed rather quick to defend your work preemptively, and it indicates to me you might not take criticism very well, which could turn into an issue. I'd rather not have you stay, if this could become a problem. You can still work remotely, and procuring the 'equipment beyond your means' shouldn't be a problem if you turn out good work, which I will say, your project has potential to be.

Charles, your opinion, since you were my second for observation? You're already confirmed, mind - a more administrative and human resources-inclined person will be of great help.

[Radio Controlled]

Reposting here cause it didn't really belong in the OOC thread.

A mixture of napalm and thermite. It is as effective as you think.

I'm thinking of ways to make it better. No offense.

I suppose my namite could be improved in some ways, and I might try and make a MK.2 further down the line sometime. However, keep in mind that namite isn't terribly expensive to make and pretty damn effective against unarmored opponents. I'd rather you didn't try and change it, though, as it's still technically 'my' tinker project and as it's so far my only project, I'm kinda attached to it.

Idea: next to using disposable canisters with namite, make a canister that doesn't have namite but comes with a screw cap or something so one can fill it up with whatever is available, like free HMRC high-ethanol booze.

For the namite itself: increase pressure of the stream produced by the thrower, and add a better binding agent so that you will have a more coherent stream that can shoot further without it being dispelled to fast. Added pressure is for extra range and making up for possible increase in viscosity of the namite mix.

EDIT: maybe you can make a battlesuit/exoskeleton/vehicle version of this thing with enough pressure to be used a medium range. Like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_riverboat_using_napalm_in_Vietnam.jpg

Might want to increase octane rating of your fuel mix to withstand higher pressure (not sure if entirely needed, best checked in tinker).
You could also add white phosphorous to the mix, though then you might as well switch out the thermite for the phosphorous completely. Might wanna test different fuel mixes to find one with good cost/performance balance.

And maybe change the oxidizer to something more potent (though this would also be more dangerous, and require sturdier build of the thrower to reduce risk of a hit to the thrower igniting the fuel tank or something). What does the mix use as an oxidizer at the moment?

Hmm, I wonder if you used something to increase the adhesive properties of the fuel mix so that it sticks to surfaces better. Napalm already sticks to human skin though, but if you can really make it stick to various surfaces you could use it against armored targets that are resistant to the heat itself, by blocking their view (it's kinda hard to use a battlesuit's camera if said camera is covered with an intensely burning goop that also sticks and can't just be wiped of easily).
Another bonus to increasing stickiness is that if you coat a target with it, the fuel will have a chance to slowly burn its way through whatever armor there is.

EDIT: Also, according to wikipedia something resembling namite already exists. To quote:

Napalm B is chemically distinct from its predecessor Napalm. It is usually a mixture of polystyrene and benzene, used as a thickening agent to make jellied gasoline. One of the advantages of this new mixture lies in its increased safety while being handled and stored. Many accidents had been attributed to personnel smoking around stockpiles.[3]

Napalm B has a commonly quoted composition of 21% benzene, 33% gasoline (itself containing between 1% and 4% (estimated) benzene to raise its octane number), and 46% polystyrene. This mixture is more difficult to ignite than napalm.[4] A reliable pyrotechnic initiator, often based on thermite (for ordinary napalm) or white phosphorus (for newer compositions), has been used.[2][4] The original napalm usually burned for 15 to 30 seconds while Napalm B can burn for up to 10 minutes.[4]

I love pyrotechnics.

@ GWG: the thing with using an adhesive to coat your target would work for your idea as well. It doesn't matter if your fuel mix can't burn through a battlesuit in one go if your fuel sticks to your target it can take its sweet time burnin' through. And a if the pilot is busy removing the burning stuff from his suit, you have an opening to do something else without that battlesuit getting in the way (like retreating or getting another shot of).

[Pancaek]

Great big sciency explanation.

Yeah I just asked PW for a weapon that's basically napalm and thermite slapped together and pumped through a shooty tube. That's about as complicated as this thing got. You people obviously know a lot about the fine mechanics of these things and I am way out of my depth here.

I do believe it can be used at medium range already though, unless I remember the distance between us and MurderbotXL wrong.

[Unholy_Pariah]

That sounds pretty much identical to my neotherm thrower, except it has a backpack for fuel storage.

[Empiricist]

"I have little to no technical experience in these things as you can evidently see, so I approach this based off of limited, flawed knowledge. I must also stress that this is one test so I may not be able to form very accurate analysis of everyone.

Anton, judging by what the manual my rifle came with stated, prototypes may be made with our captain-equivalent's approval. I checked the armory's catalogue, your weapon wasn't on it. So either you are evidently qualified for this, having already designed something practical enough to be cleared for prototype, or, you salvaged somewhere, displaying the resourcefulness to operate it well enough to utilize it as your primary weapon. If it's the former, then I'd think you would be an exceptional designer either in a directed role, or as someone to develop versatile solutions and fit them to a problem. If it's the latter, then I suspect you'd be suitable for reverse engineering enemy equipment and using their components, if that role is actually of enough importance to warrant a position here of course.

To offer an alternate interpretation to Joseph's behavior, I propose that he may instead possess a lack of confidence or more intransigent as opposed to reacting poorly to criticism, which would explain why he chose a more conventional approach which he proceeded to repeatedly modify rather than scrap it until it became a viable option. I would recommend you Joseph, should someone with more linear but still somewhat flexible thinking is required. Someone to drive a solution into completion in the face of problems while maintaining the key features. Though that depends on whether such a person is required.

Saint, I would consider you as the opposite, someone who goes off on tangents almost immediately but still preserves the required conditions, seeing as you have apparently tested your solution in a variety of situations not limited merely to what it was meant to solve, I would say that you are less suitable for linear development and better off being prescribed an array of problems and given the task to solve as many as possible with a single, practical design seeing as you till do did take quite a bit of care, accounting for the other situations it may end up in. Once again, this depends on whether or not that role is required.

Finally, as for Grate, *sigh* I am quite conflicted about him. Call me obstinate, but the sight of a child designing lethal weapons is quite worrisome to me; I am not sure whether or not I should go into as much detail seeing as, one one hand, he is but a child here under what I presume are far lesser crimes than others, exposing him to violence is something I feel I have a duty to prevent... that being said, he is also an ally and I have long lost any right to provide care for others... thus, I shall provide my feedback as follows lest he oppose the indignity of my concerns about his age: you are not someone I would recommend for the development of clearly defined solutions, but rather someone to explore the options and narrow them down into something more specific to develop, you would likely be the most useful designing solutions for problems with no clear resolution option or otherwise presenting a variety of possible improvements to something under development."

[Sean Mirrsen]

"I don't take offense at critique, XO. I merely wanted to counter some of your points, because I honestly wouldn't even consider making this if I didn't think that it is service-worthy."

"Anton, judging by what the manual my rifle came with stated, prototypes may be made with our captain-equivalent's approval. I checked the armory's catalogue, your weapon wasn't on it. So either you are evidently qualified for this, having already designed something practical enough to be cleared for prototype, or, you salvaged somewhere, displaying the resourcefulness to operate it well enough to utilize it as your primary weapon. If it's the former, then I'd think you would be an exceptional designer either in a directed role, or as someone to develop versatile solutions and fit them to a problem. If it's the latter, then I suspect you'd be suitable for reverse engineering enemy equipment and using their components, if that role is actually of enough importance to warrant a position here of course."

"I merely used that unmentioned clause in prototyping rules, Charles. I simply paid for all parts myself, and assembled them myself. I'd do that with all of my designs, however as I move to larger and more powerful items I feel like I will need to start making more and more use of those prototyping grants. My wages won't cover more than a prototype per decade otherwise, heh.

That said, you are mostly correct. I'd even say, if I am allowed a bit of reflective analysis, that my "signature", as XO Simus refers to it, is using and recombining existing technology in new ways. Though I have to say I can't wait to start developing some actually new tech.

And that reminds me. XO, I think my Gungnir prototype has passed field testing. It can be freely and easily assembled out of a Laser Rifle, a Tesla Saber, and a small conversion kit with a cost of three token. If I write up a manual for conversion, and schematics for the kit, do you think you could add it to our regular armory list? The Red Hand of mine is a little more complex, using a manually modified generator that I had to do quite a bit of tinkering on, so I think I'll double-check it for safety hazards before I submit it."

[Empiricist]

"I merely used that unmentioned clause in prototyping rules, Charles. I simply paid for all parts myself, and assembled them myself. I'd do that with all of my designs, however as I move to larger and more powerful items I feel like I will need to start making more and more use of those prototyping grants. My wages won't cover more than a prototype per decade otherwise, heh."

"I was unaware of that clause, though that is to be expected, seeing as I was but a mere psychiatrist and no longer one at that, so do excuse my ignorance of these rules. Either way, if it works, it works and seeing as I have yet to see you in the infirmary I would wager that it does fulfill what it is meant to do."

[Sean Mirrsen]

"I merely used that unmentioned clause in prototyping rules, Charles. I simply paid for all parts myself, and assembled them myself. I'd do that with all of my designs, however as I move to larger and more powerful items I feel like I will need to start making more and more use of those prototyping grants. My wages won't cover more than a prototype per decade otherwise, heh."

"I was unaware of that clause, though that is to be expected, seeing as I was but a mere psychiatrist and no longer one at that, so do excuse my ignorance of these rules. Either way, if it works, it works and seeing as I have yet to see you in the infirmary I would wager that it does fulfill what it is meant to do."

"Hah. Infirmary. I got limbs replaced thrice already, though only once in the Infirmary, and none of those were the result of enemy fire. Let's just say that whatever my engineering qualifications are, I have yet to master the art of not having my own limbs destroyed by my own actions. But since I'm staying here, I guess I'll need a full robot body anyway. At least once this one gets old enough. Also, I feel the need to point out that I haven't once managed to hit a real enemy with any of my weapons.

And it's not a separate clause so much as simply buying what you need. Nobody's going to stop you from building something you like if you pay for it all - it's the free parts that you need the prototyping grant for."

[Radio Controlled]

Great big sciency explanation.

Yeah I just asked PW for a weapon that's basically napalm and thermite slapped together and pumped through a shooty tube. That's about as complicated as this thing got. You people obviously know a lot about the fine mechanics of these things and I am way out of my depth here.

I do believe it can be used at medium range already though, unless I remember the distance between us and MurderbotXL wrong.

I dunno, I though it was short-medium range, I don't remember exactly. Either way, if you ever need a hand to mess with the composition of your namite mix, just give a yell.

That sounds pretty much identical to my neotherm thrower, except it has a backpack for fuel storage.

Well yeah, the basic idea is pretty basic after all. But there's a lot of possibilities for different fuel mixes one could try out. Different oxidizers, different fuels (many options, like kerosene or propane or something else), different gelling agents, a different pyrotechnic initiator (maybe one that delays the main combustion process) like different thermites or phosphorous, binding agents or something to increase adhesive properties, more or less viscosity (maybe there's a way to let the fuel be very fluid first, to get in seeps and cracks easily, then it rapidly thickens so it can't just flow out again), other additives...

Hmmm burning things.

[Unholy_Pariah]

I just wanna play with some neotherm, i have my bat chip up and running so i can still see whilst blasting away with my flamethrower but the fuel just too expensive.

Also im pretty sure neotherm can vaporise a battlesuit, any chance youd be willing to make me a single barrel or scuba tanks worth to play with? If yes make sure to the components seperately.

[Radio Controlled]

I just wanna play with some neotherm, i have my bat chip up and running so i can still see whilst blasting away with my flamethrower but the fuel just too expensive.

Also im pretty sure neotherm can vaporise a battlesuit, any chance youd be willing to make me a single barrel or scuba tanks worth to play with? If yes make sure to the components seperately.

Not for this mission (will need mindpool for battle). And filling a cannister with namite already completely exhausts Miya, so if you want a whole damn barrel of it you'll need to give something in return. Something small and easy like a knife I'd usually do for free, but if I do this I wouldn't be using my manip for quite some time, meaning noboy else could get something.

[Unholy_Pariah]

I guess thats understandable, i honestly only need enough for either a standard ammo canister or a few grenades and the timeskip is 1 year long. Plus you could specify it as part of timeskip amp training, Surely thats enough time to recover?

Id be willing to give you a token for your efforts and im not trying to necro the argument but you did jip me two tokens by deciding all loot goes to the communal pool when i was the only one who found anything of value. To you it was only two tokens you could use in your attempt to pay 30 players but that was my first piece of loot with actual value, hell if you had asked me i probably would have offered you half its value after repair and resale, you probably would have gotten 2 or 3 tokens still and id have been able to get the sense of achievement from sellng that first piece of loot which is now forever denied to me.

And no GWG before you bring up your mmorpg analogy again it doesnt apply, Auron is in no way a rogue and that cloak wasnt in a locked chest. It was in full view of everyone cycling through its different disguises, i was merely the only person to think "hold on a sec, that thing still works!"

[Radio Controlled]

I guess thats understandable, i honestly only need enough for either a standard ammo canister or a few grenades and the timeskip is 1 year long. Plus you could specify it as part of timeskip amp training, Surely thats enough time to recover?

Id be willing to give you a token for your efforts and im not trying to necro the argument but you did jip me two tokens by deciding all loot goes to the communal pool when i was the only one who found anything of value. To you it was only two tokens you could use in your attempt to pay 30 players but that was my first piece of loot with actual value, hell if you had asked me i probably would have offered you half its value after repair and resale, you probably would have gotten 2 or 3 tokens still and id have been able to get the sense of achievement from sellng that first piece of loot which is now forever denied to me.

And no GWG before you bring up your mmorpg analogy again it doesnt apply, Auron is in no way a rogue and that cloak wasnt in a locked chest. It was in full view of everyone cycling through its different disguises, i was merely the only person to think "hold on a sec, that thing still works!"

Reasonable enough. I'll add it to my action, but I won't give it top priority. If PW decides that Miya can't both train with his naginata and create some namite or whatever in the timeskip, then we'll just say I owe you a canister of the stuff after the mission sometime (to 'make up' for that cloak incident, even though we still don't know for certain that thing was ever even worth anything). Because I really want to be able to roll for UNCON when using that thing, decomp and all.
After that (whether you get it before or after the mission) we'll call ourselves even and forget the whole thing ever happened, deal?

And hey, even if you won't get to use them this mission, that just means you can save them to introduce the wonders of pyrotechnics to some aliens instead.

[Unholy_Pariah]

Yeah thats fair enough.