FLAZGER/KATASUMATA TYPE - D
2015 POLICE SPECIAL
The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth - under penalty of death. Special Police squads - BLADE RUNNER UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant. This was not called execution. It was called retirement. The NEXUS 3 series were inherrently unstable, using a Microsoft AI package with Atari/Bio-Techica components and being largely semi-organic, a good sized wad-cutter or sub-sonic shock round like THV or Glazer would render a Replicant immobile. With the arrival of the Nexus 4, came improvements in nerve-system management, pain control and reaction time. Thanks to good old Tyrell corporation engineering something a bit extra was required to bring a Replicant down with minimum fuss.  The Flazger/Katasumata series D is a hand-held Plasma accelerator. The rounds consist of a 2mm calibre solid hydrogen pellet in a 9mm ejectable, ceramic-based breech jacket. The jacket assists with wear and tear on the actual breech of the gun, due to the powerful energy exchange which takes place upon firing. A gun this small cannot store a battery big enough to be able to energise the rounds directly, so Katasumata built in a General Electrics, LMS coil. LMS: Liquid Metallic Suspension is a flywheel dynamo which can draw minimum energy from the rechargeable batteries in the magazine clip and spinning at 50,000 rpm, build up a single charge large enough for one shot. Then it needs to recharge. This means a brief pause is required between shots. The Series D has a dual stacked cell capable of storing enough energy for two shots in quick succession, which is a marked improvement on the old series C which had a full 5 seconds between charges. Another problem with Plasma rounds is the accelerated rate of dissipation once airborne. So the gun also lays down a tight beam laser in the non-visible range of the EM spectrum, for 1/300ths of a second ahead of the round to heat the air and minimise decay. The intense heat of the round upon impact reacts violently with the relatively cold target causing explosive damage and system-wide shock. Unfortunately the disposable jackets and somewhat cumbersome energy cells in the magazine leave little room for actual ammunition, and the series D magazine can hold only 6 rounds, but the saying goes, 'If you hit your target once, you won't need a second.'  The Actual movie prop itself is the Breech and magazine socket of a Steyr Daimlier Mannlicher bolt action rifle and one of the action props actually fired. All of the above technical specs have been totally fabricated by me using various Bladerunner and non-Bladerunner sources. You will also notice in the reload sequence, I have ducked the weapon off-screen. This is because I can't for the life of me imagine where a magazine might go. I couldn't see any way it might be loaded, because it is quite evidently a solid projectile weapon, so it needs to be loaded somewhere. I used to believe that it was some sort of revolver, but having now seen several replicas of the film prop (all of which contradict each other), it is quite obviously not cylinder loaded. Neither could a magazine fit in the grip as it is too curved and meets the breech at it's corner not really leaving any room for a bullet to feed no matter how small. To install the Series D, unzip the zipfile into the path SIERRA/Half-Life/Valve/ The model files will be placed in the Models folder and the sounds in the sounds/weapons folder (creating them automatically if they don't exist). It'll replace the .357 Revolver in the game. The V_Weapon (player's view) is 477 triangles and has two skins: a 256x256 main skin and a 64x64 chrome skin. The P_weapon and W_Weapon have 134 triangles and a single 128x128 skin. Release date: 19th October 1999.  Thanks to GDW for the Plasma and LMS stuff. The picture is a 1:1 scale replica of the movie prop made by Doppleganger. The image is from Bladezone The new sounds are lifted directly from the film. The music in the background is the main Bladerunner theme by Vangelis in Midi format. I'm afraid I forget which Bladerunner site I got it from, but there are a few. Thanks to Ninja Monkey too. I should have made this model a long time ago. It's one of my favourite ever movie weapons alongside the M41-A Pulse rifle from ALIENS. So thanks to Ninj, for reminding me and consequently inspiring me =) Scarecrow |