Brainstorming Thread: Civilians, Militias, and Independents of the Origin System

[Valiran]

Semi-crossposted from the Fan Concepts forum, which I think might not have been the best place for it since I'm not getting much feedback.

This thread is intended to detail and brainstorm ideas for independent groups that are scattered throughout the Origin system, separate from the current syndicates. My initial reasons were to think of a way to replace MK1 weaponry with something other than mastery fodder and not require DE to do as much in the way of modeling new weapons as they would otherwise. Eventually it grew into how DE could introduce unaligned civilian militias into the game, which is something I haven't thought about as much as I did the weapons. Ideas and constructive criticism are welcome, especially when it comes to names!

We've all heard about the civilian population that lives throughout the Origin system. While we never see them, Cordylon's justification for this - that the Lotus does all she can to prevent us coming into contact with them - is a reasonable one. God only knows what the Grineer and Corpus would do to anyone who interacted with a Tenno, but I doubt it would be pleasant. That said, the Lotus is neither all-powerful nor all-knowing. For all the effort she and her agents put into opposing them, there have to have been times when a Grineer platoon slipped under her radar and murdered a civilian enclave, or the Corpus dispatched troops to "repossess" someone's colony. With the outbreaks of Infestation across the system, there are going to be even more instances of civilian populations getting attacked.

Since the Lotus is painfully aware that she can't directly aid everyone, she's managed to find a number of ways to help the downtrodden through indirect means. The most notable is assisting in the design and distribution of a wide variety of weapons that are cheap to make, simple to use, and easy to maintain. Her phenomenal ability at electronic warfare allowed her to spread the designs across the system as open source information to the point where there is no hope of the Grineer or Corpus ever being rid of them.

Ketra Assault Rifle

The very first weapon to be distributed by the Lotus, The Ketra was originally a Corpus design. The intention was that the blueprint would be sold to colonists under threat from the Grineer, allowing them to manufacture weapons for themselves using their own fabrication units. The catch was that they would have to pay the Corpus a fee for every rifle they wanted to make, or else the blueprint wouldn't work.

Seeing the Corpus attempting to extort desperate colonists in such a manner caused the Lotus to steal the design from their databanks, add a few minor improvements after removing the outrageous DRM, and then freely distribute the blueprint across the entire system. The end result of this was the Ketra becoming one of the most easily acquired weapons in the system, and the Corpus losing out on a significant profit.

The Ketra fires bullets made of a special composite material that hardens when striking a rigid object such as armor plating, but disintegrates into fragments upon entering biological material, shredding it. This, combined with its large magazine, high accuracy, and high rate of fire make it ideal for combating the Grineer.

NOTES:

• Renamed and revamped Braton MK1.
• It uses the same model as the current Braton and MK1, but the stats are different, doing primarily puncture and slash damage since it's meant to be used against the Grineer.
• The Braton gets reskinned like the Burston was to look more like the other Tenno weapons.
• Name originates from the staccato sound of the weapon firing and how the Corpus appear to have a theme of their weapons' names ending with the letter "a".

Brakoris Battle Rifle

As the Ketra is to the Grineer, the Brakoris is to the Corpus. Created from whole cloth by the Lotus, the Brakoris is a high-powered caseless rifle that utilizes bullets made of a similar composite to those fired by the Ketra, but optimized for use against the shield systems used by the Corpus instead of Grineer armor plating. The Brakoris can fire either a short burst or a single, more powerful shot thanks to the special design of the firing chamber.

The Brakoris incorporates a detonite injection system derived from Grineer weapons that is linked to the fire select button. When set to burst fire, the injector squirts a relatively conventional amount of detonite compound into the chamber, where it is ignited by an electrical current. When set to single fire, the injector squirts a much larger amount of detonite into the chamber, giving the bullet considerably more stopping power.

While the weapon is relatively more complex to make and maintain than the Ketra, it is still easy to acquire, and many Corpus assets have been lost to colonists objecting to "resource acquisition groups" dispatched by greedy executives.

NOTES:

• Uses the old Burston model.
• Does primarily impact and slash damage.
• Fire select is like Stradavar, affecting damage, recoil, and firing speed.
• Current Burston and Prime get renamed to something less silly, ideas welcome.
• Name is meant to sound vaguely Grineer, owing to the fact that it uses some of their technology and is meant to be used against the Corpus. Another (out-of-universe) reason is that Elite Lancers once used them until the Hind was released.

Starka Sniper Rifle

Designed by a resistance movement using Corpus technology, the Starka is a high-powered sniper rifle meant for use on the battlefield by combatants who lack the resources to create and maintain the high-tech weapons systems used by the Corpus. The designers' initial concept was to create a simplified version of the Lanka, a lightspeed weapon unaffected by weather, gravity, or planetary rotation like a projectile would.

Unfortunately, every attempt to design the initial Starka met with failure. There was no way for them to create a single energy weapon capable of meeting their requirements for range, cost, reliability, and ease of construction. In light of this knowledge, they decided scrap the requirement for the Starka to be a directed energy weapon, allowing them to use a design that would not have the enormous power requirements such devices required.

Instead, they chose to use an electrically charged rail system, or railgun, to launch a magnetic slug at hypersonic velocities. The redesigned Starka proved to be a resounding success in meeting the requirements set for it. While the resistance movement that created it has long since been destroyed, the Lotus has ensured that the Starka remains an open-source design available to anyone with access to a fabrication unit.

NOTES:

• "Snipetron" has to be the most absurd name for any weapon in Warframe, and I welcome any Corpus-sounding alternatives readers can suggest.
• Weapon should make a really loud *crack* when fired, with a large, brief but very intense muzzle-flash that matches the energy color.
• The Lanka gets revamped into a high-powered particle beam rifle, one where the beams look like unusually straight lightning bolts (think MechWarrior 4 PPC), and is reskinned to differentiate it from the Snipetron. Preferably with @4ever4gotin's awesome concept art as a basis.

Crin Spike Launcher

Like the Snipetron, the Crin uses electromagnetic force to launch projectiles, but this is where the similarity ends. While the Snipetron is meant for long-range combat, the Crin's purpose is to kill with stealth. To succeed in this purpose, it uses a coilgun design to fire a large spike of metal - similar to a crossbow bolt - with as little noise as possible. While the Crin requires more specialized materials to construct than more conventional weapons, this is offset by the specialized nature of the weapon relegating it to specialized roles in assassination and sentry elimination.

The Crin's unusual design is a result of the limitations resistance movements must operate under. The vast majority of unaffiliated rebels are not as skilled as the organized Syndicates, and are more used to conventional firearms instead of the accelerator bows used by the Red Veil and Tenno. These weapons required skill in archery no civilian would possess, and strength that could only be acquired with the use of powered exoskeletons and expensive gene-mods.

In light of this, the requirement for a weapon that would let them pick off targets in relative stealth necessitated a more conventional layout. Thankfully, electromagnetic spike drivers were ubiquitous throughout the system for use in mining and industrial applications. Stripping one of these tools down for use on the battlefield was an unworkable prospect, but the principles behind their operation were well understood by engineers and physicists across the system.

A weaponized coilgun would be more than capable of accelerating a projectile to the velocities necessary for piercing Grineer armor and Corpus shields, but not without breaking the sound barrier and creating noise that would alert nearby enemies. In order to compensate for this the projectile was made considerably larger and more massive than a conventional round, retaining the kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost due to its now subsonic velocity.

The Crin lacks the sophistication and elegance of Tenno or Syndicate weaponry, but fulfills its role admirably in the fight against Grineer dominance and Corpus greed.

NOTES:

• Replaces the Paris MK1.
• Aside from the necessary buff it functions the same way; hold the trigger button to charge the shot, let go to fire.
• First weapon in this list that requires a new model. I get the feeling DE were going to reskin the Braton and Lanka anyway, so they don't count.
• If the Paris is supposed to magnetically accelerate arrows like a railgun, then how did the Sentients not subvert it like they did other advanced technologies? My guess is that such an obviously inefficient weapon confused them too much to try.

Strun Sonic Blaster

Derived from tools that use sound waves for mining and demolition work, the Strun's predecessors were exceedingly powerful and well adapted for shattering rock in great quantities. Their obvious power and utility convinced the Lotus to research how these tools might be effectively weaponized. Unfortunately they were highly energy-intensive and had to be connected to a stationary power source in order to function.  Even then they could only fire once every few minutes.

Undeterred, the Lotus and her allies focused on designing a weapon that would function in infantry combat. Discarding the original power source for smaller capacitors drastically lowered the weapon's power, but the result was a bulky, effective device that functioned well at short ranges and could be carried by an infantryman. In order to increase combat effectiveness, the Strun possesses a sonar function linked to a targeting computer. With the press of a button, the sonar will analyze the composition of whatever enemy or object the weapon is pointed at, and adjust the sonic blast it fires to more effectively damage it.

NOTES:

• Replaces the Strun MK1, but uses the same model.
• Firing should sound like the space charges Jango used against Obi-wan in the Geonosis asteroid belt, but not close enough to get sued. ;P
• Aiming activates the sonar function. After one second pointed at an enemy the weapon chirps an alert, and firing will greatly increase the chances of critical hits and status procs.
• Independent of procs, the Strun should have a chance to stagger and/or knockdown enemies.
• The original Strun gets a new name and model to fit in with other Tenno weaponry. Assuming, of course, that it is a Tenno weapon. If not, give it a new model anyway because the current one looks too cartoonish to be an actual shotgun. Seriously, what's up with that barrel?

Thrun Sonic Resonator

Like the Strun, the Thrun was derived from sonic mining and demolition equipment. Unlike the Strun, it is intended to operate in a support role. Instead of firing a single blast of concussive force, it emits continuous waves of damaging sonic reverberations to crack armor and rupture flesh. It possesses the same sonar function as the Strun, which also activates whenever the trigger is held down, meaning that continuous fire will result in ever greater damage inflicted the longer the Thrun is held on target.

NOTES:

• Uses the Boar's current model. I'm sure DE means to reskin it like they did with the Burston, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
• Relatively speaking, it doesn't do as much damage as other weapons, but has a significant chance of causing status procs. Also nauseates Crewmen and most Grineer.
• The longer something is hit by it, the greater its crit chance becomes.
• For those of you who think this weapon is a bad idea, I have two words to say to you: dubstep gun.

Takris Submachine Gun

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Furis.
• Basically Warframe's equivalent of the Calico M-950.
• Can be dual-wielded, but unless the user is carrying something they hold it like a regular person would hold an SMG.

Tekna Pistol

Simple, effective pistol. NEEDS BETTER DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Uses the Lex's current model, which doesn't look anything like a Tenno weapon but would work perfectly as an unaligned gun.

Grenades

Simple but effective, these grenades consist of a detonite-based plastic explosive held within a notched casing made from dense metal, and a variable fuse that can be set to go off after a few seconds, at the user's command, or on impact. When they detonate, the heat and pressure of the explosion liquefies the casing and sends darts of molten metal spraying across the area with enough force to punch through conventional armor.

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Kunai.
• Does native blast damage in addition to physical damage, mainly puncture and impact.

Allos Combat Stave(s)

Needing effective melee weapons in order to face the Grineer's vicious soldiers and the Corpus' well-equipped security and proxies, the various civilian militias across the Origin system resorted to using anything and everything in order to protect themselves in close combat. Despite their best efforts, no single weapon could be effective against every enemy they faced, and the lack of standardization was a major hindrance to training new fighters in CQC.

No one knows who originally designed it, but when the Lotus spread the Allos' blueprint across the Origin system alongside that of the Cestus, these issues vanished almost overnight. Constructed from an extremely durable non-conductive alloy wrapped around a dense core to provide greater striking power, the Allos is incredibly simple to use and learn, and its effectiveness against the Corpus has made it extremely popular with those who have to deal with them regularly.

The weapon is also designed so that a quick field modification can split it into two short staves for dual wielding for use in cramped quarters or due to personal preference. Finally, the ends of the staff are worked to allow it to function as a pry-bar for levering open stuck doors and other impediments.

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Bo, but uses the same model.
• Regular Bo gets a reskin to make it look more like a Tenno weapon. Pretty sure DE was going to do this anyway, like the Burston.
• Like the dark split sword, this weapon can be used as a larger single weapon (staff) or two smaller ones (staves). Impact damage for both, but the staves would obviously be faster than the staff in exchange for less reach.
• Alternatively, this could be split into two weapons. If so, the one-handed staves would use the Prova's old model from before U8.2.
• Weapon does not actually function as a pry-bar, that's just fluff or something you'll see civilians doing

Cestus Assault Gauntlets

Anti-Grineer pile-bunker. NEEDS BETTER DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Furax.
• Tenno now get to use a pile-bunker. Have fun.

Keep in mind that these people will use whatever equipment they can beg, borrow, or steal, so it's uncommon but not not unusual to find them using Tenno, Corpus or Grineer weaponry. One particular example of this would be the Serro, given the lore we have about it. Here's how I imagine it went:

Quote

Grineer Councilor: We need a tool our slaves can use to cut up our old ships!

Corpus Board: ...! Sure, we can do that!

*Later, at Sedna*

Grineer Slave Driver: Keep chopping you lazy slags! *whipcrack*

Slave: *sotto voce* I swear to god, if he hits me with that thing one more time...

Grineer Slave Driver: WHAT ARE YOU GRUMBLING ABOUT YOU WORTHLESS SACK OF PUS?! *CRACK*

Slave: Okay, that's it! EAT THIS, TANKSPAWN!!!

Grineer Slave Driver: WHAT ARE YOU DOI-AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!

*Meanwhile, at a Corpus Board meeting*

Hidden Camera Feed: *Grineer dying horribly*

Executive: It's the simple things in life you treasure.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Valiran

[Nocam]

Why should it replace the MK1 weaponry? Or affect the current batch of weapons? I'd rather see a brand new batch of militia weapons without having to replace what we already have. Maybe add some quests or missions for them? Maybe Invasion/syndicate style missions, only with militias?

Defending a small village, there's four gates, ans the enemy is sending waves at the village. You have to defend all four gates. Like Defense, but mixed with interception, as there's four points. Each gate has some militia with their weapons, and you, or you and friends, help them out. Make it endless even.

[DeckChairVonBananaCamel]

im for the idea of colonist weapons. you know, weapons that are clearly ancient, but over the years have been maintained with whatever they could get their hands on, resulting in weapons that may not perform particularly well, and look like they are held together with duct tape and scrap metal. Or tools that have been re-fashioned into weapons.
They would ideally be very cheap to purchase from the market, or be very cheap to make, using only common materials like salvage and alloys.
They would have to be somewhat interesting in design, like a rivet gun that fires ricocheting shrapnel (think individual drakgoon pellets) or a heavily modified welding gun that smacks enemies with a short range jet of liquid metal (functionally a shorter range, burst-fire ignis)

give brand-new players a chance to use something that isnt a typical rifle/shotgun! something that peaks their interest and gets them excited for whats to come!
lets face it, out of the current MR0 primaries we have (that are realistically obtainable for brand new players):
1 shotgun - mk1-Strun
1 sniper - vulkar
3 bows - Mk1-paris, paris, cernos
3 assault rifles - braton, burston, grakata

thats only 5 weapons that are functionally any different, snooooore!
you have to get the MR3 before you can access anything interesting that doesnt require you to join a clan, use rare resources, farm the void or participate in an event.
and even then your choices are the gorgon and tetra. The gorgon is basically just another assault rifle, and the tetra isn't much better.

secondaries fare a bit better with the likes of bronco, furis, bolto, lex, lato and kunai. But even then, besides the kunai they're all very vanilla styled weapons.

And players can be dumb! sometimes something needs to be rammed down our throats for us to notice it!
So for one of the earliest missions, even before you kill Vor, make it so you have to defend a pack of resistance fighters from the grineer whilst they wait for evac or something!
Make it so they all have these "militia" weapons so that, just by playing this mission, not only do you get introduced to the fact that there are actually people in this world that are trying to fight back (but need our help), but you also see these guys using weird weapons that are nothing like the regular shooty-shooty-bang-bang weapons you have. And then after the mission you recieve a message from one of the dudes you saved, and he's all like "hey thanks man for saving us, i know it isn't much but have this blueprint for this crossbow that shoots pipebombs!"
WOW!! a crossbow that shoots pipebombs!? now you already have something that you WANT to build, that you WANT to work for. You just started playing this neat-o game and you have something to do because you WANT to do it, not because you were told to do it!
And then you think about it.... if this game has pipebomb launching crossbows... what else does it have? I mean i saw some of these resistance fighters using guns that rapid-fire bouncy shrapnel, guns that sprayed liquid metal and a gun that launched big-ol' javelins (or something). 

"but the weapons you are suggesting are all just weak versions of later weapons, thats dumb!"
What, you mean like MOST OF THE WEAPONS THIS GAME HAS?
the brakk is just a better bronco
The soma is basically just a more accurate crit gorgon.
and dont get me started on prime/wraith/vandal/prisma/dex variants!
so why cant we have more "introductory" versions of the more interesting weapons?

[Valiran]

16 hours ago, Nocam said:

Why should it replace the MK1 weaponry? Or affect the current batch of weapons? I'd rather see a brand new batch of militia weapons without having to replace what we already have. Maybe add some quests or missions for them? Maybe Invasion/syndicate style missions, only with militias?

Defending a small village, there's four gates, ans the enemy is sending waves at the village. You have to defend all four gates. Like Defense, but mixed with interception, as there's four points. Each gate has some militia with their weapons, and you, or you and friends, help them out. Make it endless even.

Nice idea for the defense. As for replacing the Mk1 weapons, they are all inferior copies of existing weapons and serve no other purpose except as mastery fodder. I don't like that. I realize that keeping all the weapons present in the game balanced with each other is almost certainly an impossible task, but I see no reason to exacerbate it with including weapons that were so blatantly designed to be maxed and then discarded. Better to introduce weapons with interesting mechanics that make them stand out from the crowd.

13 hours ago, DeckChairVonBananaCamel said:

im for the idea of colonist weapons. you know, weapons that are clearly ancient, but over the years have been maintained with whatever they could get their hands on, resulting in weapons that may not perform particularly well, and look like they are held together with duct tape and scrap metal. Or tools that have been re-fashioned into weapons.
They would ideally be very cheap to purchase from the market, or be very cheap to make, using only common materials like salvage and alloys.
They would have to be somewhat interesting in design, like a rivet gun that fires ricocheting shrapnel (think individual drakgoon pellets) or a heavily modified welding gun that smacks enemies with a short range jet of liquid metal (functionally a shorter range, burst-fire ignis)

"Held together with duct tape and scrap metal" isn't going to work with what I had in mind. You need to remember that while some parts of the Origin system may seem similar to what we have in the 21st century, that similarity is only skin deep. The Origin system is advanced enough that everyone has access to fabricators that are to modern 3d printers as a top-of-the-line supercomputer is to the first IBM PC. They're not going to kludge together barely functional weapons out of whatever they can scavenge, they can just throw raw materials into a fabber and then wait a few hours for it to build them a gun, and with manufacturing quality even the best precision machining tools we have now couldn't hope to match.

Furthermore, from what's been shown to us the humanity which exists in the far future of Warframe has been genetically altered to the point they probably aren't even homo sapiens anymore. While the people inhabiting the system are no doubt descended from modern humanity, even the civilian hostages the Tenno have to rescue are capable of at least:

1. Superhuman agility and stamina required to keep up with their rescuers.
2. Bone and muscle strength required to use weapons like the Bolto, a pistol which fires spikes that can pin a heavily-armored Grineer to walls over a dozen meters behind them.

In all likelihood what passes for a baseline human in Warframe would be considered a supersoldier in other settings.

That said, I do like your idea for the gun that fires jets of molten metal.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Valiran

[Nocam]

27 minutes ago, Valiran said:

Nice idea for the defense. As for replacing the Mk1 weapons, they are all inferior copies of existing weapons and serve no other purpose except as mastery fodder. I don't like that. I realize that keeping all the weapons present in the game balanced with each other is almost certainly an impossible task, but I see no reason to exacerbate it with including weapons that were so blatantly designed to be maxed and then discarded. Better to introduce weapons with interesting mechanics that make them stand out from the crowd.

THey're starter weapons. They're supposed to be that way

 

[Valiran]

25 minutes ago, Nocam said:

THey're starter weapons. They're supposed to be that way

 

Why not just give us a normal Braton, Kunai, or Bo? They function perfectly well as starter weapons and are actually useful beyond the early game. I also think it's better for newbies to not waste Catalysts on Mk1 weaponry.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Valiran

[Nocam]

22 hours ago, Valiran said:

Why not just give us a normal Braton, Kunai, or Bo? They function perfectly well as starter weapons and are actually useful beyond the early game. I also think it's better for newbies to not waste Catalysts on Mk1 weaponry.

Well, if a new player WANTS to waste a Catalyst, they can. But there's actually some differences between Braton and MK-1 Braton.

[DeckChairVonBananaCamel]

On 1/2/2017 at 5:39 AM, Valiran said:

"Held together with duct tape and scrap metal" isn't going to work with what I had in mind. You need to remember that while some parts of the Origin system may seem similar to what we have in the 21st century, that similarity is only skin deep. The Origin system is advanced enough that everyone has access to fabricators that are to modern 3d printers as a top-of-the-line supercomputer is to the first IBM PC. They're not going to kludge together barely functional weapons out of whatever they can scavenge, they can just throw raw materials into a fabber and then wait a few hours for it to build them a gun, and with manufacturing quality even the best precision machining tools we have now couldn't hope to match.

Furthermore, from what's been shown to us the humanity which exists in the far future of Warframe has been genetically altered to the point they probably aren't even homo sapiens anymore. While the people inhabiting the system are no doubt descended from modern humanity, even the civilian hostages the Tenno have to rescue are capable of at least:

1. Superhuman agility and stamina required to keep up with their rescuers.
2. Bone and muscle strength required to use weapons like the Bolto, a pistol which fires spikes that can pin a heavily-armored Grineer to walls over a dozen meters behind them.

In all likelihood what passes for a baseline human in Warframe would be considered a supersoldier in other settings.

That said, I do like your idea for the gun that fires jets of molten metal.

i dont mean literally duct-tape but you seem to get the gist of what im on about. However even the grineer and corpus have traditional assembly lines; as far as we have seen only the tenno have the super-future 3d printers and even those still require specific, rare ingredients and significant lengths of time.
Given that a basic, semi-auto rifle requires infested tissues and a rare substance that has no definable shape or form, what kind of weapons could you possibly make using just regular old metal?

as for the civilians, i dont think we have really seen any outside of the Mycona and a few other independants (maroo, darvo ect). The people we rescue or defend are emblazoned with the lotus symbol, likely meaning they have some sort of affiliation to her.
if the corpus pose an equal threat to the system as the grineer, then surely the colonists would be manufacturing their own weapons as i fail to see why the grineer or corpus would supply arms to the very people they are oppressing.

If the people of the solar system are constantly under the foot of both the grineer and the corpus it seems unlikely that they would have access to the necessary equipment and materials for large-scale manufacturing of high quality armaments. if they could, they wouldn't really have all that much of a problem with defending themselves. In a world where a modern double barrel shotgun requires CIRCUITRY and an ancient and highly advanced source of POWER, they will be arming themselves with whatever they can salvage, re-purpose or cobble together from whatever they can get access to.
 

[Unus]

On 12/31/2016 at 9:02 PM, Valiran said:

Semi-crossposted from the Fan Concepts forum, which I think might not have been the best place for it since I'm not getting much feedback.

This thread is intended to detail and brainstorm ideas for independent groups that are scattered throughout the Origin system, separate from the current syndicates. My initial reasons were to think of a way to replace MK1 weaponry with something other than mastery fodder and not require DE to do as much in the way of modeling new weapons as they would otherwise. Eventually it grew into how DE could introduce unaligned civilian militias into the game, which is something I haven't thought about as much as I did the weapons. Ideas and constructive criticism are welcome, especially when it comes to names!

We've all heard about the civilian population that lives throughout the Origin system. While we never see them, Cordylon's justification for this - that the Lotus does all she can to prevent us coming into contact with them - is a reasonable one. God only knows what the Grineer and Corpus would do to anyone who interacted with a Tenno, but I doubt it would be pleasant. That said, the Lotus is neither all-powerful nor all-knowing. For all the effort she and her agents put into opposing them, there have to have been times when a Grineer platoon slipped under her radar and murdered a civilian enclave, or the Corpus dispatched troops to "repossess" someone's colony. With the outbreaks of Infestation across the system, there are going to be even more instances of civilian populations getting attacked.

Since the Lotus is painfully aware that she can't directly aid everyone, she's managed to find a number of ways to help the downtrodden through indirect means. The most notable is assisting in the design and distribution of a wide variety of weapons that are cheap to make, simple to use, and easy to maintain. Her phenomenal ability at electronic warfare allowed her to spread the designs across the system as open source information to the point where there is no hope of the Grineer or Corpus ever being rid of them.

Ketra Assault Rifle

The very first weapon to be distributed by the Lotus, The Ketra was originally a Corpus design. The intention was that the blueprint would be sold to colonists under threat from the Grineer, allowing them to manufacture weapons for themselves using their own fabrication units. The catch was that they would have to pay the Corpus a fee for every rifle they wanted to make, or else the blueprint wouldn't work.

Seeing the Corpus attempting to extort desperate colonists in such a manner caused the Lotus to steal the design from their databanks, add a few minor improvements after removing the outrageous DRM, and then freely distribute the blueprint across the entire system. The end result of this was the Ketra becoming one of the most easily acquired weapons in the system, and the Corpus losing out on a significant profit.

The Ketra fires bullets made of a special composite material that hardens when striking a rigid object such as armor plating, but disintegrates into fragments upon entering biological material, shredding it. This, combined with its large magazine, high accuracy, and high rate of fire make it ideal for combating the Grineer.

NOTES:

• Renamed and revamped Braton MK1.
• It uses the same model as the current Braton and MK1, but the stats are different, doing primarily puncture and slash damage since it's meant to be used against the Grineer.
• The Braton gets reskinned like the Burston was to look more like the other Tenno weapons.
• Name originates from the staccato sound of the weapon firing and how the Corpus appear to have a theme of their weapons' names ending with the letter "a".

Brakoris Battle Rifle

As the Ketra is to the Grineer, the Brakoris is to the Corpus. Created from whole cloth by the Lotus, the Brakoris is a high-powered caseless rifle that utilizes bullets made of a similar composite to those fired by the Ketra, but optimized for use against the shield systems used by the Corpus instead of Grineer armor plating. The Brakoris can fire either a short burst or a single, more powerful shot thanks to the special design of the firing chamber.

The Brakoris incorporates a detonite injection system derived from Grineer weapons that is linked to the fire select button. When set to burst fire, the injector squirts a relatively conventional amount of detonite compound into the chamber, where it is ignited by an electrical current. When set to single fire, the injector squirts a much larger amount of detonite into the chamber, giving the bullet considerably more stopping power.

While the weapon is relatively more complex to make and maintain than the Ketra, it is still easy to acquire, and many Corpus assets have been lost to colonists objecting to "resource acquisition groups" dispatched by greedy executives.

NOTES:

• Uses the old Burston model.
• Does primarily impact and slash damage.
• Fire select is like Stradavar, affecting damage, recoil, and firing speed.
• Current Burston and Prime get renamed to something less silly, ideas welcome.
• Name is meant to sound vaguely Grineer, owing to the fact that it uses some of their technology and is meant to be used against the Corpus. Another (out-of-universe) reason is that Elite Lancers once used them until the Hind was released.

Starka Sniper Rifle

Designed by a resistance movement using Corpus technology, the Starka is a high-powered sniper rifle meant for use on the battlefield by combatants who lack the resources to create and maintain the high-tech weapons systems used by the Corpus. The designers' initial concept was to create a simplified version of the Lanka, a lightspeed weapon unaffected by weather, gravity, or planetary rotation like a projectile would.

Unfortunately, every attempt to design the initial Starka met with failure. There was no way for them to create a single energy weapon capable of meeting their requirements for range, cost, reliability, and ease of construction. In light of this knowledge, they decided scrap the requirement for the Starka to be a directed energy weapon, allowing them to use a design that would not have the enormous power requirements such devices required.

Instead, they chose to use an electrically charged rail system, or railgun, to launch a magnetic slug at hypersonic velocities. The redesigned Starka proved to be a resounding success in meeting the requirements set for it. While the resistance movement that created it has long since been destroyed, the Lotus has ensured that the Starka remains an open-source design available to anyone with access to a fabrication unit.

NOTES:

• "Snipetron" has to be the most absurd name for any weapon in Warframe, and I welcome any Corpus-sounding alternatives readers can suggest.
• Weapon should make a really loud *crack* when fired, with a large, brief but very intense muzzle-flash that matches the energy color.
• The Lanka gets revamped into a high-powered particle beam rifle, one where the beams look like unusually straight lightning bolts (think MechWarrior 4 PPC), and is reskinned to differentiate it from the Snipetron. Preferably with @4ever4gotin's awesome concept art as a basis.

Crin Spike Launcher

Like the Snipetron, the Crin uses electromagnetic force to launch projectiles, but this is where the similarity ends. While the Snipetron is meant for long-range combat, the Crin's purpose is to kill with stealth. To succeed in this purpose, it uses a coilgun design to fire a large spike of metal - similar to a crossbow bolt - with as little noise as possible. While the Crin requires more specialized materials to construct than more conventional weapons, this is offset by the specialized nature of the weapon relegating it to specialized roles in assassination and sentry elimination.

The Crin's unusual design is a result of the limitations resistance movements must operate under. The vast majority of unaffiliated rebels are not as skilled as the organized Syndicates, and are more used to conventional firearms instead of the accelerator bows used by the Red Veil and Tenno. These weapons required skill in archery no civilian would possess, and strength that could only be acquired with the use of powered exoskeletons and expensive gene-mods.

In light of this, the requirement for a weapon that would let them pick off targets in relative stealth necessitated a more conventional layout. Thankfully, electromagnetic spike drivers were ubiquitous throughout the system for use in mining and industrial applications. Stripping one of these tools down for use on the battlefield was an unworkable prospect, but the principles behind their operation were well understood by engineers and physicists across the system.

A weaponized coilgun would be more than capable of accelerating a projectile to the velocities necessary for piercing Grineer armor and Corpus shields, but not without breaking the sound barrier and creating noise that would alert nearby enemies. In order to compensate for this the projectile was made considerably larger and more massive than a conventional round, retaining the kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost due to its now subsonic velocity.

The Crin lacks the sophistication and elegance of Tenno or Syndicate weaponry, but fulfills its role admirably in the fight against Grineer dominance and Corpus greed.

NOTES:

• Replaces the Paris MK1.
• Aside from the necessary buff it functions the same way; hold the trigger button to charge the shot, let go to fire.
• First weapon in this list that requires a new model. I get the feeling DE were going to reskin the Braton and Lanka anyway, so they don't count.
• If the Paris is supposed to magnetically accelerate arrows like a railgun, then how did the Sentients not subvert it like they did other advanced technologies? My guess is that such an obviously inefficient weapon confused them too much to try.

Strun Sonic Blaster

Derived from tools that use sound waves for mining and demolition work, the Strun's predecessors were exceedingly powerful and well adapted for shattering rock in great quantities. Their obvious power and utility convinced the Lotus to research how these tools might be effectively weaponized. Unfortunately they were highly energy-intensive and had to be connected to a stationary power source in order to function.  Even then they could only fire once every few minutes.

Undeterred, the Lotus and her allies focused on designing a weapon that would function in infantry combat. Discarding the original power source for smaller capacitors drastically lowered the weapon's power, but the result was a bulky, effective device that functioned well at short ranges and could be carried by an infantryman. In order to increase combat effectiveness, the Strun possesses a sonar function linked to a targeting computer. With the press of a button, the sonar will analyze the composition of whatever enemy or object the weapon is pointed at, and adjust the sonic blast it fires to more effectively damage it.

NOTES:

• Replaces the Strun MK1, but uses the same model.
• Firing should sound like the space charges Jango used against Obi-wan in the Geonosis asteroid belt, but not close enough to get sued. ;P
• Aiming activates the sonar function. After one second pointed at an enemy the weapon chirps an alert, and firing will greatly increase the chances of critical hits and status procs.
• Independent of procs, the Strun should have a chance to stagger and/or knockdown enemies.
• The original Strun gets a new name and model to fit in with other Tenno weaponry. Assuming, of course, that it is a Tenno weapon. If not, give it a new model anyway because the current one looks too cartoonish to be an actual shotgun. Seriously, what's up with that barrel?

Thrun Sonic Resonator

Like the Strun, the Thrun was derived from sonic mining and demolition equipment. Unlike the Strun, it is intended to operate in a support role. Instead of firing a single blast of concussive force, it emits continuous waves of damaging sonic reverberations to crack armor and rupture flesh. It possesses the same sonar function as the Strun, which also activates whenever the trigger is held down, meaning that continuous fire will result in ever greater damage inflicted the longer the Thrun is held on target.

NOTES:

• Uses the Boar's current model. I'm sure DE means to reskin it like they did with the Burston, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
• Relatively speaking, it doesn't do as much damage as other weapons, but has a significant chance of causing status procs. Also nauseates Crewmen and most Grineer.
• The longer something is hit by it, the greater its crit chance becomes.
• For those of you who think this weapon is a bad idea, I have two words to say to you: dubstep gun.

Takris Submachine Gun

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Furis.
• Basically Warframe's equivalent of the Calico M-950.
• Can be dual-wielded, but unless the user is carrying something they hold it like a regular person would hold an SMG.

Tekna Pistol

Simple, effective pistol. NEEDS BETTER DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Uses the Lex's current model, which doesn't look anything like a Tenno weapon but would work perfectly as an unaligned gun.

Grenades

Simple but effective, these grenades consist of a detonite-based plastic explosive held within a notched casing made from dense metal, and a variable fuse that can be set to go off after a few seconds, at the user's command, or on impact. When they detonate, the heat and pressure of the explosion liquefies the casing and sends darts of molten metal spraying across the area with enough force to punch through conventional armor.

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Kunai.
• Does native blast damage in addition to physical damage, mainly puncture and impact.

Allos Combat Stave(s)

Needing effective melee weapons in order to face the Grineer's vicious soldiers and the Corpus' well-equipped security and proxies, the various civilian militias across the Origin system resorted to using anything and everything in order to protect themselves in close combat. Despite their best efforts, no single weapon could be effective against every enemy they faced, and the lack of standardization was a major hindrance to training new fighters in CQC.

No one knows who originally designed it, but when the Lotus spread the Allos' blueprint across the Origin system alongside that of the Cestus, these issues vanished almost overnight. Constructed from an extremely durable non-conductive alloy wrapped around a dense core to provide greater striking power, the Allos is incredibly simple to use and learn, and its effectiveness against the Corpus has made it extremely popular with those who have to deal with them regularly.

The weapon is also designed so that a quick field modification can split it into two short staves for dual wielding for use in cramped quarters or due to personal preference. Finally, the ends of the staff are worked to allow it to function as a pry-bar for levering open stuck doors and other impediments.

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Bo, but uses the same model.
• Regular Bo gets a reskin to make it look more like a Tenno weapon. Pretty sure DE was going to do this anyway, like the Burston.
• Like the dark split sword, this weapon can be used as a larger single weapon (staff) or two smaller ones (staves). Impact damage for both, but the staves would obviously be faster than the staff in exchange for less reach.
• Alternatively, this could be split into two weapons. If so, the one-handed staves would use the Prova's old model from before U8.2.
• Weapon does not actually function as a pry-bar, that's just fluff or something you'll see civilians doing

Cestus Assault Gauntlets

Anti-Grineer pile-bunker. NEEDS BETTER DESCRIPTION

NOTES:

• Replaces the MK1 Furax.
• Tenno now get to use a pile-bunker. Have fun.

Keep in mind that these people will use whatever equipment they can beg, borrow, or steal, so it's uncommon but not not unusual to find them using Tenno, Corpus or Grineer weaponry. One particular example of this would be the Serro, given the lore we have about it. Here's how I imagine it went:

   My my, this seems quite familiar. Permission to plug in a few of my ideas for your perusal? They may not quite be made from chewing gum and bailing wire, but, they certainly aren't Corpus-Grade either. 

(Addendum)= Rest assured sir/mam, i'll be going through you wealth of material quite soon and picking each little tool of home-defense apart piece by piece for commentary. Tis the least I can do for a fellow word-wall smith. I'll come back here to add a piece as I digest each crumb of info.

 

Preface= While I d0 not agree that these should replace the current Mark 1 weapons, I do agree that some tweaks are in order for the originals. While I fully understand why the Mark 1 is Corpussian in design, I would think the service Braton would be more. . . uh. . .tenno-optimized mayhaps? That doesn't mean your arsenal wouldn't be a good thing to have as a "Newmen Taste-Test", only that I don't think that they should push the others off their current pedestals.

 

Ketra Verdict= 

 

Brakoris Verdict= 

 

Starka Verdict= 

 

Crin Verdict= 

 

Strun Verdict= 

 

Thrun Verdict= 

 

Takris Verdict= 

 

Tekna Verdict= 

 

Unamed Grenades (How about "Boam"?) Verdict= 

 

Cestus Verdict= 

 

Be back soon sir/mam, my bed, she calls!

Edited January 9, 2017 by Unus
A Forgotten Revelation and a Splendid Realization.