Armament: AR-1 ‘Grinder’. The Grinder is an automatic rifle capable of firing 800 rounds per minute and has a magazine capacity of 50. It fires kinetic rounds with an Astorium tip but doesn’t use a bolt to ignite the propellant. Instead a small electrical jolt is used to ignite the propellant and expel the bullet. The electricity is provided by a small ZPE core which is also the only electrical component in the rifle.
It doesn’t have a sight and that is not important since the rifle was meant to be used in close quarters like a ship or a city anyway. It is however very durable and will still fire even after taking a lot of abuse. The rifle can be set to full-auto, semi-auto or single rounds.
Armour: The standard armour of any confederate marine is the ‘Rattleback’ suit. It provides complete BC protection as well as give the user added strength and speed. Of course it does add to his/her weight and make him less manoeuvrable but that is why the suit is also armoured. The armour itself isn’t Astorium but Plastinium, a plastic. This armour doesn’t deflect kinetic rounds but absorbs them, thus protecting the wearer. Energy attacks are stopped in a similar matter.
This armour is used because it is cheaper and very light although there is the problem that when it is vaporized, toxic fumes are released but that is why the marines have gasmasks. Power is provided by a ZPE core, but not directly. The power generated isn’t enough to power the suit under combat conditions so instead the power is transferred to batteries that store it and then release it as needed. The batteries can provide power for 3 hours before completely depleting their energy reserves. The helmet has an in-built radio as well as giving the wearer the capacity to see infrared, amplified light and targeting assistance.
Here you can see two Confederate Marines wearing Rattleback armour and carrying Grinder rifles in an exercise.
