Name: Tinten, Tinten polymer, Tinten plastomer, tin tar Description: 'Tinten' plastomer is a heavy, pitch black substance used mainly for production of special incapacitating ammunition, though it can fulfil roles in other niches. Abilities: Can be shot at someone in form of a heated up projectile in order to deliver incapacitating kinetic force. Instead of focusing on a single point, the substance spreads out using the momentum and transfers the energy to the target more-or-less equally across a wide surface. Both painful and shocking, but less lethal than rubber bullets or baton rounds. Conditional Abilities (Optional): Can be used to quickly cover/seal something like a leaking pipe or extinguish a small object, wrapping around it. People hit with these projectiles can also be semi-immobilized - the thick substance will cool down and rubberize, acting for example like a rubber 'splint' when around the knee, or 'shackles' around their hands and their weapon. Limitations: Manufacture of tinten goods can be a bit challenging, as it cannot be exposed to excessive heat (otherwise it will 'melt' and deform; partially melted tinten needs to be properly reheated and reformed or it will be stuffed with granules which will lower its effectiveness) or shock (as it will crumble when cold). Same goes for transport and storage. It's twice as expensive as your usual rubber. Tinten bullets are usually rather large, so the magazine capacity for handheld launchers rarely exceeds 8 projectiles. Conditional Limitations (Optional): Shooting tinten pellets requires a special type of firearm that can heat up the bullets to appropriate temperature (too cold - it won't stick, too warm - it will deform mid-flight). Proper pressure is needed for launching as well. Though rather useless against armor itself it could be used en masse to cover the target in a rubber blanket. Unless your target is very cold or can freeze and crumble the thing off. How does it work: Above room temperatures (30+°C) it behaves like very thick tar and at room temperatures it becomes stiff like rubber (at this point it also stops sticking, separating itself from skin). When exposed to freezing temperatures (below -10°C) it slowly hardens and crumbles easily like wax. Flavor text: Tinten polymer was invented by scientists in MiniKnog territories and quickly found its way out of them to serve as broadly employed means of non-lethal firepower that get the job done. Referenced Technologies (Optional): None Attainability: Open. It's broadly available. Tags: Materials Category: Materials
Is it toxic? I'm asking due to the fact that this sticks to skin, mostly. If it gets caught on someone's face in a state where it's heated up and very malleable, you can be sure there will be fumes they inhale and possibly even bits of the stuff they may accidentally consume.
Not really toxic unless you ingest it. It'd have to be REALLY hot (200+°C) to make enough fumes that'd be harmful. If someone hits you in the face with it AND somehow you don't get knocked out the best thing you can do is to blow the air out of your nose and mouth while it's still not exactly solid so you don't suffocate. You'd expect a professional using tinten to have some kind of a freezing device at hand, possibly with a vacuum. You will have some hard time when you somehow eat some of it, but small amounts won't kill you.
Alright. Is it safe to assume then that such cooling devices are frequently sold with the weapons and such that use this? Is it also safe to assume that in places with hot climates and other such factors that would make cooling down difficult, these would have a difficult time being used just because it would remain too soft to hold anything in it?
Yes, such devices are often sold with tools that use tinten, but are never integrated directly into them. Unless the climate temperature exceeds 30°C, there would be not much impact. Obviously it'll solidify slower in warm places. The warmer it is (above 30°C), the more the projectile will deform mid-flight, the less painful/accurate it will be. Tinten's job isn't to 'hold' onto anything. It's there to splat on your stomach and be non-lethal but very painful. Very painful.
Fair enough, alright. I'll give this its first pass then. EDIT: Actually, hold that thought. I forgot to ask. For the sake of this being able to function, and be capable of leaving the barrel of any sort of gun at any significant velocity, there has to be some kind of material it's not capable of sticking to, where it'll slide along or off of something without much friction. What materials would this have trouble clinging to?
Alright. What's the minimum size of the weapons that can fire these pellets? This is taking into account things like the fact it probably needs a heating coil or something else in order to actually function, as well as whatever method of storage they're kept in on the gun. Are the pellets typically stored in magazines somehow or something else, like a pack worn somewhere making it some sort of vacuum-like apparatus?
They are held the same way ballistic bullets are - magazines, boxes, and belts. Sometimes drums - but drums are terrible, why would you use them? Tinten launchers are almost alwys rail-type weapons - the projectile is held in an aegisalt sabot nest integrated into the gun and can be launched immediately after being prepared in the heating part of the gun (perhaps a heating coil as suggested). Chemical propellant versions exists too. They offer more RPM but are more complex due to the gunpowder feeding mechanism, which is why they're usually a bit more expensive and reserved for professionals - people who really want to cover someone's entire body with tinten, bruises and pain in matter of three seconds. Minimum size of the weapon depends on the size of the projectile - which can vary. It can be as small as 9mm and as large as 50mm. There are also tinten grenade launchers and even tinten burst mortar shells - but their effective blast radius is limited compared to the traditional lethal counterparts.
Alright, that's all I'll need to pass this. I have no more questions and will give it its first one unless someone else has any more questions.
