Mass Effect 2 Cut Content/Miscellaneous Texts

“Over the last two years, firearms have undergone a major enhancement to manage their waste heat. When the Systems Alliance analyzed detailed battle telemetry, they found that the geth were able to keep up a more sustained rate of fire, giving them a significant advantage over Alliance marines. So the Alliance retrofitted every weapon in service, making a full conversion to the thermal clip system. Thermal clips hold disposable universal heat sinks. Instead of waiting for an overheated weapon to cool down, combatants simply eject the spent heat sink and the clip feeds in a new one. This allows for a greater sustained rate of fire and more numerous impacts on targets down range. Armorers are hurriedly adapting to this increased lethality with new defensive technology like self-sustaining barrier amps, hardened shield generators, and mass field-integrated armor. But for the moment, the aggressor has the advantage, resulting in the clips' widespread adoption by the galaxy's arms manufacturers.”

“Elanus Risk Control Services once manufactured the M-100, a standalone, semi-automatic 25mm grenade launcher. Considered obsolete by modern grenade launcher standards, thugs across the galaxy built their own after its design specifications were leaked to the extranet. The M-100 firing system lack electronically-set fuses that most modern grenades possess, putting it at a disadvantage compared to "smart grenade" systems. M-100 proponents counter that the weapon has a fifty-year track record in reliably accepting kludge ammo, processed via omni-tool so that a soldier who depletes his rounds can still reload. Although modern kinetic barriers can block fragmentation damage, the heat and concussive force of a grenade blast can rip right through them, incapacitating most species instantly. The M-100 may be a dinosaur, but it can still kill with the best of them.”

“Common in the Terminus Systems, enforcement gauntlets are armored gloves powered by the wearer’s hardsuit. Each contains a small repulsive kinetic barrier generator which focuses its power by greatly reducing the barrier’s coverage area.

The mass effect barrier generated by an enforcement gauntlet can be used as a shield, much like on any armored hardsuit. It cannot provide full-body protection, but its stopping power is greatly magnified. It is more commonly used offensively. Raising the barrier while throwing a punch extends the user’s reach, as the barrier floats several inches away from the fist. The repulsive effect of the gauntlet’s barrier sends all but the most massive opponents flying back.

Defense design studios in the Batarian Hegemony created enforcement gauntlets for police forces. They have proven useful in peacefully dispersing crowds of terrorists, criminal trespassers, and counter-hegemonist subversives in areas where the use of firearms risks injury to hard-working loyal citizens nearby.

Gauntlets exported to the Terminus are optimized for purely offensive use and have become popular with organized crime enforcers, pirate boarding parties, slaver gangs, and gladiatorial combatants.”