This weapon was designed by Capos Industries as a commercial venture into the arms market in 109PA. Unlike their HLP-4, this one did not come off as easily. Prototype versions of the LPL-7 were unreliable at best. Oftentimes the heat of the energy conversion chamber would cause it to develop leaks allowing the reactive gases contained within to be released. Other times the conversion chamber would hold but the capacitator that channels power into the energy conversion chamber would burn out from the heat. The results of this would either be as simple as the weapon no longer functioning - to the rifle spectacularly exploding in a flash of energy as the clip is hard wire fused into the energy conversion chamber; causing it to explode! It was discovered that keeping the weapon to only 60 pulse blasts per minute would keep the weapon within safe temperature ranges, and so Capos Industries produced a test run of 50 of these weapons as advanced pre-mass production prototypes. These were still being tested by Desert Star's mercenary battalion, the Royal Hired Army of Desert Star, when the Coalition States invaded Desert Star in 110PA.

      After the liberation Capos Industries began with their LPL-7 project again with the half dozen prototypes they still had within their possession. They experimented with a number of solutions and contemplated simply marketing it with a regulator built in but in the end the project stagnated and made little progress in the next year of development. In early 112PA, however, promise was dawning for the LPL-7. A new industry was nearing completion, that would require reorganization of Desert Star's national industries. This new reorganization would place all major arms contracts and projects in the hands of the new, more capable, industry that would come to be known as S-Mart.

      In S-Mart's hands the LPL-7 faced massive redesign work. The primary problem with many of Capos Industries weapons being their overheating problems, S-Mart devised a new cooling system for the weapon. The old system used a small area air cooling system sending a thin jet of air around the circumference of the energy conversion chamber, eventually venting it upwards and to the sides of the weapon. The new system was quite basic by comparison in that it removed the complicated air jet and the upper side mounted cooling sleeves, and instead ducted the air down the length of the weapon to a perforated air sleeve to aid in cooling the conversion chamber. This simply allowed fresh air to circulate freely through the weapon. Two further alterations were made to the weapon at this stage, and that included the addition of a collapsing/telescopic stock and the addition of a bayonet snap ring on the barrel of the weapon.

      Once these issues were addressed, S-Mart began mass production of the weapon as the LPL-7A in November of 112PA. Not surprisingly this superb pulse laser rifle became the standard rifle of the N.O.M.A.D. military arms, and so the first weapons produced were sold directly to Desert Star. Since then they have been mass marketed everywhere. Mercenaries prefer the LPL-7A to most other energy rifles due to it's reliability, damaging capabilities, and it's stock - which makes using the weapon in confined spaces easy compared to it's contemporaries. Tolkeen purchased a large number of LPL-7As immediately preceeding the conflict with the Coalition States. Kingsdale is known to use a fairly high number of LPL-7As in their military. Lazlo preferred the weapon over many other designs and so purchased machining and a contract to produce some 50,000 LPL-7As for their own military - making them the single largest user of the LPL-7A. The original Capos Industries produced LPL-7s are very difficult to come by. A half dozen were destroyed during the test period and during the invasion of Desert Star. A further 20 of the prototype run fell into CS hands during the invasion and were subjected to disection and analysis. A further 16 more were captured and retained as trophy weapons by invading Coalition soldiers. A Coalition Lieutenant was killed in 114PA when his LPL-7 exploded while out target shooting, since then the CS Brass has demanded that all LPL-7s in possession of Coalition citizens be rendered incapable of firing - so far eight of those captured have been so altered. One of the six attained by S-Mart at the beginning of their design work was altered with the redesigned features. The other five, however, mysteriously disappeared after the LPL-7A entered full scale production. That leaves 14 weapons that could potentially turn up on the market. Naturally, were these to ever become available, they could be sold for a considerable amount to a collector.

Weight: 5 Lbs for the Capos Industries produced model, 6 Lbs for the S-Mart produced model.
Mega-Damage: 3D6 M.D. for a single pulse blast or 1D4x10 M.D. for a triple pulse burst. The Vibro-Bayonet, if fitted to the weapon, inflicts 2D4 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Standard; Aimed, Burst, or Wild. The Capos Industries LPL-7 though could only safely fire 15 single pulse blasts or five triple pulse bursts in a melee. For every single blast above this number there is a cumulative 5% chance that something unfortunate will occur. 01-25% the capacitator will be fried; the weapon will cease to function. 26-50% the energy conversion chamber develops a slow leak. Reduce MDC inflicted by 2/6 M.D. for every melee afterwards until no damage is inflicted at all. 51%-75% the weapon fires as normal, inflicts 5 times normal damage, but the capacitator and the energy conversion chamber are fried - literally fused together. 76-00% the energy conversion chamber explodes - inflicting a whopping 1D6x10 M.D. to a 3' radius!
Maximum Effective Range: 2,000'.
Payload: 20 shot payload per standard energy clip or 30 shots for a long energy clip. The vibro-bayonet has an energy cell that provides it with enough power for 5 minutes/20 melees of use.
Market Cost: The LPL-7A is commonly available both on the open market and on the black market for right around 25,000 credits. The vibro-bayonet for the LPL-7 is mass marketed at 10,000 credits. (Energy Cells for the vibro-bayonet cost 200 credits each.) Capos Industries LPL-7s are quite rare. Only two have ever shown up on the market and were sold to collectors for 250,000 and 450,000 respectively. (One was a CS trophy weapon, the other belonged to a mercenary that did not identify himself.)



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