Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a bipolar blaster in Lucerne Personal Defense's line-up
- Image Source: Here, modified by yours truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Original canon source for BMC-150, the in-character inspiration for this sub
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Personal Defense
- Affiliation: Silver Jedi, Closed-Market
- Model: LPD-37 Sparkfire Bi-Polar Blaster Carbine
- Modularity: fire settings, sights, scopes, other blaster attachments
- Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: Hadrium barrel and internals, permex furniture, typical blaster components
- Classification: Bi-Polar Blaster Carbine
- Size: Small
- Weight: Light
- Ammunition Type: Power cell, gas canister)
Blaster Carbine Bi-Polar Blaster Mode Close Quarters Repeater Mode Ammunition Capacity 60 (power cell), 360 (gas canister) / (Small) 20 (Power cell), 120 (gas canister) / (Very Small) 120 (power cell), 720 (gas canister)/ (Small) Effective Range Average Average Personal Rate of Fire Average Low Very High Stopping Power Low Very High Low Recoil Average High High
- Variable Fire Modes: While the Sparkfire can be used as a basic blaster carbine, like the Dartfire and Firebolt before it, this blaster can alter its gas feed and cycling rate to get different effects. With galven coil bypassing circuitry and increased Xciter flow, it can be turned into a high volume of fire, short-ranged repeater than can fulfill the traditional submachine gun role. More unusually, the twin barrels can be fire-linked and use reverse polarity charges in order to make a bi-polar blaster. When both bolts hit a target, a volatile link is created by the two shots which creates a small but powerful explosion between the site of both bolt impacts.
- Stun Setting: Like most blasters, the Sparkfire does have a stun setting in both blaster carbine and close quarter repeater modes.
- Rail: The Sparkfire does have a top rail that allows it to accept a variety of existing aftermarket scopes and other accessories.
- Collapsible Stock and Vertical foregrip: The Sparkfire has a collapsible stock and vertical foregrip., allowing the user to make it a small weapon for ease of storage or carry. The collapsible stock also allows the length of pull to be easily adjusted to fit the user.
STRENGTHS
- Variable Fire Modes: The Sparkfire can alter the intake of its ammunition and firing cycle to allow it to be used in different weapon roles, making it a versatile weapon.
- Heavy Hitter (Bipolar Blaster Mode): The Sparkfire's uncommon bi-polar configuration can make it surprisingly powerful for its small size: few people expect to be dealing with explosions from a weapon this size.
- Saturation Fire (Close Quarters Repeater Mode): The Sparkfire's ability to rapidly spew out bolts gives its users a high probability that at least one of their bolts will strike a target, or alternatively, that it can overwhelm a target's defenses by cumulative saturation fire.
- Short Range: Like most blaster carbines, the Sparkfire is fairly short-ranged compared to most weapons on the battlefield, such as actual blaster rifles, which limits its use to mainly being a back-up or short-range weapon.
- Compensated Performance I (Bipolar Blaster Mode): While the Bipolar Blaster Mode is exceptionally powerful, it does so by producing fewer but more powerful bolts and releasing them simultaneously. This results in increased power (ammunition consumption), a slower fire rate, and an increased recoil.
- Compensated Performance II (Close Quarters Repeater Mode): In repeating mode, emphasis placed on quickly forming and dispersing bolts allows it to achieve a high rate of fire at the cost of higher than normal recoil and reduced range (from bypassing galven circuity).
DESCRIPTION
While looking to produce an blaster counterpart to the company's Firespike Submachine Gun, Tresk came across the now dated BMC-150 Bi-polar Blaster Carbine. While an intriguing concept, he found it too niche to make as a primary weapon. However, building off the company's experience with variable charge blaster weapons such as the Dartfire and Firebolt, his engineers were able to include the concept as a secondary fire mode, resulting in the weapon's unusual two barrel configuration.
In its typical blaster carbine, the Sparkfire is notably mediocre weapon, with almost average attributes in every performance indicator. While somewhat weaker than many of its competitors, it is also noticeably smaller, especially if the stock is fully collapsed. In this manner, many users are actually able to use the weapon one-handed like a large pistol.
As a Bi-Polar Blaster, the Sparkfire is fairly comparable to its predecessor, the BMC-150. While novel and intriguing to many users, some scoff at its practical use. Its beauty is that it allows the user to selectively deal with blaster-resistant threats or situations that blasters aren't suited for. As an example, this setting is much more ideal at punching through cover, such as walls or blaster-resistant armor. It is also handy for dealing with lightsaber-wielding opponents, as if both bolts impact a lightsaber blade, the defender now has an explosion to deal with, rather than simply deflecting the bolts away.
Most find the repeating blaster mode to be somewhat more useful than the Bi-Polar Blaster mode. While range is essentially reduced to close-quarter's use only, the ability to rapidly fill up an area with blaster bolts is particularly useful for dealing with small or fast moving targets. Many users add a reflex scope to the Sparkfire's upper rail when employed in this mode to allow for quick reaction firing.
Lucerne Personal Defense intends to market this weapon primarily as a personal defense weapon, filling the gap between traditional pistols and full-blown rifles: the Sparkfire is much more portable than a blaster rifle and more combat effective than a typical blaster pistol. For militaries, it is expected to find a use with vehicle crewmen, artillerymen, some NCOs, and other combat support specialties who operate near the front line, but whose main mission isn't to directly engage enemies with personal ranged weapons. The weapon's small nature also made it of interest to law enforcement officers working in close quarters, such as anti-terrorism teams and those who work in cramped urban areas. So far, sales have not been as great as initially thought, but the weapon seems likely to enjoy a continued production run for the time being.
