SpecOps Weapons and Technology

Episode 1 Weapons and Technology

During the two years between the Brood Wars and the beginning of SpecOps' launch, the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg have all made little progress in the area of developement of new warriors and vehicles. Instead, all three races have thrown their effort into further enhancing their current armies.
The discovery of a new metal alloy deep in the crust of several of the meteors in the meteor ring surrounding Korhal only increased this process. Called metzinium, the new metal proved to be one of the strongest materials known, and also one of the lightest of the metals. The Dominion immediately began mining metzinium, diverting most of the first yield to SpecOps. The Protoss were given permission to mine as well, and soon even the Zerg were found sneaking away vast amounts, sometimes stealing whole meteors from right under the Dominion's nose.
Armor and weaponry for all three races were instantly changed and enhanced. Though in some cases very minor chnages took place, virtually all warriors and vehicles were made better.
Some of the more notable technologies are listed below:

TERRAN:

C-24 Gauss Rifle: After the first encounter with the Zerg, the Confederacy, and then the Dominion, immediately recognized the need for stronger weaponry for their often-outgunned forces. By standardizing the use of uranium shells and slightly increasing the rate of fire, the C-14 Gauss Rifle was one of the first standard weapons upgraded. The current version, the C-24, includes these features as well as increased muzzle and shell width for a slighty stronger punch.

XC-34 Gauss Rifle: Utilizing the discovery of metzinium, it was suggested that the C-24 be loaded with rounds made of the strong metal, producing an extremely powerful infantry weapon. The Dominion hired Private Ordnance and Weaponry Incorperated (POW Inc.) to produce such a weapon for experimentation. The end result, the XC-34, was more than hoped for, but deemed too expensive to mass-produce. Instead, a limited number were made for use by specifically trained officers, including the famous Jim Raynor.

C-15 Canister Rifle: Though reluctant to give up their trusted C-10s, most ghosts now carry the slightly improved C-15, with the overall damage ratio increased by 20%. The drawback is a slightly slower rate of fire, but most ghosts who use the C-15 reluctantly agree that this is a more efficient weapon anyway.

C-20 “Pulse” Rifle: An invention of POW Inc., the Pulse Rifle broke ground by introducing a whole new technology to the world of personal weapony. The C-20 fires no projectiles, but instead sends a focused mass of energy at the target with surprisingly lethal force. Recognizing the usefulness of the C-20, Arcturus Mengsk quickly bought the idea and had POW Inc. begin producing a slightly modified version of the weapon (one capable of firing lockdown canisters and, in emergencies, even normal canister rounds from the pulse barrel) for the Dominion armed forces. But repeated raids on Dominion factories by the Crimson Phoenix has slowed production, and by the launch of SpecOps, only a select few carry the powerful rifle.

Armor: Though only small amounts of the limited metzinium could be distributed to Terran soldiers, ships, and vehicles, all Terran fighting units have had the metal integrated into their existing armor, be it infantry environment suits or ship and vehicle plating. To best utilize the addition, core areas such as the chest area on infantry units and reactor cores on ships were focused on, resulting in a much higher survivability rate for all fighting units.

PROTOSS:

Psi Assault: Recognizing the vulnerability of the useful high templar warriors in battle, and the need for more fighting units to make up for the increasing shortage of capable warriors, templar were trained and instructed to make use of psi assault--a powereful psionic energy burst that literally becomes a projectile capable of damaging any physical object--a practice not used since before the arrival of the Zerg to Aiur.

Cloaking Field: Using the same idea behind the arbiter, the Protoss modified their arbiter terminals to project a reality-warping "cloaking" field, allowing a greater ability to defend their bases against attack.

Armor and Weaponry: Following a different path than their Terran allies, the Protoss dedicated almost all of the newly-acquired metzinium into further strenthening their existing ground and air weapons and armor rather than trying to create any new weapons. This resulted in allowing their forges and cybernetics cores to go beyond their normal upgrade abilities.

Increased Shielding: Even before the arrival of the Zerg to the Koprulu Sector and the near-instantaneous change in the balance of power in the region, the Protoss had sought the developement of stronger shielding for their warriors and structures. With their sudden shortage of warriors after the Zerg raged across their worlds, the need for higher survivability of remaining fighting units came to light, and the strengthening of shields became a near-obsession of the Khalai. The newest shield technology has been intergrated into existing forges, allowing shield upgrading beyond former levels.

ZERG:

"Enhanced" Zerg: One of the most notable changes in Kerrigan's Zerg swarms was the expansion of the "enhanced" zerg strains, most notably hunter killers (hydralisks) and devouring ones (zerglings). (Though even the feared Behemoth enhanced ultralisk strain has been reported as evolved in moderate numbers.) These limited but powerful creatures add a significant boost to Kerrigan's broods' strength.

Hybrids: Seeking to create the perfect warrior for reasons still not quite known, Samir Duran has combined many great Protoss warriors captured in battle with various Zerg strains to produce the lethal "hybrids". Ranging in size, form, and intelligence, these mutations all share two common traits: loyalty to Duran and a thirst for blood. Extremely powerful and very aggresive, these "abominations" can absorb incredible amounts of firepower, but can be destroyed.

Air Armor and Weaponry: Admitting the need for stronger air forces to meet the often-superior Terran and Protoss fleets, Kerrigan and Duran both funneled gathered metzinium deposits into their spires and through them into their air units, resulting in stonger base air carapaces and weaponry and the ability to upgrade them further than previous evolutionary processes allowed.