Philywebrider Great suggestions! Before I respond to your ideas though I would like to take you behind-the-scenes in the conceptualization of "Dystopia" as a culture/civilization. It is all geared towards consumption... mass production, consumption and taxation. Why design and manufacture one multi-function tool, when you can create multiple tools and increase produce, purchase and profit? Why create a single type of round that will fit into various types of weapons, when you can create specific munitions for each type of weapon? Forget about efficient... think about quotas. :o) Think of the Drone Trooper as a power tool... while he is pretty versatile, his functions are limited to the "bits" (read as "weapons") attached to him. Why have several types of weapons for each single Drone Trooper when you can deploy Drone Troopers in the hundreds of thousands? Just sprinkle a nice mix of the different weapons in that mass and chances are you'll have the right Drone Trooper with the right weapon. :o)- "vertical single stack ammo magazine" would be addressed by a new weapon entirely

• "a 'scope... infrared attachment for night vision, with goggles for the trooper" might do those, but the Drone Trooper's targeting monocle does make those a bit redundant... I guess those could enhance the targeting system even further.
• "Textures of..." where is stonemason when you need him? :oP I'll leave that bit in his more than capable hands.
• "...a set of decal "battle" textures..." I'll post a sample of some of the decals I've designed for the Dystopian military industry. Instead of applying decals to designate units, each of these insignias are actually manufacturer stamps that refer to the home world factory where that particular Drone Trooper (or something else) was made. So it won't be unusual to have a DT unit with several troopers coming from all different home worlds.
• "solid stock" not too feasible... the piston style stock is really there to function as a shock absorber to help with recoil. This design feature was taken under advisement of our resident Weapons Master. :o)
• "... ejecting ammo casings..." not so for a rocket propelled munition coming out of a closed breach weapon.
• "tripod mount... attaching to other equipment/vehicles" most likely another weapon entirely would be used.

SydneyKeys Thanks for the config input on the beam weapon. :o) I'll pull some polygons together and show you something soon. "Do the DT's have anything that is Non-Lethal?" Bah! Mind readers and telepaths... :oP Yes, stonemason and I are already creating a special texture/equipment pack for the Dystopian Constabulary Trooper. We were hoping to keep this one quiet... too late. It will have variable setting force field riot shields, stun batons/polearms, non-invasive hand scanners, non-lethal munitions weapons (like the neural pulse cannon - same basic principle as an electromagnetic pulse, but it jolts neurons and shocks synapses generally causing folks to simply pass out). Yes, you will get to field test that one too. :o) Need your input on what kind of a power cell is needed for that toy. Thanks for the feedback. I must confess that I thoroughly enjoy getting input from highly critical and very supportive folks. :o) Cheers! M shhhh... it's only a model.

Mind Over Matter
"If you don't mind, then it don't matter."