Disruptors are detrimental to Security; Return of the .45 Pistol

[VeteranGary]

I have been around since before disruptors were even a thing, and went through their introduction and various reworks over the years. And to this day they are not what was promised nor fully developed into something interesting and practical. Even a proposed rework of them has recently stagnated and probably won't see implementation for some time. I'll list some of my issues with the current state of the disruptor pistol.

Blaster-category of energy weapon, which effectively trades the entire advantage of most energy weapons for ballistic-like performance. I believe this was done to make it similar to the .45 it replaced. It used to have the ability to shoot through glass on lethal mode, but this was removed as it made it better than the .45.

Wireless-control pins, probably the strangest thing we got out of the introduction of these things. It was never fully realized into what was promised, instead we are stuck with what feels like a half-completed system. It does not really do what it should; prevent the gun being used by an unauthorized user. After the gun is swiped by an ID, anyone can use it until it is manually locked at specific terminals. But the disruptor was never really worth stealing anyway, so this maybe gets used once in a blue moon.

And the worst side effect of these pins, restricting lethal mode to Code Yellow/Red, or manual authorization. This prevents anyone bothering to resort to the disruptor as a viable lethal sidearm because it doesn't function on code blue without someone unlocking it. And typically in these situations that require lethal force, the armory is open and the disruptor is replaced with something else. It is not even particularly useful for greimorians because the xenoblaster exists, and has the ability to shoot through glass; the best advantage of an energy weapon.

I really believe that security should return to the days of their .45 pistol, with two .45 rubber magazines. Yes, I do agree that this will make security significantly stronger off the cuff, but that's the point. In my experience, giving security a bad sidearm encourages them to lean on going to the armory sooner, and I don't think that is necessarily a good thing. I'd much prefer security officers feeling much more confident and capable of handling some more riskier scenarios by having a better offensive tool at the get go. Currently we have the gameplay loop of security being slightly outgunned and immediately all retreating to the armory. No-one wants to stay on scene with nothing but a disruptor. 
 

[UltraNumeron]

Yeah as is security tends to go from 0 to 100 on the armory really quickly.

[greenjoe]

A return to having the .45 pistol and the taser gun would be interesting to see.