SynthSeal: A much cheaper knock-off of HarJel

[Lycanphoenix]

HarJel is scarce and expensive, and can only be found in specific places. Because of this... A small team of dedicated chemists, materials scientists, and fluid dynamics engineers had set out with the goal of creating a cheaper synthetic substitute... And this is the best they could do.

I literally just had the idea and haven't come up with any stats yet, but... It's literally intended to be a cheaper counterpart to HarJel that, in whatever way, just isn't as good. In fact, the original intended customers turned it down because it didn't meet their performance targets.

Not wanting their hard work to go to waste, the team shifted their focus away from the battlefield, and finally garnered some interest from the industrial sector… but there are rumors that those absolute nerds are still tinkering with the formula in secret in the distant hope that they'll finally match or even surpass real HarJel. Those are just rumors, however, so nobody should hold their breath.

Thoughts?

[AlphaMirage]

I think the Hellions or some other Clan did make synthetic Harjel. It's just monopolized by the Sharks nothing stops it from being replicated except cost and volume (like most Clantech).

[Lycanphoenix]

I still think there's room for a "cheap knock-off". Maybe the synthetic HarJel occasionally has defective batches which are sold at a discount, and somebody in the Inner Sphere partly reverse engineered it.

[Nerroth]

I was only just recently asking what the HarJel situation was for the post-Abjuration Goliath Scorpions.

Much would depend on whether or not Clan Sea Fox considers the Scorpions to be "Clan" enough to sell HarJel to. But even then, they cannot necessarily rely on this to the extent that an Inner Sphere or near periphery Clan does.

So if the Scorpions cannot find an alternate source somewhere within the Empire proper, they might be motivated to try and find a lower-grade substitute...

[Lycanphoenix]

Interesting, interesting...

So, what should the stats look like?

[AlphaMirage]

Depends what you want it to do? In Aerospace HarJel takes a hit instead of the crew so not much there  Otherwise it's mostly a sealant for hazardous environments, maybe give you a -2 on the breach roll (so only 12s open) instead of complete protection. Maybe it's more explosive than regular ones or less efficient in the repair capacity.

[Lycanphoenix]

-2 on breach rolls would work. Good enough for Goliath Scorpion, good enough for poor mercenaries, and good enough for non-combat applications.

"Commander, can we put HarJel on our mechs?"
"We have HarJel at home."

[DOC_Agren]

I like it.. 
It works just not prefectly.. like the magic HarJel