[Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding

[Prince Charon]

Landing Party/Away Team Loadouts question

The standard loadout for landing parties in TOS was a communicator and a phaser (type one or type two), plus one or two members of the group being equipped with a tricorder, and usually only one of them with a small medical kit, as well as a belt to stick them on in some episodes. The movies added excursion jackets, which were also seen (along with an equipment harness) in the original pilot. Phaser 'rifles' (technically, 'longarms' would be more accurate, as the barrels are probably not rifled) were only seen in TOS in the second pilot, though the first pilot had a sort of field artillery beam weapon, that may or may not have been a laser or other non-phaser raygun. The first pilot did not have a recognizable tricorder, but there was one guy with a large backpack connected to a handheld scanner of some sort, which may have been the equivalent in that era. There was also the rather insane 'photon grenade' launcher from Arena, which we discussed previously, and the occasional other gadget, but these weren't standard.

In TNG, 'landing party' was renamed 'away team,' the communicators became part of the uniform, and tricorders were smaller and I think more common, but the loadout remained mostly the same as in TOS, save that in later seasons, and in DS9 and VOY, phaser rifles were seen more frequently, and the type one holdout phaser mostly disappeared (the prop designers had made it so small that it was hard to see on screen, though this also made it a better holdout weapon than the type one from TOS).

ENT brought back the excursion jackets (as well as a sort of desert uniform) and handheld communicators, had no equivalent of the little type one phaser, but had a few different types of pistol and rifle, and were otherwise equipped pretty much as standard for the other series, although someone did have a survival knife in at least one episode, so they may have been present in other episodes, but unused. They also had a scanner that served the same narrative purpose as a tricorder, and was smaller than even most 24th century models.

So, the standard loadout for most of the TV series and movies is:

* Communicator (one per person)
* Phaser (one per person, variable type)
* Utility belt or harness (one per person, not always used)
* Jacket (one per person, not always used)

* Tricorder (one or more per party)
* Medkit (one or more per party)

Do we want this to be the standard loadout for landing parties/away teams in the Psi Trek setting, or should it be modified, and if modified, what should be added?

Personally, I'd add survival knives as a common option, at least for landing parties going into the wilderness, rather than into a city or doing anything particularly diplomatic, and multitools as an 'everybody has one' item.