Streamer Grenade

The 'head' of a streamer grenade is a hollow, cylindrical capsule with a heavy ring of magnets at the forward-facing end. This capsule may be wrapped in a knotted cloth sack or have a streamer tied to an eyelet at the back. This long, loose length of cloth both provides a handle for the wielder to sling it with and creates drag as the grenade flies, helping to keep the magnets oriented towards the enemy.   The body of a streamer grenade is mostly comprised of a shaped explosive charge designed to penetrate the armor of whatever vehicle the magnetic ring at the front of the grenade is affixed to. The capsule is shaped such that the grenade will orient itself as much as possible directly orthogonal to the surface it is touching, maximizing the penetrating potential of this charge. The explosive causes a hollow metal liner in the capule to become an explosively-shaped projectile that punches deep into the target and destroys whatever is inside.   A pin inserted into a hole at the base of the weapon must be removed before the grenade can be employed. If there is no pin in the hole, a sustained pull at the base of the weapon - typically as a result of slinging it around one's head in preparation for a throw - arms the fuse. Fhe fuse of a streamer grenade may be timed - triggering as soon as tension on the streamer is released - but it is more often triggered on contact either through the hull of an enemy vehicle closing an electric circuit or, if no part of the grenade is exposed to make contact, the shifting of a magnetic bead in the center of the ring. One does not 'cook' a streamer grenade; the generally-accepted 'best practice' when using a streamer grenade is to spin it around no more than three to five times, lob it towards the enemy vehicle, and get back into cover before the enemy can react.

Human-made streamer grenade analogues are becoming increasingly common on the battlefields of the War of Reunification, as both the Grand Army of Voxelia and the Coalition Defense Forces make extensive use of auto-armor. CDF soldiers are marginally more inclined to use streamer grenades in combat. This is because, while rocket-propelled grenades and recoilless rifles are more effective in direct fire situations, CDF soldiers are more likely to be fighting from entrenchments because the Coalition's warfighting doctrine places great emphasis on defense-in-depth; streamer grenades can be lobbed just as well from the safety of a foxhole as the back of a BF-6 "Fortress" Mobile Stronghold Auto-Armor.   Ironically, while the PVDoD was the first to experiment with the streamer grenade as it is understood on the modern battlefield of 10,000 AR, they seldom have use to use it directly against military opponents due to the relative isolation and peaceable ties with foreign powers the Petalcap Vale enjoys. Instead, the most common use of streamer grenades in the Vale holdings is against 'pinstripe punishers' and other misappropriated war material in use by one of the several organized crime groups that lurk in the underbelly of Vale society.   While streamer grenades are generally designed to destroy or disable whatever they stick to, the payload of the grenade capsule need not be so serious if the user has other intentions. For example, streamer grenades with small RadNet beacons or radioisotope markers in them are useful for tracking vehicles or designating a location for some purpose. Law enforcement cadres are the most likely to use 'dummy' streamer grenades in this manner, but all shades of vigilantes (i.e. the Duke of Drones and Vale Home Guard) and private investigators have also used this technique in the past.