Conceptual Water Wars Weapons

## About

While the research and development group of Water Wars managed to come up with amazing weapons in a short span of time, they come up with many more that they either didn't have the budget, or the time, to build for the conflict. There are a lot of conceptual ideas about water weapons that were either changed for practicality or just never attempted, and they show what the future might hold for any potential water-based military conflicts.

These conceptual blueprints were originally drawn on the whiteboard of the Sadboi Queens HQ, but they were transcribed onto graph paper. The original photo of the whiteboard is lost to time, however that transcription allows us to explore what might have been.

## MK III

While the MK III exists as an actual Water Wars weapon, it is a different version than what is found in the conceptual drawings. The original blueprint for the MK III shows a 3-chambered design; one for pressure, one for water, and the firing barrel. This would have also been the first cannon with a multi-trigger system, as there are two valves required to fire. One valve connects the pressure chamber with the water chamber, allowing the entire thing to become pressurized. The next valve connects the barrel to the water chamber, opening it fires the weapon. The weapon theoretically was designed to open first in the pressure-water chamber, however that resulted in a loss of pressure, leading to it being opened first in the barrel-water chamber connection.

The valve between the barrel and the water chamber was designed to address the issue of water spilling out of the MK II during movement, however it became obsolete with the development of the MK II cap. This cap fit onto the top of the MK II barrel, keeping water in. Implementing these caps was much simpler than developing the MK III, leading it to be scrapped and replaced with the current MK III models.

## MK V

The original MK V design is hugely different from the actual MK V. The current MK V is a shield, however the original MK V blueprint was for a multi-chambered weapon. This conceptual MK V was designed to solve the issue of reloading the MK II in the heat of battle. While the MK IV was originally designed to solve this problem, early issues with its development caused the team to begin development on this conceptual MK V. Wanting to combine the MK II and the MK IV, the MK V was created.

It uses a backpack system to store two separate tanks of water and pressure. The actual firearm consisted of a firing barrel, a water chamber, and a pressure chamber. The water tank on the backpack connected to the water chamber on the cannon, and the pressure tank on the backpack connected to the pressure chamber on the firearm. This would allow the MK V to fire, then reload itself quickly from the backpack. The goal was to reduce reload times and make the MK V an efficient weapon for multi-person combat.

Issues with the backpack system on the MK IV made the MK V seem impractical to build, and its reload system posed issues in early experiments, primarily with pressure loss. Due to the huge effort it took to build the MK IV and rework it into the MK IV-S, the MK V was deemed too costly and too similar in function to the MK IV-S. The MK IV-S was able to perform the role of cover fire well enough to allow the MK II reload time, and the platoon didn't want to waste resources on a redundant weapon. Furthermore, the conceptual MK V offered a very minimal advantage in comparison to the MK II, as it could only be reloaded one or two times, making troubleshooting all of its issues not worth the effort. Adding to this, defensive issues took priority over the offensive design of the conceptual MK V as *I Got the Squirts* announced they would be targeting the platoon, so the team rushed out a shield and developed the current MK V to defend themselves.

## MK VI

The MK VI was the final iteration of water cannons, designed to be equivalent to a minigun. Due to the high cost of PVC and initial issues with the MK IV single-pressure tank, this design was never implemented. The design of this cannon is fairly simple; a large backpack tank with pressurized water was connected to a circular ring of PVC barrels, allowing it to shower opponents. The design essentially called back to the original MK V, hoping to combine the MK II with the MK IV. The pressure/water tank would be filled via hose, allowing it to pressurize itself.

Failures with the MK IV chamber and issues with conceptual MK V testing caused the original design of the MK VI to be changed. The single-chamber design for the MK IV never worked properly, however the dual-chambered system of the MK IV-S was successful, so the platoon scrapped the idea of filling the chamber with water. They instead opted to build a water chamber into the cannon itself, building the chamber right before the barrels. The pressure chamber would be filled via a stem valve and connected to the water tank via a hose.

PVC was very expensive during these days, and while the MK VI had good initial tests, they decided to scrap the project. The MK VI was more showy than anything, and it really didn't offer anything over the MK II's or the MK IV-S.

## MK VII

The MK VII was the first conceptual departure from the traditional cannon design that most other weapons, besides the MK IV and MK IV-S, were based off of. It was designed not to solve the issue of range, but to provide a stealthy and safe way to eliminate opponents. At the time of its development the platoon had been betrayed by *Boats and Hose* and potentially by *Zero Dark Squirty,* and with *I Got the Squirts* closing in and two platoon members dead, they realized they needed a way to secure enough kills for a revive without actually risking anything.

The MK VII had an absolutely huge pressure chamber, capable of the 160 psi capacity of the Behemoth, coupled with an incredibly narrow barrel. This would allow it to shoot literal projectiles of water out like a sniper rifle, hitting targets great distances away. The MK VII was supposed to be the platoon's sniper rifle, allowing them to stealthily assassinate their victims at a safe distance.

The MK VII was relatively inexpensive to produce and preliminary tests showed great potential, but there were concerns with its safety. After all, pressure washers can cause a lot of damage, and this was essentially a projectile pressure washer. Given its damage to fencing and cardboard, the platoon tried to tone down its power without compromising its range, but that proved impossible. Beyond safety issues, time was not on the platoon's side, as they didn't have time to workshop this weapon and get enough kills to stay in the game, causing the MK VII to be scrapped.

## MK VIII

The MKVIII was the official title of the modified gunship used by the platoon. The idea was to install shower curtains to the sliding doors of the van, allowing them to slide open while the platoon remained protected. Holes would have been cut into the curtain to allow the MK II to fire outwards like a pirate ship. The MK VIII never got to see the light of day due to the Water Wars Council ruling it illegal to shoot from a moving vehicle after a crash in the school parking lot.

## MK IX

The MK IX was an attempt to recreate Jango Fett's pistols in a Water Wars context. James thought it would be cool to be able to twirl pistols around, and he hoped to use them alongside the MK II. The pistols were unique in that they have a fairly competent reloading mechanism that basically eliminated a lot of the issues with refilling the MK II. The pistols were broken into two parts; the firing barrel, where water was stored, and a detachable pressure chamber. The pressure chamber had a screw where it would connect to the body of the pistol, and a valve. A valve stem was installed at the base of the air chamber to allow it to be filled to 30-60 psi with a bike pump, and then it could be screwed into the pistol. The air chamber valve was then opened, and the pistol had a second firing valve that would shoot the gun. The pistol could easily be reloaded with a small water bottle, and the user could carry multiple pre-filled air chambers for quick reloading.

The MK IX had a lot of issues, the main one being reliability. Using the screw system made the air chambers refillable for sure, but it also allowed small air leaks. This problem was addressed by changing the firing order of the valves; now you would open the pistol's firing valve first, followed by the air valve. This solved the issue, but because there wasn't a strong seal water would leak or the pistols would fall apart. Because of these issues in testing the MK IX was never seriously pursued.

A modified of the MK IX would see the light of day during Pirate Day, with James constructing a pair of PVC water pistols just for the occasion.

## MK X

To an extent, the platoon always knew that the MK X would never be real, but it was an amazing concept that would have created a literal super soldier. The MK X drew heavy inspiration from the idea of a Mandalorian warrior, and as such one of its primary features was the Jango Fett/Boba Fett helmet. The MK X contained multiple parts, and was more of a gear kit than anything.

The MK X consisted firstly of a large poncho that completely covered the wearer, thus preventing them from getting wet. Umbrellas and shields were already defined as legal by the Water Wars Council, and as such ponchos were theoretically allowed as well. If the poncho wasn't enough, the MK X had a small version of the MK V shield installed on the user's wrist, allowing them to block balloons and shots while they are firing. The user would have a MK II strapped to their back for heavy duty firepower, and on their wrist was a modified MK II known as the Micro MK II.

The Micro MK II was meant to be a concealed weapon similar to the flamethrower used by Jango Fett, allowing the valve to be turned by a wire that was pulled when the user made a fist, allowing a jet stream of water to shoot a sizeable distance from the user towards their victim.

The MK X also included a waistband that housed the MK IX, and the user had an ammo clip of water bottles and air chambers to refill it, along with their other weapons. The MK X's waistband also had a regular super soaker as a backup, and the pocket of the user would contain Gerik's Finest Tool as a final backup.

Because of the price of PVC, along with the insane logistics necessary to make the MK X work, it was unfortunately never realized. If it had been, the soldier wielding it would have been invincible to even Galdos himself.