A tail could work, depending on the arrangement. Tailed onto something to your left or right is the least likely to work as you'll be inclined to orbit it when you fire, but if your tail is strong and the object isn't just a round pole, it's possible even then to just grip it hard enough that you force yourself to stay in place. Just imagine holding a cardboard tube and a friend trying to rotate it in your grip vs that tube having more edges like a rectangular prism and them trying the same thing. More digging in, pain, but... in the end probably easier to prevent it from turning. I dunno about biomorph tails being that strong though. It's easier to imagine laying down, tailed to something behind you and just using it like a spring to absorb recoil (or the same while floating). If the tail is long enough, tailed to something infront of you at center-of-mass-height would be enough to stop you from flying backwards assuming the tail is again strong enough. Neotenics are small though, and I'm imagining a small organic tail on a neotenic... maybe if it's a synth tail actually affixed to his skeletal structure like, directly attached to pelvis.

Actually, you might not even need homebrew, just copious amounts of grip tape at the same places you've been thinking of using magnets.

PhishStyx wrote:

That a rail gun sniper rifle would have completely different characteristics than a regular rifle, & likely would not need the same bracing because it doesn't "kick" the same way.

I thought the same thing, but then started looking into the subject for the last few days and discovered I was wrong. It turns out that the law of conservation of momentum still applies; the force generated in expelling the round will be met by a similar force acting on the weapon. Turns out that a rail gun will kick about the same as a conventional rifle, given that the same size (mass) round is projected at the same speed. There was one argument which suggested that a secondary recoil effect from the chemical propellant of a conventional round wouldn't be present in a rail gun, but if you watch a navy rail gun being fired you see that rail guns create their own secondary recoil effect from the round compressing gasses. Also worth mentioning is that real world rail guns use a compressed plasma as the medium which propels a round; the plasma makes the electric connection to the rails and is then what is pushed forward moving the projectile forward as the plasma is expelled behind it. Coil guns also suffer the same issue, law of conservation of momentum just can't be gotten around. There are ways to mechanically lessen the effects of recoil, generally by having some component of the weapon move independently of others, but I'm not sure how effective they would be in a microgravity situation. Probably best to go with something like grip pads or magnetics or a combination of devices. I suppose if you linked omnidirectional thrusters into your suit, and linked them to the firing mechanism of the rifle and programmed the thrusters to compensate for the recoil, that could work as well. If that computing was done in the morph, then it could be reactionary and require less physical linkage between thrusters and weapons (morph knows the trigger is being pulled, anticipates and feels the effects of recoil, reflexively applies compensation from thrusters). Or, maybe we are all overthinking this, I'm pretty sure I am. :)

I overthought this some more and realized that the basic issue is to increase the coefficient of static friction between the sniper and the surface on which he is bracing. Grip pads and magnets help, but only sometimes. Magnets won't help on a nonferrous surface, including aluminum, titanium, tungsten, or several other metals likely to be used in various surfaces. Grip pads would only really work well on clean and dry surfaces. Grip pads which emulated a geko foot pad (using van der Waals forces) would work on many surfaces, but not on ones covered in thick dust or debris. The best all purpose solution would then be the thrusters, but not as I described their use above. Instead, the thrusters should provide force normal to the plane upon which the sniper is braced. By pushing the sniper into the surface, the coefficient of static friction is then maximized, regardless of the surface he is on. Keep in mind that low friction surfaces such as highly polished ice or surfaces coated in low viscosity oil will still be problematic. Also note that the thrusters should be able to provide approximately 1g of force (enough to hover in a 1g environment) and should probably be attached to a rigid body suit to avoid concentrating the thrust on various parts of the sniper's body (a jetpack over a flexible layer of clothing would likely cause back problems over time, for instance). Also note; the jets, in a microgravity environment, would also allow the sniper to move to and brace against any surface including walls and ceiling. Anyway, that's how I'd approach it. Edit: If all else fails, use the default techno cheats common to EP, such as psychic powers or nanotechnology. You can bypass the laws of physics with those solutions easily enough. New gear: nano-grippers - this nano hive generates nanobots which grip any surface using a combination of forces including van der Waals, or just filling in microfractures and surface imperfections, they can displace oils and debris and chain together to form semi-crystaline connections between the user and the surface to which they are directed to adhere. This grants the character perfect connection to any surface in any condition. Cost: Moderate. New psi slight: spirit of the gecko - makes the magic man stick to crap.

Hi there. Maybe I am reading too much into this but the description of firearms on page 210 mentions from the get go that EP kinetic weapons are “effectively recoilless (thanks to rheological smart fluids mechanisms)”... so maybe no need to look too far for a solution?