Equipment/Proposed/Flechette
Official description: Since the beginning of this war, we've been expecting to capture ennemy in almost every missions. These flechettes, made to fit into every sniper rifle, are filled with the same gas as the gas grenades. A single hit on any alien will put him down, without killing him.
Combat application: These ammunitions for the sniper rifle should be able to allow alien capture without being in an open area, like the grenades, and will also allow for far more distant capture.
Flechettes are not any kind of stun weapon. Depending on what type they are they are heavy armour-piercing rounds or short range anti-personnel weapons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette --Blondandy 09:30, 13 May 2008 (CEST)
More generally, any kind of projectile that can be delivered with ballistics similar to a sniper rifle will have a lethal amount of mechanical energy, filling it with a chemical agent won't prevent the target from being killed. In gameplay terms, capturing live aliens is supposed to involve increased risks to offset the research benefits.