Is there a canon reason for backwards PanO magazines? With citations if possible.

At first or was done purely to look "futuristic", I think it's Artbook One that has some early designer's notes about that.

It's essentially been retroactively justified that they use a liquid or binary propellant, the front of the magazine stores the projectiles which wrap backwards around the propellant tank. The rifle can then use as much propellant per shot as is needed depending on range, rate of fire, windage, projectile, etc.

The backwards curve would actually be beneficial to the ergonomics of the weapon as it has fewer protruding bits so is less likely to snag or hook on bushes, door frames, ledges, etc.

 

Also, if that helps in any way, Infinity factions mostly use caseless ammunition so I guess you don't have to consider bullet casings when designing an ammo mag.

UPD: you can look it up in the Outrage comic's behind-the-scenes pages.

 

Sixth Sense is the team linking Sensors and sharing information via comms.
+3 BS is better target information from again better/more Sensor data or plain and simple people on spotter duty.
+1B is more people carrying and sharing ammunition, so fire discipline and ammo conservation can be neglected a bit.
+3BS +1B basically represents the "same thing" as Full Auto in that regard, abundant ammunition because your squad carries extra drums and spare barrels for your HMG.
It doesn't work 100% realistic (i.e. Panzerfausts getting +1 B as well), but it's close enough to fit as an abstract representation on how IRL squad training enhances performance to more than the sum of it's parts.

 

I think it was the RPG book that mentioned Combi Rifles being advanced enough to not require their physical trigger to be used in order to fire the weapon- they have a networked computer in them that talks to the rest of the soldier's equipment and operates the weapon as soon as the soldier even thinks of firing.

The wiki mentions MULTI weapons use interchangeable or rotating machinery and multiple magazines to fire their selection of ammunition. Some of the more advanced ones use a single mechanism, but ammunition which can be reconfigured on the fly with nanotechnology while it's in the chamber. Most are apparently a nightmare to maintain and require specialised training.

Ariadnan ballistic weapons still use cased ammunition, almost every other faction uses caseless for everything, even Haqq.

 

The N2 fluff called them Combi Rifles because you could combine different weapon modules without affecting the outward appearance of the weapon, so that you could quite reasonably proxy a Combi Rifle as a Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher. Add on some extra technobabble about advanced targetting systems and that explained why they were E/M vulnerable - which was the real reason for carrying pistols. Didn't happen very often but was super inconvenient to get E/Med and then your Spitfire which was in suppressive mode suddenly went click click.

The N2 Human Sphere rules fluff also explained that fireteam members helped spot enemies, laid down covering fire etc. But simply having people watch your back helps you focus much better (or rather, having people watch your back means you don't get killed by getting snuck up on).

 

Yeah, I still maintain a fond memory of my Yuan Yuan bringing in some E/M Grenades, chucking one at a Moderator fireteam, and having their Spitifre and 2 or 3 of their Combirifles going Blue Screen'o'Death :P My opponent was super annoyed, having to rely on Pistols for the rest of the (rather brief!) life of that fireteam! :D

 

My best moment of N2 was having my Hexa (spitfire) hit with a plasma rifle from a Charontid. She passed the Armour roll, but failed the BTS, bricking the spitfire.
Next order, with the spitfire now out of commission, she moved up to close range, drew her pistol and double tapped that mofo out of the game (double crit - it had already taken a wound in a previous turn).