Here's a more detailed picture of the hazard suit from the first game, FWIW:
http://www.ravensoft.com/eliteforce/hsuitmed.shtml
There were shields on the suits, but they functioned the same way armor does in every other FPS game, i.e. basically extra hit points. Many environmental forms of damage bypassed it to a greater or lesser degree, such as the aforementioned corrosive materials.
There were a couple of indirect-fire weapons in the game (the scavanger's rifle and the grenade launcher had indirect-fire modes), but both were short- to close-combat range. This is probably appropriate to the hazard force's intended role as a heavily-armed security force; the team wasn't trained or equipped to serve as a combat infantry unit and would probably suffer in comparison to one in a straight-up military engagement with the likes of Stormtroopers.
(Actually, the traditional redshirts might have an advantage the hazard team lacks. Normal Trek security/military is so fucking inept that the stormtroopers would have to cover their mouths with their hands to keep from screaming with laughter and thus giving away their positions, making it hard to keep their weapons at the ready. The hazard team probably wouldn't embarrass themselves to that degree.)
As a tangential issue, while I understand that for this thread only there was an assumption that Elite Force is canon, I still don't think some of the concepts would transfer well to "real" Star Trek. Some of this might be game balance issues -- the built-in replicators were a nifty in-game way to explain how the troops could carry the usual FPS arsenal, but might not work in real ST anymore than the performance of X-wings can be judged based on their Lucasarts games.
There might be some other contradictory issues as well. For example, if the mini-photon torps use M/AM just like the larger versions, they'd be dumping a fair amount of gamma radiation into the environment, which would be bad both in terms of collateral damage and for the hazard team themselves (given that hard radiation has been repeatedly shown to cause problems with Federation technology).
I'd point out that some of the weapons such as the tetryon disruptor was a Hirogen weapon, not a Federation weapon (though the Feds captured some), but that's probably picking nits.
Still, there were some concepts in EF that should have been seen in real ST:
*Using environment suits when beaming into unknown areas (though they still had an unfortunate tendency to doff the helmets as soon as systems were restored with no thought to risk of contamination).
*Having protective gear in general -- I think the idea was that the hazard team suits did give the wearer some limited protection, even if it wasn't any more than might be provided by a flak jacket or the body glove of a Stormtrooper might provide.
*Having an away team with specialized training for potential security dangers that could be faced when beaming into the unknown (though they still had deadweight like that cringing assclown Chell - I guess every vessel needs a Barclay).
*Using junior officers for away teams instead of sending the senior officers into potentially dangerous areas (though senior officers did accompany them on some missions).
*The transport inhibitors weren't a bad idea, though those and some of the other electronic devices might have made the hazard team members easier to pick up on sensors.
(Hey, don't replicators work on the same principles as transporters? Does that mean that the transport inhibitors would inhibit the replicators used to "summon" their weapons? Maybe they turn off when the replicator kicks in...which means your transporter protection turns off every time you unholster your gun.)
Sadly, I don't think it even would have cost much to do on any of the series beyond manufacturing the suits themselves. Of course, the idea of any sort of dedicated military training (even to fight, well, you know, aggressive enemy forces out to murder you and everyone else on the ship and possibly rape the corpses afterward) might be seen as anathema to the likes of B&B.
-- Joe Momma
...who's afraid this will read more negatively than he intended, but what the hell...
