My stunt with the Staff weapons would have been to reverse engineer the power supply in their tips. Use it as a form of battery for laptops, equipment, etc.
With one of those power supplies, you get a laptop battery that is good for 30 years, and they mean without recharging. Rechargeable batteries for radios can be recharged via a hand-held gizmo, heavier electronic gear won't need fancy generators, etc. Just leave all the plugs the same, and modify the electrical outlets to incorporate Staff Power supplies. No need to change the equipment, so that hides a potential leak.
The Zats should have been reengineered as well into actual pistols or under-rifle mounts.
One person's Stargate/X-Com story had a couple other uses for the extra Staff-weapons. If you cut it down to just the weapon, and add iron sights and a proper grip, it makes a decent rifle. The other option involved 6 Staffs Weapons, gatling style.
XSGCom:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
