Miniaturized dampener tech is much buggier than full-scale dampener tech. Using it at all is sort of a gamble because while it works most of the time, its miss rate is still high enough that it would be a mistake to count on it. There's also the issue of unpredictable side-effects. Like giving a boost to advies in the immediate vicinity, which is not something you would want.

That being said there are versions of the tech that are more reliable than others. It's often the only layer of protection that some agencies have for normal folks. But the jerry-rigged gear that criminals often use has a spottier track record. Also sometimes it's just plain fake and one is forced to used intimidation and the power of suggestion to bluff their way through a crime. As you can expect that method has mixed results.

This one is definitely real though.

I've had a couple new ideas that I'm really excited about. One is a StarHammer spinoff. I can't really go into that one because it would be spoilers. The other's about a thirtysomething comic artist who becomes a witch's apprentice and embarks on a new career helping people who've been cursed. The latter idea is the one I'm most excited for. I'm hoping I can put together a pitch for it soon. But I don't know where to find an artist and I'm super broke. So it might have to go on the back burner.