IFF Transponders

[Armitage]

I was thinking about high-tech soldiers wearing IFF transponders. Each one wears a small tag that transmits a coded radio signal. Each of their weapons has a receiver that prevents the weapon from being fired at someone wearing one of the tags.

 

The tag would simply be Images vs. Radio Group, No Range, Set Effect. The receiver would be Radio Perception, Only To Detect IFF Signal.

 

The question becomes how to prevent the gun from firing at a tagged target. I'm thinking a -0 modifier, similar to a making a Focus Personal; you can't accidentally shoot an ally, but an enemy could steal a tag or use one of your allies as an impenetrable shield, and firing into a melee would be more complicated. The potential advantages and drawbacks cancel out.

[Bolon]

Re: IFF Transponders

 

The question would be what kind of focus the IFF transponder would be. I also am wondering how impossible is it to shoot an ally. If you make the weapon incapable of shooting, that would be a personal immunity of some kind to be sorted out with the GM. That would prevent mind control or such from affecting the user. If the user decides, then, nothing else is needed. It is a sense and he/she can act on it as they desire.

[gojira]

Re: IFF Transponders

 

It could also be a penalty to Security Systems, where defeating the security is required to "unlock" the gun so any user can fire it. The SFX would then be "a small radio IFF transmitter."

 

I'm thinking that hacking the gun would change the gun from a Personal Focus to a Universal one, a special case of those rules that are a feature of a particular game world.

[Zeropoint]

Re: IFF Transponders

 

If the IFF transmitters broadcast continuously and omnidirectionally, that makes the soldiers highly visible targets for radio-homing weaponry.

[Armitage]

Re: IFF Transponders

 

I frequently adapt items from GURPS Ultra-Tech when I need advanced gadgets.

 

This particular device is a bracelet that transmits a coded radio signal. Allied firearms are equipped with a "straight-line radio receiver". If the weapon detects that it's pointed directly at a transmission source, it cannot be fired, as if the safety was engaged.

The description of the item does specifically state that it makes the soldiers vulnerable to radio detection and radio-homing weapons.

 

And now I see that the 4th Edition version works completely differently than the 3rd Edition version that I was remembering and describing.

The new version uses an IR or UV laser to transmit an encrypted interrogation signal to a potential target. If the target is wearing a properly programmed communication rig, it transmits back an encrypted response that flags the target as "friendly" on the shooters HUD, leaving the firing decision to him.

 

That would just be Detect Friendly Communicator, Sense.