Beast

Re: What are "vitals"

for me the vitals is that 3"wide strip from the bottom of the neck to your belly button

it is where you will find the heart, spine, good potion of your liver, stomach and major north/south running blood vessels

Re: FTL vs. Lots of Megascale Movement

differences I see in FTL vs Megascale

FTL you go from point A to point B nothing can intercept you except a hand wave from the GM then you would need to drop to sublight flight and duke it out

generally speaking all ships are going to be with in 1 or 2 level of each other and there is no crunchy goodness of who is faster or more maneuverable at that level

Megascale has the crunchy goodness of defining speed and maneuver for a tactical game at what ever speed you wish to play at(silly,rediculus,ludacris,or even plaid)

however all parties need to be at the same megascale range to do combat(generally speaking those that are faster choose to either engage in combat or flee it becomes their choice)

megascale t-port can be blocked by a megascale force field that is hardened vs t-port

engine thrust can be degraded by drains,suppresses & tranfers

terrain in space can be used

it is easier to define instant jump type engines that take time to recharge(10 ly jumps but it takes 1 hr to recharge)

of course the cost is the pts it takes to do this over FTL

for me I like the crunchiness of megascale over FTL but I'll build what ever the GM decides how their universe works

my obsevations on various shows movement systems

Star Trek (TOS)movement and travel could happen at either sublight or warp speeds

Star Trek(NG,DS9,VOY,&all movies)travel at warp fight at sublight

Babylon 5 fight at sublight,travel ftl in an other diamension(combat is mentioned but avoided as being too dangerous to all sides but a shadow ship did wax a starfury in hyperspace with no ill effects to it self so there may be a tech thing)

SG1 Jump gates instant move between 2 known and set up points however size is limited

ships move at warp but seem to fight at sublight

Star cruiser Yamato/BSG fight at sublight folding space is a jump with a recharge time

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

why does it have to be a sphere when a cone or cylinder is the shape of most bullets

also an nuke going off as a skin to skin will do a good job unless you need a deep penatration

Well, I was going from memory... I suppose a 35mm or 40mm gun could be used...

 

The reason I want the very high velocity of a discarding sabot round is that the shooter should not want to be anywhere near these, and it would make long range targetting easier.

 

 

I wonder if there would be a practical way to make an armor piercing version of that round. I would think that if you mounted the "payload" in the tail section of a long rod penetrator, it probably would not go off on its own. If you mount it in the front, it would go off on the surface, and the penetrator would probably do nothing practical.

 

Maybe if you put it closer to the middle of a projectile you could make it so that enough mass moves forward to compress it and trigger the reaction.

 

As to the 18 day half life, well, if these are not "general issue" rounds, perhaps you just manufacture them, then transport them via supersonic transport to the area of operations, and deploy them as fast as possible.

 

Rotate shells every 10-15 days?

 

Imagine how effective such a warhead would be on an agile sidewinder type missile.

 

peace through superior firepower?

Re: PAH - KV Virus - Infected designing

just to add some more thoughts to what I gave earlier here

the infected but sane are those that have been cured by Dr Neville's formula

but the high fever has burned out/ereased most skills(those that directly concern survival would be retained)

so starting characters could not have any skills other than climbing,breakfall,acrobatics,survival,stealth,tracking...

no martial arts

they could learn new skills

might extend the time it takes to have UV light harm them

the insane infected from the movie did copy the trap Neville made so there is some reasoning they can do(maybe 1 cramming slot)

also they attacked in waves at Nevilles house instead of all of them getting blown to bits(probing his defences)

it took the 1 hanging from the ceiling at least 10 seconds to beat/tear a hole in the roof so no need for a killing attack he just could only use maybe 20 to 25 str while hanging to make the hole

he had only drywall, 2x4's and 3/8" bracing to get through

call it 2 def 6 body

since the infection has already happened to those that survived I see no need for buting an immunity

 

normal humans need to take normal human charactistic maxima

for the sane but infected

I would raise str,con,dex,pre to 25 or 30

spd 5

lower com and int to 5(while they are inteligent something needs to make them other than just better humans for me they are more physically adept)

light sleep

Ir vision

DF looks could be mistaken for 1 of the insane infected

suscepabilitiy to sunlight/high uv light 1d6 a phase does body

susceptability to sunlight/high uv light flash 1d6 per phase

 

for the insane infected

maxima for str,con.dex,pre 35 to 40

spd 6

int and com stay the same

psy lim must feed on the uninfected

berserk in combat

berserk when uninfected are seen

suscepabilitiy to sunlight/high uv light 1d6 a phase does body

susceptability to sunlight/high uv light flash 1d6 per phase

damage reduction 75%vs pd non resistant act 15> or head shot

clinging

there leaping would be increased by there str nothing in the movie would have had them needing more than 8" with a 40 str

with the increased spd and going non combat gets them to their targets faster

Re: Rail gun damage?

Tanks have almost no place in them that does not have something vital when going thru 1 side then out the other

now something like a 2000 ton WW2 destroyer having 8"+ sized AP rounds passing thru a DD and doing next to nothing for damage is more what I'm talking about and did happen because they had next to no armor on them

but when hit with an HE round major damge was caused

look at the space shuttle most of the vital compnets are either at the bow or stern of this space craft

there is lots of space in the middle that a shot went thru the shuttle it would not harm it except when it tried to land without repairs

while an A-10 straffing a DD might damage some systems on the ship and kill/wound some people

it would not destroy it unless it got a round into the magazine and detonated the ammo in there

Oddly enough, at the velocities being discussed for railgun / coilgun projectiles, the novel effects of impact make a dumb, solid slug more than sufficient to cause a lot of damage. Metal behaves like liquid at those energy levels, and "splashes" at the impact point, flowing out of the way of the projectile.

 

Even now, the GAU-8 cannon on the A-10 will often put the API rounds clean through some tanks, in one side and out the other. And yet somehow, that still manages to do a lot of damage to the tank. Huh.

Re: Hypothetically and unofficially, what would you like to see in a Mecha Hero book?

yeah I know it was a joke I lifted from cyberpunk supplement Heavy Metal

when they ragged on battle tech and anime with 40' mecha

Re: PAH - KV Virus - Infected designing

since the infection has already happened to those that survived I see no need for buting an immunity

normal humans need to take normal human charactistic maxima

for the sane but infected

I would raise str,con,dex,pre to 25 or 30

spd 5

lower com and int to 5(while they are inteligent something needs to make them other than just better humans for me they are more physically adept)

light sleep

Ir vision

DF looks could be mistaken for 1 of the insane infected

suscepabilitiy to sunlight/high uv light 1d6 a phase does body

susceptability to sunlight/high uv light flash 1d6 per phase

for the insane infected

maxima for str,con.dex,pre 35 to 40

spd 6

int and com stay the same

psy lim must feed on the uninfected

berserk in combat

berserk when uninfected are seen

suscepabilitiy to sunlight/high uv light 1d6 a phase does body

susceptability to sunlight/high uv light flash 1d6 per phase

damage reduction 75%vs pd non resistant act 15> or head shot

clinging

there leaping would be increased by there str nothing in the movie would have had them needing more than 8" with a 40 str

with the increased spd and going non combat gets them to their targets faster

Hey TH...read it dude and help me out!!!

 

Ok to continue on with what I would like to design:

 

 

 

 

Ok as I stated I want to state that 90% of humanity will just catch the

KV Virus and die outright! Then 2% of humanity will be Immune to the

virus and can never be infected even from a bite. All players will be

members of this oh so lucky few!

 

Next for those that fell ill with the KV Virus but survived it two groups

immerged:

 

MUTANTS: these humans fell ill with the KV Virus but managed to survive

it's affect, but their genetically altered.

 

- loss of all body hair

- skin has become thicker but rubbery(some power here)

- slight increase to their STR

- slight increase to their DEX

- hyperaware /lightsleeper

- retain their humanity and higher brain functions

- Ultraviolet and Light sensative with blindness for eyes - disadvantage

- Ultraviolet light is painful if exposed directly to skin - disadvantage

- slight ability to see within darkness

 

NIGHT WALKERS (Invected): these humans fell ill with the KV Virus and

although they survived it, they were greatly genetically alterred

and lost their humanity. They became flesh eating monsters.

 

- loss of all body hair

- skin has become thicker but rubbery(some power here)

skin grants some damage resistance or etc

- great increase to their STR

- great increase to their DEX

- greatly increased SPD

- Flying Dodge

- Leaping ability, running on all fours

- Hyperaware /lightsleeper /telscopic smell

- beserker - loss of their humanity/ pack nature

- harden nails and sharpen enlarged teeth - weapons

- abilty to climb and cling to things well

- screaming sounds used to communication and cause fear in others

- Severe Ultraviolet and Light sensative with blindness for eyes -

disadvantage

- Severe Ultraviolet light is painful if exposed directly to skin

and they take burning damage - disadvantage

- See in the dark as normal as humans see in daylight

- Carrier of the KV Virus, and their bite can infect animals that

would not normally be infected by the Airbourne Virsus

 

 

 

 

Thus is what I would like to have designed into TWO packages for

the infected of KV Virus : Mutant Package, Night Walker Package!

 

I need the aid of this collective body please!!!

 

Penn

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

why not use what the military uses in theory to have secure comms with various systems

Global Hawk and Predator direct their comms away from the enemy instead of using omidirectional antennas towards satalites in space

also incoming commands can only be heard because the antenna only looks at a small patch of sky so jamming is a moot thing

I think you have not thought things out fully. If the hull does not radiate any heat' date=' this means that any heat generated inside the hull will stay inside the hull. This includes waste heat from the power plant, drive, and the body heat of all the crew members [i'](if you have been stuck in a closed room with too many people you know what I mean)[/i].

 

So the temperature will eventually rise to a point where the bulkheads will start glowing, all flammable objects will catch fire, and the people will die agonizing deaths.

Re: Rail gun damage?

there was a movie based on Dr. Gerald Bull who built the longest ranged cannon(500 mile range from Iraq to Israel and the gun needed to be in the middle of Iraq

for defence purposes

with the velocities needed to get the projectile to the target the barrel was coated with a really slick polymer that could be repainted on the inside of the barrel after every shot

what about a simular solution painting on a conductor that ablates away and carries the heat away with it

the movie was the Doomsday gun with Frank Langella

netfix link

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Doomsday_Gun/70036913?trkid=147042

Would it be possible to repair the rails somehow? And if not' date=' would they still be useful in some way, perhaps be recycled for other uses?[/quote']

Re: Rail gun damage?

the purpose of a KE weapon is to impart that KE into the target

if the weapon over penatrates the target without destroying or disabling it

then you need to see what can be done to projectile to either slow it down while inside the target

possible solutions

1) delayed fusing Turn the pojectile in to shrapnel while inside the target

once past the main defences the insides are usually soft

defence armored compartments

2)control the speed of the projectile fire it just fast enough to penatrate the main defence so that it bounces around after hitting the defences on the other side of the target

defence have minimal passive defences and a huge amount of volume and redundant systems

I'm sure there are other things that can be don to the projectile

Or rocket-propelled chainsaws

 

You're right, though. Overheating is the major problem right now with railgun design. You're pumping a huge current through something that isn't perfectly conductive - you're going to get induction heating (hence the earlier interest in superconductors). The current problem with the railguns being developed is that they are good for one or two shots: the rapid heating and reaction force of tossing a projectile heats and warps them so much that they need the "rails" replacing after every shot

 

 

 

There's also the limitations that most of the mass of the shell today for high velocity weapons is propellant, which introduces supply issues and the fact that there is an ultimate limit (speed of expansion of the gas) which sets an upper limit to energy transfer. In theory, the upper limit of railguns is much higher than that

 

 

 

Agreed. Against soft targets, there's no guarantee that railguns would actually do much - if any - more damage than conventional projectiles - if it makes a hole through you, it makes a hole through you. It's primarily the size of the hole that matters, not the speed at which it's made. Against hardened targets, more velocity means higher kinetic energy, so as long as you have a projectile that can efficiently transfer that energy, you should get better penetration. But there's no real reason it'd do more damage.

 

The real advantage of a railgun in space is the same as in real life - it gets your damage to the target faster, so they have less time to evade, and if you have the power to run it, you can carry more ammo for the same amount of weight.

 

cheers, Mark

Re: Hypothetically and unofficially, what would you like to see in a Mecha Hero book?

what I'd like to see

both low and hi mecha genres

also giving discussion on how to fit in various other genres(PA,Supers,Cyberpunk,Steampunk,Star hero,Galactiic hero.....)

also size considerations

effects of having a high PSI with such a small footprint compared to other vehicles on anything other than being on an jumbo jet runway

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

isn't that what happened when the Israelies bombed the Syrians a few months ago

they hacked their radar and just had it not see the Israeli planes

That would be like hacking into one of our carriers via its radar array...

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

you would be better off with a nuke pumped X-ray laser system

you get a longer stand off range to evade point defence systems

and can engage multiple targets

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

there is a picture of test baker which was a subsurface blast

she was intact after both blasts but sank due to leakage 5 days later from the underwater blast

had the crew survived they might have kept her afloat

links

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/japan/battleships/nagato_page_1.htm

bottom of the page is a picture of her after being nuked

test Baker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads#Sunk_during_test_Baker.2C_25_July_1946

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Crossroads_baker_explosion.jpg

some where I heard of 1 of the pictures of test baker you can see 1/2 a ship sticking out of the dome of water/steam that is suppose to be Nagato

the dome is 6000' high so that would put Nagato about 2500' in the air or there abouts

Battleships probably didn't sink only because they were atop ground zero, wich was placed below water surface.

 

And for space, the difference in speed of radiation propagation isn't really relevant in a macroscopic scale, because it is still very near the speed of light, even in the atmosphere. But the heat generated would probably be more important in space as no energy would be "wasted" in generating the blast effect. If I were a GM having to take a decision on this, I would say that a nuke in space would probably do roughly the same amout of damages than an atmospheric, underground or underwater nuclear explosion.

Re: Laser Gunship Revealed

it would also depend on how fast and hot the air got along the beam path

if we are talking about melting a hole thru a tank you would see the air go incandesant

if we are talking about disabling optics blinding/3rd degree burns to flesh probably not

Re: SFX Question... What's in those blaster clips?

are the clips rechargable?ala a laser power pack

they could contain a chemical energy source(high output very short duration to power the particle accelerator in the gun)shaped like smaller shells(to get a more shots that a regular gun)

the big thing is who many shots are there in a clip?

are all the components in the weapon and it just needs power(I have unlimited ammo but only as long a stay plugged in)

I'd have to say for a near future game clips hold shells that contain a chemical power source and the particles for the accerator

the shell carries away the excess heat

there is no potential energy(standing in a battery)

Re: Weapon From Anything???

why not have the mulitpower

with the added limitation of no conscience control

and have the Game master decide how much damage an item can cause

and unless the object has something vital to the game(laptop has the codes to disarm the nukes)I wouldn't worry about it

as a matter of fact I would that as a delima for the hero

use the laptop as a weapon or go naked into the next fight

Re: Defunct Comic Publishers and Licenced Sourcebooks

there are factors that could explain the problem

1 pizza shop was run by sombody that had no business sence

2 crappy service

3 too many pizza joints in the area

4 nobody in the area likes pizza

5 ran out of the special sauce/lost the secret recipe(ran out of cool ideas/story lines)

look at Buffy the vampire slayer

movie sucked

TV show rawked

the character concepts might be cool,but the way they where presented or where the story took them killed the book

Erm... perhaps I'm just dense. But if a property couldn't thrive in the (much larger) world of comic-book fandom, why would it thrive in the (much smaller) world of RPG fandom? In other words, if the comic book failed, wouldn't RPG material based on the comic also be likely to fail?

 

It sorta reminds me of when I see someone open a pizza joint in the same location where another pizza joint just went out of business. If that location already drove one pizza joint under, why on earth would you risk your money opening another pizza joint there?

Re: Surviving fall from orbit

thanks

shouldn't that be 11 kps(kilometers per second)

assuming typical PC toughness - solid iron - and a mininum orbital velocity - 11kph - at least you get a crater, and the impactor remains mostly intact.

 

Transient Crater Diameter: 32.1 m = 105 ft

Transient Crater Depth: 11.4 m = 37.3 ft

 

Final Crater Diameter: 40.2 m = 132 ft

Final Crater Depth: 8.56 m = 28.1 ft

 

The crater formed is a simple crater

 

The floor of the crater is underlain by a lens of broken rock debris (breccia) with a maximum thickness of 3.97 m = 13 ft.

At this impact velocity ( < 12 km/s), little shock melting of the target occurs.

 

There won't even be a fireball, and even a mere 100 metres from the crater you'll barely feel the seismic shockwave.

 

Admittedly, the civilians on the block you just reduced to a Simple Crater will be very unhappy....

Re: Surviving fall from orbit

Dry Ice(CO2 in solid form)is about -10 deg F

which is just a little colder than 0 deg C

you might be thinking of liquid nitrogen which I think is in that area

saw a teacher dip a banana in it and then used it as a hammer

angle of attackfor entering the atmosphere is what needs to be defined

the closer to 90 degrees the shorter time till you hit ground less time to heat up from friction

now what will be the explosion from a mass of 100kg hitting the ground at near orbital velocities

I don't think you would worry about 'the bends' in the case. Becuase it is the result of moving from high preasure, where Nitrogen and other gases compress into your body, to areas of low preasure to quickly. Cuasing the aformentioned Nitrogen to rapidly reform into its gas state and, essentially 'boil' out.

 

And as a side note to the minus 70 degrees C survival idea. If you want to know what it would be like to survive that temp, here is how to simulate it. Fill your fridge full of Dry Ice till it adjust temp and stand in there(w/ some form of air supply, otherwise you will suffocate). Dry ice is about -80C. If you can still feel your toes and fingers after 10minutes, you might be able to survive the atmospheric temp.

 

La Rose

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

kinda like peeling an onion

if we all work on it and do it quick

there will be only a little crying

my tactics for a fleet battle would be

ftr's keep ftrs busy or take out bomber types or act as missle defence

use bomber types as missle defence till enemy ftrs are gone

corvettes and DD's on anti fighter/anti-missle defence

cruisers pair or triple up on enemy DD's and smaller

all the rest single out the biggest ship in range and kill it

use ftrs and bombers to take out the rest starting with small to large

Ya know beast, I didn't think of that. The high Def/Shield ratings on those ships would lead to the "Everyone concentrate fire on that super stardestroyer" type scenarios.

 

However it does make fighters pretty much useless against the capital ships because there wouldn't be any way for them to punch through the defenses.

 

Unless, again, you have one or two other capital ships take down on of the shields and then the fighters dart in and lay about with the carpet bombing.

Re: Terran Empire Starships: Game Play

this would be where BB's pound on DD's

or all ships coordinate on 1 ship to cripple it(take down 1 shield)

large volleys of missles at the lead ship(or a ship that might be outside of an anti missle envelope)

I haven't every used any of the Star Hero ships. I looked at the amount of damage the weapons can do compared to the defenses and pretty much figured that only a maximum damage hit even had a hope to penetrate the defenses and score some damage.

 

Now, the defenses of the ships, if I remember correctly, are layered so sometimes you might get the full defensive value and sometimes you might not. But still, like was pointed out, it would be a long drawn out affair that would be boring as heck.

 

The fighters are just as bad as the capital class starships. However, I did come across an optional rule that *might* tip the scales a bit. You have the option of comparing the Size values and using that as extra body added to the damage roll. So if you have a fighter that is size 4 against a Cap ship size 14, when the cap ship hits the fighter you can add 10 Body to whatever you roll.

 

That works well for Cap ship vs fighter but Cap ship vs Cap ship is still going to be just pounding away on each others shields.

 

The space combats I have done have been with custom made craft who's defenses and armament ratings are no where close to what the TE/AW ships are.

 

Hopefully there was a point to all that . . if not thanks for at least reading through it.

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

you can mission kill that tank by removing the turret

it is not bolted down and may only weigh about 25 tons(50 str brick)

or turtle it(on it's side or top 60 tons (56 str)

Does Grond then get a STR boost so he can cave in the frontal armor with a pushed haymaker? I already thought that increasing the M1's armor to 30 DEF in a supers game was excessive.

 

I think that, when there's a scaling clash in a supers game between supers, heavy weapons, and armored vehicles, the clash should be resolved in favor of the supers being better able to withstand the heavy weaponry and damage the armored vehicles.

Unless the aim of the campaign is to have fragile, wimpy bricks who flee in terror at the sight of a LAW, or sigh in frustration when they can't break through the top armor of a tank.

Re: Hero Funding

go back to the dumpster and dive for more parts

Re: The Big Chill

problems with building the Habbakuk

1) had to start with a work in below freezing area

2)those to serve on board had to live in below freezing temps(there might have been some thermally shielded rooms galleies,sleeping quarters,etc)

3) the thing would have dwarfed a modern CVN(I believe it was suppose to be able to handle medium bombers(b-25,b-26,mosquitoes)

4)the hull was to be arould 30' to 50' thick but it would have been really slow (10kts max)