CSC Weapons

[DFW]

Speaking of tank busting...

Hans Ulrich Rudel destroyed over 500 (and sank a battleship) using just a Stuka.

Who can't admire a guy who had a medal created just for him because he was so damn good?

Wasn't he missing a leg later on and kept tank busting anyway?

 

[rust]

Who can't admire a guy who had a medal created just for him because he was so damn good?

I, for example, because he remained a fanatic Nazi until his death in 1982.
What he did was outstanding, but why he did it was just as outstandingly
disgusting.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Are there any personal force-fields in CSC?

I can't remember any

Bah!!!

I thought CSC was a "Black Book" (i.e. generic Sci-Fi), not setting specific. Personal force-fields are very common in Sci-Fi after all.

 

[DFW]

Who can't admire a guy who had a medal created just for him because he was so damn good?

I, for example, because he remained a fanatic Nazi until his death in 1982.
What he did was outstanding, but why he did it was just as outstandingly
disgusting.

He lived until '82? Tough SOB.

 

[phavoc]

Who can't admire a guy who had a medal created just for him because he was so damn good?

I, for example, because he remained a fanatic Nazi until his death in 1982.
What he did was outstanding, but why he did it was just as outstandingly
disgusting.

I read an older book about him and his exploits during the war. From what I could tell he was more a nationalist than a Nazi. Of course, those were "interesting" times for Germans back then with the Nazi party ruling with such an iron fist. From the little that I have read of his post-war activities, he did associate with other Nazi's, but I've not found anything that has said he believed in all the Nazi ideals. But he does sound like a big supporter of German Nationalism. I'm just glad we've never had to deal with that sort of thing here in the states... though if this red/blue stuff keeps going on, who knows?

And yes, DFW, he lost his leg below the knee due to enemy fire and went back up in a Stuka and was still killing tanks until the end of the war where he surrendered to the US rather than the Russians (for good reason - Stalin had a 100,000 ruble bounty on his head).

 

[rust]

From the little that I have read of his post-war activities, he did associate with other Nazi's, but I've not found anything that has said he believed in all the Nazi ideals.

This is not the thread to go into details, so all I can write is that he doubt-
less did and even actively led attempts to bring the Nazis back to power.
He just had to be very careful in his later years, because most members
of the old comrades' network (that he had founded during his time in Ar-
gentina) had died and so were no longer able to protect him, and the po-
lice watched him closely, waiting for an opportunity to arrest him.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

OK, if CSC fails to mention common Sci-Fi equipment such as personal force-fields, does it have anything like defensive micro-swarms, or small-scale personal defence-drones?

Actually, does it have any active personal defences?

 

[rust]

Actually, does it have any active personal defences?

I suspect that Smart Fabric that cleans itself automatically does not count
as an active personal defence (except against dirt) ... ?

Seriously, as far as I remember it, there are indeed no active personal
defences in CSC. It could be a problem of the game mechanics with an
item that is both a passive defence and an active weapon, but I think it
is more likely that the authors did not consider that kind of stuff as "Tra-
velleresque" - and thinking of the harsh reactions of some fans to the
non-OTU stuff in Mercenary, the wish to avoid another round of "flak"
from these quarters might also have played a role.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Grief!!!

It isn't the 1970's still... things have moved on. Heck, 'Dune' way back had personal force-field type devices.

 

[rust]

It isn't the 1970's still... things have moved on. Heck, 'Dune' way back had personal force-field type devices.

The German Perry Rhodan RPG has different kinds of force fields, but
the rules for them are a real pain in the neck, with lots of unclear situa-
tions: Can one hurt or immobilize an enemy by closing in on him so that
he is touched by the force field, does the force field block communicati-
ons and sensors from working through it, does the force field disturb any
nearby electronic devices, does the force field block psionics, does ...

So, while force fields are a most interesting idea, to come up with plau-
sible and convincing rules for them is probably a real problem.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

I think those rules you mention might be being waay too complex (possibly written by micro-managers).

It's just another layer of armour, all other aspects are fluff.

But seriously, why has a purposefully generic system like 'Traveller' become so "stick-in-the-mud"? It's a "generic" rules system after all.

 

[rust]

(1) Big problem: If I have an active force field surround me and I am thrown against a comrad by a nearby blast/concussion what will happen? With normal armor he'll just topple to the ground but with a forcefield that can destroy/deflect/whatever high-impulse bullet?

Yep, especially if he has a force field protecting him, too - how do they in-
teract ?

 

[DFW]

Combat pilots without legs are not that uncommon in WWII.

No but, combat pilots with his kill record + missing leg are pretty much non-existent.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

(1) Big problem: If I have an active force field surround me and I am thrown against a comrad by a nearby blast/concussion what will happen? With normal armor he'll just topple to the ground but with a forcefield that can destroy/deflect/whatever high-impulse bullet?

Yep, especially if he has a force field protecting him, too - how do they in-
teract ?

I'd say they'd just "bounce" apart (possibly using any rules used for knockbacks and possibly falling that are required).

 

[Sevya]

Plasma Grenades on page 114. They seem rather weak at 5d6 (less than a High Explosive grenade). According to the description on page 122, they're supposed to be advanced versions of High Explosive grenades. I would make them 8d6/6d6/4d6, and raise the price to 250 in order to make them more in line with HE. They would only be available at TL 12+.

The problem with plasma grenades, and any other plasma based warhead in the game, is that the stats in the tables don't take into account the damage multipliers in the rules on page 112. General plasma warheads are supposed to have their damage tripled, giving the plasma grenade a base damage of 15d6.

Sevya

 

[justacaveman]

Plasma grenades doing 15d6, seems too powerful.

 

[Jame Rowe]

I agree with having them do 8d6 damage, but would make them available at TL 11+.

 

[Old timer]

15d6 for plasma grenade is not to powerfull, after all it is a seething ball of the stuff stars are made of! Also in CSC the plasma fragments in a burst are considered ST (soft target) so armour is doubled.

 

[locarno24]

Since this thread seems to be listing tweaks, errors, suggestions and so forth for personal scale traveller weapons (especially just-about-man-portable ones), I just thought I should mention this one:

http://www.darpa.mil/tto/programs/exacto/index.html

Obviously it's a research concept now, but it's a fairly easy one to imagine being complete with 3I technology for Imperial Marine marksmen.

Laser sight/rangefinder where the laser sight doubles as a designator, I guess.

 

[justacaveman]

Didn't TNE laser range finders double as laser designators?

Possibly you could have Personal Force Fields that deflect attacks (Making it harder to hit the target.) rather than providing extra armor.