OldGuy59
Mongoose
TL7-8 today, TL12+ for Traveller?
Shields with armour
- Thread starter JustEastOfTheEdge
- Start date
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
I would not put a lot of confidence in a soft flexible armor against bullets.
I was in the US Army when they introduced PASGT kevlar vest and that was upgraded with rigid threat plates pretty quickly. It only took about 10 years for the high-speed /low-drag infantry units [82nd /101st, Rangers, etc.] to get upgraded armor, and if you know anything about procurement that was pretty damned fast. This tells me that the PASGT vest was unsatisfactory in both Grenada and Panama.
[Note: I was a tank crewman and in my era we never got vests; we only got the kevlar 'Fritzie' helmet toward the end of my time.]
Something that I always wondered about in Traveller was how ammo never gets a TL rating. It would seem to me that if an army cannot afford to upgrade their rifles en masse, the next best thing is to make better ammunition for the weapons they have. So why isn't the default ammo for a Traveller Rifle AP or HEAP?
OldGuy59
Mongoose
There are things in some other sci-fi universes like tracking bullets. Actually, some of the current tech sighting systems are pretty cool, and they are not in Traveller.
Link-> Ballistic Optical Targeting System
For other TLs, there are Gauss weapons (which could be better? 4mm tungsten core needles?), and then the comet flingers (PGMP, FGMP). So, bullets do change. Perhaps not the way our local tech has, since 1977.
However, portable shields should be available at all TLs, and they could evolve. What would Combat Armor plates look like? How heavy? Could you make a briefcase out of a few panels of the material, and make it substantially the same as a suit of Combat Armor? I'd think that would be very doable. There would be different TLs and qualities (and weights).
Link-> Ballistic Optical Targeting System
For other TLs, there are Gauss weapons (which could be better? 4mm tungsten core needles?), and then the comet flingers (PGMP, FGMP). So, bullets do change. Perhaps not the way our local tech has, since 1977.
However, portable shields should be available at all TLs, and they could evolve. What would Combat Armor plates look like? How heavy? Could you make a briefcase out of a few panels of the material, and make it substantially the same as a suit of Combat Armor? I'd think that would be very doable. There would be different TLs and qualities (and weights).
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
CSC allows for TL10 Guided (a.k.a. Smart) bullets for rifles and pistols. I suspect that they would potentially even have a Friend-or-Foe sensor reader to cut down on friendly fire.
Lightweight polycarb ought to make a really good shield, but without some sort of grav assist, you're still going to take all the impact energy. Might be a good way to break an arm. On that note (or tangent) there really ought to be better knock-down rules. The Mercenary set does something along that line, but its not sticking in my brain.
AndrewW
Emperor Mongoose
We shall just have to add some glue to your brain, or maybe some flypaper.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
For a human, 16 damage, before armor, triggers the knockdown.
2+ STR to avoid with a -DM for damage over 15 for humans. (Been trying to do a spreadsheet in the weapons creation again... and failing to untangle that spaghetti)
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
People don't research the real world enough.
Smart bullets can be done now, development began a decade or so ago.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
TL8 early prototype. Getting it down to 9mm, reliable, and affordable might take some time, so TL10 seems good enough.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Self loading.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Disagree.
We are still TL7 until fusion power and man portable laser weapons equip our air/rafts
By the by that once agin brings up peototype, experimental, early and standard. It will not take 3TLs to get smart bullets that can be used by small arms. The real question is why bother. They are going to cost a lot and certainly not to be wasted on suppressive fire. Taking out single targets or mutltiple single targets if that makes sense.
They are also pointless at handgun range, if you can't hit with a hand gun at 7m or less then a smart gun is a better investment than a smart bullet.
A smart gun fires the gun for you when the target you have identified (or AI has identified if you want to get really scary) lines up with where the bullet will go.
Another technology that can be done today.
Far too many near future technologies are pushed back to TL9 or 10 when really TL8 - near future super spy - is a better bet.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
Yeah, we'll probably have the AI apocalypse before any kind of reasonably useful interplanetary - let alone interstellar - travel is possible. The near future is destroying our far future.
Bullet impact momentum really isn’t that much; a 7.62x51 has about a third more than a baseball and a 5.56x45 about a third less. To be fair they do have around 30 and 15 times the energy of a baseball respectively but it’s momentum that knocks you over.
Not trivial but not a great deal if you’re ready for it and significantly less that somebody laying into your shield with a swung axe or hammer.
Not trivial but not a great deal if you’re ready for it and significantly less that somebody laying into your shield with a swung axe or hammer.
