Stunner practice
- Thread starter ResslynHalvik
- Start date
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Good idea. Crank the power down and have a free for all in the cargo bay. Reminds me of my childhood. We hunted each other through a redwood forest using pump 5.56 mm pellet guns
ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
IYTU the stunner has power levels? Do you handle that as number of dice, or something?
ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
Thanks. So, you are thinking it needs specialist equipment, rather than just hanging a rolled up tarp from a cargo strap, or whatever I can find in corners of the hold or engineering?
I am not even sure what benefit such target practice would provide. Normally you train stoppage drills, recoil management, magazine changes and reactions to the noise and movement. I am not sure a stunner has any of those things to worry about. It is basically just pointing at the target and pulling the trigger. It should be as easy as aiming a torch or a gun in a video game.
It depends if your stunner is electromagnetic or sonic. A sonic stunner could produce ripples in a suspended sheet or knock over light objects. An electromagnetic one could push magnetised objects over or might create electrical discharge in the right fabrics (like the stuff a dispersion suit is made from). Otherwise you would need something that could detect the electromagnetic pulse. I wouldn't expect hanging up a tarp would show anything, but as we don't know how it works it is hard to say.
If you can benefit from practice there will be a method to conduct that practice. We just cannot describe it without knowing how it all works. Simple electronic detection equipment should cost Cr10's and could be just handwaved away as part of your living expenses.
Chasing a cat-bot (or a real cat for that matter) round the cargo bay will exercise effectively. Playing stunner tag with the rest of your crew will be weapon training, entertainment, exercise and team building all in one. At least that way there are known tangible effects that can be used.
The Field Catalogue allows a Variable Intensity feature from TL10 which allows you to tune the power down as low as you want (but energy weapon let alone stunner design is a bit vague). It adds 15% to the cost of the receiver which you could just read as the whole cost of the CSC stunner as we have little else to go on. Hand waving an extra Cr50-100 isn't going to break the game.
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To Tha Moon!
Cosmic Mongoose
I got you covered. This is the basics for Target Practice. Adjust how you want.
MgT2e+ Target Practice using Effect
So, a Target is a (usually) stationary object with concentric circles on it. The smaller the circle, the higher the score. Therefore, using ...
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ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
With a stunner, how does the shooter know what ring they hit?I got you covered. This is the basics for Target Practice. Adjust how you want.
MgT2e+ Target Practice using Effect
So, a Target is a (usually) stationary object with concentric circles on it. The smaller the circle, the higher the score. Therefore, using ...
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Variable energy levels are official. JTAS issue 7, p108: Infiniti Arms Energy Weapons, by Geir.
On the "how do they know which ring they hit?" question, this seems a lot to worry about for a detail so tiny. Literally a few seconds thought for me yielded:
- Just say something like "traditionally, for practising people use a thin sheet of aluminium foil from the galley, which will show mild discolouration at the impact site"
- Or, if you want to be strict and think that stunners leaving physical marks is not suitable for YTU, say "for practise, it is necessary to use a weapon with the smart trait and scope, which will show a zoomed-in picture of the hit"
- Or "target sheets sensitive to the wavelengths used by stunners are available for 10Cr for 20 sheets from all good SpaceMarts"
- Or "a Knollbot Mk2 observes target, barrel and trigger at 100,000 fps and projects a hit location at ranges of up to 1km. Available at just 1,100Cr from DeGrassy Industries."
- Or "it has no in-game effect: the target is made of handwavium and you just know"
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ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
That JTAS article seems to describe one stunner that can also function as a laser but doesn't mention variable power output.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
What did they roll?
Effect zero, they hit the target. Each point of effect takes them in a ring. Critical effect is bullseye.
ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
Yeah, we're at crossed purposes. I meant what the in-world effect is - what the character sees, rather than what the players and referee see in the dice.
And none of the five suggestions I made were an answer? I struggle to imagine what you are looking for. Maybe you could describe your expectations more clearly?
ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
Our ref has ruled that while kicking our heels on board ship, we can practice things, and using a variant of "experience points" from the Companion. If we can successfully make a roll, we get an experience point. Up to once per shipboard day. I want to improve my Gun Combat (energy hand weapons) skill, and what I have is a stunner. I want to work out a proposal for him about practicing with the stunner that doesn't involve zapping others in the party. That has me wondering what it's possible to fire the stunner at that will show a successful result. My best so far is the "kitchen foil covering a white tile" I described earlier.
Option 1. Borrow another type of energy weapon with a more easily observable effect. You are training Gun Combat(Energy), not Stunner.
Option 2. Add a laser sight and observe where that hits instead.
Option 3. Get the ship's Sensor Op to rig up a special electromagnetic target.
Option 4. Tell your referee that stunners physically damage robots so they must have a noticeable effect on physical objects.
Option 5. Tell your referee when you rolled a hit. If he asks you to prove it show him the dice roll.
Option 6. Ask your referee what the physical effects of a stunner are. It is his TU so he should know.
Option 7. Tell your referee that there is more to training than successfully hitting. Failing will actually tell you more than repeatedly succeeding will.
Normal low stress training is in week blocks allowing you to gloss over the details. The experience point training is supposed to be a reward for achieving things under stress. Firing a single shot at a target and getting lucky doesn't seem much of an achievement to me. Under that system the better you are, the more quickly you will improve. Training doesn't work that way.
Good luck.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Hell, depending on the TL, you could have a holographic room, with a laser pointer on the end of your stunner. You pull the trigger, the computer calculates where you hit and makes the target react accordingly. A TL-11+ Home Theater from the CSC could do it if you added some sensors and a software package.
Then you could design any kind of training that you wished. That should give you enough for your Referee.
Then you could design any kind of training that you wished. That should give you enough for your Referee.
ResslynHalvik
Cosmic Mongoose
This is a very good idea.
That becomes just shining a torch on the target, though?
I agree. I don't like it much. I did suggest that it lets anyone with Gun Combat 0 get up to GC 1 in everything pretty quickly, but he doesn't seem troubled.
I'd be much happier if it at least had to be against some sort of drone thing that sparks back at me.
To Tha Moon!
Cosmic Mongoose
If it's a holographic target, the hologram projector would register where the 'hit' was. I've assumed some clip that attaches to the weapon that simulates the weapon being fired instead of it actually firing.
Although, if the hologram is high enough Tech Level, and you should buy/trade/acquire/steal nothing less, the hologram would catch the real stunner energy, the Gauss needle, or the bullet, in mid-air. That's the idea behind solid-air holograms.
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