Update on Armies of the Fifth Frontier War

[MongooseMatt]

Hey everyone, quick update on this book...

It looks like this book will probably lap over into a July release as we fine tune it - could bring it out later this month, but we want to make sure everything is shipshape.

The cause of the delay? Battle Dress.

We have Combat Armour pretty well developed (visually, I mean), but we have never really been happy with how Battle Dress is portrayed. We were going to leave this for a bit, perhaps with a specific Battle Dress book but Armies of the Fifth Frontier War obviously touches on this, so we decided to bite the bullet.

The current issue is that Battle Dress, as has been currently portrayed, is a bit... weedy. Kind of like Combat Armour that has been inflated with an air pump a bit. We feel that Battle Dress needs to be... more.

So, we have been chatting with Mr Miller about this and will be taking a different approach. Basically, when Battle Dress appears on the battlefield, you are going to know about it. We are also looking at some options for Battle Dress Plus (our nickname for it, but this has been explored in T5), some really over-sized equipment, but we need to find the dividing line between Battle Dress and vehicles, and this will not be something we touch upon in Armies.

However, expect big stompy armour in the near future...

 

[Sigtrygg]

My opinion, not that it is worth much.

What battle dress is - the powered armour in Starship Troopers, The Forever War, Lensmen, etc.

What battledress is not - mecha, battlemechs, giant stompy Power Rangers vehicles.

That said the line between small mecha and assault battledress is likely very thin.

Here is another thing to consider - thanks to the changes to meson TLs in HG2e the meson battlefield is going to be TL11 now instead of TL15 - gunships can carry TL11 50 ton meson bays as orbital support/artillery...

As battledress evolves anti-battledress weapon systems will be developed, will they get a mention?

I just hope the author has taken the time to fully understand the Robots book - battledress is after-all just a wearable robot.

 

[boggo2300]

However, expect big stompy armour in the near future...

this line fills me with dread

 

[Arkathan]

Hulk Buster or Battletech Elementals should illustrate the maximum size before they become vehicles

 

[MasterGwydion]

Hulk Buster or Battletech Elementals should illustrate the maximum size before they become vehicles

Robot book says robots end at 1 ton and that anything larger should be constructed by building a vehicle and then adding a Vehicle Brain to it. In effect creating a vehicle-sized robot.

Edit - Personally, I feel it was a mistake linking the rules for robots and the rules for Battledress. Battledress isn't a robot. It is a vehicle. Battledress construction rules should be vehicle construction rules. (If the vehicle construction rules weren't just horrible anyhow... )

 

[boggo2300]

And should be at the lower (TL-12) end, TL goes up, size goes down

 

[MongooseMatt]

Hulk Buster or Battletech Elementals should illustrate the maximum size before they become vehicles

Hulk Buster would be absolute maximum, Elementals more like it, I think.

 

[MongooseMatt]

this line fills me with dread

Big and stompy are relative terms. Think Traveller, not 40k.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Hulk Buster would be absolute maximum, Elementals more like it, I think.

That eases my concerns.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Battledress isn't a robot. It is a vehicle.

I would say it is armour...

 

[boggo2300]

Hulk Buster would be absolute maximum, Elementals more like it, I think.

Phew!

don't scare me like that!

 

[MasterGwydion]

I would say it is armour...

By that logic, isn't a Veritech Fighter just armor as well?

I would say that armor doesn't have its own weapon systems. Vehicles do though.

Edit - Non-powered armor could have weapon systems though as the armor still uses the strength of the wearer as opposed to using the strength of the armor.

 

[Condottiere]

Tweedy.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Battledress isn't a robot. It is a vehicle.

Though I'm not particularly knowledgeable on the subject to me if you drive it, it is a vehicle and battledress is something you wear. So if you are driving it, it isn't battledress but a vehicle or a mech.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Battledress is powered.

Sensors within the suit sense your movements, the computers then move the suit, augmenting your strength as they do so. The computers that control the servos that move the suit, and the movement of the suit, is why I refer to it as a robot.

Can you move a suit of battledress if the computers are switched off and the servos don't work?

 

[boggo2300]

Battledress is powered.

Sensors within the suit sense your movements, the computers then move the suit, augmenting your strength as they do so. The computers that control the servos that move the suit, and the movement of the suit, is why I refer to it as a robot.

Can you move a suit of battledress if the computers are switched off and the servos don't work?

nothing has ever said you cannot. jusrt that it IS powererd (and the augmenting strength is an option)

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

The computers that control the servos that move the suit, and the movement of the suit, is why I refer to it as a robot.

Can the battledress move around autonomously and act autonomously or does it only react to augment the motions of the wearer? If the former it is a robot, if the later it is not.

Your car probably has power steering (if you drive) that doesn't make it a robot. You initiate everything a mechanism reacts to your action to assist it, it does nothing on its own. So your car is not a robot. A "Johnny Cab" (from Total Recall) is a robot. Your car with driver assist software is not.

 

[Sigtrygg]

From Singularity:

"they are reconstituted into various bodies: robots, clones, androids, and in one case, autonomous suits of battle dress!"

"And in a few cases, compromised avatars, drones, and even suits of intelligent battle dress"

certainly look like robots to me...

I would hate to see FFW canon directly contradict Singularity canon...

 

[boggo2300]

From Singularity:

"they are reconstituted into various bodies: robots, clones, androids, and in one case, autonomous suits of battle dress!"

"And in a few cases, compromised avatars, drones, and even suits of intelligent battle dress"

certainly look like robots to me...

I would hate to see FFW canon directly contradict Singularity canon...

it's listed separately therefore it's not a robot, seems pretty straightforward, plus "IN ONE CASE" so it's an exception rather than the rule

 

[Sigtrygg]

If it can be computer controlled without a body inside it its a robot.

Autonomous battle dress - battle dress that can act without a sophont wearing it. It's a robot by any definition of robot.