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[Hapah]

How much protection does a MKIII suit offer? It says it's a combination of an exo (which provides none) and a MKII suit (which doesn't so much stop attacks so much as patch up the results). Would it be worth it to get someone to try to tink up a suit of middle-range combat armor, or would those be wasted tokens? I don't have experience and haven't read past missions, so I'm not sure if it'd be a good investment or not.

[Harry Baldman]

How much protection does a MKIII suit offer? It says it's a combination of an exo (which provides none) and a MKII suit (which doesn't so much stop attacks so much as patch up the results). Would it be worth it to get someone to try to tink up a suit of middle-range combat armor, or would those be wasted tokens? I don't have experience and haven't read past missions, so I'm not sure if it'd be a good investment or not.

MKIII doesn't protect you much at all, I think. Armor is an entirely separate purchase from the suit unless it's a battlesuit or an Avatar of War.

[Caellath]

A MkIII is a great investment if you're looking for maneuverability and flexibility. Bought one after the first mission and it hasn't let me down ever since.

The exoskeleton does actually provide minor protection due to the fact you have metal servos around your body, but the MkIII is better at avoiding damage than taking it. You get helpful bonuses and the option to put some actual armor over it afterwards (like I did), but in case you're less interested in flexibility and more interested in not dying, buying a MkII and saving up for a battlesuit is probably a better option.

[Harry Baldman]

A MkIII is a great investment if you're looking for maneuverability and flexibility. Bought one after the first mission and it hasn't let me down ever since.

The exoskeleton does actually provide minor protection due to the fact you have metal servos over your body, but the MkIII is better at avoiding damage than taking it. You get helpful bonuses and the option to put some actual armor over it, but in case you're less interested in flexibility and more interested in not dying, buying a MkII and saving up for a battlesuit is probably a better option.

Although a battlesuit does have the drawback of being practically unusable in an indoor environment on account of one's metal ass being too large for most doors, markedly unlike the MKIII.

[Caellath]

Yes, that's what I meant by "less interested in flexibility". Battlesuits are described by piecewise as mini-mechas rather than powered armor. You can' fit in most hallways or enclosed spaces.

[syvarris]

Do person sized automanipulators use standard manipulator batteries?
Do ship sized automanipulators use some larger version of that battery?

Well, sorta. The use more of the driving substance at least.

I stand corrected.  Well done, Paris.

It does make me wonder how tge automanips that supposedly ease coilgun recoil stay working.  I guess I'll ask that myself.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Nyars boxes are awesome. I've had a 100% satisfaction rate with what I got. What isn't to like about a sentient, intelligent, malicious, and sadistic cannon attaching itself to your arm and making you do random stuff to be able to use it without knowing what any of the buttons on it do.

My satisfaction rate is much lower; the one I have bought from Nyars is a power source that lacks compatibility with standard charging cords. The one that I got secondhand has been taken away from me, but with enough experimentation it has the possibility to be...excellent.

This actually sounds like a good idea. Noobs get artifacts, more experienced people see the side effects and then when the noobs die from bad luck/stupidity/not knowing what to do, the more experienced people get the items. Call it the "Nyars for Newbies" like Beirus suggested. Everybody wins! 

I like this idea, except that I'd like to make the caveat that the new guys should write up a will. This one goes to Jim, this one to Miya, etc; the receiver can keep it or distribute it to someone as s/he sees fit.

Call it the '!!SCIENCE!! pool'. Players put tokens in and bet on how the eventual receiver of the tokens will die. At any point, a new inmate science experiment solider can volunteer to 'use' the pool, in exchange for their initial 5 tokens, at which point the pool controller will buy random Nyras boxes of whatever sizes (but not types) that player wants with all the money in the pool (including the 5 tokens from the newbie). The 'user' is required to use all of them, immediately if applicable.
The winners of the pool get to split whatever is salvaged off the corpse. No winner until he dies, deaths unrelated to an artifact don't count

We could possibly fiddle with it a bit more. Maybe make it so they can pick a color, but are required to get a heptagon of that color? Would give the poor newbie some control over what type of thing they got, but they'd still get something insanely dangerous

Seems a bit...exploitative.

Buy a decagon, then. Even more dangerous!

I don't think Nyars has those.
Edit: Also, what happens if the brain survives? Are you considering that a death, or do you bring them back, then send them out with the artifacts again and another body, then repeat until they actually die?

Or, for that matter, if they're unplayable but still "alive"?
Or, alternatively, "dead" but still playable?

The Deathcube is still in the Sword's rec room. Two tokens to whoever figures out how to use it.

What Deathcube?

2 lame jokes:
So Jim is vulnerable to heart attacks?
So Jim is vulnerable to the Spanish Inquisition?

The second one wasn't actually that bad.
The first one was terrible, though.

[Harry Baldman]

The Deathcube is still in the Sword's rec room. Two tokens to whoever figures out how to use it.

What Deathcube?

A mysterious alien cube that has a grid on it - each square is a button. Combinations can be tried out on it. Two known combinations are "kill self" and "destroy something nearby", I believe.

Speaking of, you're the top candidate to test it out! Then again, now that we know the combination for "kill self", it should be a little less dangerous.

[Toaster]

How much protection does a MKIII suit offer? It says it's a combination of an exo (which provides none) and a MKII suit (which doesn't so much stop attacks so much as patch up the results). Would it be worth it to get someone to try to tink up a suit of middle-range combat armor, or would those be wasted tokens? I don't have experience and haven't read past missions, so I'm not sure if it'd be a good investment or not.

It has a bit of armor, but one less-obvious feature of its protection is its +1 bonus to Con (and Dex) rolls.




Also, don't ask too many questions around the Doctor.  I totally saw that coming.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The Deathcube is still in the Sword's rec room. Two tokens to whoever figures out how to use it.

What Deathcube?

A mysterious alien cube that has a grid on it - each square is a button. Combinations can be tried out on it. Two known combinations are "kill self" and "destroy something nearby", I believe.

Speaking of, you're the top candidate to test it out! Then again, now that we know the combination for "kill self", it should be a little less dangerous.

How do you know there is only one combination for "kill self"? Even not taking account variations a-la "kill living organism closest to cube", "destroy object nearest to cube", "kill every person observing the cube", and various indirect ways it could kill you like turning the air around you into molten plutonium.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The Deathcube is still in the Sword's rec room. Two tokens to whoever figures out how to use it.

What Deathcube?

A mysterious alien cube that has a grid on it - each square is a button. Combinations can be tried out on it. Two known combinations are "kill self" and "destroy something nearby", I believe.
Speaking of, you're the top candidate to test it out! Then again, now that we know the combination for "kill self", it should be a little less dangerous.

Ooh...
What are those combinations?

[Hapah]

Yeah, I was looking for something exo-sized so it's still usable indoors, but which also sports some non-trivial amount of protection. Maybe something similar in concept to the MKIII, but sacrificing some/all of the rocket pod capabilities to layer on armor. Was thinking along the lines of a Starcraft or 40k marine suit, y'know?

So many questions, since my head is still spinning from all the new information. So much I don't know! Will try to spread 'em out a little bit since I can't write up a long post while I'm on the clock, lol.

Amps and manipulators work by some of magic space voodoo, right? (I'm open to a better explanation, but this is sci-fi, after all). But the forces they exert are completely mundane: heat generated by a microwave amp or manip isn't any different from normal heat, for example. Is there any way to attempt to protect yourself from amps/manips short of trying to mitigate the forces they exert? How do you deal with things that are difficult to counteract, like being lifted off the ground or having your head squashed like a grape?

[Xantalos]

Doing it to the other guy faster?

[Harry Baldman]

How do you deal with things that are difficult to counteract, like being lifted off the ground or having your head squashed like a grape?

Be very quiet. Smile politely. Wait for them to turn their back. Take aim at head. Fire. Make sure to do a double tap in case of overload attempts.

Alternatively, move fast enough to be difficult to target. Or have an automanipulator (like an energy shield, but not a shield and not made of energy) to guard you from the more mundane methods of space magic voodoo.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, I was looking for something exo-sized so it's still usable indoors, but which also sports some non-trivial amount of protection. Maybe something similar in concept to the MKIII, but sacrificing some/all of the rocket pod capabilities to layer on armor. Was thinking along the lines of a Starcraft or 40k marine suit, y'know?

You'll want to wait until after this thing settles down and the tinkerers have some time to work. If Anton survives, his first priority after maybe assembling an Artee prototype, is working on the MCS, which is basically going to be a heavily customized MkIII with various plug-n-play attachments, including armor, weapon mounts, and various propulsion methods. It's at least partially inspired by a certain saturday morning cartoon of old, though I'm not sure if anyone remembers it nowadays.

If Anton doesn't survive, someone else was planning to start a MkIV suit project which would be basically a middle ground between a battlesuit and a MkIII.