((But that's the thing - nobody bothered to try and create a working plasmagun via conventional means! A smaller glob of plasma, if a self-sustaining containment field can be devised, can be propelled exactly the same as a gauss round. And a small glob of plasma can solve a lot more problems than a gauss slug can.))
Isn't that the big problem there? Making a self sustaining containment field, which can last out to a long range? I thought we didn't know of any methods to do that.
Not yet we don't, but if proper research were done, we could have. Space magic, as I understand it, doesn't so much violate physics laws as sidestep them. If my theories are correct, it should be possible to imitate at least some of the effects it achieves in normal circumstances.
((Surplus, outdated equipment, that is still not much worse that current-generation tech. It's the same as if, in firearms terms, the inmates were given breech-loading Ferguson rifles, and the government had break-action rifles. That's still not even to the level of bolt-action or lever-action semiautomatics that they could have, nevermind the belt-fed repeaters they should have.
I realize that the Gauss Rifle is a sturdy, simple, no-nonsense design, but come on - two hundred years later, and it wasn't improved at all! Not even so much as a burst fire mode! (mental note: see about adding burst fire to gauss rifles)))
Actually, the UWM has gauss assault rifles, and has had them for awhile. Remember the sharkmist colony mission? The doctors has gauss assault rifles. I find it more likely that the UWM has just realized that higher-power, long range, accurate weapons are more effective in most forms of warfare than weaker automatics. Granted, CQB on a ship is probably the worst environment possible for that type of weapon.
Hmm. Must go reread that mission.
Also, adding burst fire isn't difficult. Giving the standard GR three-round burst would only require tripling the size of the generator. However, giving a 20mm burst fire... doesn't seem like a wise idea to me. It would make more sense to change the caliber to something like a 5mm, increase it's velocity massively, and then give it burst fire.
Well, I do have that metamaterial rifle project I'd like to research...
((So does a Mk3, if you don't remember. It's all a matter of having stronger muscles and the ability to use them properly. The Avatar's bonuses are more a result of the pilot being physically plugged into the machine, so the synthflesh's intelligence is affecting him.
If the myomer is strong enough, and the programming is good enough, a small mecha (5 meters is small for a mecha) will work just fine.))
Actually, no, synthflesh is flat better than humanflesh. Do you remember when Jim first got his full synthbody and went to test it out in the gym area? He could balance on a tightrope effortlessly. An exoskeleton does give you more strength and endurance (remember, it goes to +2 if you turn on EMM), but an MK.III's rockets just help with moving faster. They don't improve reaction time or balance or anything.
Yes, AUX could circumvent that, just as it can circumvent almost everything else in this game. But it usually has the drawback of either needing a high-AUX user, or taking control away from the user to some extent. A balancing algorithm would make it harder to lean down, or even to run.
I didn't say synthflesh wasn't
better. But it's just stronger muscles. The synthbody is a combination of several techs, one of which is the neurophotonic spinal column (how the heck does that work with the brain in the chest?), so it would make sense that the enhanced reactions come from there being much less lag in the nervous system, not to mention artificially balanced and/or enhanced brain supply systems that make sure the brain is oxygenated and otherwise properly maintained at all times. The Avatar, however, also brings in synthflesh's nascent sentience, which links into the pilot via all the plumbing in the cockpit.
A regular myomer exosuit with AI support and/or implant-assisted feedback could probably achieve just as much. To a point, of course.))
((We do have armor, it's just mostly DIY. I already listed the reasons why we don't really have armor here - given the weapons we have as standard, no amount of "light" armor is going to do you much good if you get hit. Light armor is only good for fighting against civilians, with their lower-caliber Gauss weapons and firearms.))
And yet, most of the times we've been shot at, it's been by civvies with low caliber guns. I meant we don't even have the option of something like SWAT armor for purchase, while apparently the UWM has it as standard issue for defense sods.
Also, 'no amount' is incorrect. Civil defender longcoats are certainly effective, what with being able to reduce a 20mm to breaking a few ribs. Milnoplate isn't quite 'light' considering it reduces an exoskeleton's bonus, but it is man sized and is very, very effective.
Milnoplate is what I'd call "medium" armor, and I believe SWAT armor can always be purchased if you ask for it, it's just not in the regular Armory lists.
The longcoats are quite interesting as far as armor goes, but perhaps that one incident more goes to show the error of UWM's ideas on upgrading their weapons. If the Hephaestus defense sods were armed with the same gauss rifles we saw on their returning ships, that means they're redesigning them to be lighter, with less overall punch per shot. The Longcoat would probably fare much worse against our regular, full-power Gauss Rifles.
((Because in almost every case, we can only make M(19) with what we know (as opposed to, say, M(20) or M(22)), and we can only make it in very limited quantities because of how dangerous and unstable it is to produce. Whereas the UWM can make not only S(10) in far greater quantities than we can, but it can also create far more effective R(22) and V(48), which will rather effectively crush our few M(19)s.))
Translation: If we use space magic, we cannot upscale it. Futher, regardless of what we use, the UWM will always have massively more powerful things.
Given what we saw of, i.e., ghost ships, I'd say that is quite true. However I meant things a-la Titans in that specific context. We know how to make them, and the UWM knows how to make them, but the UWM can build and field more of them.
((However, perhaps we can perform research and become able to combine B(6), F(2), and C(
, into G(16). It's far weaker than even our M(19), and will be soundly trounced by UWM's R(22)s - however because we fully understand how G(16) works and use primarily conventional materials for its construction, we can ramp up their production to the point where we can effectively counter R(22) by our superior numbers of G(16)s, and have our own R(22)s and V(48)s deal with UWM's V(48)s.))
Translation: Perhaps we can mix the understood parts of space magic with conventional stuff, and make stuff slightly weaker than pure space magic. But, we fully understand it, we can produce so much of it with our one dinky forge world that we'll mag- conventionally outnumber the massive UWM. And then when they pull out the big guns, we can counter with the same big guns that we apparently now have. Or maybe you meant we could capture and use the UWM's big guns, because they're massively more powerful than anything we can make.
I believe you either missed a part of that quote, or I accidentally a paragraph while posting. I meant that UWM uses technology that both we and they know how to produce, and the power levels range up to the ludicrous, but we can still make those powerful things, even if in very small number. By creating a cheaper, well-understood and mass-producible foil to some of the bigger crimes against humanity that they use in combat, we could free up our own paranormal big guns to do battle with theirs on a more equal numerical footing.
((Does that make sense?))
I suppose for a certain definition of 'sense' it does.
How about now?
((UWM will not hesitate to use risky alien space magic. Cases in point: Amp Specialists, Ghost Ships, Sharkmist, and, hell, the whole synthflesh/space magic thing))
((UWM doesn't use sharkmist. There was at least one magistar who wanted to research it, and he was keeping that knowledge in the dark. As for AS, GS, synthflesh and all that, those were developed and used during the Altered wars when the UWM was extremely desperate. They made lots of it then, and figured it out, and once the war was over their impetus to develop new uses for dangerous space magic disappeared. But, they already understood manips/amps/synthflesh, so they continued using them.
And yet, they are perfectly willing to resort to such means, provided a suitable cause appears. If we start flattening their garrisons with shiny new unbeatable alien tech, what do you
think will happen to their "missing impetus"?
((powered by repeatedly stabbing an elder god's left testicle with an interdimensional spear.))
((...That would explain so much.))
Well, it
is called an Obslaov Spear, and it needs enough protection to survive a supernova to work, and whatever the result of its operation is gets stuffed into mysterious cloning vats labeled as incubators, so...
((And true, we can't outproduce them if they copy our tech, but we have ways to prevent them from getting hands on it in the first place (their idea), which aren't likely to work as well with alien tech.))
((Wat? We do? Like what? And considering that most alien tech needs to be whole to function, as opposed to materials which you only need a shard to figure out what it is... Wat?))
Actually, alien tech is exactly the opposite. Remember, we created the PSL from the shattered remains of a dead alien's stasis pod, and made the sandbag system from the myriad of little dead bodies masquerading as the sand of the Samsonite Abyss. Alien tech often needs to be destroyed
very thoroughly to prevent some kind of breakthrough, as often the materials themselves are supernaturally empowered. Conventional tech, on the other hand, easily turns into scrap with a simple self-destruct system, potentially keyed to the lifesigns of the wielder. It doesn't take much to wreck precise electronics or carefully arranged focusing crystals, and it is very hard to figure out what to do with them afterwards. The UWM Sods showed us that the lifelock system can be quite effective, so I see no reason not to try and use it ourselves, at least on the rank and file soldiers.
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Topic: Einsteinian Roulette: OOC and NEW PLAYER INFO (Read 2544920 times)