| From: | silvercat@***********.org (Jonathan Hurley) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Magic Fingers, firearms, and you (Was Shiva-style Gun-fu) (Attn: |
| Date: | Tue, 3 Feb 2004 20:15:34 -0500 |
From: Timothy J. Lanza
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 4:43 PM
To: Shadowrun Discussion
Subject: RE: Magic Fingers, firearms, and you (Was Shiva-style Gun-fu)
At 11:57 AM 2/3/2004, Jonathan Hurley wrote:
>That's what a smartgun system already does...
>
>A smartgun system already has to know where the gun is relative to the
user;
>and it has to do be able to determine this without the user being able to
>necessarily see the gun (shooting from the hip, the gun may very well be
out
>of the user's arc of vision). Right now, we really don't know how the
>system (gun and reader) does this. Some of the ways I can think of require
Sure we do. Read the section on buying Smartlinks piecemeal. One of the
components is a limited simsense rig. Just like a normal full-bore simsense
rig, it can record and playback simsense - it's a two-way device.
>that the gun be in the user's hand, some don't. Particularly, a smartgoggle
The gun needs to be in the user's hand for the simsense rig to know where
it is and to make the connection through the induction pad.
>system has to be able to determine the relative position of the firearm
>without reference to the user's body (having no way of determining the
>kinesthetics of the user's body).
Those inaccuracies are exactly why Smartgoggles are no better than laser
sights.
That's also the same reason that replacing the induction pad with an
external cable (via the piecemeal Smartlink bit in M&M) /also/ reduces the
effectiveness to that of Smartgoggles/Laser Sights.
-----Reply Message-----
I don't understand that sentence. In a couple of cases, the listed
substitutions are entirely cybernetic (full simrig for limited simrig, and
standard datajack and cable for intuction pad.) In fact, a strict reading of
the sentence on p 32 Man and Machine (not Cannon Companion) would indicate
that if a substitution of smartlink-2 processor for a standard processor
"...(any of above substitutions are made)..." would constitute a
non-cybernetic replacement. The only "non-cybernetic" substitution made in
the list is of a set of smartgoggles for an eye display.
I think part of the problem here is that the canon descriptions of how a
smartgun system works lack detail and fidelity. Let me explain how I have
detailed it (which I think is mostly compatible with the rules and fluff; I
cover the differences below), and you all can tell me what you think is
wrong with it.
P32 Man and Machine paraphrased: A smartgun link provides visual indication
of where the gun is pointed; it is not a camera.
In my campaign, this means that a smartgun reader (cyberlink or goggles)
interfacing with a compatible smartgun or smartgun adapter displays in the
user's field of vision a 3-dimensional simulation of the predicted ballistic
path of a bullet fired from that gun. It is up to the user's brain to
combine this with visual input to show where the bullet is going to go in
the real world. (Fiction descriptions of a smartgun system putting a point
in the user's field of vision don't work for me, since the smartgun has no
idea at what point in the trajectory the point should be - no rangefinding
ability. Thus, a ballistic projection). This feature gives a smartgun user a
-1 target number modification, this same as a laser sight (same function,
except the "laser" is not visible to others, and is slightly more
ballistically accurate).
A cybernetic smartgun link interfacing with a properly configured gun allows
the user to cybernetically activate the firing mechanism *exactly* when the
user desires. Combined with the extra ballistic accuracy afforded by a
smartgun system over a laser; this accounts for the additional -1 TN mod
enjoyed by cybernetic smartlink users. This does limit external smartgun
adapters slightly; unless the gun is "smartlink-ready" and has the necessary
connections for the feedback loop, it can only be used at the -1 TN level.
Smartgun-II systems, incidentally, are primarily only available as
cybernetic systems, and must have the ability to have the firearm's firing
action controlled by external electronics. They work by allowing the user to
designate a point in their field of vision. This is the desired impact
point. The smartlink-II then does two things: it indicates by simrig and
visual feedback to the user how to move his body to put the ballistic path
on target, and when the ballistic path and the impact point intersect, the
processor automatically fires the weapon, short-circuiting the OODC loop for
that action. Technically, I suppose a smartlink-II goggle system could work,
*if* it was connected by DNI to the user via a datalink, and the firearm
could accept remote-fire commands.
Any full-function smartgun (either smart from the factory, or with the
proper interfaces to hook a smartgun adapter to) also provides to the user
all kinds of minutae: rounds fired in service life, rounds fired through
current barrel, current barrel temps, ammo count in magazine, ammo type in
magazine (with compatible ammo), perhaps current barrel alignment (necessary
info for the processor to determine ballistic path), etc.
I realize this is somewhat more restrictive than canon in what weapons might
be suitable for full smartlink operation, and more generous as regards
piecemeal cybernetic smartgun links. Particularly, from my (limited)
knowledge of firearms, I don't believe a revolver could be made as a
full-function smartgun without some means of driving the cylinder. Also,
trigger assemblies in general would have to be less mechanical and more
electronic; perhaps the hammer would have to be replaced by some kind of
electrical firing mechanism, either a solenoid or an electrically-fired
primer. Or a servomechanism could be used - this could allow an older weapon
to be smart-fired, if the adapter kit includes a device to insert into the
trigger guard to "manually" fire the weapon. Such a device might preclude
full-manual function of the weapon until removed, but that shouldn't be an
issue for someone who needs to cybernetically fire the weapon; after all, he
had better have a datajack to issue the firing command with.
At any rate, this means that non-cybernetic smartgun systems (goggles) must
still be able to determine the position of the firearm with respect to the
goggles so the proper ballistic path can be determined. (Canon requires this
too). Nonetheless, it looks like a smartlinks floating firearm isn't
terribly useful (a laser sight is at least as useful), so I'm going to drop
that part of it. A floating firearms is still damn useful, in my mind.
