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Message no. 1
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Non-drone walker (was Re: Tank Question)
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 11:43:55 +0100
Ojaste,James [NCR] said on 15:59/ 7 Nov 97...

> > I decided to try and build some kind of experimental walker vehicle, based
> > on the large walker drone (which, going by its Body rating, is about the
> > size of a motorcycle) with its remote control gear removed. I quickly
> > found out that this can't be done simply because the thing doesn't have
> > the carrying capacity to fit a seat into it... :/
>
> Well, it has the space, it just can't carry a passenger that
> weighs more than ~60 kg without slowly disintegrating...
> (+1 stress/hr and travel limited to half speed if the
> passenger weighs up to 90kg, pg 34)

Which doesn't make it a practical vehicle at all. I wanted to stick a
bucket seat into it to carry a person in a normal way, but the highest
Load Rating a walker drone can have is 30 kg, and a bucket seat has a
Load of 100 kg...

The only way to build a walker vehicle would be to design a custom engine,
and possibly a custom chassis, for it.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Would it make you feel much better, if it was you against the world?
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 2
From: Rune Fostervoll <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject: Re: Non-drone walker (was Re: Tank Question)
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 1997 22:04:43 +0100
>> > I decided to try and build some kind of experimental walker vehicle, based
>> > on the large walker drone (which, going by its Body rating, is about the
>> > size of a motorcycle) with its remote control gear removed. I quickly
>> > found out that this can't be done simply because the thing doesn't have
>> > the carrying capacity to fit a seat into it... :/
>>
>> Well, it has the space, it just can't carry a passenger that
>> weighs more than ~60 kg without slowly disintegrating...
>> (+1 stress/hr and travel limited to half speed if the
>> passenger weighs up to 90kg, pg 34)
>
>Which doesn't make it a practical vehicle at all. I wanted to stick a
>bucket seat into it to carry a person in a normal way, but the highest
>Load Rating a walker drone can have is 30 kg, and a bucket seat has a
>Load of 100 kg...
>
>The only way to build a walker vehicle would be to design a custom engine,
>and possibly a custom chassis, for it.

Hmmm, yes. I can see mainly two (three?) uses for manned walkers - that is,
powered armor, heavy lifters, and a number of combination of the two.

Due to the cobinations (contaminated area heavy labor suits, whatever)
it would be best to make a single chassis which could be modified to either.

Damn, I don't have the R2 here. *ponder* Making some stats up is kinda hard
then with nothing to compare against. Some examples in current scifi, though..

In 'Aliens' there's a walker loading vehicle which seems fairly mid-low tech.
Just a big engine (Fuel cells?) and fairly high body rating (3?) due to the
obvious size and mass of the thing.

In 'Wolf time' there's a Wolf suit, a powered armor able to operate on its own
or with a 'driver', lots of integral weapons, Zero G maneuver jets, sensor
targeting systems, bionic muscles, and so on. It would be at the edge of
2058 tech, a rigger's wet dream. (That particular suit was a suicide rig;
after the driver had gone through the mission it switched to automatic mode
and killed the rest of the team, then shut down life support and waited...
fairly nice idea. :)

Both would weigh approximately 200-400 kilos(and body thereafter), have fairly
low CF ratings, be about 1.5* the height of a human. The first has a regular
fuel burner engine, the second a bionic power plant - that is, uses chemical
energy in a biological manner. (Built like an exoskeletal organism with a
muscle structure that compliments that of the internal wearer, these muscles
use either piesogels or amonic piesogels. (The first is powered by electricity,
the second is controlled by electricity and powered by amonic acid (As far as
I remember from talking to a guy that was supposed to know about that sort of
stuff.. might loose some in translation). The second needs a bloodstream and
all that stuff, but is surprisingly robust and powerful.). Speed.. 15, 20 with
smart materials modification. (Typical for combat suit versions, I'd guess).
Electricity would work just as well. Perhaps add a cost modifer for not
allowing a running modifier (Reasonable for most loarders) and so on.

We're not any closer to getting actual numbers on it though. I'll see when
I get the R2 back from my players, but I'd like to see other's suggestions...
Message no. 3
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Non-drone walker (was Re: Tank Question)
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 11:38:53 +0100
Rune Fostervoll said on 22:04/ 9 Nov 97...

> Hmmm, yes. I can see mainly two (three?) uses for manned walkers - that is,
> powered armor, heavy lifters, and a number of combination of the two.

What I had in mind was more some kind of experimental vehicle, for example
some corp wanting to build an all-terrain vehicle and trying out a walker
to see how it compares to wheeled and tracked vehicles. Not two-legged
(like power armor or the Aliens load lifter) but four- or six-legged with
a horizontal body and a cabin, or at least a seat with the controls, on
top of the thing.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
So what if we're making a scene now?
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 4
From: "Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject: Re: Non-drone walker (was Re: Tank Question)
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 08:43:09 -0500
Gurth[SMTP:gurth@******.NL] wrote:
> Ojaste,James [NCR] said on 15:59/ 7 Nov 97...
>
> > > I decided to try and build some kind of experimental walker vehicle,
based
> > > on the large walker drone (which, going by its Body rating, is about the
> > > size of a motorcycle) with its remote control gear removed. I quickly
> > > found out that this can't be done simply because the thing doesn't have
> > > the carrying capacity to fit a seat into it... :/
> >
> > Well, it has the space, it just can't carry a passenger that
> > weighs more than ~60 kg without slowly disintegrating...
[snip]
> Which doesn't make it a practical vehicle at all. I wanted to stick a
> bucket seat into it to carry a person in a normal way, but the highest
> Load Rating a walker drone can have is 30 kg, and a bucket seat has a
> Load of 100 kg...

Well, you can increase the max load to 60 using Engine
Customization and Smart Materials, so just make sure that
your pilot is an anorexic dwarf. :-)

It says in the book that the weight of the seat isn't actually
the weight of the seat but includes the weight of the passenger.
I don't think that it's stretching the rules much to let
a low-weight character pilot the thing.

> The only way to build a walker vehicle would be to design a custom engine,
> and possibly a custom chassis, for it.

Well, the walker with a max load of 60 could carry a not-too-far
below average person - just not your average sam. :-)

James Ojaste

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