From: | Marty <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU> |
---|---|
Subject: | Orichalcum bullets. (and the compound bow) |
Date: | Fri, 18 Oct 1996 17:35:56 +1000 |
> > had bad experiences with one.
> >
[snip explanation]
> > Sorry, but I don't *ever* want that to happen to me again. If your
> > character is less strong, than the power is lower, but most bugs still
> > have a lot more than 4 armour.
>
> So you're going to ban a weapon just so it can't be used by someone if the
> get influenced or mind-controlled? I'm sorry but thast just strikes me as
> so darn silly. Then to top it off, because you'll ban one effective weapon
> you've got to INVENT something else out of thin air to take it's place...
> :o)
>
Sorry, I kind of came across a bit rabid then.... There are several
factors contributing to why I personally do not want to see trolls (in
partuicular) using compounds bows. Detailed below.
> I guess this just seems so silly - "A compound bow nearly killed me, so
> we're thinking of banning them." What's next? Banning sniper rifles,
> banning spells, why not just ban the bug spirits and stop worrying about
> it. Or ban influence and mind-control abilities/spells so they can't be
> used on your team members?
>
Yeah, whatever. I was just relating a bad experience that I had with a
compound bow.
Here are the reasons I have come up with so far;
Game Balance;
- A bullet is resisted on Ballistic, which is normally higher than an
Arrow, which comes off Impact.
- At high strenths, you get better range off a bow than you do off
a sporting rifle.... (I seem to recall 1.5 klicks for the troll in the
previous example)
Mechanistic study:
Consider this.... If a character has a strength of 11, the bow does
a 14M base damage.... This equates to a sniper rifle bullet with one less
initial staging. Now, assume that the power level roughly equates to the
kinetic energy that the projectile has, or the potential that it has to do
damage (which makes a fair amount of sense). For the purposes of the
discussion, we'll assume an absolutely equal KE.
Now, the average sniper rifle bullet pushes the envelope of mach 3 if
it's good..... But for the purposes of the discussion, we'll assume a
mere mach 2.... That's 660 meters per second.
Now, if you assume that the bullet weighs 15 grams, and an arrow weighs a
generous 90 grams.. (from memory, the rules state less). That implies that
the velocity of the arrow is in the vicinity of 200 meters per second.
Do that calculation again using the weights stated in the rules, and a
mach 3 sniper rifle bullet..... (again from memory) you come up with a
velocity well in excess of the speed of sound. And then, what happens if
you increasethe power level of the weapon to the 18 that I mentioned???
My objection is not to the existence, or use, of the compound bow..... but
rather to the fact that they have no maximum power level of the attack,
and can therefore be easily more effective than a barret rifle.
Besides, what would you make the damned bow out of ???? Throwing knives and
shuriken get just as bizarre at high strengths... I challenge you to
throw a knife at the speed of sound.
If you have to rely on that kind of physically absurd weaponry to take
down the bug spirits, then why not beat them at their own game and
destroy them with something magical??
> > I know the bugs are meant to be hard, but they were never meant to be so
> > hard that you couldn't take on a hive, or FASA would have made sure you
> > couldn't... if you wanted to survive.
>
> Guess our group has two different gaming styles. I take it that you
> shouldn't be wlatzing in a nuking a hive. Again I encourage you to read 2XS
> and Burning Bright, then also take a look at the module Double Exposure.
>
I have read Burning Bright 3 or 4 times, 2XS about as many, and played
Double Exposure twice. I still maintain my views.... I'm not some newbie
neophyte to the gaming system; I've played it, to the near exclusion of
everything else, since it came out in Australia.
> Also look at it this way, if a group of runners should be able to take out
> a hive according to your logic. Why did Ares have to use that nuke in
> Chicago, and why haven't the UCAS military forces just mowed right over the
> bugs that are left? Bugs are tough, they're a small taste of the Enemy.
> You're trying to candy-coat and down-play them way too much...
>
I said A hive.... not THE hive.
Don't use the fragging bullets if you don't like them. In our campaign
there is a need for them, because we do not play super characters. My
character is the second toughest in the group and I *still* took a
moderate wound from a single light pistol shot. It's the way I like to
play......
I don't think that characters of our ability should be encountering bugs,
but if we do, I don't want to have to make my character so good that the
rest of the critters in the world are no threat. Orichalcum bullets do
the job because they are reasonably selctive in what they can be used
against, and they are NOT, repeat: NOT, one shot insta-kill weapons.
> > I feel the need for them because in my experience in Bug City a samurai
> > is useless... and not everyone should have to be a full blown mage in
> > order to be useful.
>
> The mundanes and Sammy's in our group have done pretty well against against
> true-form solidiers when they had to. They found out the secret pretty
> quick though...play smart don't try to play hard.
>
[snip]
Blah Blah..... I'm playing a campaign where four enemies have died in
four months of game time. Three of those kills were due to one PC with a
thing for vengeance (I'll let her defend her charater herself), and my
character threw another out of a hotel window because it was the only
thing we could think of in the circumstances.
We've got the other alternatives down pat, pretty much.
Bleach
PS: I'm in a bad mood right now, and under other circumstances I might
have phrased some of the comments differently. Semi-apologies.