| From: | The Reverend <MDB0213@*****.TAMU.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Several Rigging Things (ruthenium and active aural) |
| Date: | Wed, 29 Sep 1993 15:32:37 -0500 |
time I
figured out where he was hiding the deck. (Heh, heh, heh... rigger's think too
much alike, I s'pose) ANYWAY, I saw some things that attracted my interest.
My comments follow, (unless JEW actually bought that filter program)
Let's begin, shall we?
]From: IAN <JHURLEY1%SITVXC.bitnet@*****.nic.SURFnet.nl>
(and Tyger also wrote about this)
]Subject: Dikoted cars
]On the subject of chemically altered cars, my character wants to get a ruthenium
]coated car. Not for the invisibility. For the wild paint jobs he could have.
I like it! I spend enough money these days re-painting my car, so this makes
sense. It has potential.
]From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
]Subject: Re: Thwap-proofing 101 (yeah, right)
]Oh really? Guess what, Tyger? The USAF and USN are experimenting with
]electrosensitive paints. You run a current through the paint, and the
]pigment changes color.
I've heard of this stuff. I assume the tech's different from the stuff that
used to be used for window-tinting? Also, how many colors can it change? I'd
hate for it to only be one or two colors.
]From: Brian Angliss <ANGLISS@****.PSU.EDU>
]Subject: Ruthenium and vehicles
]Ok, here's my two cents worth. I am running a character on ShadowTalk with a
]ruthenium coated panzer.
You've GOT to be kidding. This has got to be a fairly useless thing, unless
you don't know ANY mage-types. *flip* *flip* My book (MS, Vol 23) says that
mages have some sort of invisibility-type spell, and I'm sure it's harder to
see than the tech version. I like it, but how the Hell did you get one of
these damn things? (The Panzer OR the Rutheum Polymers... that has got to be
expensive!!!)
]The way I work it is that even the best imaging scanners canNOT(damn editor...)
]reproduce a background moving by at over 600km/hour. Sorry,but not a prayer.
Well that's one concession to balance, I suppose.
]This won't do a whole heck of a lot against sensors
]withradar or thermal or anything similar, but it keeps those optical targeters
]fromhitting you 99% of the time.
Like I said earlier, this is just a really nice way to blow some money. Why?
Lessee.... I seriously doubt that you are worrying about J. Random Ganger with
a Pred.2 blowing the paint off it (btw: how hard is it to fix damage done to
the vehicle? i'd imagine that would involve removing the whole coat, fixing the
damaged area, and replacing it. More expense. Anyway, back to subject) (while
I'm still thinking of it, how hard is it to mask the rest of the vehicle's
passing? I'm thinking that if you're running a LAV, SOME dust and the like is
going to be propelled into the air. NICE target.) You are probably more
worried about (a) snipers (b) other vehicles and (c) missiles. ( on the plus
side, I can think of one nice thing: very few mages are going to be able to
shoot at you. Like the Panzer's worried about that, tho'.)
(a) Snipers: this will stop your average sniper, but nothing else. Ultrasound
mounts are a Wonderful Thing.
(b) Other Vehicles: Hate to tell you this, but I use optics as a secondary.
Whilst you can raise the Sig of a vehicle, there's more to it than just what
you (don't) see. There's also the matter of sound, heat, etc. Still a nice
big target.
(c) Missiles: Hmmm.... I haven't played with enough varieties of missiles to
tell whether or not it would stop all of them. Offhand, I'd say no. Certain
missiles probably only use optics, but anyone truly worth their salt is going
to be using systems that do not rely entirely on optics. Mostly for those
vehicles with really high sigs, but also for those with Mage-types onboard.
so, in conclusion: Yes, I would take one. I think the Ruthenium's a rip off,
and I doubt I'd use it. There are much better solutions.
ANGLISS also asked about
Subj: a aural masking question for cars
]The only modern equivalent(sp?) I can think of is damping the road
]and engine noise inside the cab by using senesors and the car's stereo to
]reproduce the sounds out of phase, canceling out the original signals/noise for
]the most part.
Well, kinda. What they do (and while I haven't driven most cars, I believe the
old Lexus's had a low-level version built into their car. I also remember Bose
working on a system for cars. What you do is have several speakers set up in
the same area as the noise-maker, and a computer listens, and composes the
exact inverse of it. It broadcasts this through the speakers. When the two
waves interact, they wind up canceling each other out. The tech exists, but I
really don't know why no one's done research this century on it (or have they?
I may have missed it) And they have been used. In headsets, to cancel out the
loud exterior noise. In helicopters, and I believe Dick (Ruttan) used one in
his flight. Hope this helps...]<<<<<
-- Brodie (15:30:05/09-29-54)
