From:	Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:	Re: GMC Banshees
Date:	Tue, 6 Jun 1995 01:59:07 GMT

> The point I've been trying to make (perhaps unclearly) is that even
> mil-spec weapons have trouble with the Banshee's armour. The problem
> is not so much that the Banshee can't be destroyed (it can given
> enough firepower) but that a) the firepower needed is expensive
> (check out the cost of decent mounted AAMs) and b) a single banshee
> can chew 3 or 4 of anything else into dogfood in no time at all.

Take your average troupe of Michigan Militia. Turn a M-2 Bradley loose
on them. The Bradley has reactive armour and thick plating: it can absorb
a few RPGs/LAWs and a lot of .50cal fire. Anything smaller just makes a
sad little clang.
Meanwhile it's chewing away with a 25mm Bushmaster cannon on you. This
is a typical mil-spec versus civilian scenario.

The hardware available to players in Shadowrun represents the sort of
gear you could get black-market today: third-hand, and not particularly
current. Fine for blowing away police cars, but not much use on military
vehicles. Looking at cost and weight, the military might issue one
Great Dragon per man (the way we give infantrymen a LAW80 each in a warzone)
as a backup: it's certainly a very small weapon by antitank standards.
MILAN weighs about 10kg per missile and 25kg (from memory) for the firing
post: stage the damage up accordingly.

There is hardware out there which will kill a Banshee with one shot. The
players will probably even know its names and what it looks like. They'd no
more get to use it than any of us will ever have a couple of TOWs and a
launcher tucked under our beds.

--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk