From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 18:14:43 -0400
Subject: [GZG] [SG] Power Armour with Shotguns
Power armour for shipboard actions should be equiped with: 1) Shotguns if expecting to meet unarmoured foes 2) Plasma guns if expecting to meet armoured foes 3) Lasers if expecting to fight in zero G or for pinpoint fire 4) Breaching charges 5) Electronic/Electrical lock picking/door opening gear 6) Explosive or Cutting Compound for breaching 7) Grenades - an AGL should be just about as good versus a crowd as an autoshotgun and gives the option of firing DP or other sorts of multi-purpose grenades (including possibly armour piercing) 8) IAVRs, RRs, or GMS(P) for neutralizing armoured threats or taking out doors and equipment at a distance 9) Personal Defence Charge strips. PDC strips should allow essentially an opportunity or interupt attack vs. anyone engaging you in close combat. They should be using plastic flechettes, so as to provide no change of penetration vs. wholly armoured targets. Unarmoured targets... ouch. The problem with shotguns in the game is they get one impact rating. Real shotguns suck against armour, unless they can fire dragonsbreath (limited range, not good for the gun) or flechette. Flechettes still aren't the panacea people once thought either. So PA is going to be immune to buckshot (if not, why bother?). Engineering and DamCon versions of PA would come equipped with advanced penetrating sensors, radar detectors, lights, transmitters of various types, medical kits (their may even be a medic version of PA with less armour and more servo to move patients). The engineering versions would have greater strength, but be slower - they can lift and tear down stuff. Plus they'd have a PTO with all sorts of add ons - rotary cutters, grinders, saws, laser cutters, water blades, you name it. The engineering versions may well be minimally or completely unarmoured, just given atmospheric integrity and they'd probably be electrically insulated too. And they'd have remotes they could use a HUD to view, for recce amidst smashed ship segments - remotes about the size of a loaf of bread or smaller, maybe even amorphous ones or ones capable of shape reconfiguration on the fly to get through tight places. There's some thoughts for PA on ships. I'm hoping one day that the Los, Magic, Kr'rt and I can put on a good FMA boarding action at an ECC with all these sorts of features worked in, where various types of PA appear and have different sorts of character. But that's a ways off yet. Tomb