Kayleb's Gear.

Gevaudan was suffering from that same -2DM penalty for being one skill rank short of minimum.  S'why he was missing those three shots in that zerg-rush on Alpha moon.  When he started using minor, Aim actions, it was partially alleviated.  So, while the ethnic and Imperium Vargr get used to the new battledress, we'll need patience from the other crack shots of the Artemis Group.

Combat Drone (TL 12): Combat drones are little more than flying guns mated to a grav floater and a computer system. The most common combat drone mounts a PGMP or assault rifle but any weapon can be mounted and many makes of combat drone feature a modular arrangement that makes changing the gun a straightforward Intelligence check. The drones must be piloted with the Remote Operations skill but attacks are made using the appropriate weapon skill. Combat drones loaded with Intellect and combat Expert programs (making them autonomous combat robots) are illegal on many worlds. Strength 12 (+2), Dexterity 10 (+1), Hull 4, Structure 4 Traits: Armour 9, Integral System (grav floater), Integral Weapon (any) Weapons: Any gun Price: 90,000 Credits plus the cost of the weapon (the Integral Weapon upgrade is included From p95 Core Rulebook. Not really Kayleb's cup of tea, but I'm thinking that a few of these would be great for Jeff. Load it up with a laser rifle and good sensors and we've got ourselves a great "redshirt" scout. It'd take advantage of Jeff's laser rifle skills as well as his remote ops, sensor ops and recon skills. Plus he doesn't get killed when he "scouts" his way into a bunch of baddies! No idea why they are TL 12 though. Maybe because of the grav lifter?  On the same page is a listing for personal drones and probe drones. Both of those have holographic projectors and allow people to have a "virtual presence". If we ever go into an organized combat again it'd be a great way for non-combat characters to be present and contributing with recon or leadership rolls. 

Gevaudan owns 'Moon'  a Personal, Probe Drone as his secretary and robot scout.  One step ahead and it's a sound idea.

I agree with the drone idea, especially since after Jeff adjusts to Odin's eye he has a +2 for Gun Combat and Recon.

SNAP! Is there some way we can organize it so that you control a drone through your eye? Some kind of "neural link" that will let your odin's eye see what the drone is seeing?

Hmm... maybe Jeff should be my recon scouting tagalong... we’ll find him a nice sniper perch... I’ll half-assedly cover his rear and call in airstrikes and Close-Air-Support... Hmm... But who will put Runt in his place??? That’s a full time job...

If he doesn't do anything bad, I guess I could give him a couple of cigars... But only a couple.

Alby said: SNAP! Is there some way we can organize it so that you control a drone through your eye? Some kind of "neural link" that will let your odin's eye see what the drone is seeing? I think we should be able to, but that decision would have to be left up to the GM if he would be fine with that.

In the end, an “Odin’s Eye” is still a display device...

Yeah ... so if it could display what the drone sees - sweet. And if Jeff could control the drone with a neural com ... he can control the drone with his head! Wait ... does something bad happen to your head if the thing your controlling with a neural com breaks or explodes?

That, unfortunately, is a GM question. Realistically speaking, no one would design a system that would hurt you if the comm signal died for some random reason... unfortunately, realism is an acquired taste. :P

Maybe it'd be enough to just see what the drone sees through the Oden's Eye, and control it with a gauntlet mounted game pad or something? I was just trying to think of a way of doing it hands free. 

Or I could just have a mic on my armor and the robot has a speaker attached linked up to the mic so I can tell it commands that way. Sometimes simplicity is key.

Although the Combat Drone is not a robot so much. It's more remote control. That's why it would be using your Gun Combat (energy rifle) skill. We could give it software so that it could do it's own thing, but robots with guns are a bit of a taboo. 

STUFF I'D LIKE TO BUY: CIGARETTES! RAM greanades. (officially out of frags. Down to stun and smoke. Really need to get some more.) TAC missiles for wrist mounted TAC missile launchers.  Recoil compensation modification for B'dress PGMP-14 ( or maybe not? Don't want to mess up game balance with stoopidly huge gunz ) Shotgun shells (HEAP, HE, and other crazy kinds of shells) Pimpage for stun pistols.   Grav bike ( Darrian one is cool, but local law enforcement may have issues with the Plasma Cannon ) Com relays. 

Keep in mind that, while the Grav Bikes are ostensibly “mine”, they are also “at your disposal” with regards to missions. Charoux would certainly balk if you took them on a joyride in a well-populated area, but that has more to do with your propensity to get into trouble on account of opening your mouth...

Hey Kayleb was given very clear "orders" not to withhold his worlds. And so far I think opening his mouth has kept him out of "trouble" ... depending on what your definition of "trouble" is. ☺ And even though Kayleb has a green light to ride the Darrian bike if he needs to, I think cruising around with a plasma gun is going to get him into more "trouble" than his mouth would.  We have a shortage of vehicles that folks can travel around in. We only have one air raft and that thing is a sports car. Not even sure how many passengers that thing can take. I figured I/we need to be thinking about things like bikes or another air raft in order to get around in "well-populated areas".  Initially I was thinking that we could just get around in Grav Belts, but there seems to be serious safety issues with those things. Broken legs from folks falling down wells and such. What we need is a mode of transportation that results in neither jail time nor broken legs. 

You could probably get most of what you want while we're at Smoug, although the higher tech items will have to wait for Tenalphi. 

Wolfen said: You could probably get most of what you want while we're at Smoug, although the higher tech items will have to wait for Tenalphi.  Yeah I've got my eye on Telalphi.  It has a lowish Law Level, but Law Level 2 still outlaws things like plasma guns and explosive ammo - the gear I'm keen on. We may be able to side step the law on account of us being certified mercenaries maybe? Not sure what kind of rolls you'd need to make for that or who could make them. And I'm not really sure if our company is still functioning as a Mercenary unit. 

I got an angle .

Thinking about the Sword Worlder Gatling Gun. Now that we have ammo for it it'd be cool to actually use it.  Two little issues.  The Sword World supplement says that it requires the Heavy Weapons (Man Portable) skill to use. This made me cheer because Kayleb has lvl 2 in that skill. But maybe that's not the skill to use? According to there rule book there are only three specialisations of the Hvy Wpn skill; Man Portable, Launcher, and Field Artillery. A gatling gun isn't exactly a launcher or or field artillery, so the only one left is the man portable skill.  But the CSC and the Mercenary Supplement have introduced a whole bunch of new specializations. So ... is Man Portable still a valid skill to use for this weapon? I guess it is but it seems weird that they've brought in special skills for flamethrowers and autocannons and such but not for automatic slugthrowers. Just feel like I've missed something.  Issue number two - the thing weighs 40kgs. Even wearing battledress this alone takes Kayleb just past the line into "heavily encumbered". So it's a weapon best mounted on a vehicle. Or maybe we could reduce the weight somehow? The description of the weapon says that the weight is due to the heavy chemical batteries that make the weapon work. Maybe that weight could be reduced with some high tech retrofitting? If not we're going to have to think about where to mount the thing if we ever plan to use it. Maybe the air/raft?

Support Weapons of various kinds count as Field Artillery. This includes proper man-portable Machine Guns (split to be carried between 2 to 3 people), and the Laser equivalents. It’s how the Military defines the term that matters here, regardless of how that translates to an individual’s ability to do things... Weapon descriptions, just like just about everything else, are completely outdated. Sigh. While sanity says we should be able to replace the batteries with something smaller, available materials do not. We can mount it on the G-Carrier or one of the Grav Bikes, or the Shuttle. The Air-Raft should remain “weaponless”, for errands in town.

Good point about the air raft being weaponless.  I haven't really looked into it much, but isn't there a section in the beginning of the CSC that talks about reducing the bulk of items based on TL? Or is that just for things you make from scratch.  The Mercenary supplement has a system for improving weapons. Will check that out.  If its "It’s how the Military defines the term that matters here" then we're way off. I've never heard of machine guns being referred to as artillery. Arty is a very specific thing that doesn't really include automatic support weapons. The nerds who called PGMPs "man portable artillery" were just being funny. I guess we just have to roll with it. 

It may have been redefined in modern times; the first-generation Gattling Guns were considered Artillery... Maybe it’s just Traveller either trying to evoke a certain era, or just being behind the times?

Oh you mean those original Gatling guns they used to pull around on a cart! Yeah those old things were great.  I was just referring to my RL experience. As new recruits we used to get a licking if we ever called a pistol or a rifle a "gun". Guns are direct fire support weapons. The army has clearly defined categories that they put things into. Artillery is all the large bore, crew served weaponry usually used to deliver indirect fire. Even the main gun on a tank failed to fall under the "artillery" title. That was a "gun".  Not that it matters. Mongoose Traveller seems to have a different definition: "Big stuff" - which is fine. I'm just trying to make sure Kayleb has the right skills for the right tools. I thought I saw a Heavy Weapons (automatic projectile) specialisation somewhere, but maybe I was just imagining it?

Not sure if he'd need to make them himself or if Kayleb would be able to buy them somewhere, but at some point in the game Kayleb needs to own these guns.  "Very Heavy revolver" with a grenade launcher! Judging by the size of it the range of the grenade launcher probably wouldn't be that great. But still ... pistols with grenade launchers! Or what if those TL12 "wrist rockets" could somehow be converted into a kind of "under barrel" arrangement for a pistol like this? 

Wow!  Gevaudan want!  Twin .454 Magnums with 30mm GL, one at each thigh.  Sure they're one-shot magazine.  It's like having two extra Grenade Launchers at the ready.  Intricate Vargr regalia on the grip.  Laser sight, Secure and Intelligent would make them very heavy pistols.  Given the wide variety of ammo types, for both the pistol and the GL, a variable response could be given from very lethal to non-lethal.

Aww man i think Izek wants 1 now.

Looks like we need to order a crate of them!

Just trying to figure out what the specs might be for a pistol mounted 30mm Grenade Launcher.  The problem here is that the CSC is a bit of a mess. It looks as if they've pasted weapon specs from a number of different sources with no attempt made to reconcile them. According to p110 of the CSC, 30-40mm grenades have a "base damage" of 6d6. It then goes on to contradict that later on in their hand grenade table.  The Assault Grenade Launcher on page 69-71 ( don't ask where p70 went! ) fires 25mm grenades that do a base damage of 4d6.  So maybe the 30mm grenade should have a "base damage" somewhere between 4d6 and 6d6? 5d6? The range of a regular Grenade Launcher is "Shotgun". So I'm figuring something of this size would have a range of "thrown"? -1 at short range, and -2 at medium. Anything past medium is out of range.  So why have a mini grenade launcher when you could just throw a grenade? Well it's handy - under the pistol so you don't have to swap anything out. You can also aim it. Not sure if you can "aim" a thrown attack. Plus it looks totally badass. 

Grenades would have to be thrown using Athletics or something, as well... apparently, you can’t use the “Explosives” skill for that... :(

In RL grenade  launchers have a max range out to 400 meters, yet there are modern rounds that will bring the love out to 800 meters. Personally i think the chances of firing a pistol mounted grenade with accuracy would be low as aiming with what is essentially an indirect fire weapon over 50 meters. also the kick would be hard to handle in a pistol, All gl's have a stock for stability and aiming. but still they look kool.

Tenacious Techhunter said: Grenades would have to be thrown using Athletics or something, as well... apparently, you can’t use the “Explosives” skill for that... :( That is another thing I don't really like about the CSC. They bring in a bunch of new skill specialisations that most players probably didn't have access to when they were making their character. In the main rulebook grenades use Athletics (coordination) skill. According to CSC they use Athletics (throwing). Bah. As for recoil, the pistol will probably have more recoil than the GL! The 14mm "Very Heavy" pistol has a recoil of 3. A compensater will bring that down to 2, but that's still a lot of kick!  Regular GLs have a recoil of 2 I think?

We should clearly buy ours from Iro Arms, in the Darrian book... they can do things like compensate for recoil and weight.

Do they have a shop on Tenalphi? If so then that sounds like a winner ... if they're into high-tech-oldschool-superbig-revolvers. 

They are into custom orders... which this would be. Speaking of, we need to settle on a mutually acceptable model of pistol and a mutually acceptable grenade launcher to build this out of.

I did have my heart set on a pair of "Very Heavy" revolvers for Runt. Mainly for laughs. With battle dress he can almost use them without messing up his initiative too much.  If we're going for something that everyone can use maybe the Very Heavy isn't the best way to go? 

We’ll talk about it in Meta, and see what everyone wants to do... but if you want a bunch of one-offs, it’s going to get pricey... not as pricey as the current ruling on Charoux’s Spywear, but orders of magnitude more than normal . Better that we buy a few of them, so we can drive the total price down.

I was just thinking - what if the "standard sidearm" for our crew was a stunner. Instead of a mini grenade launcher attached make that a shortened, one shot shotgun.  Stunners and shotguns are the very last weapons to be made illegal on the Law Level chart, so we could usually carry them around without having to worry too much about permits and such. The under barrel shotgun could be loaded with some kind of non-lethal smoke or gas round when getting about. If things look scary we could load up with HEAP shells.  It could also be used to fire things like signal flares or sticky homing beacons or bugs or all sorts of things. More of a tool than a weapon. 

GEAR PURCHASED AT TENALPHI CIGARETTES! (And maybe some cigars?) (( Cigarettes and Cigars are available. 1000Cr per humidor of 24 for those really rare, very hi-quality cigars, 100Cr for 24 mid-grade cigars, and 50Cr for smoke-'em-if-you-got-'ems. Carton of smokes 75Cr )) 10x cartons of smokes 750cr 1x24 mid grade cigars 100cr 1x24 Hi-qual cigars 1000cr A visit to the munitions supplier. Shotgun shells HEAP x15 HE x12 Gas tranq x6 NFD x25 (TL? not sure if they're available) (All shells +30%) 100x HEAP 1500+30%   1950cr 100x HE 1200+30%  1560cr 20x Tranq Gas 120 +30%  153cr 20x solid NFD 500+30%  650cr   ( need confirmation that these were available ) The Armour depot Protec suit 350 x5   1750cr Diplo vest 250 x5   1250cr Reflec 1500 x5    7500cr Boarding Vacc  40000x5    200000cr Advanced Poly Carapace 35000 x5    175000cr Marine dress uniform ( protec suit, reflec, smart fabric, med ki t)   12850cr Visilight chameleon (a dded to combat armour )   50000cr Extended life support ( for combat armour, HEV, and Battle Dress ) 30000cr Sealant sheath ( HEV ) 250cr Submarine Function ( HEV ) 2000cr TL 14 Thruster Pack 20000cr Medical supplies Anti rad 1000cr/dose x10 10000cr Nervous Response Dampeners 100cr/dose x100 10000cr Stim Drugs 50cr x100 5000cr Panaceas 200cr x10 2000cr Starlight Drops 500 x5 2500cr slow 500 x20 10000cr Psi inhibitor 500x 10 5000cr ( At base price ) Electronics Pimpage for stun pistols. (Hud link, Laser Scope). Pimpage for EM gatling gun (HUD link, Holo scope). Com relays. (?) Laser tool 500cr ( to attatch to "the Pimp" ) Personal Radio Jammer 5000cr TL13 Holo projector 10000cr Specialized computers (Int wpn on pimp and RAM launcher) 2500cr HUD 1500cr. 250cr per pickup. Laser Sight 200cr Gyrosabiliser 300cr Holo sight 2,000cr. FOF safety 250/25cr Int. wpn 5000cr Knife shop. Hand Shields 750cr Monoblade 1000 Monofilament 50(?) dagger 10cr Hurling Monoblade 75cr TL14 stun stick/fists? (looking for something that doesn't need to spend 2d6 rounds recharging after each hit) (Base Price) Vehicle dealer Civilian grav bike Misc. gear Cuffs 25cr x10 250cr 5x stun pistols with Laser sights and FOF safety. (1000+ 450)x5   7250cr 20x FOF tags   500cr Pimpage for Minigun ( HUD link, Holo sight, Gyro stabilizer )    2550cr Pimpage for stun pistols x2 ( HUD link, Laser sight )    900cr Tentative Intelligent Weapon (speacialized Recon/3) 7500cr Expert Recon/3 100000cr STUFF I THINK THE COMPANY COULD BUY TL14 autodoc 1,000,000cr ( can bring dead folks back to life. ) Probe drones 15000cr ( Needed for better recon ) Company sidearms ( for coolness. Plus AP NFD rounds for Maarg ) Low berths/emergency low berths + their own battery backup power for when someone trips over the chord.

We have already bought 20 boarding vacc suits, we did this just after you logged.

What we do need is a company logo for the Velcro patches. I think from now on, regardless of how long we stay on a planet, we should always have the power plant firing as well as the umbilical attachment. This way we are never powered down and can leave in an emergency. Also in an emergency on any docking port we will be able to supply emergency power to port.

Sorry, what's NFD ?

Any of that stuff that you intend for crew/passenger use we'll have Artemis pay for. Or bump up the numbers to include stuff for same. And decide if our current comms gear is appropriate and buy enough for everybody if not, please? Also feel free to just call out other stuff that you think we should have right now (as opposed to after Wypoc).  I would say that the low berths can probably wait. The new ship will have 10 of them.  I also like the idea of a logo to put on uniforms, gear, etc. 

Pakkrat has it as an MTU thing that ships in port must be powered down; there’s probably a provision for emergency backup power, though, but that would have to be some sort of dedicated system or something.

Yeah I think we need life support running off it's own battery power, with the direct power simply recharging the battery. Like a hospital. Do people in hospitals on life support die each time there is a black out? I'm pretty sure battery power or back up generators kick in to keep all that gear running. Sounds like that's the kind of set up we need.    Wolfen said: Sorry, what's NFD ? Neural Field Dampening rounds. They cost x25 as much as regular ammo, so it's better for big guns that do big damage in one hit rather than in lighter fully automatic weapons. The only real question I've got about them is if they're available at imperial tech levels, and if they're available on Tenalphi.  Neural Field Dampening Rounds (NFD): These highly advanced, caseless bullets or shells are made from chemically-altered alloys that inherently generate psionic static. NFD rounds are made of slightly softer materials than regular ammunition, decreasing the amount of damage they infl ict by –2. They do however, impede a target’s psion abilities. Any damage these rounds infl ict upon a target’s physical Characteristics (STR, DES and END) is also applied to the character’s Psi Characteristic for as long as the bullets are still present in the character’s body. Removing the bullets fully requires a Medic Skill Test with a –2 DM. ( CSC p51 )

Quick questions for Pakkrat so I can finish this off: Marine Dress Uniform. I've put it down as a Protec Suit. Does Cloth armour come in a "taylored" version that doesn't look like armour? If not I'll stick with the Protec.  Intelligent weapons are treated as Computer/1. Is it possible to make that computer a specialized computer ( Main Rulebook p92 ). Computer/1 can't actually run anything helpful seeing that running Intelligent Interface uses up it's single point of rating.  Was Runt able to find Stun Sticks or Stun Fists that didnt' requre 2d6 rounds to recharge after each use? EDIT: Forget second question. Rules work better when you actually read them. 

In Pakkrat's Traveller Universe:  Ballistic Cloth and other minor armors can be fashioned and integrated with uniforms, regular clothing and more complex apparel.  Add the cost of the clothing, uniform, daywear to the cost of the desired armor.  Only lesser armors may be so integrated.  Armor Options may be added so long as they make sense.  Consult Dilettante as well for examples. Stunsticks are available on the normal market.  Stun Fists are morally neutral or black market weapons.  On Lunion, it is Difficult (-4DM) to locate a source of Stun Fists.  Purchasing a pair incurs a Law Check.

Alby, forget the regular cloth armor; use the Gel Cloth from Dilettante. Much better. Charoux will encourage Kayleb to avoid spending his money on things he’s just going to have to replace later.

Thanks. Checking that out now.  The important thing is for it to actually pass as a dress uniform.