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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
Verbena
Charter Member
1108 posts |
Jan-31-06, 02:32 PM (EDT) |
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1. "RE: Tech level reduction?"
In response to message #0
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>Has there been a conscious decision to reduce the tech level of the UF >in general? I've noticed that you almost never use hand phasers, >these days, and rarely use transporters (except for ship-to-shore >stuff) Understand that I'm not a part of EPU and this is a total guessing game on my part. =) That said, the teleporters I don't think have gone away at all. I think they're mentioned less frequently because they're assumed to be used on a semi-regular basis. Not a regular one; they're military-style and relatively uncommon. I've never seen one in UF in a corporation's hands, let alone a private citizen's. Even military organizations seem to only use them when time is of the essence, so I suspect they're either expensive to operate or slightly dangerous. As for weapons, OOCly, things such as the sniper from the Repo Men's weapon and the Master Chief's new assault rifle are both cadged from Halo. (If anything, the story in question -underplayed- how devastating that sniper rifle is...) I would imagine they were thrown in because they're damn cool. ICly, I've put some thought into this myself, and the conclusion I've come to came as a result of considering Master of Orion and similar games. As years go by, people develop energy weapons because they are supremely effective against the anti-ballistic body armor of the day. They're used so much, noone bothers with kevlar anymore, they all shift over to ceramic clamshell-type armor that helps to deflect energy fire (think Stormtrooper), but is perhaps not as effective anymore against ballistics. Then, in the modern era, people look for ways to defeat modern body armor and watch as someone with a lower tech base actually does decently against a modern army. They experiment with old-fashioned chemical slugthrowers, and discover an interesting fact: It's very hard to make body armor that's extremely effective against -both- types of weapons. So an effective modern UF military force is one that utilizes both types of weapons, not just one, thereby ensuring what you'll have is reasonably effective against all comers. The other possibility, of course, is that unlike Star Wars and Star Trek, chemical slugthrowers never actually completely went out of style, due to their relative simplicity to manufacture. Modern militaries simply couldn't risk making body armor only effective against energy weapons because too many older forces had the earlier tech. "They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, 'nice try'." --Lezard |
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Wedge
Charter Member
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Jan-31-06, 03:15 PM (EDT) |
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2. "RE: Tech level reduction?"
In response to message #1
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>The other possibility, of course, is that unlike Star Wars and Star >Trek, chemical slugthrowers never actually completely went out of >style, due to their relative simplicity to manufacture.This is mostly the case. There's always going to be a market for cheap, simple weapons. Meta-wise, we're all gun nuts to some degree or another. Writing Xander Cage running around with a Mossberg is infinitely more appealing to me than writing him with a phaser rifle, nevermind character considerations. :)
| | Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train |
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BLUE
Member since Oct-22-02
407 posts |
Jan-31-06, 07:29 PM (EDT) |
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6. "RE: Tech level reduction?"
In response to message #2
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>This is mostly the case. There's always going to be a market for >cheap, simple weapons. > >Meta-wise, we're all gun nuts to some degree or another. Writing >Xander Cage running around with a Mossberg is infinitely more >appealing to me than writing him with a phaser rifle, nevermind >character considerations. :) Gun nuts, sword afficionados, motor heads...more than just guns nuts, I'd say, although maybe it's just Gryphon. One other thing about chemical propellant weapons can be shock value...sure, there are times you want them quiet, but a whole garrison line opening up in unison is rather intimidating, audibly and visually. Phasers are too quiet and visually kinda dull, unless they disintegrate something. UF Janice also noted MY biggest objection to continuous beam weapons in S4M7 - you have to hold them onto target. That, and, like the contrail from Tucker's sniper rifle, continuous beam weapons pinpoint your position to a T, so there are obviously some tactical disadvantages to them as well as the cost issues noted below. -D- "I don't tell you how to remove bullets. Don't you tell me how to make killing machines back into little girls." Captain Kaff Tagon of Tagon's Toughs, Schlock Mercenary |
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BLUE
Member since Oct-22-02
407 posts |
Feb-01-06, 06:23 PM (EDT) |
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10. "RE: Tech level reduction?"
In response to message #7
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>>Gun nuts, sword afficionados, motor heads...more than just guns nuts, >>I'd say, although maybe it's just Gryphon. > >Oh, no, it's certainly not. I was just limiting my response to the >specific example of 'chemical slugthrowers' that was being discussed. >Helps keep things on topic. ;) > Why on earth would you want to do that in an EPU forum?I was thinking swords on the topics of tech and weapons in reference to lightsabers, actually. And I put motorheads because I felt I needed a third commonality, although I could have mentioned mechs just as easily. But that's all fiddly crap. Now that I'm thinking about tech levels though, do any modern forces other than the WDF and Salusia employ ships with Class Omega weapons? One-of-a-kind superships like Tsunami notwithstanding, I can't seem to recall any recent ships with the big guns, other than the flagship given to Gryphon by Asrial, Invincible, and that falls under the aforementioned category of Salusian forces. I know that the most obvious reason, of course, is again probably for the increase in dramatic tension and whatnot, as the ability to wipe out small fleets in one blast reduces the overall threat to your forces; Story-wise, all these weapons are fairly well tested (one would have to be a fool to fire a flakey Class Omega, considering the energies involved), so is this simply due to the engineering and space requirements for this weapon class? -D- "I don't tell you how to remove bullets. Don't you tell me how to make killing machines back into little girls." Captain Kaff Tagon of Tagon's Toughs, Schlock Mercenary |
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version 3.3 © 2001
Eyrie Productions,
Unlimited
Benjamin
D. Hutchins
E P U (Colour)
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