Okay - that makes sense. Thanks!

>>It's completely off point, I know, but I can't help wondering about
>>the relative performance that'd be gotten by taking the K-series
>>design lineage to the same level of technical advancement as the
>>Sabers' suits
>
>It's called the "D.D." - it's in the fifth episode of the original
>Bubblegum Crisis and it is, indeed, badass as hell.

I'd never thought of it as being part of that 'evolutionary family', because of the scale difference, but now that you mention it, that makes a lot of sense. Cool.

>Jeez, if I'd known you were going to punk my phrase structure I
>might not have leaned on you for specific commentary.

*note to self: obvious typo comments only*

>>Sylia could certainly afford
>>to hire a trustworthy outside contractor who wouldn't care that he
>>didn't have a clue who was on the other end of the voice-scrambled
>>phone line as long as he got his agreed pay.
>
>She could... but would she?

*blinkblink* ...assuming that she was actually trying to gather information on Stark, failing to do so would be stupid, given that the choice is between detailed information with complete anonymity and running an excellent chance of totally blowing her hand-picked core operatives' cover out of the water...

Assuming. Which, from your reply, it seems I shouldn't.

Doublethink. Ow.

>>The small size, the continued civilian lives, and most of all the
>>flashy color schemes, don't make sense for a real (that is, for
>>profit) mercenary group, nor, for that matter, for a private army
>>aimed at significantly hindering Genom using open force.
>>
>>They do make sense, though, for a showpiece group - for a
>>symbol, for heroes. They gather attention, then their mysterious MO
>>gets John Q. Public to think about what they're doing...
>>
>>And look at who their opponents are, who's making themselves the
>>villain in the piece.
>
>You may be onto something there!
>
>In that case, it's just possible that she's been researching the world
>situation for quite some time, considering her options, looking
>for just the right person or persons with whom to strike up a...
>strategic partnership, shall we say.

...so it is.

Hmm. Besides the current issue, I wonder how much she has on hand about Linna's friend, Irene...

>Including all the ones the Knight Sabers have had coordinating their
>surveillance operation all week.
>
>D'oh! :)

Yeah, my bad. And Sylia's, too, leaving their lines of communication insecure like that, but mostly mine for missing it.

><snip image>

...ribs hurt...

>Virtual MechWar is set in the 3070s (when it launched, it was
>set in 3050, and its background story has progressed in something like
>real time), so Stark's Warhammer is far from stock, though he
>has at least preserved the distribution of weapon types. It has a
>pair of ER PPCs, four ER medium pulse lasers, a couple of machinegun
>arrays and a Streak SRM6 rack - a pretty respectable load for a heavy,
>even in the Clan era.

It certainly is. Whether the increas in close-range firepower is worth the two or three tons of armor you're sacrificing for the machineguns, OTOH... I can see that it might be considered so in the original board game, but in one of the MW4 computer games (which are my dominant experience outside of the novels), I'd say 'definitely not.'

I'd provide an example of the sort of philosophy I'd favor, but without knowing how Virtual MechWar's construction system works, I could barely even guess. ^_^

>>And, the phrasing of Nene's
>>thoughts sort of suggests to me that their game supports melee combat
>>between mechs - which is the number one item on my wishlist for the
>>next real-world game...
>
>Not exactly - by "gunnery fighter" she means as opposed to someone
>whose play style focuses on piloting skill - jumpjetting around,
>varying speeds a lot, generally screwing with the opponent's firing
>solutions. Stark tends to favor the "take them out before they can
>get through my armor" approach. :)

Ah, "Shoot fast, shoot better."

Sounds sort of familiar. ^_^ Shame, though - having the option of physically smashing things after (or even before) you run out of ammunition seems like it'd make for a considerable fun factor.

>>I'm consumed by curiosity as to what she was planning to say, you
>>know. ^_^
>
>"I don't think that would be a good idea."

Thanks!

>Oh, probably. I just thought it made for a fun "panel", the guy
>looking at his arm with the needle stuck through it like "What the
>hell?!"
>
>If you need an in-story explanation, you may take it that he has a
>skin weave and bone reinforcement, and between those and his armor,
>the projectile was halted. Or maybe Linna's also having a problem
>with her accelerator array.

Ooh, hadn't thought of that last. Anyway, I quite agree that it's a cool image, and had come to pretty much the same rationalization on my own.

>That doesn't mean she's about to go and get her legs replaced just for
>the hell of it,

Well, of course not. That would be silly, especially when the stuff you can wrap through your original legs will do the job just as well. ^_^

>>I can't speak for their veracity one way or the other, but the RPG
>>game sourcebooks describe the knuckle bombers as being a wierd-ass
>>application of otherwise fairly conventional anti-armor shaped
>>charges. Certainly it's the most plausible theory I know of...
>
>My take on them is that they're some kind of charged field effect,
>which explains why they can be used more than once. In fact, in
>Iron Age, it may have to do with the stuff Sylia and Tony Stark
>traded emails about back in the '20s; he did a lot of work with
>electromagnetics and force field technology (the latter of which is
>still in its infancy in the TIA world).

ISTR that the RPG version was supposed to replace used charges out of a small internal magazine, but both versions work, and yours has that useful tie-in.

>>Gah?
>
>Oh, relax, she's just screwing with Leon's head. She wouldn't
>actually put out for some gaijin businessman for a measly
>20,000 yen.

About what I'd guessed, once my brain got out of 'shock mode'. I'll put it down to the very idea of Priss being that passive, combined with the fact that I'd already thought of just saying that Stark was interviewing her about her music.

>Well, he didn't necessarily save her life (if you're talking
>about lifting the K-suit off her), but he certainly kept her out of
>jail. Anyway, I agree that it was a bit melodramatic, but
>there are character reasons behind it that you haven't got all the
>details of yet, so bear with it 'til issue #2.

Ah. Cool, no problem!

>>is that K-suits are much
>>shorter than buildings. Unless his suit is a lot clunkier than
>>I think it is, going over the guy shouldn't be that much of a
>>problem...
>
>Iron Man Mark I is pretty darn clunky, but its biggest problem is that
>its mobility goes down as its energy level drops - and its energy
>level drops pretty fast. So here's the thing - by the time that part
>of the scene happens, he's pretty well shot his wad,
>battery-life-wise.

Oh, okay, then. I hadn't caught that about its performance curve, so that makes a lot more sense now. Thanks!

Ja, -n
(sleep is good...)