Looking to play...or GM... Options

[Marwynn]

I'll try to get the packet done by then. I have the floorplans and it may need some modifying (the legend). It doesn't show below decks though so imagination time there.

The MY Fedallah it is, it'll have a history too but if others wanna write their own background for it we can all chip in and vote.

[Karoline]

Oh, and just getting a few things nailed down (Spending my last 2k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) , grabbing my contacts and knowledge skills) and my character should be ready to be submitted for approval.

Any suggested final "Oh, crud, how could I forget that?" gear?

Also, anyone else have any suggestions for things to buy for the ship? I think we have about 15k to play with at the moment, but I figure I'll put that into food and fuel (And may have to shave off a few more things... I'm sorry manservant).

[Penta]

Okay, quick note on posting structure, stolen from someone else's thread verbatim:

Posting Rules

Just like almost everyone else on the board I'm gonna be stealing Redjack's posting structure, so here you go.

All your posts should begin with a time/date stamp in orange, detailing location, time, and date. Underneath, in italics, add your PAN mode, hidden, active, or passive, in dark grey.

- - "Speech color=cyan, optionally enclosed in quotes" (Penta note: Quotes HIGHLY recommended!)
- - <Coms (subvocal) color=violet>
- - <Coms (Text) color=yellow>
- - Thoughts color=darkkhaki and in italics
- - Memories, flashbacks, dreams color=green and in italics

Spoiler all private actions, but if its something really private, or you're setting up a backstab, feel free to PM me.

[Karoline]

Ah, character sent along. Time for that sleep thing. I wait longingly for the invention of a sleep regulator.

[MusicMan]

Fortunately my char is flexible, he does not specialize in or only capable of Amphibian Operations. He can do it if needed.

Really?

Unarmed Combat (Martial Arts): 6
AthG: 3
Infiltration: 3
Etiqutte (Military): 2
Dodge (Range): 4
Perception (Visual): 3
Diving (Military): 2

You character can dive... and:
Salvage something? Nope, no skills there...
Plant Explosives? Nope, no skills there...
Ambush Someone? Nope, no skills there...

So you character can dive in the water, sneak onto the enemies' boat, and karate-chop them in the face... that's not called "flexibility," that's called "one-hit wonder." If you get caught out in the open where you can't engage in hand-to-hand combat, you're dead; if we're not in combat, you don't have much you can do to help out, unless you want to swab the deck.

You also never answer my questions about your back-story or why you have such a "broad" range of skills.

"What use would the Navy have for someone who is just a martial artist and how did you go through an enlistment and never pick up any firearms skills?"

And

"Why would they bother training you as a diver and not give you any particular skills to go with it?"

Again, I have to ask:

Why does our team need you? Look at Ears' and Milk Ducks' characters, that's flexibility.

[budoka05]

Wow, easy with the tone! It's my character, not me! My apologize for not getting to your questions sooner, but let's handle each issue at a time:

Salvage: Yes, for particular items. He has particular contacts and knowledge about where to fleece stolen goods, especially Black Market Items and Military-type equipment.

Planting explosives: He's the guy who can at least get in there without detection. My char may not have a great idea about where to place it, but he can some advice before the op about senstive points to place the sucker.

Ambush: Take a look at the Martial Arts quality and Infiltration skills. That should indicate a fairly good shot at getting the jump on someone.

In regards to being attacked while out in the open, yes, that is a potential problem, but one I'm willing to live with. To some degree, my adept powers deal with this by having Combat sense and Improved Reflexes. However Adepts have to generally be specific and specialized to be any degree of effectiveness. I had to sacrifice some ability to deal with certain situations to excel in others. Things could be changed, but seeing that there are more flexible members who can do a lot I can't and do it better, I'm leaving those jobs to them.

To answer your question about the Military experience without the Firearms training, please take a look at my 20 questions. In there, I specify that his experience in the CAS military was just enough to be trained to be a specialist but not enough to acquire further skills. (There was the Crash). However, the military proved to boring due to be drilled excessively and following meaningless orders as part of the Commanding Officers whims. (Cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush is a keen example. There are plenty of other examples from some military forums and anecdotes. I would be happy to provide more.) He also realized that pay and advancement within the military would not happen quickly.

In regards to the Diving Skills question, I believed the Infiltration and Athletics group would be enough to combine with the Diving Skills to be effective. If there is something I should consider to add that would my character's ability to do stuff, please let me know.

If this does not answer your questions, please let me know politely. I am willing to update and adapt my char as the demands change. Also, if you have feedback about possible other directions or other Adept build ideas, I'm open to that as well.

[Karoline]

I thought you had to get through basic training and some core military type stuff before you got inserted into any sort of special group. Also, given that he had officer training, shouldn't your character have at least some leadership skill?

As far as doing things with the diving skill, I think he means that you can't plant explosives, you can't sneak into a compound (You lack the skills to open a lock), and generally can't do alot via a stealth mission except get the drop on people in an attack. While that is handy, it isn't generally the main point of stealth mission.

You could improve your skill diversity a bit by dropping athletics by 1 and perhaps etiquette as well. You could get a point of demolitions and a point of leadership, and a point of hardware or perhaps lockpicking. You wouldn't be great at those things, but you could do them (Good luck if you try setting up explosives without any skill training. With your stats you'd have one die, and if that die was a 1, you go boom trying to put on the det cap) and the low levels would be a good representation of the fact that you didn't complete the stint with the military.

Also, I'm sure one point in pistols or automatics with an appropriate specialization would be handy so that you aren't completely helpless in a ranged battle. My character should never be in actual combat, but she still has two points of pistols and dodge.

[budoka05]

Thank you Karoline! That was a very helpful post! I appreciate your suggestions, unlike another's post.

[Karoline]

Very welcome. Oh, and Edge might be a good place to get some extra BP if you're in serious need of them for this skill rounding out process. Just a thought looking over your sheet. (Hard to have high stats, magic AND edge (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

[Penta]

0930 EDT update before I go off to school.

Karoline, I probably woulda raised an eyebrow at the iron bombs, had you shown me...But I'll just say, guys....You have no specialized ammunition spaces aboard this ship, just be aware of that. MusicMan, you're the infantryman...Tell the group what happens when ammunition dumps go kaboom, please?(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Budoka, I'm going to step down from the neutrality I endeavor to maintain, in the interests of preventing nasty OOC conflict. It's still your option, but I recommend: A. Fleshing out the background; B. Modding the sheet. I'll work with you as soon as I get back from class to do that. Fundamentally, I see this conflict as being about putting the group ahead of the individual. My natural bias is to favor the group.

How you choose to solve this conflict, Budoka, is your choice - but it'll get solved.

Waiting on:

....I think just Whizbang?

Knight Saber, you've got some final tweaky suggestions, thank you for putting up with me being...difficult...

Baron Ken, we'll work on the sheet tonight.

[Karoline]

I did show you the iron bombs. They were on the character sheet I sent you. The main purpose of them is to put them in my air-drop supply drone and use them in that manner. Since they do (f) damage, I don't think they'll really damage a ship much, but will scare the crew pretty good.

I'm fairly sure fun stuff happens when ammo supplies go boom. The bombs would be deactivated under normal circumstances and likely kept well away from the outside of the ship, so if they get hit with other explosives there (Which still wouldn't guarantee the bombs went off) we've already likely got too much to worry about.

Other than that she doesn't keep much excessive ammo around. The clips for the drones are stored in the drones (All weapon mounts come with bins to store up to 250 ammo via belts, I figure chucking some clips in there works for storage.) So yeah, I'll be taking extra care to find a good place to store the bombs, but otherwise my character isn't an explosive hazard.

Also, given all the external and internal armor we have, I'm sure we could have one room somewhere that is heavily armored to keep our ammo and other explosives in. I can also just take out the bombs entirely and replace them with smoke grenades if you'd like. I got them mostly for affect.

[CollateralDynamo]

Hey Karoline, nice character, looks fun. I do have a quick suggestion tho: with all your drones, you may want to invest for more pilot upgrades and autosofts. If you keep the ratings at 3 or lower it is pretty affordable.

I don't see any targeting softs on your gun drones, or clearsight, maneuvers, or covert ops softs on your spy drones. With your skills, you might be able to crack a few copies of the softs you are looking for (see rules in Unwired).

I know the Drone Rigger I play in another game loves his autosofts to death, he is hardly ever jumped into anything because he can make his drones have such high DPs with pilots and softs. This frees the rigger up for counter hacking when necessary.

Edit: And fuzzy logic upgrades are very amazing for any drone in your army that you want to add extra versatility to.

Edit Edit: And mechanical full meta arms added to ferrets makes them very versatile

Edit Edit Edit: I love drones, I should have been a rigger again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Marwynn]

Penta, would you allow us to use Arsenal's "Specialized Equipment" modification for "Ammunition Storage"? They list all sorts of stuff they don't cover elsewhere, like cold storage bays and whatnot. So we'll have to come up with a price.

It'd essentially be our armory.

Karoline, love the Kull and LEBDs. 2 Dobermans and a Steel Lynx though might be difficult to haul around. Great for shipboard defense and fighting, however. I can maybe Levitate it aboard an enemy ship too. Did you intend to bring them on away missions? Just thinking about the logistics.

I wish we had the spare change to invest in an Aztechnology Armadillo. that's just a wiz piece of tech: air mobile jamming. Also, who was buying the CrashCart? Is that a ship expense?

[CollateralDynamo]

Marwynn: what about ammo bins? I think those are meant to prevent ammo dumps exploding.

Also, I personally am not a huge fan of a dedicated armory on the ship. Sure, our registration for the guns should sync up, and everything should be fine. But if we stick in any governments craw they can repossess our restricted gear until "everything gets straightened out" (read: forever). I like to keep my illicit goods secreted away or in use, not in a room clearly labeled.

But again, thats my old school paranoia rearing its ugly head.

[Karoline]

I have all the autosofts from the basic book, but didn't get the CovertOps (I maybe should have) at rating 4 (Highest possible as far as I can tell) and all drones come with a pilot of 3 already built in, so no need to buy that. Didn't feel like burning a ton of (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) to get level 4 pilots for all my drones. I can possibly program some of my own or buy them as time goes on, but right now I'm happy with the pilot 3.

I know that each individual type of drone requires its own pilot, but I've never seen anything like that indicated for Autosoft, so I figure that one targeting autosoft is good enough for all of my drones.

Fuzzy logic will be nice, but I just didn't have the resources to throw it onto all my drones. It is in my 'To Do' list. I don't have a mechanic DP in the teens just to look pretty.

P.S. Don't have to worry about burning time jumped into my drones. I can't jump into drones.

Edit: Yeah, the crash cart got put into ship expenses. I'd throw up the updated list of what is in ship equipment, but I don't have it on my laptop, it is on my home computer. My parents are visiting this afternoon, so may not be able to get it up until later tonight.

Ship also has a manservant and two beavers as ship drones (For keeping everything tidy and for hauling around our semi-ill gotten gains)

[CollateralDynamo]

Oh right, so I see. I thought I read somewhere that targeting autosofts were highly specific to both class of drone and class of weapon. Maneuver I recall as being keyed more to propulsion mechanism, and clearsight to the sensor suite. I can't find the rule right now tho, so I might just be crazy.

[Karoline]

Oh right, so I see. I thought I read somewhere that targeting autosofts were highly specific to both class of drone and class of weapon. Maneuver I recall as being keyed more to propulsion mechanism, and clearsight to the sensor suite. I can't find the rule right now tho, so I might just be crazy.

I hope not. Getting all these drones in the first place is expensive enough on its own.

[Karoline]

Alright, here is an update of the ship gear.

[ Spoiler ]

Purchases with the 500,000 Loan:

Classique III 225000
Additional Fuel Tank 1000
Aeronautics Shop 5000
Autosoft: Clearsight (3) 1500
Autosoft: Maneuver (3) 1500
Concealed Armour (20) 20000
Chameleon Coating 24000
Complete Skinlink 5000
Drone Rack (Small) 1000
ECM (6) 6000
Fuzzy Logic 2500
Improved Economy 4375
Improved Sensor Array 1000
Interior Cameras 2400
Lock-on Countermeasures 5000
Personal Armour (10) 5000
Pilot 3 3000
Rigger Adaptation 2500
Satellite Communication 500
Signature Masking (6) 12000
Smuggling Compartment(Sh) 6000
Winch (Std) 600
Total: 334875

Running Gear:
Autopicker Rtg 6 1200
Catalyst Stick x 4 480
Climbing Gear x 6 1200
Directional Jammer Rating 7 1400
Grappel Gun x 4 2000
Keycard Copier Rtg 6 1800
Light Sticks x 50 250
Med Station Rating 6 420
Mini-Welder x 3 750
Monofilament Chaisaw x 3 900
Rapelling Gloves x 10 700
Stealth Rope (400 meters) 340
Tag Eraser x 5 750
White Noise Generator Rtg 6 300
Wire Clippers x 5 125
Total: 12640

Drones:
CrashCart 4000
Manservant 2500
Beaver x2 8000
Total: 14500


IDs and Permits:
Fake SIN Rating 4 x 10 40000
Fake Permits Rating 4 x 10 4000
- permit to own modified yacht
- permit for concealed armor
- permit for chameleon
- permit for fuzzy logic
- permit for interior cameras
- permit for lock-on countermeasures
- permit for personal armor
- permit to shoot footage
- permit to own "realistic replicas"
- permit to carry passengers
Total: 44000

Dakka:
Ingram White Knight x2 10800
- With tripods
- 2 belts of ex ex each
M79B1 LAW x 5 3750
- with external smartlink 2000
Foam Explosives (10) x 5 5000
5 Timer Detonators 175
5 Radio Detonators 200
2 Smart Firing Platforms 4000
Total: 25925

Other Vehicles:
Thundercloud Contrail x2 10000
- Autosoft: Maneuver (3) 3000


Zodiac Boat 30000
- Autosoft: Covert Ops (3) 1500
- Ducted Waterjet 2000
- Manual Override (DrivexWire) 500
- Pilot 3 3000
- Smoke Projector 700
- Searchlight 1200

Total: 40200

Supplies:
Month of medium quality food x 10 5000
Month of low quality food x 10 2000
Total: 7000

Cover related gear:
“Fake� Colt Manhunter x 10 3000
- Clip of Paint Capsule Rounds x 20 960
“Fake� AK-97 x 10 5000
- Clip of Paint Capsule Rounds x 20 2280
Total: 11240

Aggregated: 490380

Anyone have any suggestions for the last 10k? Perhaps an extra month of rations?

[Marwynn]

Great job, Karoline! (I now also have 'Sweet Caroline' stuck in my head.)

Run Flat tires for the two Contrails would be 1000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) . Yeah an extra month's worth of medium rations would be nice.

Hmm... we'll be using the two bikes rarely but will we be using them mostly in the cities? I thought perhaps an offroad bike would be better for us (note: I don't have ground craft driving so it's up to those who may use it).

I would've thought it'd be less for city driving, or at least paved road driving. The Yamaha Growler's only 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) more.

[Penta]

I can also just take out the bombs entirely and replace them with smoke grenades if you'd like. I got them mostly for affect.

Okay, you did - I'm absentminded today. I was up til 2 am studying, then got up at 8 for today. No need to take them out.

I'll answer arsenal questions when I get home - I don't bring my laptop with me to school, too easy to get distracted if I do.

Brief thought on the ship gear - from that last 10k...You have SatCom on the boat, spend the 1100 a month and get weather subscription.

It'll come in handy for you guys. I'm serious - If anyone has cyberpirates, read up on the Bermuda Triangle.

[Penta]

Oh, a brief thing.

Lifeboats.

You have two, one to port and one to starboard. They're useless for combat, so I won't stat them - they can hold, uncomfortably, 20 people each.

No, you can't take them out - they're required by every coast guard worth the name, they're basically armored *tubes* when not deployed, that hang neatly along the side of the ship, taking up no cargo space.

Figured I'd cover that for completeness sake, before anyone asks.

[CollateralDynamo]

Karoline, good work on the gear.

The last 10k should go to the weather service, perhaps bike upgrades, extra food is good (as long as it keeps). Maybe software of some type? Making our boat's node more defensible could be worth a few k investment.

And Marwynn, the reason I statted out the bikes the way I did is so that they can be ridden by anyone wihtout the pilot groundcraft skill. They have their own pilot and a maneuver autosoft, so as long as you stay in matrix contact with them they can do the driving. Nothing too fancy, but enough to get you to a meet and greet with a Jay. which I presumed would typically take place in the city.

If we want to swap out one of the two city bikes for an off-road bike I would be fine with that. I am just trying to think with a little "style" for when we engage in clandestine dealings.

Good work team! I look forward to the actual GAME part as opposed to the ACCOUNTING part....though accounting in SR is surprisingly fun...(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Marwynn]

Ooh we missed the Weather Subscription thingy.

CD, yeah I like the style of course. Just thinking that most of the time we may not be going to well-developed ports. May just be a mis-representation on my part of the Caribbean League but pavement I think is fairly rare no? At least, where we may put to shore.

I say 5000 for more medium food, 1000 for Run Flat Tires, 1100 for Weather Subscription. Haha, forgot about the lifeboats, thank you generous GM!

[budoka05]

With the extra cash, let's go for the TacNet Software. It'll be a major benefit to all to any combat action that takes place by coordinating our shared information effectively.

[MusicMan]

Ammo dumps exploding are nothing but fun, especially if it's yours. Far too much shrapnel going everywhere for my comfort.

I'm still nowhere near convinced we need personal armor on the ship; but I'll shrug and move on if everyone else insists that we have it.

I'm also not really sure what good two bikes are going to be for us... we cant really transport anything with them and we can't move more than 2-4 people with them. If we all have to go somewhere or move alot of stuff.... fail.

If things get strange we can always stash our illicit gear into the smuggling compartment, I don't think that we need a dedicated armory for our illegal stuff, and we can toss the fake guns and the paint rounds into a crate.