Armor build for a diffrent type of firefight., Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries Advanced Firefighting Suit Options

[BRodda]

Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries Advanced Firefighting Suit.

With today’s high-rises and dense industrial complexes there arises a need for advance firefighting equipment Saeder-Krupp is pleased to announce is new line of fire fighting gear to meet the needs of municipal and corporate fire safety needs.

The SK-AFS is a fully contained suit of “armor” designed to help extinguish fires in dangerous situations such as; manufacturing facilities, research labs, residential high rises and other places more conventional firefighting methods will are not able to reach or pose a high risk to the firefighters. The suit is fully contained and provides all the communications, sensors and protection needs of the firefighter.

Cost: 42,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
Stats:
Armor:
B: 7/ I: 12 (counts as milspec so encumbrance is Bodyx3)

Upgrades:
Strength Upgrade: 3
Mobility Upgrade: 2
Chemical Seal (2 hour air supply)
Fire Resistance: 6
Nonconductivity: 3
Environmental Adaptation (Cooling for intense heat)

Sensors:
Camera
Image Link/HUD
Flare Compensation
Thermographic Vision
Ultrasound
Audio Enhancement (3)
Biomonitor


Communications:
Commlink with all ratings at 4

Availability: 10F

[Draco18s]

I'm thinking the Ballistic level is a bit on the high side, I don't think a firefighting suit quite has the same bullet stopping power as a kevlar vest.

[Shrike30]

Firefighters in White Center (essentially, South Seattle) wear kevlar vests because the locals shoot at them on occasion. One evening outside of Harborview, while the paramedic was mopping blood and grey matter out of the back of his rig (which also had two bulletholes in the side of the box, both about 15 minutes old), I asked the firefighters who'd come along to do CPR about them... they're class II rather than the IIIA that I'd expected, but White Center's FD doesn't exactly have a huge budget. Ballistic 7 sounds about perfect to me, given the full body coverage.

My old partner used to work for the Oakland FD, who also wear body armor. The third time he got shot at in 6 months, he decided to reconsider where he was working; his entire engine crew was hunkered down behind a wounded patient's car while the Oakland PD fired what turned out to be 163 rounds over their heads at the car that came by for a second try at their driveby shooting.

Another guy I work with put in over a decade with the New Orleans Fire Department. When asked, he said "they didn't give us body armor, but a fire engine's pretty solid, and we just shot back."

You might take off the Mobility Upgrade... no firefighter should have a Body of less than 4. I'd add a Select Sound Filter, tactical network software, and boost the Signal rating on the commlink to 6; especially inside of buildings, signal loss is a (possibly deadly) pain in the ass for firefighters. The handheld 800mhz radios we're issued to talk to Snohomish County fire units can be heard and understood when they're about 30 miles apart, across an urban area, and I doubt that will have changed much in 2070.

[BRodda]

I'm thinking the Ballistic level is a bit on the high side, I don't think a firefighting suit quite has the same bullet stopping power as a kevlar vest.

Not when you consider the hazards in a modern industrial facility. Add on top of that ammo cook offs, sharp pointy things falling through buildings, glass and other shrapnel, I think that its not to bad.

What do others think?

[Draco18s]

Not when you consider the hazards in a modern industrial facility. Add on top of that ammo cook offs, sharp pointy things falling through buildings, glass and other shrapnel, I think that its not to bad.

Touche. Objection rescinded.

[BRodda]

You might take off the Mobility Upgrade... no firefighter should have a Body of less than 4. I'd add a Select Sound Filter, tactical network software, and boost the Signal rating on the commlink to 6; especially inside of buildings, signal loss is a (possibly deadly) pain in the ass for firefighters. The handheld 800mhz radios we're issued to talk to Snohomish County fire units can be heard and understood when they're about 30 miles apart, across an urban area, and I doubt that will have changed much in 2070.

Mobility upgrade is for 2 reasons:
1) Buildings in 2070 are HUGE compared to today. And they have very little vehicle access. Same with high rises. When a hacker takes out the elevator how long do you think it will take to get to the middle floors of the ACHE by foot?
2) In industrial complexes they will need to be able to reach any portion ASAP. The upgrades will let them do that quickly.

As for signal rating; I thought about giving them Signal 6 and Scan 6. Might still do that. Standard security milspec is only rating 4 comlinks and that's what I used to default.

[ravensoracle]

An upgraded sensor suite with radar sensor and biomonitor wouldn't be a bad idea either. Radar would be less impeded by all the smoke and would be able to find those hidden victims. Throw in an agent with clearsight and an engineering autosoft to use the radar to spot structural weaknesses caused by the fire would also be a boon.

[BRodda]

An upgraded sensor suite with radar sensor and biomonitor wouldn't be a bad idea either. Radar would be less impeded by all the smoke and would be able to find those hidden victims. Throw in an agent with clearsight and an engineering autosoft to use the radar to spot structural weaknesses caused by the fire would also be a boon.

Opps... Biomonitor comes standard with milspec armor and I forgot to put it in. I'll add it back in the main description. Thanks for pointing it out.

Also is there a real difference between the radar and ultrasound. Not sure smoke impedes ultrasound. I can see sprinklers causing an issue though with ultrasound. Not sure what the benefits of once versus the other though. (other than the one you mentioned).

As for agents I almost put in one with Exploit 6. Firefighter can see something and have it turned on or off. Decided it might be a bit much though.

[Ascalaphus]

Tacnet is very useful for firefighters, but I'm not sure you'd put it in the armor.

- Olfactory Sensor Rating 6, to analyze the air for dangerous chemicals
- Auto-injector, to inject some sort of life-saving chemical in case the firefighter gets trapped/knockec out/etc., or perhaps a built-in medkit.
- Additional air tank and respirator/mask, to provide air to people you find inside? Seems like SR has rather advanced air compresion methods.

[BRodda]

Tacnet is very useful for firefighters, but I'm not sure you'd put it in the armor.

- Olfactory Sensor Rating 6, to analyze the air for dangerous chemicals
- Auto-injector, to inject some sort of life-saving chemical in case the firefighter gets trapped/knockec out/etc., or perhaps a built-in medkit.
- Additional air tank and respirator/mask, to provide air to people you find inside? Seems like SR has rather advanced air compresion methods.

I still have a ton of capacity, but I'm not sure how much more you would want to cram into the suit? The spare airtank is in there (the extra hour of air), not sure what the rules would be for having an additional mouth piece without compromising the suit. I'm sure that each firefighter will add in special little things.

Where are the rules for Tacnet? Not sure what the bonuses are for having it.

This suit is intended to be used with a foam thrower. I'll be posting the stats of that tomorrow.

[Ascalaphus]

Tacnets are in Unwired. They require a bunch of people with lots of sensory channels, but then they analyze everything that happens, and give bonuses to a lot of tasks. I can definitely imagine dousing fires to be one of them, as well as keeping an eye on a building's structural integrity, chemical spills etc. It also streamlines communication, allows the members to see what the rest sees.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Also is there a real difference between the radar and ultrasound. Not sure smoke impedes ultrasound. I can see sprinklers causing an issue though with ultrasound. Not sure what the benefits of once versus the other though. (other than the one you mentioned).

Both use the Ultrasound vision mod table, but depend on normal vision, too. For things only perceived with either sensor, it can be assumed to be complete darkness, and complete darkness can be assumed the worst case vision mod.

Of course, even with that -3, an UWBR allows you to see someone lying under debris breathing. I suppose that's worth something. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[BRodda]

Both use the Ultrasound vision mod table, but depend on normal vision, too. For things only perceived with either sensor, it can be assumed to be complete darkness, and complete darkness can be assumed the worst case vision mod.

Of course, even with that -3, an UWBR allows you to see someone lying under debris breathing. I suppose that's worth something. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

UWBR? Not sure what that stands for, I have the dumb today. (my 4 month old son was fussy last night.)

[Rotbart van Dain...]

UltraWideBandRadar.

[BRodda]

OK taking some of the sugestions here is the modified version. (Note no Tacnet. It's a bit to expensive especially with the other upgrades. I think that AR will be good enough.)

Cost: 50,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) (Was 42,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) )
Stats:
Armor:
B: 7/ I: 12 (counts as milspec so encumbrance is Bodyx3)

Upgrades:
Strength Upgrade: 3
Mobility Upgrade: 2
Chemical Seal (2 hour air supply)
Fire Resistance: 6
Nonconductivity: 3
Environmental Adaptation (Cooling for intense heat)

Sensors:
Camera
Image Link/HUD
Flare Compensation
Thermographic Vision
Audio Enhancement (3)
Biomonitor
Radar Sensor:2 New. replaces Ultrasound
Orientation System New
Select Sound Filter:3 New
Olfactory Scanner:4 New
Radio Signal Scanner:6 New

Communications:
Commlink with all ratings at 4
Scan:4New
Command:4New
Edit: 2New

Availability: 14F Was 10F

[Karoline]

Very cool looking. Nice to see something made for SR that is more RP/Fluff than combat.

I'd imagine that auto-injectors with a strength boosting drug and/or a shot of nanites (From the Savior Medkit) would be a common addition by most fire-fighters. My only real beef with the armor is how expensive it is. No firefighter would of course ever be able to afford their own, and it seems like alot of money for whatever company/government agency is in charge of firefighters to be spending on individual people (As I believe milspec has to be custom fitted).

[Orcus Blackweath...]

Very cool looking. Nice to see something made for SR that is more RP/Fluff than combat.

I'd imagine that auto-injectors with a strength boosting drug and/or a shot of nanites (From the Savior Medkit) would be a common addition by most fire-fighters. My only real beef with the armor is how expensive it is. No firefighter would of course ever be able to afford their own, and it seems like alot of money for whatever company/government agency is in charge of firefighters to be spending on individual people (As I believe milspec has to be custom fitted).

Hmmm one point in favor, if the people making the financial decisions might be concerned that they will need their services at some point. I could see a municipal government buying a few of these for a showy unit. "See how advanced we are?" or "We care for our people." I could see the NBC unit of a megacorp having these, not much point in even trying to stop the sabotage in the chemical plant without a suit like this. Of course I could also see the fire commissioner buying one for his own use (and deducting it from his taxes of course). There probably is a less expensive version for use with rank and file, probably non-milspec so they can hose it out and give it to the replacement.

[BRodda]

Very cool looking. Nice to see something made for SR that is more RP/Fluff than combat.

I'd imagine that auto-injectors with a strength boosting drug and/or a shot of nanites (From the Savior Medkit) would be a common addition by most fire-fighters. My only real beef with the armor is how expensive it is. No firefighter would of course ever be able to afford their own, and it seems like alot of money for whatever company/government agency is in charge of firefighters to be spending on individual people (As I believe milspec has to be custom fitted).

Milspec does have to be custom fitted, as does this. As for the auto-injectors, I imagine that can be fitted as needed by the buyer.

As for how expensive it is, its really not that bad when you run the cost benefits equation. Considering the amount of money that people spend on their security forces I'd like to think that the fire fighters are similarly equipped. Again this isn't for EVERY fire department and every firefighter; just for the vital or high risk industrial complexes. I'd imagine Ares would have 3-5 of these in any decent sized munitions plant. Same for large corporate buildings, affluent areas, Sea-Tac and maybe one or more on large shipping vessels.

And thank you for the complement. I think it helps to bring the setting to life when GMs can throw in special touches like this. I hate that a LOT of non-weapons tech and items are run as modern day equivalents with minor upgrades. Besides given the amount of times I've seen Runners set places on fire, I figure there is a good chance that they might actually be able to see one of these in action.

[Karoline]

Besides given the amount of times I've seen Runners set places on fire, I figure there is a good chance that they might actually be able to see one of these in action.

None of my groups have managed to turn a building into kindling yet. I'm sure one of them is working on it though.

[Draco18s]

None of my groups have managed to turn a building into kindling yet. I'm sure one of them is working on it though.

My group's blown up/burned down/completely demolished at least three now. One was with the most creative use of spirits I've ever seen,* the second was replicating that feat using mundane means,** I forget how the third fire started.

*(bound) Earth spirit: make a tube from the gas pipe to the basement, which is airtight. (bound) Air spirit, keep the gas in the tube and basement. (summoned) Force 1 Fire spirit: "have fun."

** Basement, gas main, C4

[BRodda]

My group's blown up/burned down/completely demolished at least three now. One was with the most creative use of spirits I've ever seen,* the second was replicating that feat using mundane means,** I forget how the third fire started.

*(bound) Earth spirit: make a tube from the gas pipe to the basement, which is airtight. (bound) Air spirit, keep the gas in the tube and basement. (summoned) Force 1 Fire spirit: "have fun."

** Basement, gas main, C4

Its stuff like that that made me build this armor and the other fire fighting equipment. To many mages with to many fire spells/spirits and to many streetsams with C4.

[Draco18s]

Its stuff like that that made me build this armor and the other fire fighting equipment. To many mages with to many fire spells/spirits and to many streetsams with C4.

Yeah, I'm not surprised.

[Backgammon]

Firefighters in White Center (essentially, South Seattle) wear kevlar vests because the locals shoot at them on occasion. One evening outside of Harborview, while the paramedic was mopping blood and grey matter out of the back of his rig (which also had two bulletholes in the side of the box, both about 15 minutes old), I asked the firefighters who'd come along to do CPR about them... they're class II rather than the IIIA that I'd expected, but White Center's FD doesn't exactly have a huge budget. Ballistic 7 sounds about perfect to me, given the full body coverage.

My old partner used to work for the Oakland FD, who also wear body armor. The third time he got shot at in 6 months, he decided to reconsider where he was working; his entire engine crew was hunkered down behind a wounded patient's car while the Oakland PD fired what turned out to be 163 rounds over their heads at the car that came by for a second try at their driveby shooting.

Another guy I work with put in over a decade with the New Orleans Fire Department. When asked, he said "they didn't give us body armor, but a fire engine's pretty solid, and we just shot back."

You might take off the Mobility Upgrade... no firefighter should have a Body of less than 4. I'd add a Select Sound Filter, tactical network software, and boost the Signal rating on the commlink to 6; especially inside of buildings, signal loss is a (possibly deadly) pain in the ass for firefighters. The handheld 800mhz radios we're issued to talk to Snohomish County fire units can be heard and understood when they're about 30 miles apart, across an urban area, and I doubt that will have changed much in 2070.

What the fuck!!?? Why is no one else asking why people shoot at firefighters??!! Is this common occurrence in the US? Why the fuck would you shoot at firefighters???

[BRodda]

What the fuck!!?? Why is no one else asking why people shoot at firefighters??!! Is this common occurrence in the US? Why the fuck would you shoot at firefighters???

Sadly its not that uncommon.

St. Louis

Arizona..for not getting a cat out of tree.

Dallas

and

Las Vegas

Now just imagine it in the violent setting of SR how much worse it would all be.

[McCummhail]

Major Props for this.
I love this kind of thing!
A book of world enhancing gadgets and anecdotes would be an instant buy for me.