HERF Gun Versus Rigger, What would happen Options

[Kronk2]

So we got the drop on an enemy rigger, and all i had left was a HERF gun and being unsure of what would happen I hesitated and he ran. So what happens when you herf a rigger or a cyberzombie?

[hobgoblin]

rigger? naked and pissed off perhaps? czombie? bad juju...

[Yerameyahu]

Given that riggers are in no way related to cyberzombies, your question is wacky. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Shrike30]

If I'm remembering the HERF gun correctly:

It'll blow his connection to his gear, if nothing else... save you the trouble of his drones putting holes in your team, kill his access to his team's network, and quite possibly give him a dumpshock headache, depending on what he's doing when you HERF him. No reason not to light the guy up, plenty of reasons you'd want to.

If you're down to a HERF fighting a cyberzombie, I believe running is usually the better part of valor (that is, the part where you survive the encounter).

Side note: why the heck does the board's spellcheck catch "dumpshock?"

[KarmaInferno]

Hope to god you roll high on the test, and the rigger isn't running his drone swarm via laser link instead of wireless.




-k

[Yerameyahu]

Your HERF attack might also not bother the rigger. You're rolling an Exotic, and all it does against a commlink is reduce Signal by 1 per net hit, and that's only if the commlink fails the Device Rating x2 (3) test, AFAIK. And you'd have to be within 50m. I'd probably let the rigger's commlink have a Device Rating of the average between Response and Signal, round down.

[Udoshi]

Your HERF attack might also not bother the rigger. You're rolling an Exotic, and all it does against a commlink is reduce Signal by 1 per net hit, and that's only if the commlink fails the Device Rating x2 (3) test, AFAIK. And you'd have to be within 50m. I'd probably let the rigger's commlink have a Device Rating of the average between Response and Signal, round down.

I'm kind of surprised HERF guns don't work like EMP grenades.

[Yerameyahu]

They basically do, with a small difference on the Signal hit. Neither is really supposed to affect 'optical' (read: 'normal modern') gear in SR. They added that little bit about damaging antennas to make them semi-useful, I guess.

Anyway, any good rigger will be rolling 10-12 dice against a Threshold 3 (good odds) to have no affect, and then it's your agility against their dodging for the net hits. It's not a useless item, but it's (luckily) not overpowered. Jamming is probably more effective, but you can combine both methods for pretty decent results.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Of course, HERF guns eat RFIDs for breakfast, even "hardened" ones.

Given that most things themselves are likely to immune to the effects and if any, you will just have to repair signal and power cell, they are good for wiping bugs off loot (or desktop manufacturing) – EMP grenades do the same for rooms.

[Kagetenshi]

Side note: why the heck does the board's spellcheck catch "dumpshock?"

Because the effect is "dump shock", two words.

~J

[Straight Razor]

IRL i new a guy that built a HERF gun. ran it off a small protible generator. Forget the wattage of it, but it was huge, and he did a very good job in the parabolic antenna. It could kill a bird while it was flying, and boil a radio from 50 yards.

[Aaron]

If you're down to a HERF fighting a cyberzombie, I believe running is usually the better part of valor (that is, the part where you survive the encounter).

Alternatively, if it's the HERF gun the cyberzombie gave his daughter for her seventh birthday back when he was a person and not a corrupt abomination, you might make him all weepy instead of all killy.

[Shrike30]

Because the effect is "dump shock", two words.

Yeah, but the WEBSITE name is dumpshock (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Ascalaphus]

SR is a bit messy about EMPs. I houseruled the following:

* Anything kept in a faraday cage or suchlike is unaffected by EMP.
* All expensive electronics (250 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) and up) is not affected by EMP, except the radio antenna.
* Cheap consumer electronics are valuable. Generally, EMP kills stuff with Device Rating 3 or less.
* All military, implant and security-sensitive electronics (such as security RFID tags) is not affected by EMP, except the radio antenna.
* Radio antennas can't be completely protected against EMP. A grenade can reduce Signal by up to 3 until repairs are made.

[Yerameyahu]

"Cheap consumer electronics are valuable."? Vulnerable? If so, Device 3 is probably too high; even with the 250¥, you're letting them melt Trodes, mics, some common sensors, etc. My reading of the EMP rules is that almost nothing 'modern' should be vulnerable, unless it's cheap *for what it is*. To me, that means low-rating versions of some things.

[Ascalaphus]

"Cheap consumer electronics are valuable."? Vulnerable? If so, Device 3 is probably too high; even with the 250¥, you're letting them melt Trodes, mics, some common sensors, etc. My reading of the EMP rules is that almost nothing 'modern' should be vulnerable, unless it's cheap *for what it is*. To me, that means low-rating versions of some things.

Yeah, I know. Call it a GM Choice. I want EMPs to have some usefulness. On the other hand, in a decent Pink Mohawk campaign, rich people also talk about EMP blasts like bad weather; it happens, but it's only an annoyance, like poor reception on your cell phone while driving through canyons.

As far as trodes are concerned: EMP just kills them. They have very very sensitive receptors to catch brain waves, and EMP totally fries those. Real hackers have a datajack and a faraday tupperware box with spare Signal plugins for their comm-deck.

I've noticed that my players like the idea of EMP grenades as something useful. So I try to find a balance between rigger damage control on one side, and EMP havoc on the other.

[KarmaInferno]

* Radio antennas can't be completely protected against EMP. A grenade can reduce Signal by up to 3 until repairs are made.

As I pointed out above, Laser Link is only Line of Sight but is completely unaffected by an EMP.

And it can't be hacked, short of the hacker standing between the drone and the rigger to intercept the beam.




-k

[Yerameyahu]

Yep. It's also a pain. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Which is the point: tradeoffs.

[KarmaInferno]

Well, if you employ wireless, laser, AND microwave links in tandem, switching on the fly as needed, you can probably pretty much eliminate EMP from affecting your connection in any meaningful way, without compromising ease of operation.

But it requires planning ahead.




-k

[Tzeentch]

HERF are just high-power microwave weapons, so if you wanted to be brutal you could assign burning damage to hitting the cyberzombie/rigger in addition to the signal effects.

[Whipstitch]

Burning damage might end up being a bit inconsistent with the RAW since the current weaponized microwave frequency devices like the Fichetti Pain Inducer and the vehicle mounted Shiawase Microwave Cannon are pain compliance devices and apply dice pool penalties or force a retreat rather than deal damage. You'd also likely want to be a bit careful in assigning numbers lest you make something that's flat out better than the current crop of laser weapons. But with that said, I have sympathy for the general spirit of your suggestion, and I could probably be easily talked into combining the HERF guns and Pain Inducers stats into one skill and/or device rather easily. It's just never really come up since getting players to pay for something as narrow as an Exotic Weapon skill is like pulling teeth even if you do sweeten the pot. I suspect that if I brought it up I'd still just end up with players grabbing a taser or machine pistol and hoping the Hacker covers the Electronic Warfare rather than pin their hopes on HERF.