Last I'd checked, kevlar was fairly abrasion resistant. Though, over a period of years I could see something happening. SR Did have plasteel, at least in 3rd ed. There was even a faulty version of it that you could spray and it would become gooey so you could push your way through it. SOTA 2064 I think had that stuff.

@Penta
What exactly are the weapons mounts and where are they. Are the ships weapons installed in the mounts, or in the armory or not yet on board.

Where are the players drones? and the ships drones?

@Tarantula
We have kevlar coated cable sheathing now, what the manufacturer claims and what actually happens are two different things.

WMS

When we drew up the ship last Sunday (doing our best to pull together all the posts), it was: (1) A small pop-up turret forward with the MMG, (2) a small pop-up turret aft with LMG and (3) a pintle mounts starboard with LMG & (4) a pintle mount port with LMG - all rigged.

There are two drone racks. One for an MCT Roto-Drone and the other for a Stormcloud. Additionally, there is a drone storage for an MCT-Roto-Drone.

@All - That does spur a question I can't answer. Does anyone else have a drone that is not a mini-drone or smaller?

@Penta - If I said anything that differs from your understanding, let me know.

EDIT: Redjack is right - I'll yield to his superior memory.

The turrets are currently retracted into the deck (where they're accessible belowdecks for maintenance and loading of ammo, and concealed from view). The pintle mounts are port and starboard amidships. As these are unconcealed, the weapons are not mounted. However, as a pintle is basically a bracket with a cradle for the gun on top, setup is easy, taking only 5 minutes. I am conflicted as to whether they should be remotely controllable. As defined, my instinct is to say no - it's just a bracket, no wiring included (or, really, possible); But I'm willing to yield to the ruling I made last Sunday in consultation with Russell.

The drones are all in storage - ships drones are mounted in a makeshift hangar, complete with STANAG-compliant* markings, on the interior of the vessel. (Commander Roberts just grins on showing it off - the UCAS Navy seems to have taken loving care in giving you a running start, it seems) Player drones have yet to be unpacked, but may be similarly stored in the hangar/cargo hold as space allows. I'm trying to figure out whether the drone rack is a launch tube, a storage rack, some mixture of the two, or something entirely different.

WMS, you're asking questions that really, really need a map - unfortunately, as I've noted, I'm mostly blind IRL, and I have very mild cerebral palsy and other things that (in sum) nerf my hand-eye coordination. I can't draw straight lines or anything remotely resembling most shapes, and so I wouldn't try to get me to draw a ship. Thus why there's 2 karma out for the best complete floorplan/map of the ship to be emailed to me, as I've noted.

I'd love to -answer- them, but I don't have the maps needed to do so.

---
*Okay, I'm a habitual jargon user. The STANAGs are the Standardization Agreements signed up to by all NATO members IRL - they specify a dizzying number of things, including aircraft maneuvering markings aboard ships, digital display iconography, and thousands if not millions of other things. While NATO died at the Eurowars in SR, I figure that the UCAS and CAS at least still follow them - and, unofficially at least, have managed to still coordinate things (particularly when their relationship hasn't been tense).

@Penta
No no map needed, just was confused about the weapons mounts this boat has.

Redjack has posted that there are 5 LMG's and a MMG, the MMG is forward mounted, a LMG is aft mounted, and two LMGs are port and starboard pintle mounts, where does the last two LMG's go? Or are they mounted in drones?

IIRC in Rigger 3 pintle mounts can not be rigger controlled.

WMS

By context:

One MMG on fore turret
One LMG on aft turret
One LMG not-yet-mounted on port pintle mount
One LMG for starboard pintle mount

The last two LMGs I think are for drones.

The sea sled drone is on ship too I thought? In some sort of thing Penta had said made it launchable but we had to stop in order to recover it.

@Penta
Is there any recoil compensation on the various boats weapon mounts, ie pop up turrets and pintle mounts?

If not can it be added?

WMS

The Sea Sled drone is on the ship and has a launch rack. To get it back aboard after you launch it, though, you do have to stop.

WMS: I believe the mounts provide recoil comp integrally? Neither Rigger 3 or SR4 says either way.

Throw a quick clarification:

You need a fence, yes.

Why? Because this is a covert op. The LoM just lets you not get shot by the UCAS and CAS and -maybe- not get hanged by others for piracy.

If they were to act as your fence, it'd hardly be very covert.

WMZ. Gunner Blythe doesn't go to the scheduled physical?

As for the operational parameters, such as how covert we are, we'll be going over that soon as a group.

Otherwise, it looks like we'll have some fun working through the group dynamics, which is good.

@DireRadiant
Correct the file which he sent, is accurate and up to date. It contains everything that Franklin needs to render medical aid/treatment to Gunner Blythe.

Besides I see no medical schedule on the IC forum?

The only scheduled thing I see, is the one that I have posted about?

WMS

Most physicals I've had, have actually been physical.

And if we are going to insist on everything must be IC to have happened or be true then we are going to really bog down in posting rates.

Physicals don't usually take that long, I'm sure its hook up a biomonitor, read it, take a blood sample, and run you over with a cyberware scanner, then check results on the blood sample later.

I'm agreeing with Dire. On both issues.

Tarantula: You forgot about taking a history (which would be important here in a medical context) and (minor thing) urine sample.

Regardless, history can be taken while you're talking to them or drawing their blood etc. Urine is an easy "on the way out, piss in this and set it on the counter for me."

Contained in that file, is his discharge physical from the military.

IRL none of the two ships and the many duty station, I served on, performed physicals.

The Corpsman merely took our records, the big thing was to check to see if the immunization records were up to date. Smart sailors got there shot records updated in a quarterly check. Otherwise is was not uncommon for some sailors to get 10+ immunizations at once. Some of the shots like Yellow Fever/Typhoid were big time debilitating.

Check on the rules for checking for cyberware/bioware/geneware/nanoware a standard scanner will not always pick up on those. So if a character has a complete medical record history it will give those. So if a character has nanoware or geneware it may be missed, which can have an impact on any treatment.

To Gunner Blythe he is merely following the methods that were used when he was active duty.

IIRC the "physical" is to give the medical types an idea of what enhancements a character has, and any impact it may have on any treatments.

If you insist on his participation, he will go there, and answer questions with this answer "It is in my medical record I sent you". The medical character can put a biomonitor on him and take his readings and run a cyberware scanner on him. He will be amused at such, but will comply. As for giving a urine sample, well he will that, but will resort to tried and true methods of doing same.

Quick rulings, replacing IM handles with forum handles:

Redjack: (12:41:41 PM): What is your call on the threshold to break the copy protection on a firewall R6?
Penta (12:42:42 PM): It is an extended test, IIRC?
Redjack (12:42:45 PM): Yes.
Redjack (12:43:06 PM): Suggested is 10 - 20\
Penta (12:43:25 PM): Suggested by the book?
Redjack (12:43:29 PM): yes
Penta (12:44:46 PM): I'm going to make it slightly harder, because I didn't like how easy it is to break copy protection and bypass cost as a balancing factor for programs. Hence, copy protection is R*4, +2 since you're working with limited computing resources.
Penta (12:45:00 PM): So in this case, 26.
Redjack (12:46:03 PM): Is that test limited by the number of extensions equal to the number of dice in the pool?
Penta (12:46:41 PM): What's the interval on the test?
Redjack (12:47:00 PM): 1 hour
Penta (12:48:12 PM): Just to check: How many dice in the pool are you throwing at this?
Redjack (12:48:34 PM): Logic(3) + Software(4) + Full VR(2) = 9
Penta (12:49:54 PM): I'm going to limit you to half pool, rounded up. So 5 extensions. After that, the code is simply too much to try to unpuzzle.
Redjack (12:52:01 PM): I'm just trying to crack the copy protection, not backwords engineer. I'll be lucky to get 26 hits in 9 extensions. It'll never happen in 5
Penta (12:53:08 PM): Okay, fair point. (I've never insisted I had a good grasp of probabilities math; I checked my brain's output with a friend of mine who's a cosmology grad student, and he pointed out the same.)
Redjack (12:53:18 PM): np.
Redjack (12:53:41 PM): I agree it should be tough.. But a guy has to have a chance
Penta (12:54:03 PM): Agreed, agreed.
----
I figured I'd post the convo to show how I arrive at rulings - and perhaps to point out why IMing me can be a good thing.

I'm willing to work with you guys on just about anything, and I try not to make my decisions in a black box.

Next: It took Rollins 7 hours (broken up how, he'll decide), but he did (narrowly) crack the copy protection on an R6 firewall.

DUTY SHIFTS
Midnight to 4am: Helm = Cuda; Maintenance = Franklin
4am to 8am: Helm = Johnny; Maintenance = Gunner
8am to Noon: Helm = Cuda; Maintenance = Carlos
Noon to 4pm: Helm = Litany; Maintenance = Franklin
4pm to 8 pm: Helm = Johnny; Maintenance = Gunner
8pm to Midnight: Helm = Cuda; Maintenance = Carlos
Gunner & Franklin should each work 1 hour/day at helm as a part of their training.
Carlos should work an additional hour with both Gunner & Franklin mentoring/training engineering.
Litany will be performing ship's steward duties.
- Breakfast at 7:40. Lunch at 11:40.
- Supper will be fend for yourself around your evening duty shift.
Litany can relieve Franklin and Gunner as their other duties require them.

Does that look reasonable to everyone? I assume we want someone on watch in engineering. If that is not required, just let me know.

@Penta

@Redjack
Why have characters scheduled for maintenance?

Typically during "normal" working hours, is when that is done. Having a non rotating shift of maintenance.....Normal working hours 8am to 5 pm.

Engineering watches depends upon what Penta says. During Battle Stations I would say yes, during non battle stations....depends upon conditions etc ie storms, gales, hurricanes.

Gunner Blythe does not need helm training.

Why schedule meals? Is someone cooking them? I thought it was also fend/feed yourself? Is Ships Steward =Ships Cook? Does she do laundry which is typically what a Steward takes care of?

Also for those that do not have it Damage Control/Fire Fighting ie Nautical Mechanics needs to be scheduled.

WMS

For those planning to get Nautical Mechanic training: you should probably make the roll with the tutor soft as Carlos doesn't know how to teach anyone anything (at least not well). Just a consideration I thought I'd bring up.

Oh and I've lost track of what needs to be done IC. If there is something please remind me, if not can we skip to the next important activity?

Oh yeah, just remembered; so far we've assessed each characters abilities, excepting combat abilities. I think that might be helpful for deciding combat positions. Just a thought.

I dunno, the weapons are more of a factor than skill, sure, skill is important, but someone packing a Raecor Sting probably will be less effective than someone packing an ares alpha.

Ones combat abilities can in part be determined by the type, and number of weapons a character has in his/her possession.

If a Racor Sting is all they have, then more than likely their usefulness in boat vs boat combat will be more limited than one with a Ares Alpha.

WMS

Good points. But I meant in a broader sense that isn't necessarily related to combat (my mistake in using that word). For example I have no clue if there is anyone who would be the go to person for infiltrating a boat and planting charges. Or other things we might want to conceivably do.

@Redjack
Ask Gunner Blythe about Helm Watches, he will not lie to you.

Clarification of terms/usage Fire Control deals with the firing of weapons, Fire Fighting deals with fighting fires.

We need to find out from Penta about whether or not the engineering on this boat needs any one on watch. It does not make sense for someone to be on watch during working hours and no one the rest of the time.

Update your watch rotation, Gunner can/will stand Helm and Engineering watches. But you need to put into place some kind of rotation of those watches. ie having the mid watch every rotation is not good.

Also you will have to split the 4am to 8 am watches to allow for eating chow. Same for 4pm to 8 pm. That is if chow is being prepared.

Also the taking apart the boat to see there are any issues is impractical. Unless we wish to put her into a dry dock to perform such.

WMS

Eng watch: By the rules, yes, you -do- need at least one person on engineering crew. My gut reads that to mean that yes, an eng watch is required 24/7 while the ship is underway. When you're at anchor, whether in port or just dropped anchor somewhere, maybe not.

@Penta
Thanks,,,looks like Gunner Blythe and Carlos are Port and Starboard Engineering Watches. Ie from chow to chow.

Ah the smell of someone who has been in Engineering for many hours at the table for chow,,,ah the memories.

Looks like Gunner Blythe is going to be getting many hours of training to improve that skill.

Hmmm.... Maybe we can work out some sort of deal whereby Carlos gets some training in Gunnery after all I was under the impression that we have more mounted weapons than people capable of firing them.

@Narse
NP with Gunner Blythe but the port side pintle mount is his.

But he like most here, does not have instruction skills.

I guess we can have someone relieve one of us while you get some trigger time, down in Engineering.

WMS

So then does my original duty roster hold then? Pinta had asked for a specific time based roster. If this is not correct, please supply corrections.

DUTY SHIFTS
Midnight to 4am: Helm = Cuda; Engineering = Franklin
4am to 8am: Helm = Johnny; Engineering = Gunner
8am to Noon: Helm = Cuda; Engineering = Carlos
Noon to 4pm: Helm = Johnny; Engineering = Franklin
4pm to 8 pm: Helm = Litany; Engineering = Gunner
8pm to Midnight: Helm = Johnny; Engineering = Carlos

This roster provides everyone except Johnny at least an 8 hour block between shifts

Here is the MV Thundercloud

@Redjack
Ok what about Chow? those on the 0400-0800 and 1600-2000 watches are on watch and unable to eat same? Typically those watches are broken into 2 hour watches to allow crewman to eat chow, ie they are called the Dog Watches.

WMS

Just a note, Cuda is the helmsman but johnny is actually at the helm more?

Now that we have a ship, whos quarters are which?

Quarters
There are 10 rooms, each exactly the same. So as to start a strawman what say we use the 6 in a row, starting closest to the armory: Gunner, Johnny, Litany, Cuda, Franklin, Carlos

Shifts
Since Johnny has a sleep regulator, he only needs 3 hours sleep. Since Cuda needs a full sleep I put him on 2x 4 hour shifts + 1 hour assisting engineering/day. 9 hours work + 8 hours sleep + 3 hours eating leaves him four hours personal time.
Johnny has 3x 4 hour shifts + 3 hours sleep + 3 hours eating still leaves him 6 hours personal time.

We are so small a crew, I can't see how to schedule in Dog Watches and still give everyone an 8 hour block off.

@Tarantula: Let me know if you have a different proposal of watches for Cuda. I'll be glad to give you a third shift... or break one of the shifts into Dog Watches and each Johnny & Cuda take 2.5 watches.

@WMS: Same for Engineering and Dog Watches. I'm brain fried as to making it work. Let me know how you, Bishop & Narse want it and that's how we'll run.

Litany let's the boat drive itself.... with instructions to get her first if there's any problem. The boat does have an Pilot doesn't it? It can drive with a human assigned to the shift to supervise. So don't leave it out.

And we are going to need to think about planning our next assignments.

@Redjack
You cant get 8 hours off with this small a crew. But dog watches will need to be implemented or you have a part of your crew that gets leftovers all the time. Which is not a good thing.

Also on a boat this small, there maybe 8 hours of work per week for each of us.

During my days of USN service at times due to the lack of qualified watch standers, I maybe got 4 hours of sleep a day, but not always all at once. I was cross qualified into many different jobs, so I got used to fill in any holes due to absences/illness etc.

WMS

For the watches it breaks down then to a day is split into
4 X 4 Hour watches = 16
4 X 2 hour watches = 8 (Dog watches)

Split into a Helm & Engineering duties
Right now on Helm we easily have at least 4 people who can all take one regular and one dog watch.

On the Engineering watch we are short people, is it really only Franklin Gunner and Carlos who are qualified? I suggest whomever is going to be learning Nautical Mechanics (I assume), take the 4th slot, or we split the missing 6 hours into 3 2 hour slots for the trainees to stand. The people doing both full Helm and Engineering watches are going to be assigned at most 12 hours of watch duty. For balance I suggest the following.

3 X 4 Hour watches
3 X 2 Hour dog watches

Helm & Engineering

Midnight to 4am: Helm = Cuda; Engineering = Franklin

4am to 6am: Helm = Litany; Engineering = Cuda
6am to 8am: Helm = Cuda; Engineering = Franklin

8am to Noon: Helm = Johnny; Engineering = Carlos

Noon to 2pm: Helm = Litany; Engineering = Gunner
2 PM to 4pm: Helm = Johnny; Engineering = Litany

4pm to 8 pm: Helm = Gunner; Engineering = Johnny

8pm to 10 PM: Helm = Carlos; Engineering = Gunner
10pm to Midnight: Helm = Franklin; Engineering = Carlos

Everyone should get I full and two dog watches, and 8 straight off

3 Primary Helm will get 1 full helm, 1 dog watch Helm, and one engineering dog watch
3 Primary Engineering get 1 full helm, 1 dog watch Helm, and one engineering dog watch

Cross training. Litany only has one two hour engineering dog watch (Which is less risk exposure then a four hour engineering watch), but Gunner is on his two hour break, and can help or instruct if there is any trouble.

Engineering Watches
Day 1
0000 to 0400 : Franklin
0400 to 0600 : Gunner Blythe
0600 to 0800 : Carlos
0800 to 1200 : Franklin
1200 to 1600 : Gunner Blythe
1600 to 1800 : Carlos
1800 to 2000 : Franklin
2000 to 2400 : Gunner Blythe
Day 2
0000 to 0400 : Carlos
0400 to 0600 : Franklin
0600 to 0800 : Gunner Blythe
0800 to 1200 : Carlos
1200 to 1600 : Franklin
1600 to 1800 : Gunner Blythe
1800 to 2000 : Carlos
2000 to 2400 : Franklin
Day 3
0000 to 0400 : Gunner Blythe
0400 to 0600 : Carlos
0600 to 0800 : Franklin
0800 to 1200 : Gunner Blythe
1200 to 1600 : Carlos
1600 to 1800 : Franklin
1800 to 2000 : Gunner Blythe
2000 to 2400 : Carlos
Day 4
0000 to 0400 : Franklin
0400 to 0600 : Gunner Blythe
0600 to 0800 : Carlos
0800 to 1200 : Franklin
1200 to 1600 : Gunner Blythe
1600 to 1800 : Carlos
1800 to 2000 : Franklin
2000 to 2400 : Gunner Blythe

I can extend this beyond 4 days if needed

WMS

@DireRadiant
It would be better for Litany and another character to stand a Dog Watch together. Rather than she stand it alone, and maybe someone can get to her if something comes up.

Any unqualified watch standers "need" to have a qualified watch stander with them on watch, again in case something occurs, and the qualified ones can not or does not have enough time to get there.

Gunner Blythe is qualified to stand Helm and Engineering Watches.

But since we only have 3 qualified Engineering watch standers, having Gunner split between Helm and Engineering Watches is at this time, is not a good idea at this time, until we get more Engineering Watch standers qualified.

Also your watch stander schedule has no rotation. Yes I know if makes for easier scheduling, but I know from personal experience what it does to watch standers.

WMS

FYI, Cuda does have nautical mechanic skill, 2 (with spec in ships). So, he can stand some engineering watches too, its just not his "thing".

@wmz I won't have any objections to any schedule you post should you choose to do so. I really don't care much about it at all IC or OOC. You do.

Yeah, I really don't care what schedules end up being either.

Drops watch standing lists.

How many of the ships weapons ie the MMG and the LMG's are smartgun linked?

How much ammunition and any types, do we have for the MMG and the LMG's?

WMS

The MMG and aft turrent LMGs are basically remote-control only, so of course are smartlinked. The pintle-mounted LMGs are as well.

@Penta
Have any of the ships weapons had their smartgun like camera upgraded with vision enhancements?

I am guessing that none of the ships weapons have any ammunition.

Ok Crew Members what types and numbers of ammunition do we seek?

WMS

Um, APDS sounds good. Barring that good ol' regular FMJ rounds are nice and cheap and get the job done.

Just so you know, Carlos doesn't have a smartlink (hence the laser sight on his AK). So maybe we could install some, or if everyone else has smartlinks, I suppose we could just get him some smartlink contacts or something. FYI his current vis-mods are in a pair of goggles. So I suppose I should ask: Penta, would the smartlink feature of a pair of contacts stack with the vision mods of a pair of goggles worn over them? If not could I upgrade the functionality of my goggles? or would I have to buy a new set?

Each mounted LMG and the MMG has a 200r box of REG ammo attached to them. The armory has another 5000r LMG REG ammo and 500r MMG REG ammo.

SR4 smartlink (the user-side half of a smartgun/smartlink combo) is now only a vision enhancement. As a person jumped into a drone does not user their eyes to see, a smartlink is not required and would provide no plausible benefit. However, using the example of the technomancer, a program could actually be used to provide the same benefits to the user of a weapon with a smartgun system installed who is jumped into a drone with a smartgun enabled, mounted weapon.

If we can find a good, clean chop shop Johnny (who does not currently have a smartgun) would get one do to the probability (given the small crew size) that he may have to fight as a part of a boarding team.