Both of these topics have been touched on before but not finding any conclusions on either.

Friend or Foe systems- In earliest editions only mention of FoF gear was in Kage. In later editions the smartgun seemed to work as a FoF device not allowing the weapon to fire at friendlies. Now in 4th edition it seems friends have to be RFID tagged to stay out of the line of fire with the Arsenal version of FoF. Am I seeing this right?

Minigun- Seen this mentioned in Arsenal Q&A but did'nt see any fixes for it. Arsenal states that light,medium and heavy machineguns can be converted but not stats/cost anywhere? This answered anywhere else?

a) yes

b) a minigun is whatever kind of machinegun it's listed under, i.e. the Vindicator is a light machinegun. It isn't a special category.

yeah, but for me, using FoF with the minigun is like calling up a hailstorm and telling it not to hit certain people . .

Yeah, you got that right. Like calling in a Mortar Barrage and asking, "Please don't hit the bush I'M hiding in!"

Its a 1 meter bubble of space that you can't fire at. If they're in melee combat, you can't fire at them, or their enemy. If they're behind a guy, you can't shoot. IF they're in front of the guy, you can't shoot.

All in all, its not that useful.

It seems to me that you may be mixing up the smartlink with the Safe Target System.

He was discussing the safe target system.

That may have been an assumption on your part. It seems that he was discussing the smartlink system, while describing the Safe Target System.

I'm not so certain of that. The only fights I've ever seen where one combatant remained within a meter of his opponent most of the time is wrestling (in all its various forms). Even boxers and open-hand martial artists tend to stay out of that bubble. And if somebody's using a weapon with Reach, all bets are off.

Thing is, Smartlink used to INCLUDE a version of the Safe Target System.


-karma

Indeed, and he also referenced "the Arsenal version of FoF" which is...... the safe target system.

Safe Target System struck me as more practical for NPCs then runners. Throw a camera on every handgun, and all of a sudden you have Lone Star Correctional Officers who can carry in the prisons without being worried about inmates getting the gun away from them.

Unless the inmate gets the gun and shoots other inmates with it.

Big trouble, that! Less bodies = less pay for keeping them imprisioned!

Or, they could have a biometric system on their guns so only the registered Lone Star employee can actually use them.


Of course, now there is the whole "ripping out the fingers/hands" problem...

You're right. Prisons would probably be more likely to use Advanced Safety.

Which you can do, with the right spirit




eat it, Adebisi!

Actually, it makes sense in splitting the two things up in the new, wireless version.

From a marketing standpoint. Now they have to buy it as an "Option".

We use smartlinks as including safe target system. Minigun or single shot doesn't matter.

Of course, in some areas, that doesn't make the gun really safe for all your friends or yourself, since ricochets are not covered - and automatic fire with FMJs tends to produce a number of those given the right kind of walls, floors and ceilings.

Pretty much. Steel-Jacketed Rounds have a tendency of going through walls pretty easily!

If the walls are thin. That's another danger.

(I was very surprised the first time I shot the M2, and saw the ricochets at 800 meters (tracer bullets are nice for visuals), I didn't expect them to fly that far after hitting the target area (which was mostly rock).)

With 7.62 Nato FMJ rounds or equivalent, they don't have to be that thin. There is a tale of overpenetration in Ulster where an FN-FAL round went through a car sideways, the front (cavity) wall and dividing wall (single leaf of brick) of a house and killed a mother who'd taken cover in her kitchen.

Ok I should have separated the topics.

Smartgun question was just curiosity about the retconning of smartlink abilities involving the Safe Target System and previous versions doing almost the same thing.


Minigun question, which has been raised before was wondering about clarification. Arsenal says only light,medium and heavy machine guns can become miniguns. But only light mingun is listed in charts, wondering what are guidelines for creating a med or lrg? (So far just added a few K to cost on a base model this seems to be in line with the light.)

Doesn't need to be a Retcon.

Advertising Talking Head: "We here at Ares have researched all the purposes and uses that the average user of our Smartgun System when developing the latest in our Smartgun Technology, the Third Generation Smartgun Link which includes Wireless Capability, and found that most users ranked the "Safe Target System" low on the list of utilized features.

"As we had to compress the signal stream in order to utilize the new Wireless Initiative, it was one of the items that was removed, as users rated it so low. However, thanks to advancing compression technology, we can once again include it as a factory-installed or after-market option to any of our Wireless Smartgun Links at a slight extra charge!"

even in cannon companion the system was two part, one for the gun and tags that all friendlies had to wear that transmitted gps info.

i think that was put in there for GM's more than players. if the GM wants to throw thier players a bone, they can make a heavier minigun, but they kept the ability for players to make thier own. i know for a fact that i'd make a rotary shotgun if given the chance, so its probably a good thing to keep it out of player's reach.

I figure the mention of what can be made a minigun is there in case a GM wants a helicopter door gun or something to come into play.

Heck, have one mounted in a Van. Open up the side or back door, and go nuts!

...

I highly advise sound dampeners for everyone in the van. LOUD!