So I was pondering the etymology of the verb "to lance" when I realized that no official Combat Biking rule forbids the use of the Lancebiker's lance as a throwing weapon. It'd probably count as a spear, so range as per standard grenade; with a Strength of at least 4 you have a better Short range than the riot guns, though you lose damage and extreme range, but a specialist can really make this tactic shine—consider a Troll with Strength 10 would be throwing 12M(stun) attacks with a short range out to 30 meters and a Medium out to 50 meters, thus dominating the riot gun at all range categories. Of course, a Troll doesn't need the ranged weapon as much, since the extra Reach makes jousting less hazardous, but an Ork might make it work. Especially when you consider that this takes the position to a fourth ranged attack for the play, I think it has potential.

Any other tricks or tips people have thought up for Combat Biking?

~J

Here's another one—a little more speculative than the first, but depending on the density of the mesh you might be able to wrap a mace in a net, giving you an extra-long and extra-heavy (if awkward) flail. With some creative tying you might even be able to attack targets on the ground from the skyway without using one of your three shells for the round.

In other news, is there ever a reason to have a non-Troll as goalie ever?

~J

Style and panache?

We're talking a professional league here. Style and panache isn't going to make up for all the tickets you can't sell because your goalie not having an extra point of Reach with the tetsubo means you can't effectively keep from being scored on.

Though on further consideration, at 9S(Stun) base, 20 rounds, and with between 10 and 20 Combat Turns per play, someone sufficiently skilled with the Autoshot Riot Carbine could be an acceptable Troll replacement (though it's not clear what kind of recoil comp is permitted—if the gun has to be more or less unmodified apart from a smartlink, a Troll still might be the call for the ability to use Burst Fire without uncompensated recoil, which would get doubled from shotgun-ness). The Goalie can fire twenty SA shots or eight BF shots and two SA shots, and there are only eight non-Goalie players per team, so it might actually be reasonable to rely on the carbine for goal defense.

On the flip side, the Goalie is heavily-armored enough that a Troll Goalie would end up mostly immune to opposition riot guns (the Thunderbiker could still pose a problem, as could Lancebikers using the thrown-lance technique above). Similarly, an offensive biker cybered up with ballistic-armor-improving 'ware (kevlar bone lacing, orthoskin, cyberlimbs with built-in armor) could quickly spike the ammo expenditure required for the goalie to mount a credible defense. You really might need a Troll's ability to deal damage with Power in the mid-teens to take out certain biker builds, and you could have a limited need to respond to engagements at range.

I might try building some Combat Biker characters to see what sort of things could be effective. Much of it hinges on the perennially-unanswered question of what Rigging a motorcycle was meant to look like.

(Also, they apparently forgot to include bola descriptions in Shadowbeat. Presumably they're something along the lines of a central anchor with three to four 30-50cm polycarbonate cables with weights at the end, one lighter than the others, having total mass of under 500 grams. Since the weapon doesn't appear to be statted out elsewhere that only helps a little.)

~J

Monofilament bolas are in Arsenal. Enjoy

As to characters here's one I made earlier.

Edit: NVM, I forgot, you're a 3E player, aren't you?

Not only am I an SR3 player (and the thread is tagged as SR3), the fact that all of the weapons are designed to be ostensibly (if often only vaguely) non-lethal means that monofilament bolas would probably still be out.

~J

But think of all the Humanis fans you're losing by not having an all-human team

You might lose the more virulent elements, but my guess is that combat sports would become a "safe zone" for metahumans, especially since they don't predate the Awakening and Combat Biking, which does predate Goblinization, didn't become big until after it hit. The "they're dumb, but boy are they athletic" kind of idea can maintain a sense of superiority, while the very limited nature of professional combat sport positions means that metahuman players aren't threatening their audience by competing with them. I haven't done the research (and for time reasons am not going to), but it seems to me reasonable that a typical Humanis member or sympathizer could cheer on a Troll goalie at a sports bar and then cross the road to avoid a Troll in a suit going home.

The text does say that there's probably a "gentlemen's agreement" to keep metahuman participation capped, but it's unclear if that's just the Big Three (Football, Basketball, Baseball) and either way since it's above 0 a Troll Goalie seems like one of the best uses of part of one's "quota" possible.

~J