I recall reading something about shielding for cyber from EMPs, but can't find it. I've trawled through Man & Machine, no luck. My rationale is that it HAS to exist.

Can anyone remember reading about it, in what book was it etc?

Also, anyone have any house rules for it? (Looks both ways for players entering the thread.)

I assume all cyberware to be intrinsically shielded from EMP, as its really not hard to accomplish.

IIRC there are no canon rules for EMPs...but I don't have the SSG or SOTA:2063.

Tech in SR is mostly Optical Based, removing EMPs from the mix.

Well, as a means for information transfer, alright. But no engine oder servo is driven by light. And there is no way for the neural pathways to accept optical input.

Ergo, cyberware, especially interface tech and sensor tech, but motion tech as well, needs at least some electrical conduits.

[Nevermind.]

So, is there something ELSE that would be devastating to electronics and especially cyber that could be used in a portable, semi-explosive capacity. Don't be an ass and say something like ALL explosions, strong enough, will have that effect.

I want something that will have the same effect as an EMP. Shutting down and hindering electronics randomly/globally in it's radius (10 metres is good).

Other thing, this is new to me, cyber is earthed by your body?!? Explain? I'm not sure EXACTLY in scientific terms what an EMP is, I just know that in Cyberpunk, armored monsters would scream like little girls when you threw one near them.

CP2020 had rules for proofing electronics and ware against EMP attacks, but as it has been pointed out earlier, SR 'netics are immune to EMP weapons.

Granted, a strong enough EMP weapon will still frag with optical systems, but by that point it'll mess with the wetware just as much.

-Siege

So, are there rules for EMPs?

In SR? None that I am aware of.

As per Canon, EMP weapons are ineffective since "everything" is optical now.

Does the reasoning hold water? Several threads have decided not, but on a strictly canonical level...

-Siege

Look under the lightning bolt elemental effects if ya wanna make up some rules for it.

Here's what it says.

A very well reasoned point. A good way to deal with EMP and other electromagnetic phenomena is to recognize that in canon SR:

*(most) metals are still electroconductive

*ferromagnetic metals can still be magnetized (ah, cybermagnets and hand-grenades...)

*all computing is optically based (re-reading VR 2.0.... all the talk aboout uncooked crystal lattices reminds of of Zardoz...)

I should mention that I'm all for EMP still being useful and viable as a _completely_ optical system would be amazingly difficult to construct.

Although, it would explain the SR price list.

-Siege

I recall in one of the older books speculating about the effects of sonic attacks on the optical chips used by electronics in SR. Was anything ever developed further on that?


-karma

Theres a difference between lightning and EMP. Lightning *transfers* an existing electric current to a target, whereas EMP *induces* a current in the target. It is relatively easy to shield against EMP, as I've said. All you need is to surround the object you want to protect with copper mesh (which doesnt even have to be particularly fine, i think the holes can be as big as 1cm) and youre set. It really wouldnt be a big deal to encorporate such a thing into external cyberware, and internal 'ware would be protected by the existence of a body surrounding it.

The same safeguards against EMP will not, however, necessarily work against direct electrical stimulation. If you are hit by a taser/lightning bolt/whatever, that current has already entered your body - bypassing that level of protection. That current can travel through your nervous system and into any ware that is DNI controlled - hence the effects of electrical attacks on cyber. (though I'd still say it would not be able to affect anything lacking DNI control, as those systems could be self-contained and insulated against such things at minimal cost)

What would lack neural interface? Cranial bombs? [Edit] And bone lacing, and some other structural cyberware… yeah, ignore that.

~J

Bone Lacing, for example. I dont really feel like going through and picking out every piece of internal 'ware that wouldnt necessarily be neurally-linked, so I'll just say that there are probably a few more that are at least arguable.

And I would say that it would be a good thing for cranial bombs to not be affected by electrical attacks... wouldn't you?

I don't know. I'd love for my cranial bomb detonator circuit to get fried. Just don't cook off the bomb

How difficult is it to create an EMP, anyway. According to every movie I've seen (yeah, that's right, I trust the screen), it's required something along the lines of a nuclear explosion. I'm sure that's not the only way to do it, but would it be feasible to do it with something you mount on your shoulder and aim?

You can download plans for EMP guns off the internet, along with plans for a device to melt people through their telephone handset, gadgets that make payphones spit up all their quarters which are in a one-way inaccessible safe, free energy devices which work off alien semen, and the infamous Blotto Box which can liquify all phone lines on earth.

I believe the military was developing / has developed a munition designed to be delivered by missile or bomb with the primary effect of an EMP. It definitely wasn't a nuclear weapon, in the "kills everything" sense of the word. Google turns up a lot of conspiracy theories using my terms, so good luck!

After an hour or so more thought I guess I do remember NATO dropping something that cut off large portions of the power grid in Belgrade, and there being a huge stink about it because it's inhumane to cut off power to the hospitals serving the area you're bombing (we bourgeois Westerners are really spoiled when it comes to war). But would something like this be feasible as a man-portable weapon? I mean outside of circles where alien semen is an energy source.

IIRC the non-nuclear EMP was a 2000 lb. bomb (or some such fairly large bomb) surrounded by ferrous iron filings. The sudden expansion of the magnetic cloud of metal created the EMP. No, not man portable, but much better than fission--especially in the SR world where nukes seem to go funny.

I've used emp's in my games plenty. We ruled that standard and alpha grade cyberw is not immune to it unless you paid more at installation. A guy carried a EMP generator around in the back of his special van, used it when needed.

There are indeed EMP weapons that the military can use. Not to mention EMP effects that are generated off of technology similar to radar. You are just creating a pulse of energy at a specific wavelength.

Actually just the higher powered radar on certain aircraft were capable of frying electronics as well. This was why the Russians continued to use redundant mechanical backups in their aircraft rather than pure fly by wire.

Sorry Karma - it's interesting speculation but while a crystal can technically be shattered if you hit the right note, I don't recall of any sonic weapons in SR or any dicussion of same.

-Siege

BLU-114 Graphite bomb.

-- Actually, the Russian engineers who examined the streamers claim they are fiberglass impregnated with aluminum (and the case markings are CBU-102, and as they have pics of the munitions I'm inclined to believe them).

http://www.cadre.maxwell.af.mil/warfarestu...0%20Reading.doc

-- As for EMP against cyberware, well, realistically the systems HAVE to be opto-electronic in origin or a lot of that lame-o ICE wouldn't work like it says. This means that the computing and storage elements may be optical, but the power supply and some electronics are still using good old electrons.
-- But also realistically, a radiofrequency/EMP weapon that could affect the electronics would probably have to be so powerful that your cyberware wigging out is the least of your immediate problems. We're talking full-on High-Power Microwave Akshun™ in the dozens of GW range (peak power, probably extremely short pulse durations except for ultra-wideband explosive-driven generators).

Oh, by the way...

-- Some of the technical justifications in Rigger are shaky at best (requires a nuclear power plant for the ANDREWS? Bwah?). But in a world with Sparky IC who knows -- maybe it uses the particle beam as a carrier for some software that hacks into the missile control system

-- Well, depends on beam efficiency. But whatever it is you could use offtake power from conventional turbines to charge a capacitor/HPG/flywheel bank. Directly powering the beam from a reactor is probably not an efficient use of resources, especially if you want to have more then one.

I will point out that "fry the missile's control circuitry" does not necessarily mean that it zaps it with electricity. Anyone who has experienced the wonders of a badly seated heat sink on a CPU can tell you that sheer heat can do a pretty good job of frying circuitry, and I imagine a particle beam would do a pretty good job of generating heat (of course, at the temperatures you're talking, the missile probably loses structural integrity and splashes into the water anyway, but hey....). Detonation could be just because the proximity sensor is fried too, I suppose. I'd agree that needing a reactor is probably not necessary, although not having one may limit the recharge time for the capacitor (and I imagine reduce the speed/range of the ship while it was trying to recharge).