Re: [HoE] Junker Questions[HOPLER]

[PEGHopler@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/12/99 9:29:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
decker@phreaker.net writes:

<< In particular Slugs
 . "He can also make slugs containing original programs if he knows the
 science:computer programming Aptitude. The slug creation time doesn't
 include the time it takes for the junker to write the program." My
 question is how does this work? Do you make a slug with a TN 9 and a
 science:computer programming roll set against a TN set by the marshal
 for what you want to create? Also can you create a blank slug, and then
 using a computer programming roll create a program for it? Provided you
 have a makeshift computer?

The TN for the creation of the program is set by the Marshal. The junker 
doesn't have to have a computer, he just needs to record the program on 
something--toilet paper, stone tablets, whatever. Once the program is done, 
the junker just makes a slug using the TN of 9, and the program is 
automatically encoded on the slug.

If all you have is a blank slug, the junker has to do it the old-fashioned 
way: put the program in a computer and download it to the slug.

 Similar Question, can you take a program that's in storage and transfer
 it to a blank slug?

Yes.
 
 Question about Shield power
 "Your garden variety shield projects a dome-shaped field over the object
 within it."
 This is worded a little confusing to me. It sounds like it projects a
 dome completely around the object, just maybe not under it, but does
 this field just project around the object it is built on, or does it go
 a little further. I was thinking of making a bird type companion that
 would have a shield, and could sit on my shoulder and project the field
 around us both if need be. If I made the bird size four, and gave it a
 size seven shield, could it sit on my shoulder and project a field
 around both of us?

Yes.

 would I need the spherical variant? Also since i'm on the subject could
 a size 7 shield be run at size 4, perhaps with a 1 slot selector switch?

You wouldn't need to make it spherical. As long as the bird's shield is large 
enough to cover you, it gives normal protection. 

A shield can be run at any size between 1 and it's maximum rating. Like most 
variable setting devices a 1-slot selector switch is needed.
   
 If a power is associated with both Gun and Computer like targeting or
 gun and Car like Rocket man do I use the gun spirit rules for creating
 it or not, does it depend on how it is used Like a surveillance missile
 as opposed to a warhead?

Any power which is associated with gun spirits uses the gun spirit rules 
regardless  of the purpose for which it is used.
 
 Sensor I am a little dense on the difference between passive and active
 sensors
 Do Passive sensors only detect other things giving off the thing that it
 senses, whereas an active sensor can build a picture of its
 surroundings? Could someone give me a couple of examples of different
 sensors please?
 Is there such a thing as a passive touch sensor, or sound sensor? or are
 all sound sensors passive since they just detect sound? how bout smell
 sensors?
 
As you said, passive sensors can only detect things which are giving off the 
type of energy it is built to detect. A few examples would be: the human eye 
detects reflected light, the human ear detects sound waves, the remote sensor 
on a TV or VCR detects the beam from the remote, and the guidance system on a 
Sidewinder missile detects the infrared waves coming off of hot objects like 
a jet exhaust.

Active sensors detect objects by beaming out their own energy and detecting 
what is reflected back at them. The most obvious example is radar, it beams 
out radio waves which bounce off solid objects in the path of the beam and 
are reflected back at the radar set. Sonar and laser rangefinders work in the 
same way, but they use sound and focused light instead of radio waves.  

A passive touch sensor  would be something like a pressure pad. The human ear 
or a sonar set used in listening mode are both passive sound sensors. Smell 
sensors are normally passive--they wait for the smell causing molecules to 
touch them--but it is possible to make active smell sensors. These normally 
use a very high-frequency laser beam and detect molecules in a gas by the 
frequencies of light which are emitted by molecules struck by the laser.

 It says all active sensors must have a range but that passive mainly
 depend on the range of the active sensors they are listening for. Does
 this means that they don't buy ranges or that they have ranges, but the
 thing they are sensing for must sense within the passive sensors range?

The ranges listed for passive sensors are there as guidelines for the 
Marshal. It really depends on what the sensor is detecting. A passive sound 
sensor, for example might be unable to hear a whisper 100 yards away, but it 
can hear the sonic boom of a supersonic jet from many miles away. A radar 
detector might detect a handheld police radar unit from a half mile or so 
away, but it could detect the traffic control  radar of a major airport from 
a long way off. There's not really any way to give hard and fast rules for 
this.The best guideline to use is if the detector is within the active 
sensor's range, it can probably detect it. When in doubt, roll the sensor's 
rating versus a TN set by the Marshal.
 
 Also it says the Sensor powers have max ranges enhanced senses 5 miles
 and spirit Sight 5 miles yet when you look at the chart for Range p89 it
 lists 1 mile and 10 miles but no 5 miles. Shouldn't there be a 5 mile
 range?

The sensor ranges listed for the various types is for passive sensors. The 
range table on pg. 89 is for active sensors. The 5-mile range was skipped on 
this table 
to condense it slightly and to keep the slot costs down at the high end of 
the table.


Sincerely,


John Hopler
Pinnacle