[HOE] Big monster load of junker questions

[Robert Holland <robert@macauley.com>]

After poring obsessively through The Junkman Cometh for the last few weeks, I've
compiled a list of questions about its contents. Some of these just require
clarification, some are possible errors, and many (OK, most) are pedantic
nitpicks. If possible, I'd like official answers for many of these. I've checked
the accumulated rulings and I'm pretty sure that none of these have been
answered before, but I may be wrong. I'll probably come up with some more
later...

The accumulated rulings say that browsers and oversized tech spirits provide
their drain once per round, meaning that a one-level oversized tech spirit cound
produce (12 rounds/minute x 60 minutes/hour) = 720 drain/hour, which is enough
to permanently power any hourly-drain device that I can think of. John Hopler
adds that a browser's drain "provides a lot of excess power which can be used
for other vehicle related systems". Does this mean other systems attached to the
vehicle, or other Car spirit systems? The only non-vehicular car power I can
find is Agility, so by the latter interpretation a spirit-powered car could run
the servo hookups for a Brains autopilot and powered turrets, but not the
autopilot or guns themselves. Is this correct?

Does a powerpack-equipped device automatically have an input powerjack for
recharging, or does one have to be installed at the standard 2-slot cost? I'd be
inclined to say the latter except that there are several sample devices with
powerpacks but no powerjacks. (Suggestion: 'Packs without 'jacks have a tiny
recharge jack or "minijack" that can pass 1 drain per minute or so and requires
spirit wire, a much thinner version of spirit cable that requires as its
components any sort of thin wire you can scrounge up [speaker wire, a mouse
cord, bicycle shifter cable, whatever] and an insignificantly small sliver of
ghost rock--so, in most cases, it can be made automatically and ignored. If you
just can't seem to find any wire at all, or want to produce the stuff in bulk
for some reason, it takes 1 structural component and 1 ounce of ghost rock per
10 yards of spirit wire.)

To what extent are sensors capable of displaying their output without the use of
the Commo power? The motion detector in The Junkman Cometh doesn't appear to
require Commo for its "small screen", but a lot of the sample devices really
don't fit the construction rules, so I don't know. If this sort of application
does, in fact, require Commo, how about direct sensors, like binoculars or
spirit sight goggles? If not, then if my junker builds, say, a set of
telescopic/low-light goggles, and installs a datajack so input from another
device can be shown on the goggles as a heads-up display, can the HUD use the
existing display capability of the goggles, or does it require a display to be
built in?

Do armor-piercing warheads require additional components? The book lists +10%
chemical and structural components for AP slugs, but nothing for warheads.

Does the Spirit Weapon power use any slots or components when used to directly
infuse armor or melee weapons, or when included in energy melee weapons?
Speaking of components for Spirit Weapon, why does it require mechanical
components? Chemical might be more appropriate, if anything.

To get full-coverage ECM, do you have to pay for a 360-degree scan area as well,
or is that automatically included?

A jet pack large enough to carry and be carried by a normal human is frame size
5 (whereas said human is size 6). Would a Scrawny character therefore be able to
get by with a frame size 4 jet pack, with similarly larger packs required for
Brawny or Big 'Un wasters?

Is it safe to assume that energy weapons get no recoil penalties for autofire,
double-tapping, etc.?

The rules for making stream weapons with Flash Gordon are unclear. The book says
"Modify the ammo size in the same way as for projector weapons", which would
mean doubling the base size and then adding a burst radius. However, it also
says "In combat, the shooter rolls to hit against all targets within the
weapon's range and arc". Projector ammo is built with a burst radius in yards,
not an arc of fire in degrees. How is this supposed to work?

Do the modified warhead creation rules in Iron Oasis also apply to energy bolt
weapons and projector ammo, both of which require a burst radius?

If a device loses several durability steps in one attack, does it have to check
stability only once at its final penalty, or once for each durability step
passed? The first way seems like the obvious choice, but it also means that one
overwhelming attack is less likely to destabilize a device than several minor
hits, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

After a successful application of the Miniaturize tool trick, do you recalculate
the component costs based on the new slot size, or do they stay the same?

The Flow tool trick is mentioned in Iron Oasis as reducing a device's drain in
the same way that Miniaturize reduces slot size, but it's not described in that
book or The Junkman Cometh. Was it printed in some other supplement?

Have new powers, tool tricks, etc. been published in any books besides Iron
Oasis?

Can you spend chips to reroll stability checks?

What happens if a spirit battery is destroyed? Does it just fall apart, or does
it explode, and if so, for how much? (My Marshal has threatened called shots at
the spare batteries on my junker's belt.)

What happens when devices with no moving or electronic parts--i.e., armor and
unpowered melee weapons--destabilize and temporarily stop working? What does it
mean when a sword malfunctions? Does it get all limp and floppy like a wet
noodle for a few minutes? Also, do the Poltergeist and Beast From Beyond results
on the instability table leave the device intact afterwards, or does it fall
apart or vanish?

There's a couple of doubled entries on the backlash and instability tables. Busy
Signal and Doh! are both listed as twos on the backlash table, and Whoa, Nelly!
and Beast From Beyond are both 19s on the instability table.

Do the five slots required for jetpack controls count as part of the VTOL or as
extras for determining component cost? I'd be inclined to say the former, but
selector switches seem to be classed as extras in the sample devices.

--Robert Holland