Re: [HOE] Cost of spirit batteries?

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@poboxes.com>]

Got no books right here, so I may be off on some details, but:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Holland" <robert@macauley.com>
Subject: Re: [HOE] Cost of spirit batteries?


> Power allotments for cyborgs cheese me off. Firstly, there's an awful lot
of
> systems that are damn near useless without a spirit capacitor and useful
maybe
> twice with one. The Sentinel missile is a good example. It has a range of
5
> miles and is designed to use a cyber radar system to get a lock, so
running it
> in tandem with a 5-mile-range cyber radar seems rather reasonable, you'd
think.
> Just running the launcher takes, for no apparent reason, 4 drain per
round.
> Running a radar at 5-mile radius takes 6 drain. Don't forget you'll need
remote
> targeting to fire it without a -4 penalty--that's another 2 drain to run
the
> CPU.
> So firing a single missile within its normal operational parameters
requires a
> minimum of 12 drain--that's probably overload right there, and certainly
maxes
> out your power draw unless you were lucky enough to draw a greater
manitou. Of
> course, you'll probably want to be able to stand up while you're launching
this
> missile, which means 2 drain to your Samson (I assume you're not mounting
a
> heavy missile launcher on an infiltrator) and at least 3 to your armor (if
> you're wearing a suit with heavy hardpoints, necessary to carry the
thing). So
> without a spirit capacitor, you're way the hell overloaded, and with one
you can
> keep it up for maybe two rounds.

This is NOT a close combat weapon.  The can most likely finds a
semi-sheltered spot, locks up and turns off his Samson and armor -- making
himself a non-mobile missle platform -- and shoots at targets MILES away.
Meaning the can doesn't need to move much.  Or you take the option given in
the Sentinal description, and work in groups, with one can carrying the
missle, and another acting as targeter.  The second 'borg pays the cost for
radar and computer.

You pay a steep price for literally being a tank in this case.

>
> As another example, take the Light Can archetype from the Cyborgs book.
He's got
> that nifty IW-100C plasma rifle--spiffy keen, full-auto plasma blast
action. But
> it takes 2 drain/shot or 5/three-round burst to fire it. If he's got his
basic
> combat systems up--cyber eye, Samson, targeting computer, and armor--it
uses 6
> of his 10 drain, which means he can fire that automatic plasma caster
twice per
> round, max, without risking overload. So why did Cy-SOG even equip him
with a
> weapon like this? At that rate of fire, a 20mm grenade launcher with, say,
30
> frags costs about the same, has the same ROF and BR, and does way more
damage.

The plasma hand cannon is unlimited in ammo, which is wonderful on extended
missions.  It is most likely meant to be used in the same situations as a
grenade launcher, meaning it is NOT the 'borg's primary ranged weapon.  You
most likely only do shoot it once or twice a round.

> The standard argument is that this is necessary to keep cyborg PCs in
line. But
> it doesn't make *sense*. These aren't slapdash junker contraptions,
they're
> major military productions that drew hundreds of millions of dollars worth
of
> development funding to build finely tuned engines of death. What kind of
> military would produce a multi-million-dollar weapon that can't even
operate
> within basic operational parameters without risking meltdown?

I think you've got the definition of the operational parameters wrong.
These aren't machine guns or assault rifles in your examples.  They aren't
meant to be used to spray an area with bullets/plasma bolts/rockets.  The
light can also comes equiped with a SA rifle -- that's the weapon that gets
used the most.

> Why do all cyborg
> systems have to run on dangerously limited and unstable manitou power?
Normal
> human prosthetics can run on standard battery power; why can't at least
some
> cyborg systems be powered the same way? It would limit their time in the
field
> to a few weeks without resupply, but that's a small price to pay for
actually
> being able to use all your equipment; and in any case, it should be
possible to
> make a conventional battery charger powered by spirit energy.
>
Manitou power isn't unstable -- it's always on, always there, unless
overloaded and abused.  Limited time in the field is a BAD thing.  Cyborg
units were built to need little resupply.  The manitou feeds the can,
repairs the can (via SRU), and powers the can.  Forever, theoretically.
Adding batteries just so you can misuse the weapons is what puts limits on
the 'borgs, just waiting for the batteries to be dead.

> Besides which, given what's said in the book about cyborg/junker
relations, I
> can't imagine any can who *hasn't* picked up a high-capacity spirit
battery or
> two after hanging around the Wasted West for 13 years. A 10-point spirit
> capacitor costs $15,000 to buy--the same size spirit battery costs a
junker
> *twelve dollars* worth of components (an ounce of ghost rock for $10, a
> structural component for $2; he doesn't need to charge it, your 'borg can
do
> that himself), and even if the greedy bastard charges you a hundred times
what
> it cost him it's less than a tenth the price of a capacitor--and given how
much
> junkers love cyborgs, he's not likely to charge you much above cost. How
could
> any energy-hungry can have walked around this wasteland for all those
years
> without it once occurring to him to charge up a junker's batteries for him
or
> something in exchange for a couple batteries of his own? The book seems to
> imagine this as a rare and special case, and I don't understand why.

Because the can doesn't want any junker-built components to fail a
reliability check and dissappear, just when the 'borg might need it the
most.  Junker built components don't last forever, aren't intended to last
forever, and are just dangerous to rely on.  Barring combat damage, a 'borg
will run and run and run, without fail.

>
> --Robert Holland

Jeff "That's my two transistors worth" Y.