Re: [HOE] Lost Colony AB SPOILERS (Shane??)

[Richard A Ranallo <toadpooka@juno.com>]

On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 19:43:17 -0400 "Jeff Shoffner" <shoffner@esper.com>
writes:
> The other thing that bugged me a bit is the cost for AB: Mute.  Man, 
> three points?  I would've made it five.  Yeah, I know all the other ABs

> are three points, but just from the writeup in front section, it sounds
like 
> Mutes are very rare to find--kind of like HI is bottlenecking the
supply.  
> That, and there are some niggling points about the Mute powers.

That depends on what the point costs are supposed to reflect.  According
to most of the Deadlands books, the point cost of an edge has more to do
with its usefulness than its rarity (the only exception being Omega Man).

On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 19:43:17 -0400 "Jeff Shoffner" <shoffner@esper.com>
writes:
> First off, even if you royally screw up the manufacturing of an 
> item, you should still have the materials around--I mean, all these
little 
> nano-bots are doing is building it at a molecular level.  Kind of hard
to 
> destroy matter.

There is a good reason why you don't get to keep the components when you
bungle a muting job.  Unfortunately, it's explained in the Marshal's
section, so I'm not sure if you should read it (since you mentioned that
bit about the Black Gun).  Just in case, check after the spoiler space
for my opinion on the matter.

On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 19:43:17 -0400 "Jeff Shoffner" <shoffner@esper.com>
writes:
> Second, why would anyone have any other package other than the 
> Expert Package?  I could see that you'd possibly want to build stuff at
the 
> get go, but man, if you're able to make your own blueprints of things,
why 
> bother buying the other packages?  Just buy a whole bunch of dataslugs,

> tear down a working model, rebuild it (see above niggling part about
not losing 
> the material components), & pretty soon, you'll have a good portion of 
> all the other packages.

Well, that only makes the Expert Package a great idea if you do go with
your idea of keeping components around.  According to the written rules,
you'd need to destroy a functioning starship in order to learn how to
build a starship.  Then you'd need enough components to build another
one.  Seems a bit of a waste of Strain, time, and materials (unless
you've got a job manufacturing starships).  Remember that equipment
that's in perfect working order is rare on Banshee, so you shouldn't just
go around destroying it.
That, and guess what you have to do to make a Medical Package?

Now, for my full take on the Mute thing...SPOILER SPACE:




...




When the nanobots go to work on components, they're not only stitching
molecules together, they're cutting up spirits and putting them together
in different combinations.  Components (mechanical, structural,
electronic and chemical) are like the cells of a tech spirit.  They're
the smallest unit that can be vroken down and still be considered a part
of the spirit.  If you bust up a component, you still have the matter,
but the spirit can't be reclaimed.  Normally, the nanobots cut a device
into components, then stitches them back together.  When you go bust, you
actually cut up the components themselves, thus eliminating any trace of
the spirit.  Likewise when you break something down to make a new
blueprint.  The bots have to examine it at the finest detail possible,
and that requires opening the components up and dissecitng them. 
Therefore, what you're left with is a lot of very fine dust and a dead
tech spirit.

From Whom It May Concern,
Rich Ranallo

"Benjamin is no one's friend.  If Benjamin were a flavor of ice cream,
he'd be pralines and dick."
-Garth Algar