From: allens@yang.earlham.edu (Allen Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS: UlTRA Tech ?= Ultra Death??
Date: 15 Apr 92 01:01:23 GMT
Article-I.D.: yang.1992Apr14.200123.16976
Organization: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

In article <1992Apr8.225722.5775@njitgw.njit.edu>, rhr9081@hertz.njit.edu (Ray Rich) writes:
> In article <rsuelINNcgl@agate.berkeley.edu> labc-4ac@web-2e.berkeley.edu writes:
>>I was playing inan extensive GURPS Supers/Ulta Tech game and we came accross
>>an interesting problem with Ultra Tech, and to a lesser extent Supers.  With
>>the amazingly HUGE numbers of dice involved in damage (20D6 dino-lasers) and
>>the huge DR's of the super high tech armor, for us a hit was either bounced
>>by armor, or fried the character.  The shot either didn't penetrate the armor
>>or it penetrated with 10+ hitd and toasted the PC.  What ever happened to
>>injury's??  Have other people had this problem?
>>
>> -=- Matthew L. Seidl
>>
>>ps. This came up first in a test combat, where the characters decked out
>>in tech 8-9 weapons were sneeking arround a wood/stone building and the
>>bad guy inside (wearing power armor) just walked through the wall, hosed
>>the group with a gatling laser and took off at 40+ miles an hour.
>>.
> 
> 
> 	One option is to make the armor ablative, that is damage which does
> not penetrate reduces the effectiveness of the armor.  This produces a
> "chipping away" effect that can get quite frightening to PCs who ONCE had
> high DR armor.
> 	As for the high amounts of damage, the weapons you are using are 
> designed for Megadeath.
> 	I face a worse dilemma in GURPS Supers where the armor is plentiful,
> but general weapons are limited to standard 1990 tech stuff.  With the 
> exception of heavy weapons, the party can pretty much jump in front of 
> bullets without fear.  Mr. Blankenship gave me some excellent advice already,
> but I'm curious to hear what other netters think about it.
> 	When characters have immense DR, how do you prevent an arms race with
> lasers and other Megadeath weapons as cited above?
> 
	If one wants sides balanced, one needs to make them that way. In 
SUPERS, if you don't want characters capable of standing up to bullets, 
restrict DR/whatever. If you want characters who aren't really defeatable, 
or even physically injurable, by normals, then a high DR is fine.
	In one campaign I'm in, in which I and the rest of the players are 
supervillains, the police started bringing in backup (powered armor types) 
because the gang warfare, etc. was getting to the point that they got 
blown up anytime they tried to do anything.
I've got a character with DR 21, Instant Regeneration, etc. 
The GM hadn't realized that the race (undead) was as powerful as it is 
(526 points or so, base), and had said that about half of the people 
showing up were of this race. My reaction was: "No wonder they're calling 
in backup!"
	The essential point is that opposition needs to be balanced. If 
you've got someone running around with high-damage weapons, they are 
going to tear apart normals right and left, and only likewise equipped or 
powered opponents are going to be able to stand against them.
	I'm not quite sure what to do about the problems with the 
character being either uninjured or dead. One option is to multiply damage 
by something before going through armor, then divide after the armor by a 
greater amount. This increases the effectiveness of HP relative to DR 
(logical, since HT in Supers (and certainly Ultra-Tech) is more expensive).
	Sorry if this posting has been a bit incoherent; I think I'm 
coming down with something.
	-Allen