FIX

I tend to agree that external cover (not worn by character) is added to the character's worn armor.  However I don't like the RTG armor layering table.  Its slightly stupid.  Instead I like taking the armor raitings, summing the squares and then taking the square root.  

Like This:

SQRT(Layer1^2 + Layer2^2 + Layer3^2 ... LayerN^2 ) = total armor value.

I think that ECT is not a munchkin tech (remember the weapon needs to gas seal because I suspect it will produce spectacular burns) mostly because it would make an excelent long range rifle, anti-armor weapon or anti-aircraft gun because the weapon fires a projectile at very high velocities.  So it will not do too much more damage against a person but will make a nice hole in their armor before penatrating them.  

Combined with a large heavy fletechet projectile makes an intresting projectile.  For instance, tanks, armored vehicles, ACPA and aircraft all are filled with sensitive stuff like engines, fuel, amunition, electronics and opperators.  

For instance a 14 gram projectile @ 1500 m/s will penatrate anyone wearing metalgear both ways (and probably 'borgs also).  

Somthing a little heavier will smash light armor and somthing much heavier will make a nice neat hole in an MBT.  Of cource the same properties in a rapid firing gun will kill any sort of thing that flies too close.  

But its definately not a character scale weapon.

Looks like somthing to build a campaign around?.

http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2003-06-18/feature.html/1/index.html

I don't see how cancling bookings at hotels at last minute would be a bad thing (in and of it self) becaue someone rich enought / important enought to take such security percausitions would also be able to set up a proper front corp that can provide plausable deniability.  Or otherwise buy off the relivant people.

I am a little more optomistic, Knighthawk.  People can be taught to think and question and discource.  The problem is that democratic societies have trouble keeping caramistic tolitarains at bay over long periods of time.  The problem is that at certan points in time a republic is weakened by internal sturgles and at these times a demagauge can rise to power and wreck havoc.  Or altervatively a powerfull clique can install one of their own to further their adjenda and the espense of everyone else.

Hanns --

You are absolutely right, it realy doesn't matter which tolitarian dictatorship does the killing genocide and mass murder is the same regardless of weather the perpertrator does it in the name of ideology, race or religion.  

I also agree that the american education system is a national tragety (especialy when I graduated from high school learning more about history by reading from the small section of my school's libary  than from all my history classes).  

The sheep don't have an attention span.  Just to echo your comments about the US, Britian and other western powers selling Iraq all sorts of WMD related toys, in the 1930s there was a law in NY State where a criminal convicted three times would be sent to jail for life (sound frimiliar?).  This dangerous social experement was ended because it turned out that when confronted a forth time by police, a disturbing number of criminals became very violent.  

Here is the entry from "Twists, Slugs, and Roscoes:

http://www.miskatonic.org/slang.html

Here is a message to the RARA-AVIS mailing list on the topic:

http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/archives/199712/0011.html

It seems that no one reads history.

I suspect that caseless amunition will be produced again.  Probably not for infantry arms.  I suspect that it will be used in competative shooting and may develop into a niche like the .22lr family of cartreges (cheap low-powered cartreges).  

For instance, instead of caseless uber weapons, how about this (costs are per box of 100 cartreges):

5.6mm caseless: 1D6+1 4euro.  

5.6mm Caseless Magnum: 1D6+3 (2D6+2 from a rifle) 6euro.

5.6mm Caseless Long Mag: 2D6+1 (Pistol) 2D6+4 (rifle) 9euro.  

What do you think?

I think that compared to V2.0 of D&D, D20 is very good because it feels like it was designed right the first time.  I think that a D20 modern could be fixed via changing over to a Cyberpunk-style hitbox system and getting rid of levels (instead xp are used to buy skills and feats [which are realy funny skills).  I wouldn't want to do such a fix, but hope that someone does.

Hitler's Anti-semitism had nothing to do with economic curconstances.  It mostly was a outgrowth of his radical anti-modernism where the primary porblems were communism, fillowed by socialism (economic systems) and only then democracy (political system).  He hated Jews not for being bussnessmen (like the Rothchilds) but the politicians and political theorists (Marx, Liebknecht [both the elder and the younger], Luxenburg and Rathenau).  All of whom generaly identified favored Jewish asimilation (that is no longer self-identifying as Nationaly Jewish) and saw themselves as German, English or the nationality of whereever they lived.  They also were proponents of modernity, radical political change (communism, social democracy and anarchism).  This dissatification of German Jews with the political status quo can be traced to the period begining in 1743 (when Moses Mendelson entered Berlin) and the begining of a modern concionousness perminating the Jewish Communities of what would become Germany.  

Essentaly the social structure at that time was not intrinsicaly anti-semitic (as was Czarist Russia) but Jews were 2nd class citizens untill German Unification and even then major avenues of social advancement were prohibited (namely Jews could not be enobled or become commisioned officers unless they converted.  This was perticulary important because Prussia was a 'army that had a state.').

Nazism at its core was anti-semetic insofar as they identified Jews as modernists.  

Here is an article on Heidegger and it discusses the anti-modernist origins of Naizsm.  Its from a Socialist website so they do (like everyone else) have a adjenda.  

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/heid-a03.shtml

Here is a summary of scolary analisys of The Thrid Reich.  It essentialy says that their is a class (namely supression of leftist political movements) basis for Facist totalitarianism.  

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/id78.htm

Saying that Hitler became a monster because he was a failed artist is an intresting idea at best.

I hate missionaries (occupation, I assme that they are decent people and don't eat babies).  They bring nothing but troble.  They cause wars and religious conflict.  They also tend to be sellingr the most the backwards anti-modern religion that says that if you follow all 927 commandments from the One True God you go to heaven*.  

*Other terms and restictions apply.  

Also, most religious extreemists hate women, independent thought and just want an instruction manual for life.  One of my friends from college said believing anything absolutely gets you killed is about where I stand on it.  

Don't get me wrong, conteplation of the devine can help one live a more just forfilling life, but it must be balenced by a healthy dose of ethical headonism.

Cool idea, but a bit difficult.  Why not just point a 20mm cannon at the fusalage and say land, here.  And then unolad the valuable cargo or kill the target...

But this sort of boarding via grapling hook could work for cargo zepilins.

Pass overhead in small aircraft and drop grapling hooks with upper end attached to a H2 ballon.  The hooks boottom is a spungy substance inpernated with the magic epoxy.  Then use cyberwings (a sort of harness/metal gear armor with flapping wings to catch up to the ropes and then hall onself in).  All thats left to do is use some more magic sticky stuff to get close  to a door, blow it and then do the piriacy.  Valuables can be attached to paracute backbacks and tossed overboard for pickup by other gang members below.  Some sort of beacon would be needed to help them find them.  

I think that zepilin hijacking would be far more sucessfull than attempting to catch a 7E7 by the tail @ 30K feet.

Glad to hear your fine Darthmurph.  

If you want one of the "decks of Evil" they are availiable at Hecht's  for Father's Day.

Sorry to jump in so late to the discussion... I realize that this  is a rather hot issue in the US.  Generaly, I assume that women will make the right choices for themselves and the only govermental regulations should be around assureing access and proper medical care.  

In several curmcomstances I would argue that a woman has a moral obligation to terminate a pregancy.  The first is where the woman is likely to die or be disabled if she attempts to cary the pregnancy to term.  At this point the fetus is no diffrent from a cancer diagnosis and needs to be aborted.  If the fetus is incompadable with life outside of the uterous and abortion is generaly the safest way to remove the malformed fetus the woman has a duty to herself to terminate the pregnancy.  These cases are moral imparatives and opperate on the assumption that a fetus is potentialy alive (asuming its not still born, etc) and survives the birth process.  

In all other cases it would be her choice, its too complex and issue to write a law.  I am just dealing with the moral/ethical issue.

In the end the goal is: Every child, a wanted child.

Damien looks on during the engine "repair."  He asks, slightly paranoid, "where they watching us?"

Damien says, "Might as well stop for some emergency truck repars. If we can avoid the bird so much the better."

Dog Soldier --  

I don't know where you got the bit about abstructing the redisctricting.  It was because the Dem Majority in 2000 turned the districting process over to the courts because the legature felt that it was better to have a court do it and comply with all constutional and state requirements than to do it themselves and get chalenged.  The result 17 dem seats and 15 repub.  Not bad.  Then Tom Delay "The Exterminator" pressures the now repub legasture (it fliped in the 2002 elections) to redraw districts so his party would pick up 6-7 seats.  Remember a court did it already and did a relitively equatable job.  This perticular map devided the relitively liberal Austin into 7 majority conservative and rural districts.  

The problem is the system of drawing districts.  It leads to abuses.  Why not use a party list system?  (Each party uses the primary to draw up a list of canadates with the more votes a canadate gets the closer to the top of the list they get, when the general election is held people vote for parties and each party and from the fraction of the vote each party recieves it gets that fraction of its list (starting at the top) with a requirement that a party recieves at least 5% of the national vote to have its canadates seated).

I treat the Inquisitors as a religous group with lots of secular supporters.  People grumble about cyber.  Because its expensive and they can't have it because they can only afford to eat kibble and work at robo-burger cleaning the machines or as a maid or gardern or some other low-level no future service job.  They resent  people with cyber because they can't afford it and its classist.  

As for the religous groups most just protest on the street and anoy people with ovibious cyber.  They recieve losts of air-time in the media and have someone like Bill Bennet (remember the 'Morality Czar' with the gambling problem).  There are other groups that take a more direct approach to cyberwear and beat up and kill cyberwear implantees.

The Inquisition just happens to be the nastiest group that kills implantees for religious issues.

OCC:  I didn't see the thread moving and as a result was a bit neglegent in checking for progress....

Damien spends much of the ride trying unsucessfully to find a semi-comfortable place to sit.  

<snip and backpost>

Damien looks a little nervous as the helocopeter swoops by overhead.  He asks, "Does that mean that the convoy is important or does it just mean that they are paranoid or used to being ambushed by the locals?"

My biggest problem with  removing Sadam Insane wasn't that he was a good little anti-imperalist who hates the US.  Its because Iraq is a sovern nation and to kick it over because they may or may not have WMDs and like torture and has a poliece state only marginaly less restrictive than N. Korea is just wrong.  Because its a imminent threat to its neibors/it attacked US first is another story.  Its because it sets a bad precident.  What if Russia wants to return to the glory days of Czarist imperalism?  I mean they could just say that Pakistan, or Mongolia is "sheltering terrorists" or "has WMD" weapons.  

If we wanted to justly get rid of Sadam why not partialy lift sanctions (to break down the black market aparat that keeps Sadam in power) and be patient?  There will be revolution and plently of Bathists will get shot or even better Gilotined.  The French were absolutely right about dealing with elements of the anti-democratic Anchent Regieme (SP?) .

Since US troops are now in Bagdad, the best thing to do is set up a federal republic and let the Iraqi people figure out their future.  Stabilize the country and let them run their affaris.  Even if the party we don't like wins.  

It all comes down to national sovernety.  We can't change a regieme untill after they attack us (Sept 11 doesn't count, most of the Hijackers were Saudis).  But then after wining we can impose our will on them.  Its the way things have been since 1648 and the peace of Westfailia.  There is no reasion to change it.  

EU nations generaly don't need to high levels of defence spending.  I mean Germany and France are not pounding tables over which flag aught to fly over Strausburg.  Austria doesn't want Treste back.  I can only think of one part of euorpe where this is not the norm: the Balkans and possibly a future Greek-Turk spat over Crete some other islet.  Saving money by not dumping it down the rathole labled "military spending" means it can be spend on usefull things like infracutre and education (future improvements to National GDP/wealth), higher quality of life or commerical endovers (like industural and bussness projects).  Either way the country is in a far stronger position.  

As for the Entire hard currency bussness, we are so far in the hole trade debit wise I realy think that the dollar will plunge in value and inflation will go through the roof.  It will be bad because the US doen't manufacute very much and imports just about everything.  Read the article in The Nation.  It appeared during the fall.  

As for the nonsense over gun controll it has nothing to do with guns.   Its a way for lazy politicians to look like they are doing somthing about crime.  As opposed to actualy doing somthing about poverty, racism, class, and a public education system in need of repair.  Thats actualy hard work!

Hate to just jump in here... but...

In most wars the tech level is about equal and doesn't effect much (asside from some colional adventures and the Prussian Defeat of the Danes in 1866 which can be partialy attributed to the Dryse Neadle rifle.  In most other conflicts the outcome is largely determined by the political leadership's ability to prepair for war and  the general quality of the officer corps.  The final factor is the general population's tolleration for casualitties.  

Concidering that the US has above average (by far) military equipment quality and good general troop quality but we suffer from an only slightly better than average officer corps it compairs favorably to N. Korea and Iraq (poor quality troops, disturbingly bad officers [picked for loyality to regeme as opposed to being a good officer].  Communist Russia had severe economic problems that prevented the development of a first class military and again suffered from poor troop quality and a at best, average [i am being generous] officer corps.  

From what I know the best military (historicaly) was either Sparta or Imperal Germany.  England, the US, Israel, and a few other countries fall into the second teir, Finland may fit there also (due to troop motivation [as in defending their nation against the potential russian threat]).  

Of cource for more on this take a look at clausewitz.com they have quite a bit written on and by Carl von Clausewitz who dealt in far more detail with the sort of questions that are being raised here.

I thought that the Milatruse was already out of date when it was put into production.  I mean Maxim guns were around then, right?  

But back to topic.  I think that the problmes with ETE are as follows:  1.  High pressures/funny gas functionality.  2.  Barrel Wear, 3.  Bullet Construction.  

The first can be fixed by avoiding useing compressed nitrogen gas combined with some sort of heating unit (like thermite) or electricaly producing steam in the cartrege case.  The first is complicated and the second requires a massve jolt which even in 2020 is hard to do.  Finaly the action of the weapon would have to be sutiable to very hot gases at extreme pressures.  Somthing like a revolver that seals the cylinder via moving the cartrege case and/or locking the cylinder foward.  In a rifle, the traditonal bolt-action will reign supreme.  

The second can be solved by going to a smothbore and useing fletchets.  This producs the problems associated with putting a hypervelocity nedle through someone's body.  It will do relitively little damage because it won't crush/punch a very large hole.  Therefore it will be a relitvely large calibere weapon.  

This raises bullet construction issues.  No one has produced a sucessfull small arms saboted proejctile that I know of.  Also at high impact speeds somthing like Tugsten Carbide or DU needs to be used to keep the projectile from discenteragating on impact.

[scacasm]Go USA![/scarcasm]  We just knocked over a thrid rate military power with minimal casualities (for us).  

Now how are we to put Iraq back togeather?

My reading habits include:

Salon.Com

The Nation (dead tree edition)

New York Times (online)

As for books I just finished a bunch by Alan First, which has the perfect cyberpunk atmosphere, too bad its set in the 1930s-1940s.  

Less often:

Washington Post, its my hometown newspaper but when I can read the Times, why not read the paper of record?

The Economist.  Best english foreign coverage, period.  

I also like the links posted on Democraticunderground.com ( I post there, also).

What do you expect, I am a Social Democrat with classical liberal leanings and a libertarian aproach to morals (its ok unless someone gets hurt/everyone involved consents).

In the next week or two will determine the cource of the war.  If the US can encircle Bagdad and keep the Pressure on Barasa the formal phase of the war will end.  However if Sadam can keep supplies moving in (unlikely) it will be a long nasty urban conflict.  

At that point, what ever goverment is installed will need to be strong enough to run the country, restore order and boost the per-capita income of the Iraqi people (easy to do if the goverment is honenst, but how likely is that, Chalbi (SP?) was conviceted in astania of bank fraud in Jordan.  Most of the other exiles are not much better.  

The other scenaro is that a combination of Afgan Arabs and local tribes provide a constant iritation of RPG and Machinegun attacks that bog local proxy forces down and draw American forces into a gurella war.  Mesopotamia is a very hard place to administer mostly because there are lots of tribes whose loyality can be at best rented.  The British were unable to administer the area without resorting to bombing viliages.  

I see this as a very easy war to win, the problem is what comes next.