wilphe

35.714285714285715% nerd blood flows through your veins.

The Atlantic Conveyer, it was only used as ferry though - they didn't fly from it in combat.

They did some work on SCADS, which was an attempt to containerize everything you needs for an aircraft carrier to make one quickly out of a container ship.

http://www.vectorsite.net/avav83.html#m5

Further along the same line was Skyhook:

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraf....nfo.htm

In 1982, a fascinating new shipborne launching method was announced, the Skyhook. Developed by BAe as a private venture, it would enable even small frigates and destroyers to carry a complement of Harriers without a traditional flight deck. Cranes on each side of the ship lift two aircraft into the air, then swing them outboard. At this point the engine is started; as soon as it is supporting the aircraft, the special 'grabs' release it. At the end of its mission, the Sea Harrier hovers alongside the ship. The Skyhook, which has an inbuilt sensor, is automatically positioned so that the 'grab' can clasp the aircraft. Then the crane swings it inboard and on to the deck or straight into the hold. As with the ski ramp, it takes a long time for navies to understand and accept new ideas.

For which you don't even need a flight deck.

However, I would question why you need aircraft carriers if all you are doing is coastal defence. You have a huge unsinkable aircraft carrier which is what you are defending. You'll need carriers if you want to project power outside the range of land based air power, but otherwise they are unecessary.

High TECH is for guys (and gals) who as kids where good with lego, mechano and such like. The kids who would take a kitchen appliance apart to see how it worked, and be able to put it back together again.

   They might not understand the theory (which is INT based) but they have a deep and innate feel for what makes stuff work.

Oz stamps his feet a few times in the cold air, so the line ain't movin fast, but it ain't cause the joint is full.

    In the meantime let's watch Chantry get hit on by some brat kid.

Arguably if you are relying on ROLE and not ROLL playing, then you don't need "bonus" background skills because your players will take them anyway.

   If all they take is combat skills, then that's probably because that is all they see as useful in game terms. This gives you a couple of options.

1) Make non-combat skills useful, nay essential to the game. However, depending on the players and campiagn you could end up in a situation like this:

     "Okay I have cooking at 10, INT 10 a food processor built into my cyberarm and an egg whisk for a hand. There is no way on earth my souffle wil fail to rise."

2) There is the Joe Q rant "Why do players think that because they don't have the skill, they won't try to do it?". If you have no ranks in a skill, you are strictly average and have the same chance of success as any other individual without special training.

If you are attempting to repair a jet engine - this is very slim indeed. However, everybody knows how to wear clothes, people with Wardrobe and Style are just better at it. A base level of competence is subsumed in the underlying stat.

Of course in 2020, next to no one has the time or money to cook from fresh any more so anyone attempting to do it by default would have difficulties. The only people who have the time and opportunity to cook fresh regularly are probably agri-packs and other nomads. Existing on pre-pack and take out is fairly in genre anyway.

3) Let them do whatever they like, but make them deal with the consequences. If they are all EMP 3 cybered monstrosities with no social skills, style or street savyy, then treat them as such. No one will want to spend time with them and talk to them, and when they do the characters won't be able to figure out whether they are being dealt with honestly or not.

Corp Book 3 - but there's no mention of different costs by grade, other than that they are volatile as hell according to harvests, terrorism and what have.

Which I think is a bit off, Petrochem's supply chain should be better organized than that.

OOC:

Blue glass in core is a hullucinogenic with a 1d6+1 minute duration that can cause people to just stare at the pretty colours in their mind. It's what LSD would have been like if the government had successfully weaponized it.

The "Ultra Blue Glass" varient is a hypnotic that makes people suggestable but induces bizarre and frigtening halluncinations, time distoration and occassional black outs. Long term users can suffer permenent memory loss.

IC:

  While not overly happy to get his work involved in his "work", Oz knows his fellows well enough that they won't ask too many questions (if any). Claude Street is so much not his scene it's untrue, a place to go for biz, but not a place to relax or have fun. As to what what Chantry must think of this...

     He looks over the girl, not his type so not worth the effort. He marks her down as possibly likely to get violent if she doesn't get in and begins to size her up should it become necessary to show her the error of her ways.

OOC:

Awareness:

Packing?

On anything?

IC:

   Oz is, of course, expecting Porter to get them in. If he can't get them to the front of the queue then it doesn't bode well for the rest of the night.

Ivan:

     Sandy looks at you, "Ok cool. I'll speak to your boss lady." As you leave and turn around to head back up to Minsky's the doubt might hit you that while you said: "you talk to woman", she heard, "go have a snoop around over there under pretence of looking for woman". Still, that's her problem.

   The walk back to Minsky's doesn't take long, as you round the corner and you see a young, kid take a good look at you and duck back into the shop. As you approach the old woman comes out, apparently not in a good mood (odd that) and carrying a shotgun which she points in your general direction with the air of someone who knows exactly what they are doing with it.

   She shouts loudly enough to the whole street to hear,

   "You stay right there a##hole. You come one step nearer my store so help me god I'll blow you into next week"

     She's about 20m, not anything like a match for you in a hand to hand fight but she can pull the trigger a lot in the time it would take you to get there.

Ah Fu/ Renata:

     Someone fairly nearby is shouting really loudly, and sounding very upset.

Ah Fu:

    Renata and Troible can be found with the wounded, fairly frightened looking Arzin woman. Tradge and a few of the Flames are guarding her. The blood has just about gone, and a bleach solution is being washed over the concrete, the harsh acrid smell is not that unpleasent. If there is one thing this part of town needs it's more cleaning products.

    <YOU ARE A SHRUB>

    So much of a shrub that the media chick doesn't pay you much attention as she and her minion walk up to the back door, what does get her attention is the several weapons that end up being leveled at them by the nomads and some of the Flames.

Renata:

OOC: I have no idea if Trouble has turned NPC, I've been waiting for Rockwolf to reply to you but it hasn't happened.

    Tradge breaks in, "I hate to mention this, but just s'ppose we arrange for Ivan to challenge DeathWalker, and he says yes. What happens if Ivan loses?"

Ah Fu / Renata:

    There's a commotion outside, and raised voices inside, Smith can be heard shouting, "Stop, state your business, turn around slowly, keep your hands where I can see them."

    There's a self-confident woman's voice replying, "I'm Sandy Bergstrom, I'm a freelance media. Ivan said I should talk to the bosslady."

Trouble: ? <ping>

Viper: ? <ping>

Kea looks at Danielle, "Shall we get on with this then?", he unbuckles himself and heads out through the air lock to begin shifting the ice in. He starts with what has already been broken ip, even if its a little bit further away. Once that is exhausted, it's back down to plain brute force.

Oz looks at and gives a fairly warm smile to the security guard;

   <Yeah, I'm cool, perfectly legitimate. No reason to give me a second thought. Nothing to see here, carry on>

   before slipping into the driver's seat and starting up. He checks the fuel guage for a full tank and as the engine warms up he looks over the instructions for the camera. After familiarizing himself thoroughly with them he slips it into his bag and heads out front to pick the other two up.

Shhhhhhhhhh!

I wouldn't use AV's on patrol, they don't have the loiter time.

I'd keep them on the ground at instant readiness for quick response. For aerial patrol I'd use prop planes as described, possibly a flying boat akin to a Sunderland - which were tough as nails - or a Catalina.

Helicopters for SAR or to use dipping sonars - depends on the ASW threat. Pirates aren't likely to use subs, more of a weapon of overt warfare by nations / corps.

Over the horizon missiles will be hard to employ if there is a lot of innocent traffic around, so visual range gun combat will be at a premium - not too far removed from the air war over Vietnam. Enemy forces might not have the same scruples so good missile defence will be a must.

Optimum size and equipment depends on:

How much traffic there is.

What the threat level is.

How well suited the incoming vessals are for self-defence.

Bah!

http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

"Great, dope fiend plus ghoul equals one screwed up wacko psycho. My days looking up already. Any prep you guys need to do before we move out? If not I'll be in the car."

    Oz picks the briefs and his stuff up and heads downstairs to the front desk to pick the camera up unless the other two want to plan further.

I feel the urge to ask.

Why would you go hide at L1?

A controlled, packed and tightly closed environment.

"Okay guys, time out, the boss man's calling," they could continue this discussion later, Oz picks his 'phone up and brings it to his head, "Meyer here"

I'm really disturbed by this nostalgia for the Cold War that get's banded around.

So, we want a return to the days of mutually assured destruction, paranoia, the oppression of central and eastern europe, proxy wars in the 3rd World and the propsect of the world ending in a short and very final afternoon?

Because all we have to worry about now is AQ and thier franchises killing a few thousand people at a pop max. The very worst case scenario is that we wake up and find a major city missing if they get hold of a nuke. In the meantime the number of dodgy dictators being propped up has gone down and people are still being killed, but not at the level they were.

That might not be very nice, but it's several orders of magnitude better than what we had. You've been spoilt by the ten years of relative security we had 1991-2001.

Any cold war relics wish to comment on this?

22 days since she registered...

Our best time ever.

The cost/efficency argument for the death penalty never ceases to amaze me.

Besides if he dies, no one will get hired to bust him out when he's 85 for an exclusive interview.

But nobody other than some die hard Nazis says that justice was not done.

It would change the setting certainly.

It would also cause the GM to do outside flips and the other PCs might not be pleased about it when they came round.

But it's possible, it might be very difficult, but it is possible.

No they aren't, but the cartridges are so similar that any differences are swallowed up in the maker's tolerances.

And if Jane's doesn't distinguish between the two cartridges, I'm not going to start.

What are you, some sort of master breast taster?

The images going round my head now are too frightening to contemplate.

Oz sits in the corner, fairly relaxed and inwardly enjoying Porter being given some stick.

   <Well if you're the expert, means I don't have to do it>

   Rather perturbed however if this conversation should become overheard.