General How do you think "Angry Birds" from 'The Mandaloran" would exist in Traveller?

[Commander Truestar]

How do you think "Angry Birds" from 'The Mandaloran" would exist in Traveller?

Hi,

So, I don't know if you've seen the Star Wars spin off series, but it involves those who escaped Mandalor(sp?) before the Empire hit it. So, they still have their armor and all their wonderful little toys...

Because of that, I knew it would happen and it did.
One of my players asked if she could get the weapon system "Whistling Birds" for her armor?

to the best I can describe them, they are 3 or 4 cm long 5 or 6 mm thick micro-missiles which can be fired from a "top of the wrist" based launcher. They apparently are capable of acquiring a target and tracking it to a small extent (from what was shown in the episode)

So, they have thrust and maneuvering as a sensor package and tracking brain along with a (presumably shaped charge) warhead capable of piercing armor.

Any thoughts would be welcomed

 

[Cryton]

In MgT1, there is a wrist mounted micro-missile launcher, kinda matches the description you gave exactly,

So, I'd guess the chances are 1 in 1?

:-D

 

[mike wightman]

Just be thankful your players haven't read any of Iain M. Bank's Culture novels or they may want knife missiles (think Yondu's mind controlled arrow/missile in the GotG films but with its own dumb AI control system)...

 

[Commander Truestar]

In MgT1, there is a wrist mounted micro-missile launcher, kinda matches the description you gave exactly

Thank you very much!

Just be thankful your players haven't read any of Iain M. Bank's Culture novels or they may want knife missiles (think Yondu's mind controlled arrow/missile in the GotG films but with its own dumb AI control system)...

LOL,
I offer to "TRY" to accommodate them where I can, and I have done "on the fly" design in under 5 min during play...

But I think that specific toy would more than unbalance the game

 

[Commander Truestar]

In MgT1, there is a wrist mounted micro-missile launcher, kinda matches the description you gave exactly

Hi Cryton,

You mentioned "MgT1", did you mean the Imperial Encyclopedia?

Thank you,
Marc Grossman

 

[mike wightman]

MgT1 means Mongoose Traveller 1st edition

MT - MegaTraveller
MgT - Mongoose Traveller

 

[Cryton]

Hi Cryton,

You mentioned "MgT1", did you mean the Imperial Encyclopedia?

Thank you,
Marc Grossman

No, I meant Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition.

The specific product is the Central Supply Catalog for that edition of the game.

 

[Condottiere]

We have smart ammunition, the actual trick is getting them to lock on their targets and manoeuvre in that confined space.

 

[Straybow]

Well, I don't think we'll genetically engineer rocket-enhanced exploding birds. :rofl: Oh, wait, you mean the "whistling birds."

Like many things in SW, they were really too small. Too small for self propelled missiles, too small for an armor piercing charge. The show had them moving at only a few m/s and probably only effective in close quarters, so maybe that aspect is plausible. At least one seemed to seek for the neck, bypassing the armor, also plausible at a tech with better AI than we can manage. That would also minimize the amount of explosive needed for a lethal wound. One small charge to punch the head through the ballistic cloth, one small charge to tear the aorta or jugular open, or rupture the larynx.

The armpit is also a possible target, but less lethal. Or less rapid in effect. Impaired breathing from a punctured lung will take most of the fight out of the target until passing out. If the penetration went more toward the shoulder, opening the brachial artery will bleed out, and the target will be unconscious in less than a minute. Panic may take them out of action before then. The concussion might stun the heart, which would be a near-instant take down. A really cool customer might get off a shot before collapsing.

Likewise for the groin, where the femoral artery is the main vulnerability, and crippling damage to the hip is the secondary knock-out effect.

There would probably be expensive armor with superior joint protection materials that might better resist the penetration.

 

[Straybow]

In MgT1, there is a wrist mounted micro-missile launcher, kinda matches the description you gave exactly,

Meh, I don't have MgT but I'm guessing that would require the wielder to aim or somehow designate a target with a maneuvering cone dependent on the direction it is pointed.

It's a bit like the old gyrojet concept. It can't be a hugely powerful rocket or it would burn the shooter. It could be just large enough to kill the lightly armored with shrapnel. Basically more of a grenade than a missile.

 

[Cryton]

It's a bit like the old gyrojet concept. It can't be a hugely powerful rocket or it would burn the shooter. It could be just large enough to kill the lightly armored with shrapnel. Basically more of a grenade than a missile.

Gyrojet? Rocket? This is Traveller man! At high enough TL, GRAV POWERED!

The ones in MgT1:CSC have the following description:

"Wrist-mounted Warhead Launcher (TL 12): Using a new advanced form of muscle-memory firing trigger, this forearm-mounted apparatus can be loaded with four individual miniature versions of standard Tac missiles. By flexing the wearer’s arm in a specific fashion, the next missile in the queue fires. Reloading the launcher requires two Significant actions per missile and the loader must note in which order the missiles are to be fired"

So about 7d Super AP. Significantly better than a Grenade, and according to the same MgT book, on scale with Light Artillery or a Howitzer.

 

[Commander Truestar]

Yes I did mean Mandalorian Whistling Birds

As far as I can tell from the graphics, the launcher in the episode had 14 or 15 missiles loaded when fully armed. This makes it similar to the MgT version in CSC

Still, that can be a design starting point.

Ultimately, it is a question of the limits of miniaturization.
An array of larger missile systems like this can easily be made, so the question to ask is how much can those existing systems be miniaturized?

If it can be compacted to molecular or even atomic level electronics, then a good part of the delivery missile can be shrunken down.
And that leads us to the question of compacting fuel and thrust/control systems
And the question of compacting the explosive which is that shaped or changing the destructive force generation to one of an energy projector of come kind.

Mind you, little of this is scientifically suggested and would be presumptive of the tech able to be created using "gravitic manufacturing" tech and those tech methods which come beyond gravitics at TL 13+

 

[pzmcgwire]

After watching the Mandalorian, I guess I shouldn't think twice about letting my players walk around all day in battle dress, or at least combat armor.

The tech in Star Wars is both dated and super-tech. The jetpacks seem retro and as we saw in ROTJ, pretty unreliable. Jet packs probably have more cinematic appeal than grav belts.

 

[wellis]

After watching the Mandalorian, I guess I shouldn't think twice about letting my players walk around all day in battle dress, or at least combat armor.

The tech in Star Wars is both dated and super-tech. The jetpacks seem retro and as we saw in ROTJ, pretty unreliable. Jet packs probably have more cinematic appeal than grav belts.

That jetpack only became unreliable when a blind Han chopped through it with a vibroaxe.

Star Wars is interesting in that while things like contragravity are a tech in it, you don't really see fully reactionless/gravitic engines in it. Almost always contragravity is used for lift or hovering, but for movement, some form of reaction engine is typically used instead.

Even in the Legends EU, about the only time we see something using fully gravitic propulsion is the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

[pzmcgwire]

Jango Fett didn't have much luck with his jetback either.

Rockets like the Angry birds just look more cinematic with their trailing fire and contrails then invisible anti-grav.

I remember a discussion about how in the future someone might just be talking to the air, but illustrations in Traveller book had to have something like a handheld to ground us to what the illustration represents. though nowadays a lot of people do look they are talking to the air with the prevalence of bluetooth earbuds.

Just like articulated battle armor looks so much better than a bunch of egg shaped battle pods.