More 2300 questions

[wyrmwood]

1. What are Life Levels for (it appears shock points and stun points apply to Consciousness Levels)?
EDIT: Ok, found this in the Errata (A character is dead when shock points = Life Levels)

2. At what point is damage normal (vs blunt) when wearing armor? (The rules state subtract the armor value from the DPV, if less than 0, no effect... Non-penetrating normal damage becomes blunt trauma...) DPV < DPV 1 but > 0? (wild guess )

EDIT: Ok, found in more Errata
"3. NONPENETRATING KINETIC ENERGY ROUNDS: A kinetic energy round with a DP value less than that of the armor will not penetrate but will cause blunt trauma or stun damage. It the round hits rigid or inertial armor, it inflicts stun damage; if it hits nonrigid armor, it inflicts blunt trauma damage. In all cases, half of the armor value is subtracted from the round’s DP value, and the seriousness of the wound is reduced one level. –Armor/Damage Revisions pg 45. ‘Mission Arcturus’"
Is there such a thing as a "non kinetic energy round" (I would assume any slug is effectively a kinetic energy round, but perhaps this is referring to an explosive round?

EDIT: I should add, I'm working from the v1.0 (Traveller 2300) rule books. I have ordered the CD-ROM, but it hasn't arrived yet.

 

[kmsoice]

Is there such a thing as a "non kinetic energy round" (I would assume any slug is effectively a kinetic energy round, but perhaps this is referring to an explosive round?

Sure, the problem is that even in version 2 what exactly counts as a 'kinetic energy round' and what is not is never explicitly defined so you are back to having to use your best judgement.

I have always gone with anything from a slug thrower (including arrow and crossbow bolts), the contact & fragmentation effect from an explosion or a melee weapon that does not specifically state 'blunt trauma damage only' -is a kinetic energy round

Which leaves lasers, the concussion effect from an explosion and anything that is listed as 'blunt trauma' or 'stun' damage only ie stunners-> as being non -kinetic energy rounds.

 

[epicenter00]

re: non-penetrating kinetic energy rounds

I've always figured that's the GDW trying too hard to be "sci-fi" and instead coming out as so nerdy even us nerds shake our heads. With that in mind, I've always read that as "bullets" - so it doesn't count stuff like clubs, arrows, lasers, blasts, etc.

 

[wyrmwood]

re: non-penetrating kinetic energy rounds

I've always figured that's the GDW trying too hard to be "sci-fi" and instead coming out as so nerdy even us nerds shake our heads.

In IM speak, ROTFLMAO, thanks for the laugh

Thanks to both of you! I'm sure I'll be flooding this forum with more questions once the CD arrives...

Thanks again,
WW

 

[G. Fieendish]

Re: epicentre's last post...
I'd argue for a high caliber, low muzzle velocity gel round, but then when you have companies manafacturing & selling Taser rounds for shotguns, could that count...?

 

[epicenter00]

Re: epicentre's last post...
I'd argue for a high caliber, low muzzle velocity gel round, but then when you have companies manafacturing & selling Taser rounds for shotguns, could that count...?

I consider "bean bag" or "gel" rounds to always do blunt damage. Give it like a DPV of 0.2 (blunt) or 0.1 (blunt) and a reasonably short range. Remember, the overwhelming majority of shooting in 2300 happens in the double DPV band due to the stupid long ranges on everything in 2300, so those bean bags will be smacking people at 0.4 or 0.2 DPV (yes it should really be like 0.6 or so, but as one GM to another, I'd suggest you always penalize "stupid" weapons).

As for Taser rounds, I don't really think modern ones are designed to penetrate personal body armor - at most they're designed to penetrate through clothes. Many of them can't even get a good hit on someone wearing a motorcycle leather jacket. In such a case, I'd treat them exactly as how the sonic tranq weapons in 2300 are treated (which are excessively gaudy I might add - be very wary when your "combat god" players start carrying around the stun weapons because that means they're onto it).

<optional rant>

My players and I usually have an unspoken agreement to avoid indulging in "stupid" or "strange" weapons, as I don't have an adversarial relationship with my players (unlike most GMs on here it seems sometimes) this largely works out. However, there's always one player who just doesn't want to play ball and whose fun seems to come completely from metagame issues of finding loopholes in the rules to ruin the game.

Like almost every RPG I've ever played 2300 has troubles when you start using "strange" weapons or rounds. These weapons are inevitably huge rules loopholes and savvy powergamers will quickly pick up on the fact that the "weird" weapons are inevitably the best weapons in the game to use. I'd be very careful when you're stating "weird" rounds and weapons for your game. For instance, it's a well-known fact in D&D after about level 5 or so, you're always better off just dogpiling that enemy high level fighter opponent instead of fighting the guy. Put your wizard in plate armor - he doesn't need to cast spells. Just help dogpile. Players always have numbers, they have the hit points to take the damage from the free attack and afterwards the big bad guy is incapacitated in one round of fighting instead of multiple potentially fatal rounds. You just have to avoid players doing this stuff by an unspoken agreement because it's dumb.

2300 is no different.

The most effective all-around weapon in 2300AD as printed isn't anything on the "Weapons" list. It's the Autoinjector Gun on page 28. DPV 3? That's insane. Sure it only does stun damage, but an NPC drops after 3 stun points so it's essentially "insta-kill" on unarmored opponents (except it's not so you're not a murderer in court). It'd require two shots to drop a Kafer, but fortunately, the gun has a RoF of 2 (or it's still one shot at most combat ranges due to the doubling rule). DPV 3 will rip through any personal armor in the game (that's the same DPV as a FTE-10). It's so good you can shoot the passengers in a car or even the driver in a lightly armored vehicle with it! It has a 300m range - so at 150m or less it's DPV 6 which is good enough to snipe the passengers in any Kafer APC from beyond the length of a football field (American Gridiron or Futbol) and knock out the passengers! It's Lv200, which is cheaper than most weapons which are less effective than it. You can freely bring it to a lot of worlds that would restrict firearms because it's technically not even firearm - it's a tool to tag animals. The best part is that it's in the basic book. It's not something some player made up or in some expansion book so the GM says "you're only allowed the stuff in the basic books" you can still use it. What's the drawback? Let's face it. It's all kinds of dumb to have entire groups of players running around with nothing but autoinjector guns.

</optional rant>

 

[G. Fieendish]

Re: Epicenter 00's last post (rant section)
I could'nt agree with you more, Epicenter...
I remember the Space Gamer article, that had a character profile dedicated for exactly that situation...
"The Armoured Duck" had high Constitution (to increase his hit points), & Strength (to wear plate mail & carry a large shield without too much difficulty) stats, but abysmal Dexterity (he could'nt hit a barn door with his broadsword, but that was'nt the point) ...
The idea was that "the enemy", on seeing him, would concentrate all their attacks on him, beleving him to be the party's leader & hence dangerous, leaving the rest of the (lightly armoured, but highly skilled) party relatively unmolested, to attack them in turn...