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Jan 31, 1998, 3:00:00 AM1/31/98

[HGML] heavygear-digest Thursday, January 29 1998 Volume 04 : Number 043

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[HGML] [HG][FAQ]Heavy Gear Technical FAQ Version 1.33 [1/2]
[HGML] [HG]Heavy Gear Acronym List Version 1.30

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:49:32 -0500 (EST)
From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)
Subject: [HGML] [HG][FAQ]Heavy Gear Technical FAQ Version 1.33 [1/2]

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEAVY GEAR
TECHNICAL
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Version 1.33
Last Update: 01/29/98
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY OF THE TECHNICAL FAQ

Ver.0.98:John D. Prins writes up the Technical FAQ because he's bored. After
four hours of hard work, he prepares to send off his efforts, only
to be rewarded with the message 'this application has performed an
illegal operation, and will be closed'. John loses all his work and
swears vengeance on Bill Gates for putting out Win95. Arrrg! John
resolves to back up from now on.
Ver.0.99:John D. Prins, undaunted, re-attempts to write the Heavy Gear
Technical FAQ.
Ver.1.00:Added location of V-Engine explanation and video. Added sections
dealing with spacecraft and landships. Made some general corrections
and new questions. Added location of HG errata and where the
Hobby Hunter may be found.
Ver.1.01:Added one question in the gear section and clarified the whole
missile/grenade launcher ammo expendature thing.
Ver.1.10:Added section on artillery. Added section on manly flaws. Made a
few minor corrections and additions.
Ver.1.11:Added questions in the Gear and Weapons sections. Minor corrections.
Ver.1.20:Advent of the NVC and SVC prompts reworking of the Technical FAQ.
Reasons for this are many, and are explained below. New Standard
Disclaimer because I don't like the old one anymore. Took a crack at
explaining the V-Engine. New section on neural nets. Changed my mind
on Frag Cannons. Deleted old questions, added new questions.
Ver.1.21:Official word on Frag Cannons.
Ver.1.30:Added section on fuel consumption.
Ver.1.31:Added question about AGMs, and made some corrections/clarifications.
Ver.1.32:Minor corrections/clarifications.
Ver.1.33:Very minor corrections. Would have done more, but I chose to
revise the Rules FAQ instead.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME TO THE HEAVY GEAR TECHNICAL FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

This document is intended to act as a timesaving device for the Heavy Gear
mailing list, by answering all those nagging technical questions we have,
leaving us time for more important stuff like cracking the weapons code and
anticipating Dream Pod 9's latest plot twists. If you have a question that
is not covered by this document, please don't hesitate to ask the list at
large. If your question is a common one (or a very good one), it may be
added to this FAQ and help enlighten the ignorant masses.

This FAQ will be updated on a semi-regular basis. My plan is to re-issue the
FAQ whenever:

1.) I feel like it,
2.) People ask me for it,
3.) I write a new version,
4.) the beginning of a month rolls by.

Obviously, I can't cover everything, so this FAQ is devoted to issues of
technology, specifically the machines and equipment of Terra Nova, and some
of the rules that cover them. If you find that I've made an error or have a
suggested addition to the FAQ, please contact me at:

jpr...@interhop.net

and put in the subject line:

HG TECHNICAL FAQ

If your suggestion has merit, it will be added in the next version and you
will be added to the list of contributors.

Note that this FAQ assumes that the reader is reasonably fluent in the
Silhouette System and at least has read the Heavy Gear Rulebook. Many of the
questions will deal with vehicles and equipment found in the various
sourcebooks; I'll try to reference them where I can.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DAWN OF THE VEHICLE COMPENDIUMS:

Once upon a time, the game of Heavy Gear was only the Rulebook. Then, Vehicle
Guides burst upon the scene, greatly expanding the number of combat vehicles.
However, these vehicle guides are now (sadly) out of print - but - the
information they contained is now presented in the Vehicle Compendiums.

Of course, this corrected a lot of errors and mis-conceptions that occurred in
the Vehicle Guides. Because of this, for the purposes of this document, ANY
write-up contained in a Vehicle Compendium renders its corresponding Vehicle
Guide write-up OBSOLETE. So any FAQ questions that pertained to the Vehicle
Guides will be deleted from this document as they are replaced by the Vehicle
Compendiums. Same goes for stuff found in Tactical Field Support that gets
reprinted in Vehicle Compendiums.

Currently, only the NVC1 and SVC1 are in existance. Both of them cover only
Gears and Striders. So information about the Tanks and Aircraft found in the
Northern and Southern Vehicle Guides are still valid. I apologize for this
inconsistancy, but FAQs are typically for newcomers, and newcomers will
probably never get their hands on the early Vehicle Guides.

However, if you want an OLD copy of this Technical FAQ with the proper Vehicle
Guide information, I've been keeping them and will issue them upon request at
the above address - just make sure that you are very clear in the fact that you
want Pre-Compendium information.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.) Standard Disclaimer.
2.) Where Can I Find Heavy Gear Errata?
3.) Questions About Heavy Gears.
4.) Questions About Striders.
5.) Questions About Tanks and AFVs.
6.) Questions About Aircraft.
7.) Questions About Weapons.
8.) Questions About Landships.
9.) Questions About Spacecraft.
10.) Questions About Artillery.
11.) Questions About Neural Nets.
12.) Questions About Fuel Consumption.
13.) Abusive Perks.
14.) Cheesy Flaws.
15.) Manly Flaws.
16.) List of Contributors.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) STANDARD DISCLAIMER

HEAVY GEAR, TERRA NOVA and SILHOUETTE SYSTEM are all registered trademarks of
Dream Pod 9, Inc. This document should in no way be construed as a legal
challenge to these trademarks. This document may be distributed by anyone to
anyone in any medium (electronic, hard copy, recited as a mantra) so long as
no legal tender changes hands (at the reader's option, you may send $5 to Dream
Pod 9 if you like this document. Merry Christmas, Marc and Jean). Any
similarities to people, places or things found in this document are purely
co-incidental, unless they have to do with Mantises, in which case, it's
intentional. Any spelling mistakes you spot are due to an error in data
transmission and are not my fault. Any grammatical errors you find are part of
a communist plot to discredit me. The writer of this document cannot be held
responsible for any paper cuts taken while reading it in hard copy form.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.) WHERE CAN I FIND HEAVY GEAR ERRATA?

The Tactical Air Support sourcebook has the errata for the first printing of
the Heavy Gear Rulebook.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.) QUESTIONS ABOUT HEAVY GEARS.

3.1: What's a Heavy Gear?

A Heavy Gear is a humanoid armored fighting vehicle developed on Terra Nova
in the latter parts of the sixth millenia AD. It is a highly mobile and
agile weapons platform and a real cool way to charge into battle. But you
should know this already.

3.2: How does that V-Engine work, anyway?

If somebody showed you a picture, you'd understand immediately. The fundamental
thing you have to wrap your brain around is that the V-Engine is primarily a
bunch of bent rods. Okay, let's start with unbent rods. Take a straight rod.
That's your support axle. Surround this axle with more rods, running parallel
to the support axle. What you've got is a bundle of rods, right? Now, slip
the cylinder of a revolver (the thing you put bullets into) over the ends of
this bundle of rods. Fix it so that the cylinder is attached to the support
axle, but can rotate, so that the surrounding rods can rotate about the support
axle. Spin it around with your mind awhile. Got it?

Okay, now, bend this whole apparatus into a 'V' shape. Now, the rods can (get
this) _still_ be spun about the support axle - this is the weird thing that
will screw you up, but it does work, trust me. Now since all those rods are
still the same length, the rods on the _in_side of the 'V' are very deep in the
cylinder housing. But the rods on the _out_side of the 'V' have very nearly
slipped out. Rods on the 'front' and 'back' of the support axle (from your
perspective) are somewhere in-between.

Now, the cylinders are actually _combustion chambers_. You know how they work,
right? A small amount of combustible fuel is injected into a compressed chamber
(rods at the inside of the 'V') and ignited. The gas explodes and expands,
pushing the rod _out_ of the chamber. This causes the whole assembly to rotate
around the support axle, until the rod is at maximum extension (the outside of
the 'V'), where the gases are vented out so that the rod can be pushed back
into the cylinder and start the cycle anew. The upshot of all this is that the
cylinder heads are spinning merrily about, and that motion can be tapped for
nice things like hydraulic pressure and electricity. What makes V-Engines so
good is that they're very tough and have a minimum of moving parts.

Anyway, if this explanation doesn't do it for you, check out the following web
page for a downloadable AVI movie of an operational V-Engine:

http://www.members.iquest.net/~jesster/hgapa.html

3.3: How do you get into your gear? It's five meters tall!

Most gears are terrible shot traps, with projections and protrusions all
over the place, so there's plenty of footholds. Presumably, you just climb
in; gears are supposed to be used by soldiers and other physically fit
people, so it isn't usually a problem. Some have suggested that a small
folding ladder is in the cockpit, while others think that the gear itself
can recognize the pilot and pick him up to assist in entry.

3.4: Can a gear just pick up any (handheld) weapon on the battlefield and
use it?

Yes, assuming that the weapon is within the gear's size rating. Gears are
very versatile machines and have dedicated software for this sort of thing.
The gear will conpensate for the weapon's fire control system and balance,
and away you go.

3.5: Can a gear mount arms with their rating bigger than the actual size of
the gear?

Yes, it can, but it can only ever lift objects up to twice the ACTUAL size
of the vehicle it's mounted on. Furthermore, no matter what the size of the
arm on a vehicle, it still cannot carry a weapon greater than the vehicle's
ACTUAL size would allow.

3.6: How come the Strike Cheetah (NVC1) has 4 more points of armor than the
original Cheetah, but doesn't lose any speed or maneuver rating? Doesn't the
Technical Handbook sort of contradict this sort of thing?

Officially, they gave the Strike Cheetah a bigger, more powerful engine. Also,
it's a production model machine, whereas the rules in the TechBook are for
modifying individual vehicles. If you've got millions of Marks and an
engineering crew of dozens, you _can_ work miracles.

3.7: Why does the Grizzly have such crappy armor for a gear it's size?

The Grizzly is carrying heavy guided mortar (a heavy weapon) and uses heavy
durasheet alloy for its armor plating. The combination of the two means that
it can't carry as much armor as the Spitting Cobra (ceramic armor) or
Razorback (few weapons) in the field. On the up side, it's probably cheap to
replace the armor on a damaged Grizzly :-).

3.8: What idiot designed the Anolis (SVC1)?

Originally (the real world), the Anolis was supposed to have Advanced Controls.
Somewhere between the design board and the printer this got dropped and the
Anolis was changed into the whipping boy of Gear-dom. On the other hand, if you
actually manage to win with an Anolis, you've got serious bragging rights.

3.9: Why doesn't the Blitz Jager (SVC1) carry three Anti-Tank Missiles
instead of just one?

Cost and common sense. A Blitz Jager isn't likely to get more than one shot
off at a tank anyway, so why waste money on outfitting them with extra rounds?

3.10: Reinforced Crew Compartment and Emergency Medical are cheap. Why
aren't they put in every gear, not just the Sidewinder (SVC1) and Black Adder
(SVC1)?

Terra Novan militaries don't really care if the pilots of their vehicles
survive. Hey, that's the impression I get. With all the money you spend
training pilots in the first place, it's stupid not to add these perks.

3.11: Why is the Ferret (NVC1) so lovable?

Because it's almost a super-deformed version of a gear. And it's made by a
company that builds racing motorcycles, so it's cool. Buttwheels rock.

3.12: Why does the Weasel (NVC1) have a - 1 Fire Control?

Because the CNCS high command doesn't want its electronics warfare gears to
get into firefights; the shoddy targeting systems are an incentive to run
rather than fight.

3.13: Where's the Hobby Hunter mentioned in the Technical Handbook?

The Hobby Hunter is an idea of Probe's that the folks at Dream Pod 9 took to
heart. Like it says, it's a gear for hobbyists. You can find stats of it at:

http://www.dragonfire.net/~jhfong/Wormgears/Designs/hobby-hunter.html

Alternatively, it shows up in Gear Up Newsletter #1.

3.14: If my gear takes a movement hit, does it subtract from the MP and MV
of only one movement system, or both?

Just the one you're currently using, unless you're using a gear with Exposed
Movement Systems; in this case a 'heavy' movement hit becomes an 'overkill'
to your movement system and takes out both systems.

3.15: Why is the Fer-De-Lance (SRAL) a mass production machine? I thought it
was super-elite-we-only-built-less-than-a-hundred!

The Fer-De-Lance was built on the Sidewinder chassis with some improvements
which helps keep costs low(er). That and all that 'hand-crafted' labor was
probably volunteered by patriotic technicians - and since they were mostly
hand-assembled, a lot of expensive factory re-tooling was probably unnecessary
- - saving more money.

3.16: Can I make a hover gear? How?

Sure you can. However, they aren't really appropriate to the Heavy Gear setting,
so there will be no 'official' hover gear units. Territorial Arms was apparantly
the last to fool with the idea, and they, like the rest, eventually
abandoned the
project.

To design a hover gear, make your Secondary Movement System 'hover', then take
the 'Exposed Movement Systems' and 'Large Sensor Profile' flaws. Flavor to
taste;
low level Jump Jets may be appropriate, as well as Fuel Inefficient, Decreased
Maneuverability (hover mode), Weak Point: Movement Systems and other flaws.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.) QUESTIONS ABOUT STRIDERS.

4.1: What's a Strider?

A strider is any walking vehicle that isn't a heavy gear, due to either
size or non-humanoid construction. So striders include huge chicken-walkers
as well as small spider-mechs.

4.2: Why is the Mammoth (NVC1) so much more expensive than the Naga?

The Mammoth is a limited production machine, meaning heavy quality controls
are put on every unit before it rolls off the lines. And the Mammoth needs
it, too, because it has twice as many perks as the Naga does (meaning more
lemon dice). The Naga is a mass production machine and is cranked out for
much cheaper, but chances are your Naga will have more factory defects than
a Mammoth.

4.3: Is the Fire Dragon (SVC1) really that useful?

Possibly. True, it isn't as well armed as a Spitting Cobra, but it does have
a +1 Fire Control and Sniper Systems on its HRP/48; which is a nasty weapon.
But changing the rocket pack to something else does drastically improve the
Fire Dragon into a very dangerous machine.

4.4: How does the Mammoth (NVC1) walk, anyway?

It takes one step at a time :-). Seriously, though, the Mammoth does not
move in an unusual manner. Those long 'thighs' that stick waaaay out in
front of it and the 'kneepads' really have very little to do with the
walking motion; they are there to keep the Mammoth from falling onto its own
face by providing balance and something to keep it from going all the way
over. The Mammoth's 'real' legs are under this and kind of stumpy; making
them tough and well defended but not very fast or agile. But it does use a
'normal' walking gait, it just squats a little.

4.5: Why isn't the Sagittarius (SVC1) Sensor Dependant? They go on about how
the crew has to rely on the sensors because of the armored clam-shell!

Presumably, the Sagittarius has back-up sensory apparatus that don't really
function any better than normal eyesight; these external 'cameras' still
function in case of a sensor hit and there are so darned many of them that
they can't realistically be taken out. This isn't the same as the Backup
Sensors perk, it's just good engineering on the part of the Humanist Alliance.

4.6: Is the Mammoth really as agile as the Grizzly?

One of the glaring errors in the Rulebook lists the Mammoth strider at
- -1 Maneuver Value. This is wrong. The Mammoth's Maneuver Value is -2, as
properly presented in the NVC1.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.) QUESTIONS ABOUT TANKS.

5.1: Tanks are much more deadly than gears, and don't cost all that much
more; in some cases they cost less. So why doesn't everybody use a tank?

Tanks are never more maneuverable than -1, whereas gears go to as high a +2
on their maneuver value. This means that a top speed, dodging gear can
almost always get close enough to a tank to use anti-tank weapons
effectively. On open ground, the tank at least has a chance at picking off a
gear before it gets into effective range, but a lot of Terra Nova isn't open
ground.

Also, gears only require one pilot while most tanks require two or more.
This means that training tank personnel is more expensive than gear pilots,
making gears more cost effective. Finally, gears were born out of necessity,
and have become a fixed part of Terra Novan culture, dating back to the
abandonment of the colonies by Earth, when gears were armed with makeshift
weapons to protect settlements.

5.2: What's better, the Aller (N2) or the Visigoth (S2)?

Neither. The Aller has more potent weapons (heavy railgun, pulsed laser
cannon) but lacks any indirect fire ability or variable ammunition capacity.
The Visigoth uses a heavy field gun, capable of indirect fire and variable
ammunition, as well as medium rockets. So on open, flat terrain, the Aller
will win. On uneven terrain, the Visigoth will win.

5.3: Why does the Hun (S2) use such a wimpy main gun?

The Heavy Rifle is a bit underpowered, but probably very cheap to make and
keep supplied with ammunition. The Hun also has a Light Laser and MRP/36 as
supplimental weapons, meaning it will always have a reasonably strong weapon
in a fight. Its counterpart, the Klemm, becomes pretty much useless if it
loses its Anti-Tank missiles, but then again, it HAS anti-tank missiles.

5.4: What are the stats for the CEF Hovertanks?

We don't know, and it would probably give you bad dreams anyway. The
Scythian (SRAL) is really a poor copy of a CEF Hovertank (yurg...).

5.5: What's the Aller's (N2) ACTUAL size? It cannot carry twenty HRG rounds
at size 14.

The Aller's actual Threat Value is 3512, making its default size 15, and its
actual size 15. It can carry twenty rounds for the railgun.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And go on to rule this world from beyond the grave."
"Indeed!"
"That, or check into a mental hospital; whatever comes first."
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John D. Prins
jpr...@interhop.net

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:49:07 -0500 (EST)
From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)
Subject: [HGML] [HG]Heavy Gear Acronym List Version 1.30

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEAVY GEAR ACRONYM LIST
Version 1.30
Last Update: 01/29/98
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY OF THE ACRONYM LIST:

Ver.0.99: John D. Prins gets bored again and wastes a lot of time.
Ver.1.00: People yell at me for getting stuff wrong. Manshoba manages to
alphabetise the whole mess.
Ver.1.10: Thanks to the NLC Sourcebook, the 'N's get a fair expansion.
Ver.1.20: The SR Leaguebook comes out adding 15 new acronyms.
Ver.1.30: Second Edition Rulebook and GUN#3 add some acronyms.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME TO THE HEAVY GEAR ACRONYM LIST

This document is supposed to be a quick reference guide to the folks on the
Heavy Gear Mailing List. Since E-Mail takes time to write, a lot of people use
a lot of acronyms - for example, the Western Frontier Protectorate generally
gets written 'WFP' for short.

If I missed anything (or got anything wrong), please drop me a line at:

jpr...@interhop.net

and I'll correct things. This reference guide will be posted on a monthly
basis (more or less) and is available on request at the above address.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.) Standard Disclaimer.
2.) General Internet/E-Mail Acronyms.
3.) Heavy Gear Mailing List Specific Acronyms.
4.) Heavy Gear Book Specific Acronyms.
5.) Heavy Gear Universe Specific Acronyms.
6.) Heavy Gear Rules Specific Acronyms.
7.) Heavy Gear Weapons Specific Acronyms.
8.) Complete Acronym List.
9.) List of Contributors.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) STANDARD DISCLAIMER

Heavy Gear, the Silhouette System, Terra Nova and all associated products
are trademarks of, and copyrighted by, Dream Pod 9. This document should in
no way be construed as a legal challenge to these trademarks or copyrights.
This document may be distributed freely without profit by anyone to anyone.
Though why anybody would want to charge money for a list of acronyms is beyond
me.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.) GENERAL INTERNET/E-MAIL ACRONYMS

The Internet, and E-Mail, has developed its own set of specific acronyms. Here
is just a small sample of the more common ones:

AFAIK - As Far As I Know
FYI - For Your Information
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
IOW - In Other Words
ROTF - Rolling On The Floor (in laughter)
YMMV - Your Milage May Vary
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.) HEAVY GEAR MAILING LIST SPECIFIC ACRONYMS

These are acronyms that you (probably) won't see anywhere else than the Heavy
Gear Mailing List. They're fairly infrequent, but worth mentioning.

DP9 - Dream Pod 9 (the nice folks you bring you Heavy Gear)
RMOHO - Rip My Own Head Off (generally used to denote great excitement)
GCOOME - Gears Coming Out Of My Ears (a large collection of miniatures or
units in the game)
LOTF - Lord Of The Flies, aka Prabal Nandy, aka Probe
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.) HEAVY GEAR BOOK SPECIFIC ACRONYMS

These are acronyms that refer to actual books. They may not necessarily
correspond to the actual title of the book, but usually do.

2ndHG - Second Edition Heavy Gear Rulebook
CC - Character Compendium
CC1 - Character Compendium Book One (if you want to be specific)
DH - Duelist's Handbook
GMS - Game Master's Screen - Available with or without O:JD
GUN - Gear Up Newsletter
HG - Heavy Gear Rulebook, also Heavy Gear in general
HGDW - Heavy Gear Design Works
HGRB - Heavy Gear Rulebook
ITB - Into The Badlands
JC - Jovian Chronicles (another Dream Pod 9 game, just so you know)
LOTN - Life On Terra Nova
N1 - Northern Vehicles Book One
N2 - Norther Vehicles Book Two
TNB - The New Breed: Battle Before The Storm
NLCS - Northern Lights Confederacy Sourcebook
NVC - Northern Vehicle Compendium
NVS - Northern Vehicle Sheets
O:JD - Operation: Jungle Drums (adventure module)
S1 - Southern Vehicle Book One
S2 - Southern Vehicle Book Two
SB1 - StoryBook One
SRAL - Southern Republic Army List
SRSB - Southern Republic SourceBook
SVC - Southern Vehicle Compendium
SVS - Southern Vehicle Sheets
TAS - Tactical Air Support
TFS - Tactical Field Support
TM - Technical Manual - usually just 'Techbook' rather than an Acronym
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.) HEAVY GEAR UNIVERSE SPECIFIC ACRONYMS

Acronyms that deal with people, places, things and organizations in the Heavy
Gear universe. Note that some places like Port Arthur COULD be made into
acronyms, but are generally not. For the most part, it's better to avoid 2
letter acronyms to avoid confusion.

AAC - Ankara Architectural College
ADS - Banque Republicaine's Asset Distribution System
ASI - Allied Southern Intelligence (AST group)
AST - Allied Southern Territories
AWU - Affiliated Worker's Union
BCA - Northern Petrochem's Board of Civic Affairs (NLC group)
BM - Black Mamba (a heavy gear)
BRF - Badlands Revolutionary Front (not BARF! :-)
CAP (Justitia) - Crimes Against the People (SR personal crime)
CAYN (Justitia) - Crimes Against Your Neighbour (SR national crime)
CDC - Colonial Defense Corps (SR group)
CEF - Colonial Expeditionary Forces (NEC group)
CIB - Criminal Intelligence Bureau (Paxton group)
CIU - NorPol Counterintelligence Unit (NLC group)
CIS - Cause Implimentation Strategy (SR political system)
CNCS - Confederated Northern City States
CPG - Crowd Pacification Group (Paxton group)
CREE - Coalition for Rightful Environmental Exploitation (SR group)
DDD - Dominion Dueling Division
DDL - Desert Dueling League
DHM - Department of Health and Morality (HA group)
DSEC - Deep Space Exploration Corps (SR group)
DTC - Desert Trade Comission (CNCS group)
EDeC - Economic Development Commission (NLC group)
ESE - Eastern Sun Emirates
FAD - Fine Arts Directorate of the Southern Republic
GPP - Great Plains Police (SR group)
GREL - Genetically Recombined Experimental Legionnaire
HA - Humanist Alliance
HACS - Humanoid Armored Combat System (gear)
HEO - Head Executive Officer (Paxton)
HIRA - Humanist Insight and Regulatory Authority (HA group)
HMVS - Humanoid Multi Vehicle System (gear; civilian)
ICP - International Consumer Products
IWPB - Infant Welfare Protection Bureau (SR group)
KA-D - Khayr Ad-Din
LabCon - Labor Congress (NLC group)
LDP - Liberal Democratic Party (NLC group)
LN - Legion Noire (SR group)
MAS - Mekong Academy of Science
MD - Mekong Dominion
MDC - Mercantile Dueling Circuit, also Mekong Development Corporation
MIB - Military Intelligence Brance (SR group)
MILICIA - MILitary Counter Insurgency Army (AST group)
MSP - Medicins Sans Politique
NAF - Norlight Armed Forces
NAF/OMI - Norlight Armed Forces Office of Military Intelligence
NCDC - Northern Confederate Dueling Championship
NDL - Northern Dueling League
NEC - New Earth Commonwealth
NG - Northern Guard (CNCS group)
NGIS - Northern Guard Intelligence Service (CNCS group)
NISA - Norlight Intelligence and Security Agency (NLC group)
NLC - Northern Lights Confederacy
NorPol - Norlight National Police (NLC group)
NRB - National Reconstruction Board (NLC group)
NuCoal - New Coalition
NZR - Norlight Zephyr Rail (NLC group)
OACS - Oversized Anthropomorphic Combat System (gear)
OAVS - Oversized Anthropomorphic Vehicle System (gear; civilian)
OLC - Overland Cruise Lines (NLC)
OMS - Open Mind Society (SR group)
OWCS - Oversized Walker Combat System (strider)
PaxSec - Paxton Security Services (Paxton group)
PBI - Puffy Blue Iguana (SR student politics group)
PIM - Parachutistes d'Infantrie Marine (SR group)
PIU - Public Interaction Unit (SRID)
PX - PX Couriers (short form rather than acronym, really)
QRT - Quick Response Team (specifically in Kenema)
RARRS - Records Adminstration and Relational Referencing System (HA)
RFD - Republican Federation of Duelists
SAP - Social Action Party (NLC group)
SETS - Sevigny Economic and Taxation System (SR)
SIU - Special Intervention Unit (MILICIA group)
Sna.. - Snakeye Black Mamba (spoken in fear)
SNS - Satellite News Service
SORCOMD - SOuthern Republic COMmunications Directorate (SR group)
SPFI - Saragossa People's Front for Independance
SPP - Siwan Progress Party (SR group)
SR - Southern Republic
SRA - Southern Republican Army
SRAD - Southern Republic Aerospace Directorate (SR group)
SRID - Southern Republic Intelligence Directorate (SR group)
STSL - Southern Territories Soccer League
SWOS - Special Weapons Operations Squad (Paxton group)
TCA - Tershaw Cooperative Alliance (defunct arctic nation)
TNTR - TerraNovan TransRail
TRG - Tactical Response Group (Paxton)
UMF - United Mercantile Federation
VLA - Valeria Legal Academy
WACS - Walker Armored Combat System (strider)
WDC - Western Dueling Conference
WFP - Western Frontier Protectorate
WFPA - Western Frontier Protectorate Army
WMA - Western Military Academy (WFP)
WOTA, WotA - War of the Alliance
YMC - Yele Medical Center
ZeeTran - Zephyr Transport (NLC group)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.) HEAVY GEAR RULES SPECIFIC ACRONYMS

These acronyms deal specifically with the rules of the game.

ACC - Accuracy
AD - Armed Damage
AGL - Agility
AOE - Area Of Effect
APP - Appearance
AUX - AUXiliary system
BLD - Build
CBS - Counter Battery Sensor
CRE - Creativity
DTV - Defensive Threat Value
ECCM - Electronic Counter-Counter Measures
ECM - Electronic Counter Measures
EW - Electronic Warfare
F - Forward (firing arc)
FC - Fire Control
FF - Fixed Forward (firing arc)
FIT - Fitness
HEA - Health
IF - Indirect Fire
INF - Influence
KNO - Knowledge
L - Left (firing arc)
LOS - Line Of Sight
MOF - Margin of Failure
MOS - Margin of Success
MP - Movement Points
MTV - Miscellaneous Threat Value
MV - Maneuver Value
OTV - Offensive Threat Value
PER - Perception
PSY - Psyche
R - Right (firing arc)
RR - Rear (firing arc)
ROF - Rate Of Fire
SMS - Secondary Movement System
STA - Stamina
STR - Strength
T - Turret (firing arc)
TV - Threat Value
UD - Unarmed Damage
WA - Weapon Accuracy
WIL - Willpower
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.) HEAVY GEAR WEAPONS SPECIFIC ACRONYMS

Guns, bombs, artillery, etc., etc., etc. The fun stuff.

Cannons: DC - Digging Cannon
DPG - Deployable Pack Gun
FGC - Fragmentation Cannon
HAAC - Heavy Anti-Aircraft Cannon
HAC - Heavy Autocannon
HAG - Heavy Artillery Gun
HFG - Heavy Field Gun
HMG - Heavy Machine Gun
HRF - Heavy Rifle
LAAC - Light Anti-Aircraft Cannon
LAC - Light Autocannon
LAG - Light Artillery Gun
LFG - Light Field Gun
LMG - Light Machine Gun
LRF - Light Rifle
MAAC - Medium Anti-Aircraft Cannon
MAC - Medium Autocannon
MAG - Medium Artillery Gun
MRF - Medium Rifle
SC - Snub Cannon
VHAC - Very Heavy Autocannon
VHAG - Very Heavy Artillery Gun
VHFG - Very Heavy Field Gun
VLAC - Very Light Autocannon
VLFG - Very Light Field Gun
VLMG - Very Light Machine Gun
VLRF - Very Light Rifle
Mortars: APM - Anti-Personnel Mortar
HFM - Heavy Field Mortar
HGM - Heavy Guided Mortar
LFM - Light Field Mortar
LGM - Light Guided Mortar
MFM - Medium Field Mortar
Rockets: HIRP - Heavy Incendiary Rocket Pack
HRP - Heavy Rocket Pack
IRP - Incendiary Rocket Pack
LRP - Light Rocket Pack
MRP - Medium Rocket Pack
VLRP - Very Light Rocket Pack
Missiles: AAGM - Anti Armor Guided Missile (infantry weapon)
AAM - Anti Aircraft Missile
ABM - Airburst Missile
AGM - Anti Gear Missile
ATM - Anti Tank Missile
HAM - Heavy Artillery Missile
HATM - Heavy Anti Tank Missile
LAM - Light Artillery Missile
MAM - Medium Artillery Missile
VHAM - Very Heavy Artillery Missile
Bombs: CB - Cluster Bomb Rack
FAB - Fuel Air Bomb Rack
HB - Heavy Bomb Rack
HCB - Heavy Cluster Bomb Rack
LB - Light Bomb Rack
MB - Medium Bomb Rack
Bazookas: HBZK - Heavy Bazooka
LBZK - Light Bazooka
MBZK - Medium Bazooka
RFB - Rapid Fire Bazooka
Grenades: APGL - Anti Personnel Grenade Launcher
HG - Hand Grenade
HGL - Heavy Grenade Launcher
HHG - Heavy Hand Grenade
HWG - Haywire Grenade
LGL - Light Grenade Launcher
SDG - Self Destruct Grenade
Panzerfausts: HPZ - Heavy Panzerfaust
MPZ - Medium Panzerfaust
LPZ - Light Panzerfaust
Railguns: HRG - Heavy Railgun
LRG - Light Railgun
Beam Weapons: HGLC - Gattling Laser Cannon
HLC - Heavy Laser Cannon
HPA - Heavy Particle Accelerator
HPLC - Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon
LLC - Light Laser Cannon
LPA - Light Particle Accelerator
LPLC - Light Pulse Laser Cannon
SLC - Sniper Laser Cannon
Flamers: HFL - Heavy Flamer
MFL - Medium Flamer
LFL - Light Flamer
Melee Weapons: CR - Chassis Reinforcement
CS - Chain Sword
ELN - Explosive Lance
HLN - Heavy Lance
HSKG - Heavy Spike Gun
HWLN - Haywire Lance
HWP - Haywire Whip
LN - Lance
MC - Mace
MF - Mauler Fist
MS - Morningstar
NG - Net Gun
PP - Piston Punch
SKG - Spike Gun
VA - Vibroaxe
VB - Vibroblade
VC - Vibroclaws
VR - Vibrorapier
WP - Whip

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.) COMPLETE ACRONYM LIST

Don't know which list you should be searching to find that acronym? Well,
they're ALL here in alphabetical order!

2ndHG - Second Edition Heavy Gear Rulebook
AAC - Ankara Architectural College
AAGM - Anti Armor Guided Missile (infantry weapon)
AAM - Anti Aircraft Missile
ABM - Airburst Missile
ACC - Accuracy
AD - Armed Damage
ADS - Banque Republicaine's Asset Distribution System
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AGL - Agility
AGM - Anti Gear Missile
AOE - Area Of Effect
APGL - Anti Personnel Grenade Launcher
APM - Anti-Personnel Mortar
APP - Appearance
ASI - Allied Southern Intelligence (AST group)
AST - Allied Southern Territories
ATM - Anti Tank Missile
AUX - AUXiliary system
AWU - Affiliated Worker's Union
BCA - Northern Petrochem's Board of Civic Affairs (NLC group)
BLD - Build
BM - Black Mamba (a heavy gear)
BRF - Badlands Revolutionary Front (not BARF! :-)
CAP (Justitia) - Crimes Against the People (SR personal crime)
CAYN (Justitia) - Crimes Against Your Neighbour (SR national crime)
CB - Cluster Bomb Rack
CBS - Counter Battery Sensor
CC - Character Compendium
CC1 - Character Compendium Book One (if you want to be specific)
CDC - Colonial Defense Corps (SR group)
CEF - Colonial Expeditionary Forces (NEC group)
CIB - Criminal Intelligence Bureau (Paxton group)
CIU - NorPol Counterintelligence Unit (NLC group)
CIS - Cause Implimentation Strategy (SR political system)
CNCS - Confederated Northern City States
CPG - Crowd Pacification Group (Paxton group)
CR - Chassis Reinforcement
CRE - Creativity
CREE - Coalition for Rightful Environmental Exploitation (SR group)
CS - Chain Sword
DC - Digging Cannon
DDD - Dominion Dueling Division
DDL - Desert Dueling League
DH - Duelist's Handbook
DHM - Department of Health and Morality (HA group)
DP9 - Dream Pod 9 (the nice folks you bring you Heavy Gear)
DPG - Deployable Pack Gun
DSEC - Deep Space Exploration Corps (SR group)
DTC - Desert Trade Comission (CNCS group)
DTV - Defensive Threat Value
ECCM - Electronic Counter-Counter Measures
ECM - Electronic Counter Measures
EDeC - Economic Development Commission (NLC group)
ELN - Explosive Lance
ESE - Eastern Sun Emirates
EW - Electronic Warfare
F - Forward (firing arc)
FAB - Fuel Air Bomb Rack
FAD - Fine Arts Directorate of the Southern Republic
FC - Fire Control
FF - Fixed Forward (firing arc)
FGC - Fragmentation Cannon
FIT - Fitness
FYI - For Your Information
GCOOME - Gears Coming Out Of My Ears (a large collection of miniatures or
units in the game)
GMS - Game Master's Screen - Available with or without O:JD
GPP - Great Plains Police (SR group)
GREL - Genetically Recombined Experimental Legionnaire
GUN - Gear Up Newsletter
HA - Humanist Alliance
HAAC - Heavy Anti-Aircraft Cannon
HAC - Heavy Autocannon
HACS - Humanoid Armored Combat System (gear)
HAG - Heavy Artillery Gun
HAM - Heavy Artillery Missile
HATM - Heavy Anti Tank Missile
HB - Heavy Bomb Rack
HBZK - Heavy Bazooka
HCB - Heavy Cluster Bomb Rack
HEA - Health
HEO - Head Executive Officer (Paxton)
HFG - Heavy Field Gun
HFL - Heavy Flamer
HFM - Heavy Field Mortar
HG - Hand Grenade
HG - Heavy Gear Rulebook, also Heavy Gear in general
HGDW - Heavy Gear Design Works
HGL - Heavy Grenade Launcher
HGLC - Gattling Laser Cannon
HGM - Heavy Guided Mortar
HGRB - Heavy Gear Rulebook
HHG - Heavy Hand Grenade
HIRA - Humanist Insight and Regulatory Authority (HA group)
HIRP - Heavy Incendiary Rocket Pack
HLC - Heavy Laser Cannon
HLN - Heavy Lance
HMG - Heavy Machine Gun
HMVS - Humanoid Multi Vehicle System (gear; civilian)
HPA - Heavy Particle Accelerator
HPLC - Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon
HPZ - Heavy Panzerfaust
HRF - Heavy Rifle
HRG - Heavy Railgun
HRP - Heavy Rocket Pack
HSKG - Heavy Spike Gun
HWG - Haywire Grenade
HWLN - Haywire Lance
HWP - Haywire Whip
ICP - International Consumer Products
IF - Indirect Fire
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
INF - Influence
IOW - In Other Words
IRP - Incendiary Rocket Pack
ITB - Into The Badlands
IWPB - Infant Welfare Protection Bureau (SR group)
JC - Jovian Chronicles (another Dream Pod 9 game, just so you know)
KA-D - Khayr Ad-Din
KNO - Knowledge
L - Left (firing arc)
LAAC - Light Anti-Aircraft Cannon
LAC - Light Autocannon
LAG - Light Artillery Gun
LAM - Light Artillery Missile
LB - Light Bomb Rack
LBZK - Light Bazooka
LabCon - Labor Congress (NLC group)
LDP - Liberal Democratic Party (NLC group)
LFG - Light Field Gun
LFL - Light Flamer
LFM - Light Field Mortar
LGL - Light Grenade Launcher
LGM - Light Guided Mortar
LLC - Light Laser Cannon
LMG - Light Machine Gun
LN - Lance
LN - Legion Noire (SR group)
LOS - Line Of Sight
LOTF - Lord Of The Flies, aka Prabal Nandy, aka Probe
LOTN - Life On Terra Nova
LPA - Light Particle Accelerator
LPLC - Light Pulse Laser Cannon
LPZ - Light Panzerfaust
LRF - Light Rifle
LRG - Light Railgun
LRP - Light Rocket Pack
MAAC - Medium Anti-Aircraft Cannon
MAC - Medium Autocannon
MAG - Medium Artillery Gun
MAM - Medium Artillery Missile
MAS - Mekong Academy of Science
MB - Medium Bomb Rack
MBZK - Medium Bazooka
MC - Mace
MD - Mekong Dominion
MDC - Mercantile Dueling Circuit, also Mekong Development Corporation
MF - Mauler Fist
MFL - Medium Flamer
MFM - Medium Field Mortar
MIB - Military Intelligence Brance (SR group)
MILICIA - MILitary Counter Insurgency Army (AST group)
MOF - Margin of Failure
MOS - Margin of Success
MP - Movement Points
MPZ - Medium Panzerfaust
MRF - Medium Rifle
MRP - Medium Rocket Pack
MS - Morningstar
MSP - Medicins Sans Politique
MTV - Miscellaneous Threat Value
MV - Maneuver Value
N1 - Northern Vehicles Book One
N2 - Norther Vehicles Book Two
NAF - Norlight Armed Forces
NAF/OMI - Norlight Armed Forces Office of Military Intelligence
NCDC - Northern Confederate Dueling Championship
NDL - Northern Dueling League
NEC - New Earth Commonwealth
NG - Net Gun
NG - Northern Guard (CNCS group)
NGIS - Northern Guard Intelligence Service (CNCS group)
NISA - Norlight Intelligence and Security Agency (NLC group)
NLC - Northern Lights Confederacy
NLCS - Northern Lights Confederacy Sourcebook
NorPol - Norlight National Police (NLC group)
NRB - National Reconstruction Board (NLC group)
NuCoal - New Coalition
NVC - Northern Vehicle Compendium
NVS - Northern Vehicle Sheets
NZR - Norlight Zephyr Rail (NLC group)
O:JD - Operation: Jungle Drums (adventure module)
OACS - Oversized Anthropomorphic Combat System (gear)
OAVS - Oversized Anthropomorphic Vehicle System (gear; civilian)
OLC - Overland Cruise Lines (NLC)
OMS - Open Mind Society (SR group)
OTV - Offensive Threat Value
OWCS - Oversized Walker Combat System (strider)
PaxSec - Paxton Security Services (Paxton group)
PBI - Puffy Blue Iguana (SR student politics group)
PER - Perception
PIM - Parachutistes d'Infantrie Marine (SR group)
PIU - Public Interaction Unit (SRID)
PP - Piston Punch
PSY - Psyche
PX - PX Couriers (short form rather than acronym, really)
QRT - Quick Response Team (specifically in Kenema)
R - Right (firing arc)
RARRS - Records Adminstration and Relational Referencing System (HA)
RFB - Rapid Fire Bazooka
RFD - Republican Federation of Duelists
RMOHO - Rip My Own Head Off (generally used to denote great excitement)
ROF - Rate Of Fire
ROTF - Rolling On The Floor (in laughter)
RR - Rear (firing arc)
S1 - Southern Vehicle Book One
S2 - Southern Vehicle Book Two
SC - Snub Cannon
SAP - Social Action Party (NLC group)
SB1 - StoryBook One
SDG - Self Destruct Grenade
SETS - Sevigny Economic and Taxation System (SR)
SIU - Special Intervention Unit (MILICIA group)
SKG - Spike Gun
SLC - Sniper Laser Cannon
SMS - Secondary Movement System
Sna.. - Snakeye Black Mamba (spoken in fear)
SNS - Satellite News Service
SORCOMD - SOuthern Republic COMmunications Directorate (SR group)
SPFI - Saragossa People's Front for Independance
SPP - Siwan Progress Party (SR group)
SR - Southern Republic
SRA - Southern Republican Army
SRAD - Southern Republic Aerospace Directorate (SR group)
SRAL - Southern Republic Army List
SRID - Southern Republic Intelligence Directorate (SR group)
SRSB - Southern Republic SourceBook
STA - Stamina
STR - Strength
STSL - Southern Territories Soccer League
SVC - Southern Vehicle Compendium
SVS - Southern Vehicle Sheets
SWOS - Special Weapons Operations Squad (Paxton group)
T - Turret (firing arc)
TAS - Tactical Air Support
TCA - Tershaw Cooperative Alliance (defunct arctic nation)
TFS - Tactical Field Support
TM - Technical Manual - usually just 'Techbook' rather than an Acronym
TNB - The New Breed: Battle Before The Storm
TNTR - TerraNovan TransRail
TRG - Tactical Response Group (Paxton)
TV - Threat Value
UD - Unarmed Damage
UMF - United Mercantile Federation
VA - Vibroaxe
VB - Vibroblade
VC - Vibroclaws
VHAC - Very Heavy Autocannon
VHAG - Very Heavy Artillery Gun
VHAM - Very Heavy Artillery Missile
VHFG - Very Heavy Field Gun
VLA - Valeria Legal Academy
VLAC - Very Light Autocannon
VLFG - Very Light Field Gun
VLMG - Very Light Machine Gun
VLRF - Very Light Rifle
VLRP - Very Light Rocket Pack
VR - Vibrorapier
WA - Weapon Accuracy
WACS - Walker Armored Combat System (strider)
WDC - Western Dueling Conference
WFP - Western Frontier Protectorate
WFPA - Western Frontier Protectorate Army
WIL - Willpower
WMA - Western Military Academy (WFP)
WOTA, WotA - War of the Alliance
WP - Whip
YMC - Yele Medical Center
YMMV - Your Milage May Vary
ZeeTran - Zephyr Transport (NLC group)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.) LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

John D. Prins, Author and Current Maintainer.
Jonathan Bezeau, Rabid Southie
Lleyrew, King of the Tinned Meat-Like Substance.
Manshoba, Alphabetizer.
Michael P Oshea, taking a step down from essay writing to help.
James A. Nicholson
<your name here! Contribute!>
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And go on to rule this world from beyond the grave."
"Indeed!"
"That, or check into a mental hospital; whatever comes first."
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John D. Prins
jpr...@interhop.net

------------------------------

End of [HGML] heavygear-digest V4 #43
*************************************

[HGML] heavygear-digest

unread,

Jan 31, 1998, 3:00:00 AM1/31/98

[HGML] heavygear-digest Thursday, January 29 1998 Volume 04 : Number 043

[HGML] Artillery
Re: [HGML] Free email is a good thing.
Re[2]: [HGML] Milani D-S (WAS:Re: Marc, Jean!!)
Re[2]: [HGML] FCOL!! Marc, Jean!!
Re: [HGML] Artillery
[HGML]Utopia explained
[HGML] Product Idea for DP9: Terra Novan Globe
[HGML] Off-Topic Posting
[HGML] HG Roleplaying
Re: [HGML] are other gloves like medi gloves?
Re: [HGML] I played a TAC game on Saturday and....
Re: Re[2]: [HGML] Milani D-S (WAS:Re: Marc, Jean!!)
Re: [HGML] Who controls Paxton/PeaceRivers
[HGML] [TAC] CP usage
[HGML]Regrowing Limbs
Re: [HGML] HOT STOCK - New Upscale Luxury Casino Cruise Ship
Re: [HGML]Terra Novan Globe
Re: [HGML] Artillery
[HGML] [HG][FAQ]Heavy Gear Technical FAQ Version 1.33 [2/2]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:47:13 +0000
From: Mike Kelly <mike....@ul.ie>
Subject: [HGML] Artillery

At 15:52 28/01/98 -0800, you wrote:
>John couldn't use his Sagittarius. In SVC1 (and SRS1) the Sagittarius
>is listed with a LAM (BR60, x12DM, Acc -3 and MR40) This might not
>seem like a problem at first, and didn't for us until well into the
>first turn when we realized that the map board was only 30 hexes
>wide....

Okay, this is a question I've been wanting to ask for the last while: do
people on the list use artillery and if so what is their impression of it?

Why do I ask? Well going with the official rules I cannot see anyone
hitting the proverbial bulls "bum" with the proverbial biscuit tin when it
comes to reqular arty and Arty Missiles are even worse, I know arty is
generally used to pound stationary targets, fortified positions and so on
but surely a LAG should be able to hit a slowly moving target at short
range with some degree of accuracy?

Does anyone have any house rules for artillery? I was thinking of making it
a standard roll to hit, with a negative dice roll meaning the shot deviates
by that many hexes(I know, I know, it breaks the Silhouette Dice rolling
conventions but what can ya do?) This way I have a good chance of hitting
the 50m hex the "bad-guys" are in.

Anyone have any ideas?

Regards,

Mike.

"If God intended for us to talk more than listen, then we'd have two
mouths and one ear "

- Mark Twain

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 08:09:02 +0000
From: "John and Brooke Guilfoyle" <guilf...@ns.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [HGML] Free email is a good thing.

[Warfire comments about a way to avoid per-email charges]

> Umm. Then I would use Hotmail, Rocketmail, or one of the other free
> email domains... Just a thought.

True, but not everyone has access to web-based email services. Lots
of people using library or university terminals are still using
old-style net connections, and many of them don't even have Lynx as a
web browser. Newbies also don't usually know about such services.

> >>Second, and more importantly,
> >>(and the necessary addition of the HGML tag), making the contents of
> >>some off-topic posts unclear even when they're marked as such.
>
> Wait. Once you open it why do you continue to read it? There are many
> On-Topic posts here that I skip because I am not interested.

It's annoying to have to *open* a whole whack of emails I don't want
to read. I do the same thing you do -- I discard certain on-topic
posts before even reading all the way through. But the -last- thing I
need is more mail I need to evaluate before reading or deleting. I
appreciate when people put the [off-topic] in the subject line, but a
large percentage of the posts in question aren't usually marked as
such, meaning that people have already invested a (small, but
noticable) amount of time in figuring out what the post is all about.
After a while, it's not difficult to ID which threads don't interest me
because of their off-topicality, but that means that I've wasted time
by feeding my brain enough information to set up filters of its own.

[snip]

> Our posts make the list.

Yes, the list is the sum of its parts. I guess it would just be nice
if people took the seriously off-topic discussions private. A perfect
example: Camille, with Jean's blessing, just posted a big anti-spam
document. I've got no problem with that. It's a great net aid. Now,
if that post were to generate a whack of follow-up emails
(particularly ones with little or no snip editing), -that- is what
some of us are complaining about. If you want to know more about
anti-spamming, just ask Camille personally.

> Feel free to post RPG stuff. I personally
> don't like RPG (much) but even TAC players can get story ideas for
> TAC scenarios. Most games I run tell a whole story through TAC only
> games.

This isn't the issue. I'm the opposite of you: I'm a roleplayer, not
a wargamer. Heavy Gear is one of the few places in gamedom where the
two genuinely and happily coexist. I happen to greatly enjoy seeing
people's write-ups of how various TAC scenarios play out. I don't
mind seeing tons of TAC stuff; it's the non-HG stuff that flips my
wig.

We're eating bandwidth just talking about it, but I think the issue
might need a little clarification and resolution if certain list
members are to put any hard feelings aside. Fact is, there are worse
things in life than off-topic posts... but the list, I think, would
benefit from a slightly tighter focus, especially regarding follow-ups.
Remember the Starship Troopers flood? I can do without another one of
those.

Sheesh, looking out my window, I see it's stormin' like mad. Joost,
you must be getting walloped. Those of you in the sun today, enjoy
it. I can't get to work because the road is closed. :(

- -Harrigan

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 04:22:33 -0800
From: "Dr.Teeth" <rho...@home.com>
Subject: Re[2]: [HGML] Milani D-S (WAS:Re: Marc, Jean!!)

On Wed, 28 Jan 1998 12:56:31 -0500 (EST), jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins) did mutter:
> ObHG: Will Milani Dubeau-Slovenski take over Paxton Arms, or simply run
> things from the shadows?

I get the feeling she's a 'true power behind the throne' kinda gal. Up
until recently she was certainly comfortable with that role, but now
that no clear viable (viable in her eyes at least) replacement for
President is availble, she might have to step in herself to maintain the
proper order for Paxton she desires. If she can find a proper figurehead,
she'll stay low and enforce policy in that special way she has. :) If
not, she's ambitious enough to go for the Presidency herself. That's my
take at least. I guess my question at this point is who would likely
figurehead president candidates be?

|_
Oo\ Alex 'Ironside' Rhodes - rho...@home.com
U.S.S Electric Mayhem (homepage) - http://www.drh.net/ironside/
(with subsites devoted to Heavy Gear, I76, Car Wars, and Full Thrust)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 04:29:01 -0800
From: "Dr.Teeth" <rho...@home.com>
Subject: Re[2]: [HGML] FCOL!! Marc, Jean!!

On Wed, 28 Jan 1998 10:36:20 -0800, "Saita, Junki" <JSa...@activision.com> did mutter:
> Just out of curiosity.. what exactly are the extreme adverse affects
> brought about to ones person by these "off topic" threads?

The extreme effects is that meaningful (in this case, Heavy Gear
related discourse) discussion becomes non-existant, and a good number of
valuable people leave because of that. The list then *further*
degenerates, and finally, people wonder were the cool Heavy Gear
discussions went. Lots and lots of great information has passed through
this list - tactical variants that have lead to improvements in the game
(our discussion of initiative has sparked lots of innovations to the
combat procedure), RPG ideas (scenarios, stories, additional rules),
storyline discussion (both illuminating and hilarious at times), and
more. We are certainly not seeing that lately. That's a shame.

> By the
> frequency of the whines and cries for "HELP" I'd guess that they MUST be
> affecting you in some extremely negative manner. Maybe if these
> "adverse affects to your person" were posted, those naughty naughty "off
> topicers" will feel for your plight and be more inclined to pay you
> heed.

Why? Thay're having too much fun discussing the off topic posts.
Their lack of self-policing is part of the problem, no? A slap on the
wrist is in order, and some of the old timers are doing just that.

|_
Oo\ Alex 'Ironside' Rhodes - rho...@home.com
U.S.S Electric Mayhem (homepage) - http://www.drh.net/ironside/
(with subsites devoted to Heavy Gear, I76, Car Wars, and Full Thrust)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 14:34:58 +0200 (EET)
From: Janne Kemppi <jke...@mail.student.oulu.fi>
Subject: Re: [HGML] Artillery

> At 15:52 28/01/98 -0800, you wrote:
> >John couldn't use his Sagittarius. In SVC1 (and SRS1) the Sagittarius
> >is listed with a LAM (BR60, x12DM, Acc -3 and MR40) This might not
> >seem like a problem at first, and didn't for us until well into the
> >first turn when we realized that the map board was only 30 hexes
> >wide....
>
> Okay, this is a question I've been wanting to ask for the last while: do
> people on the list use artillery and if so what is their impression of it?
>

I am personally somewhat disappointed with artillery rules.
The artillery missiles give me somewhat poor cousin of modern
multiple rocket launchers. Somehow I'd wanted to have separate
rocket launchers (now you can try it with indirect fire from
rocked pods but it is not really same) with massive volleys
and separate artillery missiles as long range one-shot systems.
Ofcourse you can go around this limitation by making artillery
missiles by yourself as 'vehicles' but still I hoped for more.

Janne Kemppi

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:53:11 +0000 (GMT)
From: K Steward <u6...@ugk.keele.ac.uk>
Subject: [HGML]Utopia explained

Righto then, thanks everyone for responding to my postings. Also thanks for
putting up with my bad spellings, I had been writing a lab report for my
principal and the spell checker on my e-mailer had stopped working....

First off, there are two typos for the Werewolf (sorry). The LMG is damage
x3 and it's maneuver is 0 not +1. The base armor rating for the Werewolf
is 14. In case I didn't include the armor rating for the Hellhound, it is
13, as mentioned in the flavor text.

Secondly I've had a request for a more descriptive version of Utopia's fall.
So here it goes:

When Earth units moved out, the Utopians were not too bothered.
Their economy was sound and they were practically self-sufficient. Now they
had to decide their own defense strategy. After a large debate it was
derided that the best method for the defense of Utopia was a space defense
grid of patrol ships and defense platforms. This would hopefully stop any
aggressive forces getting near Utopia and cause any damage to what they had
struggled so hard to complete, which they were proud and a little over
protective of. The shipyards were built and concentrated on local defense
craft. The time to produce a Gate drive was considered too expensive when
two or more system drive of comparitable performance could be made.

This state of affairs continued and Utopia flourished. Two colony
ships were sent in the opposite direction to Earth and the rest of the
former colonies. These were never heard from again. It was assumed that
they had concentrated their time on building their colony up instead of
communicating with Utopia.

Two years before the War of Alliance the CEF attacks Utopia.
However, although the Utopian forces are formidable, they do not take into
account the three groups attacking at different points. One battle fleet
attacks directly at the main Gate to draw off patrol fleets, and a second
battle fleet draws off any reserve fleets. The final fleet is the invasion
fleet and it smashes through the defense platforms, taking medium casualties.
If the Utopians had ground forces comparitable to the TN, they would have
easily held off the CEF. However, they had very few effective ground forces
compared to the CEF since they had concentrated on orbital defense, and a
surrender was issued as soon as the CEF came in sight of the capital.

The Utopian defense grid takes out a sizable number of the CEF
forces and the following time until the War of Alliance is spent rebuilding
using Earth designs, since they consider CEF designs inferior. The invasion
occurs earlier than because the commander in charge of the invasion
considers that since the CEF smashed through the Utopian's defense grid
quickly, then "a group of cargo lifters equipped with guns" would be of
little threat. The invasion fails due to combined TN forces fighting a
smaller force than planned. Most of the forces return to Earth and Utopia.

The returning forces bring news and plans for the gear combat
system. Three companies apply to buy these plans. Nestor technologies gains
the plans for the Iguana and Magnus Corporation gains the plans for the
Warrior. The third company, Belsaurus, a tank constructor, gets the plans for
the Thunder Lizard, a four legged strider. They produce a series of gears
and striders based on the stolen plans (and in the case of the Warrior a
stolen gear) which are surprising good. All these manufactures are in fact
working as a covert group and are secretly building up an army to take back
their world. Earth commanders question the use of these 'alien'
technologies in their companies. But they might find them useful as long as
they produce the expected number of hovertanks, why should they care, they
defeated them once, they can do it again.

Appendium: I might do a alien invasion by the Stonehead aliens and
then an exploration fleet from TN (a mentioned in the TN source-book section
A long way from home), which includes players who have done the adventure in
the back of the HG rule book Ed.1, finds out what had happened. Yes I know
it's very much like the last arc in Robotech, but I really liked it.

Anyway, that has probably caused more confusion :^)

Hope this explains what I was getting at.

- --
Kristen Steward u6...@ugk.keele.ac.uk
...and Sir Robin-the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, who nearly fought
the Dragon of Agnor, who nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol
and who had personally wet himself at the battle of Badon Hill...
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- --

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 08:54:20 +0000
From: "John and Brooke Guilfoyle" <guilf...@ns.sympatico.ca>
Subject: [HGML] Product Idea for DP9: Terra Novan Globe

Here's an idea for our much-loved, over-worked podsters:

How much would design and production costs be to produce a globe of
Terra Nova? The maps are cool (especially Julian's, though I've not
yet seen a physical copy), but nothing conveys the spatial
relationships on a sphere quite like, well, a sphere. :)

The Badlands come off well with flat map projection, but I think both
polar regions would greatly benefit from being on a globe rather than
the edges of a wraparound map.

People, would there be much desire for such a thing? I know -I'd-
order one. I'm betting the production of them would just be too
expensive, but one can always dream...

- -Harrigan

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 08:56:19 -0600
From: Toreador <kin...@total.net>
Subject: [HGML] Off-Topic Posting

Blackraven wrote:
>Uhmm... it says Re: HGML (off topic) where's the prob?

The whole point of the list is to discuss Heavy Gear (and Jovian
Chronicles on the JC list), NOT to discuss unrealted subjects. That's
why it's a HG list.

Toreador, Badlander

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:15:12 -0600
From: Toreador <kin...@total.net>
Subject: [HGML] HG Roleplaying

Harrigan wrote:
>The Glass Masao
<<SNIP>>
>-Harrigan (who hopes people see this as 'signal')

This was awesome! We should have more of this kind of thing on the
list! While playing the TAC version can be fun, reading endless messages
nitpicking over minute details of the rules definately isn't!

Toreador, Badlander

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:30:34 -0500 (EST)

From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)

Subject: Re: [HGML] are other gloves like medi gloves?

> I just thought about this... do other data gloves
>like field engineer data gloves and other such gloves give
>any bonus when used for the skill they seem to go after?
>like if you have a data glove with information on how to,
>let's say, um, demolishing buildings. Would you get a +2
>to demolition in roleplaying games?

The Tech Rigs are listed as containing 'the basic tools necessary' for
repairs of all kinds. It's sort of considered to be the 'baseline' equipment
for anything but jury-rigging. OTOH, 'baseline' equipment for First
Aid/Medicine is probably a knife, a saw, some thread, a bottle of alcohol
(sterilizer/painkiller) and some strips of cloth. Even the first aid kit in
the HG rulebook is pretty advanced - plenty of drugs, self-sealing bandages,
pseudoskin, cauterizer, sterilizer. Hardly 'necessary' equipment. The
medical glove is even fancier (and 'handier', pardon the pun). But you won't
get very far repairing a transmission without a set of wrenches et.al.,
which is what the Tech Rig amounts to.

A dataglove specifically built for demolitions (not just loaded with
demolitions info) would probably be worth a bonus. It would have stuff like
live wire detectors, snips, chemical neutralizing sprays, and all sorts of
other junk. It'll be expensive, rare, and probably restricted equipment.
Plus it'll be hard to use in the turtleshell armor smart demotechs wear ^_^.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And go on to rule this world from beyond the grave."
"Indeed!"
"That, or check into a mental hospital; whatever comes first."
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John D. Prins
jpr...@interhop.net

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:30:40 -0500 (EST)

From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)

Subject: Re: [HGML] I played a TAC game on Saturday and....

>about the LAM, couldn't you just use direct fire with it (AE=0 I think so you
>shouldn't have any probblems being far enough away in plain sight unless this
>is in skirmish mode or there is another detail I don't know about :\) and the
>-2 to hit is kind of bad, especially since it has nothing to counter-act that
>:\ oh well... hope that helps ya out some

The problem is the MR40 characteristic. In HG, you can't attack vehicles
within minimum range. The weapon is designed to be fired at long range
targets; it probably can't even acquire until well after it's launched. Mind
you, the Saggitarius does have a LAC and HMG (and 32 armor plus HEAT
Resistance), so it wasn't completely helpless, but it's a LOT of wasted TV,
compared to, say, a Naga. ATM's for everybody! <fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh!>

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:30:37 -0500 (EST)

From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)

Subject: Re: Re[2]: [HGML] Milani D-S (WAS:Re: Marc, Jean!!)

>> ObHG: Will Milani Dubeau-Slovenski take over Paxton Arms, or simply run
>> things from the shadows?
>
> I get the feeling she's a 'true power behind the throne' kinda gal.
> That's my
>take at least. I guess my question at this point is who would likely
>figurehead president candidates be?

<evil grin> Helena Hitashi?

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:26:52
From: "Lloyd D. Jessee" <jes...@iquest.net>
Subject: Re: [HGML] Who controls Paxton/PeaceRivers

Hello,

>ObHG: Will Milani Dubeau-Slovenski take over Paxton Arms, or simply run
>things from the shadows?

I have a feeling that if she does not approve of you, you will not be
incharge for very long...I dont think she wants to run the show, but she
will make sure the show gets ran correctly.

>John D. Prins
>jpr...@interhop.net

Lloyd Doug "Jesster" Jessee - jes...@iquest.net
Silhouette and DP9 FanBoy - http://www.dp9.com
http://www.members.iquest.net/~jesster/index.html
- --Quote-- ---ICQ#: 2874545----
"No, really, she has a speaking part." -Me

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:32:04 -0600
From: "Dan Higdon" <hd...@charybdis.com>
Subject: [HGML] [TAC] CP usage

Here's another minute detail nitpick-over-the-rules kinda post. :-)

We all seem to agree that CPs being used for multiple attacks can be at best
unrealistic, and at worst severely munchie. Especially when ECM is in
play -
you go from a game where everyone is taking multiple "free" shots to a game
where only one side gets this magical power. I don't believe ECM is
expensive
enough to account for the fact that it can cut the number of enemy actions
by a HUGE amount, so I think something's broken (IMHO, of course).

So, I've come up with the following house rule variations:

"Cinematic": played as-is, with the full "Hong Kong Phooey" level of
superhuman
acts of daring-do that it implies. Very simple book-keeping, but somewhat
unrealistic.
"What? Just because my commander is good, suddenly I can do 3 or 4 more
things in
a round for free than I could without him?" And conversely, "Hey, that
little Cheetah is
keeping me from taking 4 attacks a round for free!"

"Heroic": CPs are used as normal, but each subsequent action taken by CP
gets
a cumulative -1. This simulates that it's hard to take multiple actions,
but a good
commander can make it easier by better orchestrating the attack. I find
this version
more palletable, but it still allows people to take more actions with fewer
penalties when
being bossed around than they ever could on their own (or under ECM). I
still have
problems believing that being interrupted by anyone, TAC genious or not, can
allow you
to attack more often and more effectively than following your combat
instincts.

"Realistic": CPs can no longer be used for extra actions, but only for
movement tasks.
This way, if you want to shoot twice, declare it and eat the -1s. CPs are
meant to simulate
the commander's initiative and battle planning strategy. Since the TAC game
is turn based
(and therefore not realistic, but rather a simulation) CPs allow the player
to alter the sequence
of events in the game by activating units out of order, not get screwed by
having the wrong
facing, and (nearly equivalently) being prepared for an attack by another
unit.

With my "realistic" interpretation, there's no more bookkeeping than
standard, you just don't
allow CPs to become free actions. CPs only alter the sequence of events,
and allow a unit
to be "bailed out" of a really hot situation. Also, under ECM screen, all
that happens is that
the jammed side cannot adequately react to enemy movements, and are forced
to move in
the "standard" order. This makes ECM a big advantage in battle planning and
maneuvering,
but not in actual weapons firing.

What do you think? I haven't tried to playtest either "Heroic" or
"Realistic", but you can easily
imagine how the realistic option would work (much like the old system, but
with more sensible
movement and reaction fire rules).

- ----------------------------------------
hd...@charybdis.com
There's no one left to finger
No one here to blame

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:41:40 -0600
From: Brian Aucoin <bau...@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: [HGML]Regrowing Limbs

Hello all,

I have a few questions about the rules for using genetic manipulations
to regroup missing limbs.
The Technical Manual gives the rules for Genetic Manipulations of
attributes but is vague on regrowth.

1. Can only limbs be regrown, how about organs such as eyes or kidneys?

2. How much does it cost to have them regenerated? Is the cost
different for arms or legs?

3. What is the recovery time for the process?

4. Are the rules for the chances of success based on a health check for
the patient or a skill
check for the doctor? Are the same rules used for regrowth, with
the same modifiers for
age?

All of this has been bugging me, many of the opening chapter stories
mention people losing limbs in combat and having them regrown.

Thanks,

Brian Aucoin
- --------------------------------
"Ain't life a b...." Edward "Fast Eddie" Hawkins from Europa Incident.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:06:38 -0800
From: "Ian Hayes" <jabbe...@thegrid.net>
Subject: Re: [HGML] HOT STOCK - New Upscale Luxury Casino Cruise Ship

>From the home office in Santa Clarita, it: LET'S WHACK THE SPAMMER

Remember, when tracing spams sent to HGML, you have to sort through 2 sets
of headers: the set coming from the spammer to the mailing list, and the
Majordomo mailing it to you. Here is the originating IP address of the
spammer:

Received: from mail.atl.bellsouth.net (host-209-138-29-119.ATL.BELLSOUTH.net
[209.138.29.119]) by mail.atl.bellsouth.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id
DAA04753;
Thu, 29 Jan 1998 03:39:40 -0500 (EST)

Here the spammer is claiming to be the mailserver for Bellsouth, but Bell's
server did a reverse lookup and posted it into the headers. Wasn't that nice
of them.... Complaint sent to Bellsouth's abuse dept.

>To: Fri...@public.com

This is a wonderful string to filter off of.

>Catch the latest wave - The Upscale Luxury Casino Cruise Market.
>Visit our web site at http://www.advantage-life.com for all the details.
>Check out Stock Symbol : ADVT which trades on the NASDAQ OTC BB. The stock
is
>currently undervalued and trading at $0.50 a share and has seen a large
price increase in just the past
>few days. Analysts predict the stock could be as high as $3.00 by
mid-March 1998. Get in on this ground >floor opportunitywhile there is
still time.

A lie. Advantage-life is being traded on the NASDAQ for $.34/share

Now traceroute shows that www.advantage-life.com is getting conntectivity
through emaildirect.com, who gets it's connectivity through ACSI, which for
a while was the new AGIS. Complaints sent to the appropriate people.

WHOIS shows a nice little connection. Advantage-life.com gets it's DNS from
TSF-Industries, which is a spamhaus. TSF-Industries are run by the brothers
(S)Melle, who are being sued by AOL for spamming, and for also trying to
blackmail AOL into letting them spam. They threatened to post 5 million AOL
screen names unless AOL allowed them to spam.

The Bellsouth account will probably get killed, but ACSI is pretty slow in
whacking their customers. Ant that's how it's done.

- -----
The One Man Cabal! A good Scout/Sniper does not need God or a suitcase
nuke....
"There is nothing that cannot be accomplished by applyinga heavy
brick to the correct skull"
Inventor of the Orbital Anvil Bombardment System
If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of
meat.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:16:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Esteban Oceana <oce...@mail.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: [HGML]Terra Novan Globe

>How much would design and production costs be to produce a globe of
>Terra Nova? The maps are cool (especially Julian's, though I've not
>yet seen a physical copy), but nothing conveys the spatial
>relationships on a sphere quite like, well, a sphere. :)

Do we want a really nice, solid type with built in stand like you would see
in a classroom?

Personally, I'd prefer the blow-up beachball type. That way you can
pretend to be a megalomaniacal CEF commander and bounce TN in the palm of
your hand ... bonk it to the floor ...

Esteban Oceana - "I am ze great Iraqi leader ... Sodamn Insane!"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:16:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Esteban Oceana <oce...@mail.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: [HGML] Artillery

>Okay, this is a question I've been wanting to ask for the last while: do
>people on the list use artillery and if so what is their impression of it?
>
>Why do I ask? Well going with the official rules I cannot see anyone
>hitting the proverbial bulls "bum" with the proverbial biscuit tin when it
>comes to reqular arty and Arty Missiles are even worse, I know arty is
>generally used to pound stationary targets, fortified positions and so on
>but surely a LAG should be able to hit a slowly moving target at short
>range with some degree of accuracy?

I don't know if you followed the Lioness Design thread from the beginning
of this month ... but I had built a size 6 gear (w/stabilizer) that carried
a LAG with +1 Acc to the LAG (weapon quality rules). After adding up all
of the modifiers at short range (total of +3), this meant that a direct hit
(w/+1 PER gunner) required a dice roll of 5! If using an open sheaf (AE=1,
1/2 dam) then a dice roll of 4(!) would hit the desired hex (1 hex
deviation). Anything within the affected hex(es) would need to defend
against an 8 (7 in most open sheaf hexes). Even with a successful defense,
everything in those hexes still takes *FULL* damage from the attack because
it *is* artillery. Defensive failures would push up the attack MoS,
meaning that even a LAG could hurt an armored unit (with enemy cooperation
in dice rolls).

LAMs are both worse (lower Acc) and better (can use TDs). With a TD (+2
Acc) in operation a LAM is at +1 Acc relative to basic tube artillery
LAG-VHAG. This means that you want to use LAM-VHAMs in much the same way
you would other missiles (not rockets) ... designate, boom.

Before 2nd Ed. came along, the AE power of artillery could do AE damage to
infantry ... VERY messy. However under the new ruling, AE *and*
Anti-Infantry is required to do nasty AE damage to infantry units ... which
vastly decreases artillery's power beacuse none are classified as
Anti-Infantry. IMO, the LAG/LAM should be classified as Anti-Infantry
since they're not really powerful enough against armor (gears, etc.).
Think I'll query Marc-Alex about that privately btw ...

The moral of the story is ... if you want to use artillery, the arty unit
really *needs* to have a +1 FiCon (TV go high tho') or better, especially
if you plan to use it at ranges beyond Short. If you plan to use Long
range, it basically must have a Sniper Sight perk to offset range
penalties, otherwise it becomes too hazardous to use around your own
troops. and no matter how you slice it, you're going to need FOs in order
to use artillry effectively.

"The only thing more accurate than enemy fire is incoming friendly fire."
"Incoming fire has the right of way."

Esteban Oceana - "awwww, he faw down and go boom!"

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:49:42 -0500 (EST)

From: jpr...@interhop.net (John and Ron Prins)

Subject: [HGML] [HG][FAQ]Heavy Gear Technical FAQ Version 1.33 [2/2]

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. QUESTIONS ABOUT AIRCRAFT.

6.1: Why does the Buzzard (TAS) cost so much?

The communication range accounts for 1,000,000 of its miscellaneous threat
value. There's your price problem.

6.2: Why does the Aspic (TAS) cost so much?

High manuever value (+1, for a plane) coupled with a high top speed (66) and
a low stall speed (8, for an interceptor) plus limited production all spell
disaster for the Republic's pocket book. The real pity is that they aren't
getting a decent plane out of the bargain.

6.3: When planes attack ground targets, which scale do you use, air war or
tactical scale?

Aircraft attacking ground targets use tactical scale ranges, because ground
targets are hard to pick out from ground clutter. Ground targets attacking
planes at altitude 1 or more use air war ranges, as nothing restricts their
field of fire.

6.4: What's a hopper?

A hopper is a vectored thrust VTOL craft that can perform both like a
helicopter and a jet aircraft. Such hoppers make excellent ground attack
platforms, offering the low-speed and altitude capability of the helicopter,
but without the vulnerable rotary wing.

6.5: Why don't aircraft dominate the Terra Novan battlefield like they do today?

Terra Novans have Anti-Aircraft LASER emplacements powered by fusion
reactors. Also, the atmosphere of Terra Nova is pretty volatile, even on the
poles. Storms can pop up very quickly, so pilots must be very careful of
when and where they fly. But when aircraft can operate, they do make a
significant difference on the battlefield; a hopper or helicopter is still
the tank's worst enemy.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.) QUESTIONS ABOUT WEAPONS

7.1: How far can a gear really throw a grenade?

In tactical scale combat, grenades are 0 range weapons, and can only be used
at opponants in the same hex. However, the grenade does gain the point blank
attack bonus. Officially, vehicle grenades are size 1 objects, and can be
thrown a base number of meters equal the following formula: (Arm Size -
Object Size) x 2. So a Size 5 arm can throw a grenade 8m/16m/32m/48m, a Size
6 arm 10m/20m/40m/80m, and a Size 7 arm 12m/24m/48m/96m.

7.2: If missiles expend ammo at a rate of 2^ROF, why doesn't grenade launchers?

The official, Dream Pod 9 reason for this is that any weapon that is
affected by Anti-Missile Systems uses the ammo expendature rate of 2^ROF,
and systems that do not use 10 x ROF. So if you want to give grenade
launchers or rapid-fire bazookas the ROF^2 rate of ammo expendature, they
must be subject to Anti-Missile Systems.

7.3: How much ammo do I expend if I walk saturation fire?

30 rounds (or 8 rockets) per ROF used per hex; and you MUST use one ROF
point in every hex to saturate (saturatation requires +1 ROF). So a +3 ROF
weapon could saturate three hexes, expending 90 rounds of ammunition (or 24
rockets) in the process. Each hex gains no benefit from the ROF because one
half of +1 ROF is rounded down to 0.

7.4: How do I add haywire ammunition to weapons that have no ammunition?

Just multiply the base cost of the weapon by 15. Yes, this is expensive, but
it never runs out of charges.

7.5: Can you use Anti-Tank and Anti-Gear missiles against aircraft?

Common sense would dictate a no, but there are no rules prohibiting this
tactic, though it will often be overkill. AGMs are more likely to be used in
air to air combat than ATMs.

7.6: Why don't more units use lasers?

Lasers are expensive to produce, fragile, and require frequent maintenance.
So they're a bad idea on you basic fighting machine. Tanks are the best
platform for laser weapons, where they can be housed in large anti-shock
mounts and draw off of large capacitor batteries.

7.7: Are particle beams effective?

Sometimes. They are high accuracy weapons and do decent amounts of damage,
but they have the same problems as lasers. They are, however, excellent if
you want to capture or immobilize your opponants without killing them, as
they are more likely to do multiple light criticals than any heavy criticals.

7.8: Do Anti-Missile Systems work against Bazooka shells?

No. Anti-Missile Systems only work against rockets, missiles, mortars,
panzerfausts, artillery missiles, and bombs.

7.9: How much damage does orbital bombardment do?

Everyone with the 'Satellite Uplink' perk wants to know this one. Unless
you're a landship, orbital artillery is instantly fatal to the craft and its
operators. Orbital weapons are probably area effect weapons too, so don't
expect to survive just on maneuverability. The only real defense against
orbital artillery is sheer luck and not being spotted in the first place.
Thankfully, orbital artillery is expensive and not always available, so it
is pretty much a game master plot device (for now).

7.10: Do Digging Cannons (TFS) add to OTV or MTV?

Offensive Threat Value. They are actual weapons.

7.11: How do you build a gun like the paratrooper gears' combination rifle?

Arms can carry as many 'combination' weapons as their size times 1.5. So a
size 6 arm can carry 9 size worth of weapons, provided neither weapon exceeds
size 6. This has no effect on threat value.

7.12: Do melee weapons use Maneuver as their bonus?

No. While melee attacks use piloting+AGL, they still use Fire Control to
attack. Only kicks and rams use Maneuver instead of Fire Control.

7.13: Can I put a Weapon Link (perk) on my Target Designator to make it
go off with a guided weapon?

No. The Target Designator is a perk, not a weapon, and cannot be chained into
a Weapon Link.

7.14: Can I Sniper my Target Designator?

No. Target Designators cannot be Snipered, becuase, strictly speaking, they are
not weapons, they are perks. While they function like a weapon, they provide a
bonus to guided weapons to strike the designated target - a very different
effect
than causing damage.

7.15: How much ammo can my weapon hold? What if I use clips?

The amount of ammo that can be loaded/attached to a weapon via either clip or
internal magazine is limited by the size of the vehicle. The Minimum Size of the
weapon plus the increase based on ammo (Rulebook pg 124) may not exceed the
actual size of the vehicle in question. A Stabilizer (perk) allows you to
consider the vehicle in question to be 2 points larger (actual size) for
mounting considerations, but only for that weapon (you could buy more
Stabilizers for other weapons, of course). The only real benefit clips provide
is a quick supply of 'replacement' ammunition; the maximum amount of ammo
actually IN the weapon is the same as if you used an internal magazine. Any
additional ammunition carried is subject to destruction from AUX hits; clips in
a weapon are subject to Fire Control hits.

7.16: Are Anti-Gear Missiles Indirect weapons?

Though some book entries contradict one another on this issue, AGMs are
definitely Indirect weapons.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.) QUESTIONS ABOUT LANDSHIPS.

8.1: What's a Landship?

The name says it all. A landship is a ship that travels on land. They are
the biggest warcraft on Terra Nova.

8.2: How does a landship move?

The very small ones use conventional vectored thrust (hovercraft), but the
majority use a combination of vectored thrust and magnetic repulsion (and
possibly sub-atomic repulsion forces; it is not clearly understood by most
scientists, even on Terra Nova). This is only possible due to the presence
of many strong magnetic monopoles scattered about on the surface of Terra Nova.

8.3: How much armor does a landship carry?

LOTS. Exactly how much is as yet undefined, but expect landships to have a
bare minimum on 100 armor points (and I mean BARE MINIMUM; most will have
much more). Also, landships are likely to take damage in a different manner
than conventional craft; they are too large for the current system to
accurately reflect manner in which something that size would suffer from
weapons fire.

8.4: What kind of armaments does a landship carry?

It varies, and has yet to be fully specified by Dream Pod 9. Most landships
will carry anti-aircraft lasers, naval cannons and railguns, short, long and
'intercontinental' missiles (Terra Nova has no per se continents, only
tectonic plates), as well as hoppers, tanks, striders and gears for
self-defense.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.) QUESTIONS ABOUT SPACECRAFT.

9.1: What's a Tannhauser Drive?

A Tannhauser Drive is really just a particle accelerator. What it does is
shoots a stream of antimatter into a 'Tannhauser Gate', a spatial
discontinuity found in some planetary systems. When thus stimulated, the
Tannhauser Gate expands and 'sucks' all nearby matter into itself and out
into normal space on the other side (light years away). Travel time is
instantaneous.

9.2: What are the statistics for a Gateship?

Dream Pod 9 has yet to divulge any such statistics. Same goes for any other
spacecraft.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.) QUESTIONS ABOUT ARTILLERY.

10.1: How does the Counter-Battery Sensor (TFS) work? It's not clear.

Sadly, a major error crept into the Tactical Field Support. The range of CBS
is its rating TIMES its sensor range. So a vehicle with rating 1 CBS and a
sensor range of 2 km (40 hexes) has a base range of 40 hexes to spot
artillery (320 hexes extreme range). The target must reveal which of the CBS'
range bands he is in so a proper penalty can be applied to the attempt to
hit. This problem was corrected in the Vehicle Compendiums, but I'm leaving
the answer here - TFS:A&GS won't be obsolete for a while.

10.2: How much ammo does the Red Bull (TFS) carry?

Twelve salvoes for each gun.

10.3: How much ammo does the Stinger (TFS) carry?

Sixteen LAMs.

10.4: What rating is the Seeker's (TFS) optional CBS?

Rating 1.

10.5: Hey!!! The Verder (TFS) has only one shot! What gives?

Some people have pointed out that the Verder is based on an Aller chassis,
which we know is size 15 (not 14), so the Verder SHOULD be able to carry
three salvoes. However, the V-Man is sticking to his guns; the Verder has
one volley only. Several concessions were made, however. Firstly, the ammo
is considered to be clipped, so reloading should be very fast. Second, the
Verder carries a supply of 'marker' shells for ranging fire; so you don't
have to blow your one shot with zero accuracy.

10.6: How am I supposed to hit anything with a threshold of 8?

You're stationary (+2) with a good (+1 PER) to excellent (+2 PER) gunner.
Also, you've made a few ranging shots to lower the threshold, and you might
even be using guided artillery. But if you really want accurate fire, don't
use artillery.

10.7: Do missed artillery shots act like ordinary area effect attacks?

No. They do FULL base damage to everything in the hex, not half base
damage.

10.8: How much damage does deviated artillery shots do?

Roll the vehicle's dodge roll and compare it to the artillery's (failed)
attack roll to hit the target hex, and calculate damage as normal (base
damage is still the minimum). So you can still kill tanks with those
deviated artillery barrages (it just isn't easy).
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.) QUESTIONS ABOUT NEURAL NETS.

11.1: Can you just pull out your gear's neural net (NNet) brain and plug it
into another gear?

Maybe. Gear NNets are learning computers, so they could conceivably learn to
pilot any similar machine to its original housing. However, connectors may
not be standard in every gear, and the NNet will need time to adjust to its
new body, even if it is almost identical to the original. So, in most cases,
the answer is a conditional yes.

11.2: Can you put your gear's NNet into a strider?

No. Striders are significantly different from gears, so they have their own
'brand' of NNets. Tanks and aircraft may also use NNets, which are specific
to their own 'type' of machine.

11.3: Can you repair a Neural Net if it gets damaged?

No, they're far too complex. Chuck it out.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.) QUESTIONS ABOUT FUEL CONSUMPTION.

12.1: Auuugh! The fuel consumption rules in the Technical Manual are
confusing! Can you help me out?

Sure. What's confusing you is probably the lack of units. Mass is in metric
tons, combat speed in kilometers per hour.

The first thing you want to do is determine how many Energy Points
(EP) your machine has. To do this, find out how many EPs it must spend
for every kilometer in its MOST efficient movement mode. For gears, that
would be Ground. Then multiply that by the 'deployment range' in kilometers
of the vehicle in question (ignoring Fuel Efficient and Inefficient
perk/flaws, for the moment). This will give you the total EPs of your
vehicle. For example, let's take the stock Jager.

Mass (6.637 Tons) x Combat Speed (36 kph) x 0.175 (ground) = 41.8131 EP/km
41.8131 EP/km x 500 km Deployment = 20906.55 EP total.

A quick conversion (300 EP = 1 litre standard fuel) will show that this
amounts to 69.6885 litres of fuel. But how far can the gear travel on this
if it just walks? Well, in walker mode, the Jager uses this much fuel:

Mass (6.637) x Combat Speed (24 kph) x 0.525 = 83.6262 EP/km.

Divide this amount into the total EPs in the fuel tank to get the actual
range in kilometers:

20906.55 / 83.6262 = 250 km.

So the Jager can only travel half as far in walker mode as it can in
ground mode.

12.2: So that's at combat speed. What about top speed?

Top speed gulps down fuel at twice the rate. So each kilometer of movement
takes up twice the EPs. For our trusty Jager, that would mean at top speed
it would use 167.2524 EP/km in top speed walker mode - meaning it could
only travel 125km!

12.3: What if my vehicle is fuel efficient?

Divide the number of EP/km by the appropriate amount. For example, if our
Jager had 1.5x Fuel Efficiency, then it would be using:

41.8131 / 1.5 = 27.8754 EP/km (ground) and have an appropriately longer
range. Note that this applies ONLY to when travelling at combat speed,
at top speeds, normal fuel consumption applies (double the standard
combat speed fuel consumption rates).

12.4: And fuel inefficient?

This flaw increases the fuel consumption at TOP speed by its rating.
Multiply the EP/km by (1 + Fuel Inefficent Rating) x 2 to get the final
EP/km fuel consumption for top speed travel. For example, let's say
our Jager had Fuel Inefficient Rating 2. It would consume:

41.8131 x [(1 + 2) x 2] = 41.8131 x 6 = 250.8786 EP/km (ground, top
speed) and a top speed ground deployment range of 83.3 km!

12.5: And inappropriate fuel?

Inappropriate fuel provides less EP per litre of fuel. So use the above
method to discover the amount of standard fuel (in litres) you carry.
Then multiply the number of litres times the EP amount of the
'inappropriate' fuel. Let's say our stock Jager got issued cheap
whiskey instead of good gasoline. While the pilot may be happy, the
gear is not:

69.6885 litres x 100 EP/litre (inappropriate fuel) = 6988.5 EP. On this
tank of booze, using combat ground speed, our Jager can only travel
6988.5 / 41.8131 = 167.1 km, and probably needs a good cleaning after
its trip. The Fuel Inefficient Jager featured in 12.4 could only travel
27.9 km (top speed, ground) on this fuel load!

12.6: What about airplanes?

Always calculate an airplane's fuel load from its FLIGHT movement mode,
or you'll get confused. Let's look at the Quetzal:

27 Tons x 960 kph x 0.2 = 5184 EP/km
2000 km deployment x 5184 EP/km = 10368000 EP / 300 = 34560 litres.

Obviously, jets use more efficient fuel than your average ground
vehicle - otherwise this fuel load would outweigh the plane! My guess
is that 'jet fuel' is anywhere from 1000 - 3000 EP per litre - I'm
no expert on common jet body/fuel mass ratios.

If you had calculated this fuel load from the Quetzal's ground
movement, you would get this result:

27 Tons x 150 kph x 0.175 = 708.75 EP/km x 2000 km = 1417500 EP.
Which would mean that in flight mode it could only go 273.4 km, far
too short a flight range. Note that most flying vehicles really don't
have an actual 'ground' mode; rather, they are pushing themselves
along with their jet engines on unmotorized wheels. If this were
not the case, the Quetzal, using ground mode, could travel 14628.6
km!

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
13.) ABUSIVE PERKS.

Certain perks have proven to be far more efficient and effective than their
cost would indicate. In the interests of game balance, designers should take
special care not to frivolously use such perks in their designs just because
they give such good advantages. Perks considered 'abusive' are as follows:

* Advanced Controls: Actions are very powerful, so this perk should be
restricted in use. Though its cost will likely prevent too much abuse.
* Automation: This perk provides extra 'crewmembers'. The first crewmember
is almost the same cost as advanced controls (above), which will prevent
abuse, but thereafter, it gets cheaper. For example, one 'crewmember' (+1
action on a one-man machine) costs 11, but three (+2 actions on a one-man
machine) costs 13. And seven (+3 actions) costs 17. I wouldn't want to see a
600 TV gear with 4 actions as its base, would you?
* Easy to Modify: In a single engagement, this won't much come into play,
but in a campaign, an easy to modify machine will (almost) always be
repaired first.
* Improved Off-Road Ability: Can turn a standard machine on good terrain
into a speed demon on lousy terrain; a very large advantage.
* Shielded Weapons: Virtually negates fire control table hits.
* Sniper Systems: Often appropriate, but sometimes abused, just because it's
'handy to have'.
* Advanced Neural Net (NVC1): Grants +1 maneuver without affecting the DTV of
a vehicle. Almost never appropriate, far too advanced.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.) CHEESY FLAWS.

Just as certain perks have proven to be abusive, so have certain flaws been
shown to give far more 'cost benefit' than they're worth. If you use these
flaws on a vehicle you intend to post to the list, expect some negative
feedback unless you have really good reasons (though we're mostly a nice bunch).

* Annoyance: Alright in moderation, but put three or more on a single
machine and it will reek of limburger.
* Hazardous Ammo/Fuel Storage: Fuel/Ammo hits only occur on heavy damage
criticals, and then only one in six times; besides, ammo hits ALWAYS disable
the vehicle involved, so this flaw just improves the chances of crew kills a
SMALL percentage of the time.
* Poor Towing Capability: When was the last time you towed something with
your gear? I thought so! This one wins the prize for cheapo loser flaw
number one.
* Vulnerable to Haywire: Provides a BIG discount, but how often do you run
into a Kodiak or King Cobra, anyways? Right. Besides, two critical rolls
will nail you almost as often as three will.
* Difficult to Modify (SVC1): Okay for prototypes, but just not believable for
anything that will ever see combat on any regular basis. Only stealth planes
have this flaw, and they avoid combat.
* Inefficient Combat Computer (SVC1): Most people don't fire more than once
per turn anyways (every penalty and bonus counts), so this doesn't often
effect the machine it's on. It's low discount, though, so it's not too cheesy.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.) MANLY FLAWS.

Manly flaws are flaws that put you at a real (but not crippling)
disadvantage. They are the exact opposite of cheesy flaws. Bonus points
to anybody who puts them on their machine, because these babies COUNT.
These flaws add spice to piloting the vehicle. Of course, too many and
you've got a worthless machine, but hey...

*Cannot Glide (TAS) (real men fly tanks!)
*Decreased Maneuver (NVC1)
*Defective Fire Control
*Exposed Fire Control
*Exposed Movement System
*Fragile Chassis
*Large Sensor Profile (hiding is for wimps! <ducks Snakeye laser fire>)
*Overheating (Extreme Overheating is crippling)
*Sensor Dependant
*Weak Facing
*Weak Underbelly (SVC1)
*Unstability (SVC1) (affects dodge rolls, folks!)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.) LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS (in no particular order).

John D. Prins, author and current maintainer of the FAQ.
Alistair Gillies, seeker and divulger of HG Errata.
Alex Rhodes, explainer of the V-Engine.
Michael P. Oshea, essay writer and question-asker.
Dan Higdon, figure-outer of the kinetics of the Mammoth's walk.
Prabal Nandy (aka Probe), smarter than the average Mantis.
Jason Prince, who asked about movement hits.
Mark A. Vezina, arbiter of rules questions.

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