Ultra-Tech: DR/Damage Comparison
So many times have I heard people complaining about GURPS Ultra-Tech. One of the most common complaints is the so-called "rocket tag" firefighting. Weapons are far ahead of body armor, which makes body armor pretty much useless. The worst offender is the HEMP warhead, that shreds even battlesuits to pieces easily. At least this is what the complainers claim. I've GMed 4 or 5 TL 10 games, and I have encountered this problem too. It can be partially mitigated by restricting available gear (LC is here for a reason) and using optional rules from GURPS High-Tech. But it's still not enough. To see how the issue can be fixed, we have to do some research first.
To see what armor is proofed against what guns, I've made this clunky spreadsheet. Maybe this spreadsheet will help to determine the worst offenders and, after fixing them, devise a DR multiplier that allows for less deadly firearm combat? We'll see, I hope. Some people claim that doubling the DR fixes the problem quite well, but I haven't tried that yet.
How to use:
1) Enter the armor's DR in cell B2.
2) Put N in F1 if you want the macro to print out only the weapons the armor is proofed against
Put Y in F1 if you want the macro to print out all the weapons
3) Run the macro in the "developer" tab. If the tab is hidden, you can make it show up using these instructions.
"Proof" means that the armor is proofed (its DR is equal or higher than the weapon's average damage).
"Ch.proof" means that the armor is proofed against chink hits.
"Impenetrable" means that the armor cannot be penetrated with this weapon normally.
"Ch.Impenetrable" means that the armor cannot be penetrated with this weapon even on a chink hit.
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| This is how the output for the nanoweave suit looks like |
Good tool! I had a similar notion when I was doing my NIJ article, but didn't really have time.
ReplyDeleteI'm not super familiar with UT but following the discussions I've seen on Discord, I understand the problem. That said, we had a similar issue IRL, with materials science for defenses not being realistically able to keep up with the offensive equipment. Thus, maybe it's not a terrible thing for some eras in the future to have a defense gap? That's a setting specific thing, though, which a equipment guide need not conform to.
Thanks!
DeleteSure, it makes sense sometimes when offensive equipment is superior to the defensive one, but as you said it already, it really depends on the setting and the feel you're trying to accomplish.
Also, if you're playing with something close to our real world understanding of physics - not just tech here, but physics - it is basically physically impossible to withstand a direct hit from anything approaching nuclear bomb levels of energy concentration. The electro-magnetic forces which constitute ordinary matter can not conceivably produce bonds strong enough to not be destroyed. The only way to withstand nuclear bombs, super-lasers, high energy particle beams, etc. would be huge thicknesses of dense material, and even then the heat transfer and radiation is likely to kill many beings inside unless it was VERY thick.
DeleteIt's really only the middle ages when armor was comparable or superior to offensive weaponry.
Some players may like the tit-for-tat of combat in the D&D style, but it's not really likely to happen outside of the classical era. In fact in the ballistic and sci-fi age you don't even have much control over whether you get hit - that almost entirely depends on the skill of the person firing the weapon, and how far away you are.
In a realistic game player agency is simply going to be much lower - because in realistic circumstances bad-ass commandos are extremely dependent on strategic planning, force superiority, picking their fights, etc. They will die if they deviate, and might die anyway. The same is true socially - even billionaires, dictators and geniuses and charismatic charlatans have a very narrow range of operation where they will not be arrested, deported, assets confiscated, etc.
In real life everyone is super dependent on social systems and technology, and the nature of those systems severely limits how they can be used and by whom. The only way to get outside of this straight-jacket is to either abandon realism (this would still be true in most sci-fi and fantasy settings, so 'realism' still applies even if it's not reality) or to make certain characters able to access abilities outside the ken of most other people and thus invisible to social retribution or simply immune.