New Sovietski book

[kaid]

Slowly working my way through the book got through the new borgs and cybernetic animals. It looks like some of the borg chasis from the raw preview did not make the cut hopefully some may show up in a rifter. Honestly it looks like they had some space choices to make for vehicles/borgs/cybernetic animals and so axing some of the borg chassis was the right call. Borgs are so configurable as it is easy enough to make your own if you don't fancy one of the existing options. They do have a good mix of new ones in the book to help cover air/water borgs as well as some more all purpose face smashers. I also really like the proletariat light borg. Just a nice basic light borg chassis that is inexpensive and easy to upgrade and work with.

The cybernetic animals are an interesting option a fully bionic bear I am not sure is the wisest thing one could make but knowing russians it is probably one of those things they would try if they had the technology so it makes sense. The dogs make a ton of sense. Something that can detect supernatural presences in the area while durable enough to survive combat. Falcons basically work like stealthy scouts/drone UAV type roles that would be just discounted as a non threat by anybody who does not have some really good optics to spot the enhancements.

The bionic section seems a mix of new stuff and some things from triax 2 and the some other books it seems. Probably just to get a lot of the stuff that was in small amounts scattered about into one place where it is easier to find and makes sense to be in a russia book. A few items in there are kinda no brainer ones that probably should have been put in previously such as upgraded internal power supply. So you can have either what is equivalent to a really huge eclip or an actual nuclear battery so your internal weapons are not slowing down or degrading the performance of the borg. The latter needs to be installed in bigger borgs but that is fine because most of the smaller ones tend not to be that heavily armed with internal weaponry like the big boys are.

Overall lots of useful stuff for borgs and some interesting/odd things. One fun thing is bionic skis that are retractable that store in the lower legs and unfold and expand for use. While that sounds silly there is no reason if the skis are big enough it could not work and would probably be really useful for really heavy borgs moving in snow. Hell if you have the rocket nodes you can probably speed boost yourself along the snow at a really zippy pace.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I'm by far no sort of "Ski master" Even living in the UP.

I tried snow boarding once and found a tree at a high rate of speed. That was enough for me.

The thought of borgs on ski's kinda made me laugh though. Especially the big ol crude Russian sorts. (No slight. Theirs are purposefully more crude/ meat and patotoes sort of borgs. not the nice sleek super futuristic kind) It would seem to me they'd just CRUNCH sink down in the snow. Skii's or not.

[taalismn]

Slowly working my way through the book got through the new borgs and cybernetic animals. It looks like some of the borg chasis from the raw preview did not make the cut hopefully some may show up in a rifter. Honestly it looks like they had some space choices to make for vehicles/borgs/cybernetic animals and so axing some of the borg chassis was the right call. Borgs are so configurable as it is easy enough to make your own if you don't fancy one of the existing options. They do have a good mix of new ones in the book to help cover air/water borgs as well as some more all purpose face smashers. I also really like the proletariat light borg. Just a nice basic light borg chassis that is inexpensive and easy to upgrade and work with..

Now I really want to see those space-adapts. Sovietski in SPAAAACCCEEEEE.

[AlooWalking]

My only real gripe about the DBees was there was one thread of commonality among them.

All 3 or 4 were perfectly 100% content to be subjects of the humans. Perfectly in their slots, with no problems what so ever about crap jobs or dangerous jobs or being used like 2 legged weapons.

One or two... ehhh.. ok. Some alien races might be like that, but all of them were just a bit 'too' perfectly content to be used in that fashion.

I can understand this gripe. In our defence; one thing we kept reminding ourselves of while writing was "this is not Russia 3". We focused on what is happening in the Sovietski. In that respect, the D-Bees all had to be okay with being part of a human society. There is some information about how the D-Bees might live outside of the Sovietski, but the focus is on how the Sovietski has figured out how to use them for its goals.

Also: kaid, thanks for a favorable assessment of the cyborgs and implants section. That was GK's baby and I know he worked on it a ton.

[glitterboy2098]

The cybernetic animals are an interesting option a fully bionic bear I am not sure is the wisest thing one could make but knowing russians it is probably one of those things they would try if they had the technology so it makes sense. The dogs make a ton of sense. Something that can detect supernatural presences in the area while durable enough to survive combat. Falcons basically work like stealthy scouts/drone UAV type roles that would be just discounted as a non threat by anybody who does not have some really good optics to spot the enhancements.

cyborg dogs would lose their ability to sense the supernatural though. because of the implants. they'd still be very useful as mindane trackers and as guard animals though.

Overall lots of useful stuff for borgs and some interesting/odd things. One fun thing is bionic skis that are retractable that store in the lower legs and unfold and expand for use. While that sounds silly there is no reason if the skis are big enough it could not work and would probably be really useful for really heavy borgs moving in snow. Hell if you have the rocket nodes you can probably speed boost yourself along the snow at a really zippy pace.

they are probably short cross country ski's, with the articulated connection that lets you easily slide across the show using a normal walking motion.

[kaid]

I'm by far no sort of "Ski master" Even living in the UP.

I tried snow boarding once and found a tree at a high rate of speed. That was enough for me.

The thought of borgs on ski's kinda made me laugh though. Especially the big ol crude Russian sorts. (No slight. Theirs are purposefully more crude/ meat and patotoes sort of borgs. not the nice sleek super futuristic kind) It would seem to me they'd just CRUNCH sink down in the snow. Skii's or not.

Given they use modern day skis on various large artic trailers/sleds/vehicles there is no reason it would not work for borgs as long as the design of the ski's are correct and they are strong enough to support the borg.


As for the bionic animals there are options for partial and full upgrades for dogs/bears. Partial maintains 600foot range on their sense supernatural and full bionics appear to maintain 200 foot range on it. So much shorter range but sufficient as guard animals to patrol areas and help guard troops and strong enough some bad guy can't just blink at them and murder your dog.

[kaid]

Although I could see somebody murdering your cyborg dog being a background for a spetsnaz player named Ivan Wickovich.

[taalismn]

Cyborging dogs beats making them into bombs.

[kaid]

Cyborging dogs beats making them into bombs.

Also it is pretty much logical progression once you have the ability and willingness to do it to horses dogs really would be the logical next choice. Bears I am less sure about haha.

[taalismn]

Cyborging dogs beats making them into bombs.

Also it is pretty much logical progression once you have the ability and willingness to do it to horses dogs really would be the logical next choice. Bears I am less sure about haha.

"Many brave heroes of the Revolution sacrifice body parts to progression of science-"
"Nice BrunOOOUUUWWWGGGHHHHHHH!!!!"
"-fortunately, replacement of limbs simple matter for powerful industries of Sovietski!"
"...that's not what I signed up for!"
"Greetings, I am ward nurse-commissar Terminanski. You have a complaint?"

[kaid]

I was reading through the alternate tank round options man those armor piercing ones are a really nasty AP variant. Goes to show why your tank crew should be in their armor and or be cyborgs.

[Khanibal]

I was reading through the alternate tank round options man those armor piercing ones are a really nasty AP variant. Goes to show why your tank crew should be in their armor and or be cyborgs.

Jam rounds

"Nobody gives me the raspberry!"

[kaid]

Between the tanks we already knew about and the ones in this book the sovietski tank force is indeed pretty nasty. Most outrange all but a couple of cyborgs one of which is their own design and they actually have a competent anti air support tank. A lot of supposed anti air stuff lacks the range to be effective on actual planes and this thing would be a beast vs gargoyle swarms. A lot of their tanks also pack short range or better missiles for some ability to punch out high fliers or units standing well off from a fight.

As I mentioned earlier the AP rounds are deadly as hell. They are for their tank main guns but they do 30% of their damage to the main body with the remaining damage going to any reinforced crew compartment the target may have or if there is none there is a strong chance one of the crew just caught a tank round. With people flinging these things around wearing your body armor when in your tank is a must and probably a good thing many tankers wind up being at least partial borgs to better interface with their unit.

[pad300]

As I mentioned earlier the AP rounds are deadly as hell. They are for their tank main guns but they do 30% of their damage to the main body with the remaining damage going to any reinforced crew compartment the target may have or if there is none there is a strong chance one of the crew just caught a tank round. With people flinging these things around wearing your body armor when in your tank is a must and probably a good thing many tankers wind up being at least partial borgs to better interface with their unit.

Ah joy, this sounds a lot like another writer mucking around with the game mechanics in what sounds like a stupidly unbalanced fashion...
What happens when one of these hits an SDC being protected by normal body armor / power armor / force field or magic spell ? Not to mention any large vehicle without a armoured crew compartment is pretty much automatic toast...

What prevents you from making say making a shotgun size version, for the assorted MDC shotguns out there? Or a 15.5 mm machinegun version? Why don't APFSDS 125 mm rounds have a similar effect? How about AP missiles? Things the writer just did not think about - and should have... Ridiculous armor bypassing effects should not be in the system without any real justification.

[Pepsi Jedi]

The Game master prevents it from getting stupid.

[Khanibal]

With people flinging these things around wearing your body armor when in your tank is a must and probably a good thing many tankers wind up being at least partial borgs to better interface with their unit.

This is why your group MUST include a mage of some kind, with Purification as a spell. Don't even bother taking the armor of to poop. /jk

But seriously, somewhere, someone (I think it was actually KS) said that if the GM has the players in a mood where they NEVER take off their helmets, for fear of snipers, there's a problem with the game. Now they throw this B.S. in.

[Nightmartree]

But seriously, somewhere, someone (I think it was actually KS) said that if the GM has the players in a mood where they NEVER take off their helmets, for fear of snipers, there's a problem with the game. Now they throw this B.S. in.

Snipers is lame, lets use soul sucking spirits you have to inhale.
And never forget the lance root, a mdc plant that attacks with its MD roots from below.

and really thats part of why i like it either all MD or all SDC...having a type of damage that can obliterate your characters in blink being the main kind of damage is...ehhhhhhhhhhh....difficult? I mean if you actually make it a thing where your characters get involved in a fight while out of armor anything in the game thats been statted can pretty much 1 shot them. A vibro knife doing 2D6 MD is no big deal to a guy in armor but it'll end any street fight right quick.

Its just one more reason for me to not play a normal human character unless i'm specifically aiming for roleplay.

[Pepsi Jedi]

But seriously, somewhere, someone (I think it was actually KS) said that if the GM has the players in a mood where they NEVER take off their helmets, for fear of snipers, there's a problem with the game. Now they throw this B.S. in.

Snipers is lame, lets use soul sucking spirits you have to inhale.
And never forget the lance root, a mdc plant that attacks with its MD roots from below.

and really thats part of why i like it either all MD or all SDC...having a type of damage that can obliterate your characters in blink being the main kind of damage is...ehhhhhhhhhhh....difficult? I mean if you actually make it a thing where your characters get involved in a fight while out of armor anything in the game thats been statted can pretty much 1 shot them. A vibro knife doing 2D6 MD is no big deal to a guy in armor but it'll end any street fight right quick.

Its just one more reason for me to not play a normal human character unless i'm specifically aiming for roleplay.

Well part of that is on purpose. MDC is -supposed- to be that powerful. It's hyper advanced military grade. A merc in MDC armor with a rifle is the equivilent of a modern day battle tank. yes, a shot from a modern day battle tank is just going to end someone's day.

The vibro knife is 'supposed' to be that deadly. You're basically getting into a fight with the equivalent of a light saber. (Well the knife would be a light knife I guess) But same sort of principal. Sure light saber against light saber makes for a dramatic fight but they cut through unarmored (and even armored) Foes pretty much like butter. With out half trying.

The sniper thing. (I know I've stated as much here) Is ..... tricky.

yes. "Wait till they take off their helmet and vaporize their entire head" is a viable tactic, but usually one that's not good "For the role playing table" Because it makes your -players- feel that instant kills are just a second away 24/7/365. and while that might be a realistic 'reality' of a world like Rifts... it doesn't make for fun roleplay. it's sort of like the GM that has the Group's vehicle stolen or all their gear taken the first time they step away from it during a mission or adventure.

I had a GM like that and the GM/Player relationship was very confrontational. We had to basicly subcontract a smaller merc unit to guard out crap when we wern't there, just to keep the GM from robbing us blind.

That's not a good place for GMs/Players to be.

When out in the field. During an active military campaign, Front lines. Sure. if you take off your helmet you're open to getting sniped, but it should sort of stay 'On the front lines' sort of thing. They should be able to have them unbutton with out the instant kill thread just waiting.

TLDR: If you're a GM don't be that jerk. It's not fun for anyone.

Now.. all that goes out the window if the players start 'overusing' the same tactic. If all the players do is sneak around, wait for their enemies to take off their helmet and blow off heads... well that invites reprisal. Sooner or later the enemy is going to adopt their tactics, or hire someone else to do so.

Sort of a "Good for the goose/good for the gander" thing. It __IS__ A viable tactic and used sparingly can get you from A to B faster, but if it becomes a crutch, using it 'against' theplayers a few times tends to 'teach' them how it feels.

[Nightmartree]

That's not a good place for GMs/Players to be.

When out in the field. During an active military campaign, Front lines. Sure. if you take off your helmet you're open to getting sniped, but it should sort of stay 'On the front lines' sort of thing. They should be able to have them unbutton with out the instant kill thread just waiting.

TLDR: If you're a GM don't be that jerk. It's not fun for anyone.

Yep that about covers it. Im just that guy who can't roll over an 8 and doesn't like playing combat juggernauts.

so out of my team i'm pretty much the only one who has to worry about it when things go bad, the rest are either decked out to the nines, can take a boom gun to the face, or could dodge god. The only other somewhat normal person tends to be a pilot/mechanic/thief and hide in the vehicles or shadows 24/7...its not that bad really, i just have different challenges then them.

[kaid]

Note the armor piercing rounds are for main tank guns not normal weapons. It looks like the blast through effect is primarily for usage vs vehicles/robot vehicles probably would require some GM calls on what it does to infantry or even normal cyborgs. It also does only 50% of the damage that gets past the outer main MDC if it hits a crew so while crew could get banged up by it if you are wearing armor and or are a cyborg as many tankers are it will knock you around but you can take some hits from that without too much problem.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Note the armor piercing rounds are for main tank guns not normal weapons. It looks like the blast through effect is primarily for usage vs vehicles/robot vehicles probably would require some GM calls on what it does to infantry or even normal cyborgs. It also does only 50% of the damage that gets past the outer main MDC if it hits a crew so while crew could get banged up by it if you are wearing armor and or are a cyborg as many tankers are it will knock you around but you can take some hits from that without too much problem.

Like I said the other day. the GM keeps it from getting stupid.

[eliakon]

Note the armor piercing rounds are for main tank guns not normal weapons. It looks like the blast through effect is primarily for usage vs vehicles/robot vehicles probably would require some GM calls on what it does to infantry or even normal cyborgs. It also does only 50% of the damage that gets past the outer main MDC if it hits a crew so while crew could get banged up by it if you are wearing armor and or are a cyborg as many tankers are it will knock you around but you can take some hits from that without too much problem.

It still makes it a 1 hit kill on Power Armor though.
Which is why people were saying "not thought through at all" and "playing with game mechanics"
The idea of something being able to bypass armor totally is... bad m'kay.
I haven't seen the stats yet (my copy hasn't arrived yet). But there is a difference between "30% of the damage can pass through up to X" and "30% of damage will bypass main body and hit the crew compartment"...
not that either of those is really going to protect a Power Armor.

As for "main tank guns"... all that means is that it is at a minimum available to every robot vehicle, and probably most power armor. And that is before the inevitable creep. Particle Beams were once only avaliable in lasers. Then there was a unique P-Beam Pistol...
and now every one has two or three models of PB pistol and they have to make special versions of PB pistols to be 'special'

This is just begging to be put on missiles for instance, or some will "has developed a super micronized version of..." or the like.

[TeeAychEeMarchHare]

As I mentioned earlier the AP rounds are deadly as hell. They are for their tank main guns but they do 30% of their damage to the main body with the remaining damage going to any reinforced crew compartment the target may have or if there is none there is a strong chance one of the crew just caught a tank round. With people flinging these things around wearing your body armor when in your tank is a must and probably a good thing many tankers wind up being at least partial borgs to better interface with their unit.

Ah joy, this sounds a lot like another writer mucking around with the game mechanics in what sounds like a stupidly unbalanced fashion...
What happens when one of these hits an SDC being protected by normal body armor / power armor / force field or magic spell ? Not to mention any large vehicle without a armoured crew compartment is pretty much automatic toast...

What prevents you from making say making a shotgun size version, for the assorted MDC shotguns out there? Or a 15.5 mm machinegun version? Why don't APFSDS 125 mm rounds have a similar effect? How about AP missiles? Things the writer just did not think about - and should have... Ridiculous armor bypassing effects should not be in the system without any real justification.

Personally I think this kind of thing has been missing from PB games since the beginning.

In real life, you hit an armored vehicle with a HEAT shell or rocket, or an APFSDS round, and sometimes the attack penetrates and turns the crew into red sludge. But you can take a hose and wash the old crew out and have the vehicle back in service within hours.

Sometimes the attack sets off the ammo, completely destroying the vehicle and turning whatever pieces of the crew can still be found into crispy bits.

In neither case did you have to pound on the vehicle with HE, HEAT, or APFSDS for half the day until FINALLY you depleted some arbitrary number of points.

Those kinds of mechanics *might* work for unarmored vehicles, wooden wagons, etc. The minute they go up against modern (post-WWI) armor, they fall flat on their face.

This isn't a problem unique to PB, either. Most RPG combat systems fail abysmally when it comes to doing damage to vehicles. The only one I've personally played that did a decent job were the various editions of Twilight: 2000, but I'll be the first to admit that there are a lot of systems I haven't tried.

[glitterboy2098]

if it caused a chance for internal critical hits (like the kinds seen on RUE pg 253-354) on each hit, it wouldn't be so bad. then each hit just would have a shot at causing the tank/robot/PA/whatever to have some sort of penalty, maybe even be mission killed when it loses most of the systems it needs to fight.

but damage bleed through is a tricky thing to balance and really easy to abuse.

[eliakon]

As I mentioned earlier the AP rounds are deadly as hell. They are for their tank main guns but they do 30% of their damage to the main body with the remaining damage going to any reinforced crew compartment the target may have or if there is none there is a strong chance one of the crew just caught a tank round. With people flinging these things around wearing your body armor when in your tank is a must and probably a good thing many tankers wind up being at least partial borgs to better interface with their unit.

Ah joy, this sounds a lot like another writer mucking around with the game mechanics in what sounds like a stupidly unbalanced fashion...
What happens when one of these hits an SDC being protected by normal body armor / power armor / force field or magic spell ? Not to mention any large vehicle without a armoured crew compartment is pretty much automatic toast...

What prevents you from making say making a shotgun size version, for the assorted MDC shotguns out there? Or a 15.5 mm machinegun version? Why don't APFSDS 125 mm rounds have a similar effect? How about AP missiles? Things the writer just did not think about - and should have... Ridiculous armor bypassing effects should not be in the system without any real justification.

Personally I think this kind of thing has been missing from PB games since the beginning.

In real life, you hit an armored vehicle with a HEAT shell or rocket, or an APFSDS round, and sometimes the attack penetrates and turns the crew into red sludge. But you can take a hose and wash the old crew out and have the vehicle back in service within hours.

Sometimes the attack sets off the ammo, completely destroying the vehicle and turning whatever pieces of the crew can still be found into crispy bits.

In neither case did you have to pound on the vehicle with HE, HEAT, or APFSDS for half the day until FINALLY you depleted some arbitrary number of points.

Those kinds of mechanics *might* work for unarmored vehicles, wooden wagons, etc. The minute they go up against modern (post-WWI) armor, they fall flat on their face.

This isn't a problem unique to PB, either. Most RPG combat systems fail abysmally when it comes to doing damage to vehicles. The only one I've personally played that did a decent job were the various editions of Twilight: 2000, but I'll be the first to admit that there are a lot of systems I haven't tried.

The problem is that real life is not very game friendly.
People in real life are really fragile. One or two shots from a gun are easily fatal... real life people don't get SDC and lots of HP in other words.
And real life armor is almost never weakened by penetrations. Hitting a tank with five shots will have no significant effect unless you hit the same spot over and over again... again something that is nearly impossible to handle in a game
"okay, so I am aiming at grid 27b4 on the left front lower skid...."

The other big issue is that if you want to set up penetration abilities you need to do so at the outset.
If this is 'a thing you can do' then you need to have all of your military gear set up with that in mind. Not suddenly add it in after twenty or thirty years.
This one book has just rendered virtually every previous armor vehicle, power armor, and robot obsolete. That is NOT a good addition to a game line no matter how much "realism" it adds. Especially with a game that is as blatantly unrealistic in its battles as Palladium is.

To deal with this tech we now, for instance, have to go back and explain why no one else in the last 300 years on Rifts, and 10,000 years in PW have not used AP rounds.
And then we have to rebuild every military vehicle to account for the 'new normal'
It sounds to me like I would be better off saying this stuff doesn't exist in my games, than having to redesign every piece of hardware in existence from the ground up...

[Pepsi Jedi]

This might shock some people, but Eli's right. His points are spot on. It's not so much that the new rule is stupid or doesn't work. It's that for it to be viable you'd have to retro upgrade/change/modify literally 25 years of books and game stats to make it across the board.

[glitterboy2098]

pepsi is correct too.. and we would have to rewrite all those books too, because we already had "AP rounds" in a lot of stuff, both missiles and guns.. and they invariably just did extra damage, gave a better chance of a natural crit, or both. no bleed through effects.

so despite the fact the book doesn't say anything of the sort, we are going to have to treat these as if they are some new unprecedented version of Armor defeating technology, and deal with the fact that the Sovietski's Tank corps can now one shot kill most of the military forces of earth.

[eliakon]

pepsi is correct too.. and we would have to rewrite all those books too, because we already had "AP rounds" in a lot of stuff, both missiles and guns.. and they invariably just did extra damage, gave a better chance of a natural crit, or both. no bleed through effects.

so despite the fact the book doesn't say anything of the sort, we are going to have to treat these as if they are some new unprecedented version of Armor defeating technology, and deal with the fact that the Sovietski's Tank corps can now one shot kill most of the military forces of earth the Megaverse.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, this is power creep on a scale of... well this is basically to MDC combat what MDC weapons were to SDC combat.
This off the cuff minor aside is that game changing.

[taalismn]

[

Seriously, this is power creep on a scale of... well this is basically to MDC combat what MDC weapons were to SDC combat.
This off the cuff minor aside is that game changing.

I shall look into better panzerfausts.

[Khanibal]

So NOW can my Promethean Phase Adept with Weapons Engineer skill rig his phase rifle for rapid fire?

[taalismn]

So NOW can my Promethean Phase Adept with Weapons Engineer skill rig his phase rifle for rapid fire?

DANGER!!! LENSMAN ARMS RACE!!!!

[Stormseed]

One thing that I'm wondering is why most of the character classes don't get much in the way of skill progression.

[kaid]

It almost seems like the MOS stuff was built along the lines of the advanced training from heroes of humanity which I think may be why they get a bit less over time skill acquisitions.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I just assumed that was exactly how it was done.

[kaid]

Yup most MOS give you bonuses and stuff in addition to the skills and you pay for the better focus on your job with a bit less extraneous skills. Most still seemed to have pretty good skill sets and really good at their particular chosen jobs.

[Stormseed]

There's something else I noticed about the AK-347. Under the Firebird, it does 2d6 for a single shot and uses 10 round bursts. The listing in the back of the book has 1d6 single shots and 20 round bursts. The ammo capacity is different as well.

[glitterboy2098]

There's something else I noticed about the AK-347. Under the Firebird, it does 2d6 for a single shot and uses 10 round bursts. The listing in the back of the book has 1d6 single shots and 20 round bursts. The ammo capacity is different as well.

most likely it got changed at some point, and they didn't catch every instance.

[dreicunan]

pepsi is correct too.. and we would have to rewrite all those books too, because we already had "AP rounds" in a lot of stuff, both missiles and guns.. and they invariably just did extra damage, gave a better chance of a natural crit, or both. no bleed through effects.

so despite the fact the book doesn't say anything of the sort, we are going to have to treat these as if they are some new unprecedented version of Armor defeating technology, and deal with the fact that the Sovietski's Tank corps can now one shot kill most of the military forces of earth the Megaverse.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, this is power creep on a scale of... well this is basically to MDC combat what MDC weapons were to SDC combat.
This off the cuff minor aside is that game changing.

After reading about this rule, it makes Kevin S's blurb about Carella and weapons from South America even MORE laughable than it already was. How on earth did anyone think that this rule was a good thing to introduce unless we were finally moving to Rifts - Second Edition and doing a full sweep through the system?

[Khanibal]

Round up the playtesters, we're gonna have us a lynchin'!

[pad300]

After reading about this rule, it makes Kevin S's blurb about Carella and weapons from South America even MORE laughable than it already was. How on earth did anyone think that this rule was a good thing to introduce unless we were finally moving to Rifts - Second Edition and doing a full sweep through the system?

Anybody got a link to this? I'd like to read it just for the Lulz...

[Natasha]

After reading about this rule, it makes Kevin S's blurb about Carella and weapons from South America even MORE laughable than it already was. How on earth did anyone think that this rule was a good thing to introduce unless we were finally moving to Rifts - Second Edition and doing a full sweep through the system?

Anybody got a link to this? I'd like to read it just for the Lulz...

It's in Rifts Game Master Guide

[Khanibal]

GMG p. 112 Note 15

[tsh77769]

I was SO disappointed to see Biathalon lose its strike bonus. A strike bonus totally makes sense. More so than the also justifiable initiative bonus.

I was MORE SO disapointed to see most of the MDC bullet chuckers and the not quite rail gun bullet chuckers omitted. I though those were really interesting.

tsh77769

[kaid]

I was SO disappointed to see Biathalon lose its strike bonus. A strike bonus totally makes sense. More so than the also justifiable initiative bonus.

I was MORE SO disapointed to see most of the MDC bullet chuckers and the not quite rail gun bullet chuckers omitted. I though those were really interesting.

tsh77769

That was my main gripe I really liked the MDC bullet weapons from the raw preview. But the book was pretty huge as is so I am sure stuff got cut that they would have liked to keep simply due to space. I know the AK MD bullet had a few pages of write up on it and for its speciality rounds.

[taalismn]

I was SO disappointed to see Biathalon lose its strike bonus. A strike bonus totally makes sense. More so than the also justifiable initiative bonus.

I was MORE SO disapointed to see most of the MDC bullet chuckers and the not quite rail gun bullet chuckers omitted. I though those were really interesting.

tsh77769

How much of a bonus was it?
SOMEBODY out in the megaverse likely has a version of the skill that emphasizes accuracy.

As for the bullet-chuckers, for those of us who DIDN'T buy the raw preview, well, I'm hoping Rifter canon material/cutting room floor in the future? After all, no straight pistols appear in the published book. I figure the Sovietski should have improved on the past Russian record for rather mediocre handguns.

[eliakon]

I was SO disappointed to see Biathalon lose its strike bonus. A strike bonus totally makes sense. More so than the also justifiable initiative bonus.

I was MORE SO disapointed to see most of the MDC bullet chuckers and the not quite rail gun bullet chuckers omitted. I though those were really interesting.

tsh77769

How much of a bonus was it?
SOMEBODY out in the megaverse likely has a version of the skill that emphasizes accuracy.

As for the bullet-chuckers, for those of us who DIDN'T buy the raw preview, well, I'm hoping Rifter canon material/cutting room floor in the future? After all, no straight pistols appear in the published book. I figure the Sovietski should have improved on the past Russian record for rather mediocre handguns.

It gave a +1 to strike with rifles
And considering how rare bonuses to modern weapon combat are...
Ah well. I guess my sniper will not be taking up skiing.

[kaid]

I was SO disappointed to see Biathalon lose its strike bonus. A strike bonus totally makes sense. More so than the also justifiable initiative bonus.

I was MORE SO disapointed to see most of the MDC bullet chuckers and the not quite rail gun bullet chuckers omitted. I though those were really interesting.

tsh77769

How much of a bonus was it?
SOMEBODY out in the megaverse likely has a version of the skill that emphasizes accuracy.

As for the bullet-chuckers, for those of us who DIDN'T buy the raw preview, well, I'm hoping Rifter canon material/cutting room floor in the future? After all, no straight pistols appear in the published book. I figure the Sovietski should have improved on the past Russian record for rather mediocre handguns.

It sounds like the next rifter has some sovietski stuff in it. There were a number of borg chassis that did not make the final cut for the book as well as the MDC ballistic AK model and the speciality ammo for it. Still I can't complain the book was really good and with as big as it was there clearly were going to be stuff that did not make the final cut. Good book from lore fluff world info with some really good OCC options and nice toy box stuff to finish it up. Other than a couple minor quibbles like the damage ice born can do seems low very solid addition to that part of the world.

[taalismn]

[

It sounds like the next rifter has some sovietski stuff in it. There were a number of borg chassis that did not make the final cut for the book as well as the MDC ballistic AK model and the speciality ammo for it. Still I can't complain the book was really good and with as big as it was there clearly were going to be stuff that did not make the final cut. Good book from lore fluff world info with some really good OCC options and nice toy box stuff to finish it up. Other than a couple minor quibbles like the damage ice born can do seems low very solid addition to that part of the world.

Oh goody....I always like to have more 'borgs to measure my own efforts against.
Plus I imagine with bionic arms so common in Russia, they'll go the route of making bigger, more powerful handguns.

[Khanibal]

Oh goody....I always like to have more 'borgs to measure my own efforts against.
Plus I imagine with bionic arms so common in Russia, they'll go the route of making bigger, more powerful handguns.

"In Sovietskii Russia, bionics wear you."

[taalismn]

Oh goody....I always like to have more 'borgs to measure my own efforts against.
Plus I imagine with bionic arms so common in Russia, they'll go the route of making bigger, more powerful handguns.

"In Sovietskii Russia, bionics wear you."

,,,now you got me thinking of cyberpsychotic 'borgs talking to their hardware...and having it answer them.
Multiple personality disorder or integral computer systems becoming TOO smart? YOU decide!