Commercial Vehicles?

[alogan]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

[wyrmraker]

I think what they meant is that the 'commercial vehicles' would be the equivalent of modern day cars and trucks. You'd want to hit Heroes Unlimited for those stats.

Alternatively, there are now commercially sold vehicles in Triax 2, and a few vehicles in Black Market that are sold to farmers and the like.

[SpiritInterface]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

Different types of commercial vehicles; a commercial panel truck (snap on tools, food/canteen truck), a Bobtail delivery truck, a commercial utility truck (pg&e, plumbers truck), a taxi/liveried town car, a tow truck, Big Rig/Semi truck. It would not include any vehicles designed for military/combat uses.

[wyrmraker]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

Different types of commercial vehicles; a commercial panel truck (snap on tools, food/canteen truck), a Bobtail delivery truck, a commercial utility truck (pg&e, plumbers truck), a taxi/liveried town car, a tow truck, Big Rig/Semi truck. It would not include any vehicles designed for military/combat uses.

I would agree with that, except that I would allow modern military support vehicles such as the HEMTT. After all, they are more likely to survive the Time of Rifts than commercial vehicles. But still, no combat-capable vehicles.

[Nightmask]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

Different types of commercial vehicles; a commercial panel truck (snap on tools, food/canteen truck), a Bobtail delivery truck, a commercial utility truck (pg&e, plumbers truck), a taxi/liveried town car, a tow truck, Big Rig/Semi truck. It would not include any vehicles designed for military/combat uses.

I would agree with that, except that I would allow modern military support vehicles such as the HEMTT. After all, they are more likely to survive the Time of Rifts than commercial vehicles. But still, no combat-capable vehicles.

How are you defining combat-capable? Because there are certainly going to be MDC commercial vehicles around and some are going to have weapon systems or at least the option of weapons, like the cargo-haulers in Triax. It's Rifts Earth after all and many commercial vehicles are combat-capable.

[wyrmraker]

That is a good point concerning the definition of 'Combat-Capable'. I mean, the Behemoth Explorer isn't defined as combat-capable, even though a team of Operators with an excellent budget could easily be seen to be able to make one into a mobile artillery platform.

Personally, I would permit military support vehicles of modern make that don't come standard with weapon mounts, turrents, or combat electronics. High SDC or light MDC, moderate speeds, that style of thing. A little common sense would be applicable to this, as defining such a thing would come down to a case-by-case basis.

[SpiritInterface]

By designed for military/combat uses, I meant light, medium, and heavy wheeled/tracked APCs, combat cars, tanks, and engineering vehicles. Since any vehicle is "combat capable" and since it says "Commercial" I listed some common trade vehicles. As for being MDC so what, everything in Rifts is MDC.

[Shark_Force]

this is rifts. most "commercial vehicles" are probably designed with at least some combat in mind. there aren't a lot of roads, traveling to just about anywhere is going to involve wildlife, and rifts earth wildlife sometimes has teeth and claws as destructive as modern anti-tank weaponry, and hide that could repel a number of shots from modern anti-tank weaponry.

my personal ruling would be that you could have something roughly equivalent to the weapons you can add to the big boss and similar vehicles... a light MDC machinegun, or a light MDC laser, mounted on the vehicle but not in an automated turret. if you want to upgrade it, i'd let you sacrifice one of your personal weapons to mount into a turret instead, but you'd still need someone to operate it separately... something like the warthog from halo, or like the door guns you see on some cargo helicopters.

[wyrmraker]

As a side point, I am not seeing vehicles included in the Operator's standard equipment in either the RUE or it's Errata. Did I miss that somehow?

[glitterboy2098]

IIRC doesn't the GAW section of mercenaries have general stats for MDC converted non-military vehicles? might be somewhere to start. (and it doesn't have to be GAW brand either.. an operator ought to be able to convert his own stuff)

[wyrmraker]

Rifts Mercenaries does have those conversions for GAW, but to be honest, they're pretty poor. MDC modified cars and jeeps get a main body of 45 MDC, small and medium trucks get 60. GAW never was given a lot of power when it comes to their innovative retrofitting of pre-Rifts equipment. I personally disagree with the canon asessment, but that's me.

[guardiandashi]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

Different types of commercial vehicles; a commercial panel truck (snap on tools, food/canteen truck), a Bobtail delivery truck, a commercial utility truck (pg&e, plumbers truck), a taxi/liveried town car, a tow truck, Big Rig/Semi truck. It would not include any vehicles designed for military/combat uses.

I would agree with that, except that I would allow modern military support vehicles such as the HEMTT. After all, they are more likely to survive the Time of Rifts than commercial vehicles. But still, no combat-capable vehicles.

How are you defining combat-capable? Because there are certainly going to be MDC commercial vehicles around and some are going to have weapon systems or at least the option of weapons, like the cargo-haulers in Triax. It's Rifts Earth after all and many commercial vehicles are combat-capable.

if I was running it things that would work IMO:
semi, hover semi, big boss atv, titan recon robot, Behemoth explorer, atv speedster, wastelander motorcycle, mountaineer atv, etc.

the point is while they can stand up to a little combat, they aren't primarally intended for combat like
a sky king, spider skull walker, uar1, tanks, apc's etc etc.

[FatherMorpheus]

I was all set to make an operator who would own and pilot a good power armor or robot, but when I got to the equipment section of the RUE for said operator, I see that it lists that he can own two commercial vehicles. OK, I get that this wouldn't be a tank, but what exactly is included/excluded as a commercial vehicle?

From a GM prospective, I would take a step back and ask two questions.

First, does an Operator starting with a suit of PA in my game alter the balance, plans or anything to prevent them from starting with one. Maybe those 2 commercial vehicles were traded for a low end PA or something.

Second, would this be something the Operator could eventual earn/purchase/steal during the course of the game?

Depending on the answers to those questions, I think all others kind of fade away. So the player should be talking to their GM, working out a course of action and moving forward.