From v03.n902 Fri Oct 3 12:09:16 1997 Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 00:16:03 -0700 From: "Christopher M. Dicely" Subject: Vehicles Jumping and Turret Traverse (was Hmmm, trivial vehicles questions?) >When you install a turret, how fast does it traverse? Well, the only rule I can find is that sensor-only turrets traverse their full arc once per second (personally, I'd use this as 360 degrees/sec to allow limited rotation turrets to get two sweeps, if it mattered) on p. 168, with the implication that other turrets are slower. Lacking anything else, the rules on p.42 of Vehicles, 1st Edition are fairly usable. > >Secondly, were the jumping rules for vehicles left out of the second >edition or moved to some obscure sidebar? They appear to have been left out. You can try the following, results are not guaranteed (comments welcome from all quarters!) Jumping Vehicles moving on the groundmay "jump" under certain circumstances: vehicles with legs may choose to do so rather freely (see below), other vehicles will do it when they become airborne as the result of climbing a ramp or driving off of a cliff. A vehicle that does either of those will be airborne, and be treated as a flying vehicle, with the following special considerations: 1) a vehicle that came off of a ramp will devote (S/0.9) percent of its speed to climbing, with S being the slope of the ramp in degrees. A vehicle that came off of level ground (a cliff for example) will be in level flight (initially). 2) if the vehicle does not have wings, a lifting body, or adequate aerostatic lift to fly normally, it will be treated as having an infinite stall speed (i.e., will be treated as if it had a stall speed and was below it on each turn that it remains airborne). 3) A vehicle lacking an aerial motive system may not choose to accelerate while in the air (it may *automatically* accelerate from diving). Additionally, such a vehicle is treated as having a top speed of zero. 4) A vehicle that has neither an aerial motive system nor wings, rotors, or a lifting body may not choose to decelerate, although it may do so automatically due to climbing or exceeding top speed (and its *easy* to exceed a top speed of 0, yes?). Such a vehicle also may not maneuver in the air. Note: the landing from a jump by a vehicle with neither wings, rotors, lifting body, nor adequate aerostatic lift will *always* be a crash, except for water landings (see VE156). A crash by a vehicle whose speed is less than 1/3 downward should be treated as a sideswipe (divide damage by four) with damage split evenly between any underside assemblies (wheels, skids, etc.) and any excess damage applied to the underside of the vehicle. Any other crash is treated as a T-Bone with the ground, applied to the front of the vehicle (ouch!). Jumping with Legs: Vehicles with legs can jump as above, but have special benefits. First, a legged vehicle can enter flight on any turn by applying acceleration vertically. Each mph of speed gained this way costs 2mph of acceleration. Second, a legged vehicle may make a hazard control roll to land on its legs even if the landing would be a T-Bone with the ground -- it still takes full damage, split between the legs, but can make a *second* hazard roll to retain control (otherwise the vehicle falls). A 2- or 3- legged vehicle failing the first hazard roll lands on a random side, roll 1d on the following table: 1-2 Front 3 Left 4 Right 5 Top 6 Back Jumping with (Thrust-based) Aerostatic Lift (Jump Jets!): A vehicle that can activate an aerostatic lift system to jump can jump into the air by applying vertical acceleration. The maximum vertical acceleration that can be applied by such a vehicle is 20mph/s times [(static lift/loaded wt) - 1]. This should only be treated as a jump if the burst of acceleration is applied for a single turn, otherwise the normal flight rules for aerostatic lift vehicles ought to be used. A vehicle can combine vertical acceleration from jump jets with that from leg drivetrains for more powerful jumps. - -------------------------------------------------------- Meddle not in the affairs of Wizards, For thou art Crunchy, And Good with Catsup. - -------------------------------------------------------- THIS SPACE | Christopher M. Dicely | THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY | cmdicely@ccnet.com | ACCIDENTALLY LEFT BLANK | cmdicely@ucdavis.edu | LEFT BLANK