COMBINING GADGETS Copyright (c) 1996 by John Freiler Often Players will wish to combine gadgets. Whether they want their battle armor equipped with a built-in med-scanner, or they want to equip most of their sensors with a short-range communicator data feed to the main computers; if it makes sense to the GM, it should be allowed. How to accomplish this? First, find out which situation applies to the situation best, then follow the instructions. Hastily prepared: Something thrown together, usually for a single use or for a temporary situation. Player to GM:"I've got an inertial compass and two pounds of plastex, I want to rig it so that if they take the money anywhere out of Chiba, it blows up." GM: "I think you'd need some sort of computer to interpret the compass." Player: "I'll take Johnson's. Hey, can I get it to radio its location back to me? I've got a radio." Remember to asses penalties for in adequate tools. Then decide if the task(s) is: Trivial +1 Typical 0 Unusual -2 Difficult -4 Bizarre/Hard -6 Decide which skills are required and make the rolls(s). In the above example, The GM decides that Each component will need 'Typical' modifications plus a 'Trivial' program and demolition roll. Since the PC only has a mini-tool kit, all rolls are at minus two. One roll each against Electronics (Sensors)-2, Electronics (Computers)-2, Electronics (Communication)-2 and Demolition -1 plus a roll against Computer Programming+1 (the tool kit doesn't effect the program). If there is time to test the item, the GM rolls against the lowest adjusted skill only. Failure by one indicates that the unit passed it's tests, but will fail in use. Critical failures destroy some components. If there's no time to test the item, make each roll. Failure by 1 or 2 indicates that the PCs think that it will work, but it will fail in use. Critical failures still destroy that component. Failures may be retried at successive -2 modifiers. Hasty gadgets weight: add 10% to the weight of all parts but the heaviest component and total them. Example: 20, 10 and 2 lb gadgets are combined. The total weight is 20 + 11 + 2.2 = 33.2 lb This represents the extra cables, bases and bracing. They retain all of their original power cells and use them up from one to ten times as fast (GM's option) Specially modified: These are items made by the player or at the player's request, but are otherwise non-standard items. Example: The PC wants a Medsensor built into his armor, so that he'll get a dose of Ascepaline if he falls below 3 Hits and another to administer Revive if he goes unconscious. He also wants there to be manual activation tabs on the outside of the armor. Assign tasks and difficulties as for a hasty gadget. Roll against the lowest skill. Failure indicates that the PC can't make the item work. Critical failures indicate that the item checked out, but has a hidden flaw. In the example above, the skills needed are Electronics (medical) and Armory (Body Armor). The GM rules that the medical modifications are "Typical" and the armory modifications are "Unusual". Remember that PCs will usually have access to better equipment and will not be rushed for this sort of procedure. Specially modified Gadgets weight as much as the sum of their components. Their power all runs off of the same cell. Figure how many of each type of cells each part uses in a given time period (the specific period is unimportant, but it must be the same period for each component). For each component, multiply the cell usage by the cell power factor, depending on what type of cell is being used: Size Cell Power Factor AA 0.1 A 1 B 10 C 100 D 1,000 E 10,000 Add the results together. The result is the number of A cells that the modified gadget will use in that time period. If this is a convenient time period and cell size, then go with it. Otherwise, choose a different cell and divide by the cell power factor. Example: Gadgets that use an AA cell every week, a B cell in an hour and a C cell every day are combined. Choosing one week as the period for consideration, the following Amount of A cells would be consumed by each item: 1 AA per week x .1 = .1 A per week, 168 B per week (1 B/hr x 168 hr/wk) x 10 = 1680 A per week, and 7 C per week x 100 = 700 A per week. Totaled together we get 2380.1 A cells per week. Since this is way too many A cells to be convenient, the Player decides to Use a single C cell: 2380.1 / 100 = 23.801 C cells per week. With 168 hr/wk this comes to 7.059 hrs/ C cell (Round down to 7 hrs). If a D cell is used, it would last 3 days (2.3801 D cells / wk). Any or all of the original cells may be retained in the modified gadget, anything that works on a per shot/use basis will usually retain it's original cell. Cost of the specially modified gadget: add 10% to the cost of all but the most expensive item and total it. It requires at least two times the square root of the cost in man-hours to design, construct and test. For more realistic weights, subtract the weights of the cells removed from the gadget and add the weight of the new cell. Production Gadgets: These are gadgets that the GM wants regularly available, but are not in any of the Ultratech books. For example, The modified armor discussed above may be the Imperial Standard. No rolling is necessary. Figure the power usage as for specially modified gadgets, above. Weight of production gadgets: Reduce each component's weight by 20% except for the heaviest and total them. Example: a 10 lb, 5 lb and 1 lb gadget are combined; the combination weighs 10 + 4 + .8 = 14.8 lb. Or, three 5 lb objects are combined; The weight would be 5 + 4 + 4 = 13 lb. This weight savings represents the use of common housings and controls. Cost is figure the same as the weight: 20% off all but the most expensive component. For more realistic consideration, costs and weights of cells can be taken into account. In all cases, the GM has final say as to whether or not a particular combination will be allowed, and how it works and costs. Feel free to require computer controls, increase cost and weight, and decrease power efficiency.