Katral TN and TNM Android.

            The Katral TN-series are a relatively common mannequin-type android. Facial features are basic, just eyes and a speaker grill. TNs are five feet and four inches tall, a design feature intended to make them less intimidating and also save materials and reduce cost.

            TNs are typically used for tasks that favour a human body form but do not require extensive social interaction with humans. TNs can use tools and devices originally designed for humans so are popular in the older factories and workshops of the Third and Fourth Wave. They are also used in some Fifth Wave factories but in daily life one is most likely to encounter a TN being used for janitorial or cleaning duties.

            A significant variant of the TN-series are the TNM military models. As might be expected, military models are more robust and include a greater number of  back-up or auxiliary systems. Their outer integument is resistant to light weapons such as bullets and fragments. A TNM is larger than a TN, being six feet tall. Typically TNMs are painted in a military colour or pattern. Models working in certain conditions such as aircraft hangers will be painted in high-visibility colour schemes.

            TNMs (aka “tinmen” or “tin soldiers”) are primarily used for the everyday routine tasks around a military installation. If fielded in a combat unit their primary role tends to be carrying stores and reloading artillery or combat RATS. TNMs can be used as combat systems, however. They can use any tool or weapon designed to be used by a human soldier. If required they can wear camouflaged clothing, webbing and body-armour designed for baseline humans. During an emergency at a military installation armed TNMs are often the first units on the scene since instructing them to arm themselves is often quicker than bringing more sophisticated RATS in storage online.

Tirelli Kumo-607 RATS

           “A conventional tank takes a couple of seconds to roll out of cover, fire and then roll back again. You can use that to your advantage. The Kuros, however…They pop out, fire and are gone again before you know it. And they can hide in a lot of places a tank cannot!”

           “The spider was firing down the street. Shaka came out the doorway with a satchel charge, intending to hook it on. He hadn’t known they have eyes in the back of their heads. A leg lashed out and hit him soundly in the chest, lifting him off his feet. The foot stuck there for a moment, then a second kick sent him flying as the claws retracted. The machine never even paused from firing down the street.”
 

           RATS (Robot Armoured Tactical Systems) come in many shapes and sizes. The Tirelli Kumo-607 may be considered to be a typical example of a hexapod model. Its performance and flexibility has led to wide scale usage and a number of copies.

            The Kumo-607 is about the size of a mule or large dog. The body of the Kumo is a small platform on the edge of which six limbs are mounted. The underside of the body is shaped to deflect mine blasts. Each limb ends in a polymer coated “hoof”. Each hoof has retractable claws that can be used for digging, climbing, fighting or as crampons. Each limb is also provided with a retractable waldo that allows the limb to function as an arm and manipulate items such as keypads or door handles. Limbs also have video pickups, allowing the Kumo to look over walls or around corners without exposing itself. A submerged Kumo will use one limb as a periscope.

            The “head” of the Kumo resembles a turret mounted in the centre of the platform. Forward for the Kumo is whatever direction its weapons happen to be pointing. Multiple video pickups give the Kumo all-around vision. The turret has an assortment of mounting points for a variety of weapons. Typically a Kumo mounts a 7.5mm MG or a 10mm Emag. Police models may mount shorter-ranged or less-lethal weapons. The gun armament of the Kumo is supplemented by a number of launch tubes of varying calibres. Typically two large-calibre anti-tank/assault launchers are supplemented by various 30mm or 40mm weapons. Kumos may also carry swarmbots and minibots for reconnaissance, defence and repairs.

            The Kumo has a number of different “gaits”. Typically it moves like a spider, with its legs spread out for maximum stability. If a passage is narrow it moves somewhat like a grasshopper, with some legs forward and some to the rear. It may employ a straight-legged high stance when wading, moving through tall grass or in minefields. Alternately it may also move close to the ground in a “crawl”. A Kumo may use its legs to brace itself between two walls and move upwards or downwards. If a Kumo needs to engage in close combat it will move like a mantis or crab, moving on four legs and striking out with the other two. The retractable claws might be deployed in such actions.

            The six limbs of the Kumo give it a degree of redundancy. It can use two limbs with no degradation of movement. If a third leg is lost it can still move at a reduced rate. Legs of a Kumo are -5 to hit and are often fitted with detachable, easily replaced armoured panels. Damaged legs can easily be replaced by plug-in spares. The Kumo itself can perform this action. In some conflicts it Kumos may carry spare legs with them.

            Kumos usually form the foundation of a squad or platoon’s firepower. They often ride on the outside of military vehicles, effectively serving as extra turrets.

            The SCAT-Kumo (SCout/ATtack) is a smaller version of the 607, less than two feet high. It is particularly useful for indoor operations and is favoured by some SWAT units. Armament is typically a carbine and/ or shotgun, supplemented by 15mm to 40mm missiles and grenades. SCATs are often used alongside Kumo-607s, creating a scene similar to a mother spider surrounded by her offspring.

 

           The video below gives some idea of what the Kumo-607 and SCAT-Kumo might look like.

Weapons: Belt Sword

            Today I was watching the Matt Helm movie “The Ambushers”. In one scene Helm runs out of ammunition so unthreads his belt from his trousers. He holds the belt under a convenient stream of water and the belt becomes rigid so he can use it as a weapon.

            It occurred to me that a similar device might be practical in TS. The belt would be made of memory plastic and become rigid under the stimulus of a piezo-electric charge generated by the buckle. Such a belt would be treated in combat as a light club or blunt sword so would do crushing damage. A typical man’s belt would count as a broadsword or bokken so do Sw+1 cr/ Thr +1 cr damage. Depending on the wearer’s girth it might instead be a shortsword or bastard sword. Successful use of this weapon depends on wearing trousers that stay up without a belt!

Blackcollars in TS.

          In Timothy Zahn’s Blackcollar series the Blackcollars are a ninja/ commando unit that use low-tech, non-electronic and non-explosive weapons to avoid detection by their high-tech opponents. Favoured weapons included nunchaku, shurikens and slingshots. Oddly, the weapons used in the books that I read were still made from metal.

            The technology available in Transhuman Space permits the construction of effective non-metallic weapons from such materials as glass, plastics and ceramics. Low-tech, low-detectability weapons might also be supplemented by certain combat orientated bio-implants. The Blackcollars in Zahn’s books had enhanced speed and reflexes.

 

           There will doubtless be situations in TS where low-tech systems may be used to circumvent high-tech defensive systems.

            Items such as nanoburn are technically robotic and electronic but it is debatable as to whether the electric field is strong enough to be detected by security systems, particularly if carried close to a larger electric field such as that of a human/ parahuman/ bioroid/ bioshell body. The dense covalent bonding of monowire and nanofiber effectively make them metallic as far as detectors are concerned. Undetectable garrottes and climbing ropes will need to be made from polymer or natural materials. What can and cannot be used is ultimately up to the GM.

 

            Below is some suggested stats for a slingshot. The American term “slingshot” often causes confusion with a sling, a weapon working on a quite different principle. (One episode of “Lost in Space” claimed the slingshot was the weapon that slew Goliath!) I have therefore used the British English name of “hand catapult” (aka “catapult” or “catty”). Late 20^th century examples have proved to be effective for small game hunting and have been known to break riot police visors. A TS version would probably use a polymer that was less likely to break or perish. Non-metallic ammunition can be assumed to be glass marbles of 0.04lb weight each. Inventive Players will undoubtedly wish to use them to fire arrows, shuriken and various other devices.

            In World War Two some British commando units were issued catapults for throwing stones to distract sentries. TS catapults can be used in the same way but there is a danger that if the sentry is close he may hear or recognize the noise of the “rubber”. Robotic systems are more likely to be fooled.

            Zhan’s blackcollars used sticky clay pellets containing lumps of radioactive plutonium to blind and degrade sensors.

Rubber Hand Catapult (TL6)

Slingshot/ Catapult is a P/E skill, defaulting to Bow-4 or DX-4.
 

Weapon	Damage	Acc	1/2D	Max	Wt.	RoF	Min ST	Rcl	Cost
Catapult	thr+4 pi 1d-1 cr	1 1	STx20 60	STx25 100	1 1	1(4) 1(2)	- 6†	-	$50 $15

Update! Since first writing this I have found there is a slingshot stat in HT4e p.201. I have added these in red in the table above. Skill to use is Bow (Slingshot)(DX-5 or Bow-4). Bulk is -2 and folding models are Holdout -1. A lead or steel pellet costs $0.1 and gives +1 damage and double range. The handle of a catapult can be used as a yawara stick.

 

 

 

Weapons: Mk-7 Mine

            The Mk-7 Anti-track mine resembles a square plastic carrying case or flattened jerry can, 4 inches deep and 10 inches to a side. It has a moulded carrying handle and weighs around 11 pounds. The basic mine contains virtually no detectable metal although optional fusing systems may change this. The design has been widely copied. Outer casing is typically a mud-brown colour although grey, green and pale-sand colours are also produced. The pale-sand model also works well in snowfields.

            The Mk-7 Anti-track mine is a pressure-activated and can be scattered from ground vehicles, helicopters and low-flying aircraft, or can be manually buried. The mine is non-buoyant, waterproof and can be operated to a depth of 1 yard underwater. The mine is either surface-laid or buried down to 70 mm below the ground surface.

            The Mk-7 Anti-track mine is provided with a double anti-shock device operating mechanically and pneumatically. This device prevents the mine from being triggered when an impulsive load is applied onto the pressure plate, caused either by an accidental drop, when scattered by a helicopter dispenser, by the detonation of a nearby or suspended explosive charge, or by the action of fuel-air explosive mine-clearing systems.

            The hinged pressure plate on one face of the mine has glass shear pins and the sensitivity of the mine can be varied by changing these pins for ones of a different diameter or wall thickness. The plastic casing also has several auxiliary fuse wells. The mine can also be fitted with optional anti-handling devices, electronic proximity fuses or a tilt-rod fuse kit.

            The Mk-7 is of limited effectiveness against modern fighting vehicles but can disable them by cutting a track or destroying a wheel. It is effective against soft-skinned vehicles and many military cybershells.

            Somewhat obsolescent, the Mk-7 remains in wide use due to its low-cost, simplicity and versatility. Many organisations use the Mk-7 as a convenient demolition and satchel charge. Typically one fuse well will be fitted with a pull-igniter and a ten-second length of fuse in addition to any more sophisticated detonation systems.

            A Mk-7 does damage of 6d x 13 cr ex. Dismantling the mine yields 8lbs of useable advanced TS explosive, each pound doing 6d x 4 cr ex.

 

Useful Conversion Formulae

            GURPS source material generally uses the US version of the Imperial system. If you are more comfortable with metric measurements. this is generally not a problem. 4e mainly uses just yards and pounds, or units derived from these, so the only conversion numbers you need to remember are 0.914 and 2.2. 

• One hex can be considered to be either a yard or a metre with little actual effect on game mechanics unless large numbers are involved. For metres into yards divide by 0.914. For yards into metres multiply by 0.914. There are 1.094 yards in a metre. This can be treated as 1.1 and calculation made using the Times Eleven trick.
• An item's weight in kilograms can be converted to pounds by multiplying by 2.2. Divide by 2.2 for pounds into kilograms.
• Tons in GURPS are “short tons” of 2,000 pounds or 907.185 kg. Multiply metric tonnes (megagrams!) by 1.0231 to convert to short tons or divide by 0.907. A useful visualization to remember is that a cubic metre of ice weighs nearly one metric tonne (919 kg actual).
• Speeds in kilometres per hour can be converted to miles per hour by dividing by 1.6. The mph result can then be halved to get the more game-useful yards/sec equivalent: 4 mph=2 yd/s.  (For kph to m/s multiply by 0.277 ̇ or divide by 4 for “quick and dirty”.)

            Other Imperial units such as cubic feet or cubic yards can usually be treated as arbitrary game units. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. A cubic yard is 0.765 cubic metres. A cubic yard of ice weighs about 0.77 short tons, or 1,549 lbs. Some parameters, such as jumping distances, are initially calculated in feet or inches. Divide by 3 (feet) or 36 (inches) to get yards. A square yard is 9 square feet.

Times Eleven Trick. 
Modified from “Rapid Math Tricks and Tips” by Edward H. Julius. To multiply by 1.1 (metres into yards) write the original number then beneath it write the same number, with the decimal place shifted once to the left. Add these two numbers. To convert kilos into pounds use the same process and double the final result. 

Temperature.

            Temperature can be a problem. Many rules are written referring to 10˚(F) increments, for example:

            p.B9 tells us “one Fahrenheit degree is 5/9 the size of a degree Celsius” and “To convert actual thermometer readings, subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit temperature and multiply the result by 5/9”.

˚F = (˚C x 1.8) +32
˚C = (˚F -32)/1.8

    
More convenient is to remember the approximation that:

1˚F = 0.55˚C
1˚C = 1.8˚F

More easily remembered as:

10˚F = 5.5˚C

18˚F = 10˚C

            Hence when a rule talks of “for every 10˚ change in temperature” it can be read as “for every 5˚C change...”. The comfort zone defined in Temperature Tolerance on p.B93 can be read as being: “For ordinary humans, this zone is 30°C wide and falls between 1°C and 32°C”. See here for a different approach to GURPS and metric.

Space Travel.

            While on the subject of useful formulae and conversions a useful one for Transhuman Space and other space-based campaigns is:

Delta-V (mps) ÷ 1100 = AU/ day.
or
Days of Travel  = Distance in AU/ (delta-V (mps) ÷ 1100)

            To convert Delta-V (mps) to a top speed in yards per second multiply by 1,800. (1,760 actual)

            To convert Acceleration in G to a move of yards per second per second multiply by 10. (10.72 actual)

It is easier to deal in interplanetary distances in Astronomical Units (AU) rather than millions of miles or kilometres. An Astronomical Unit (AU) is an unit of measurement approximate to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. For game purposes one AU is approximately 93 million miles, 150 million km, 500 light-seconds or 8 ⅓ light-minutes.

The speed of light is approximately 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 km/s. Therefore a light-second is approximately 186,000 miles, 300,000 km or 1/500^th of an AU. Light-lag in seconds is distance in AU multiplied by 500. Double this for a two-way communication.

For simplicity, the travel distance between planets within a star system may be taken to be equal to the distance of the further planet from the star. The closest two planets will be will be when they are in “inferior conjunction”: ie when they are in a line on the same side of the star. In such a configuration the distance between them will be “A-B” where “A” is the distance of the further planet from the star and “B” is the distance that the inner planet is from the star. The furthest distance between planets will be when they are in “superior conjunction”, each in line on opposite sides of the star. The straight line distance between planets will be A+B in this case. The average between “A+B” and “A-B” works out as just “A”, the distance of the outermost planet from the star. For convenience and simplicity the GM may decide to take the travel distance between two planets in a system to be the distance of the more outermost planet from the star. THS 3e p.51 has a more accurate table of distances between planets for Jan 1st, 2100.

Falling Distances and Velocity.

Page 431 (4e) of the basic rules gives a table of velocities for falling objects. Alternately the formulae below can be used using a value of 10.72 yards/sec² for “g” on Earth. For other planets multiply this value by the relevant scaling factor (eg: 0.38 for Mars, 0.9 for Venus, 0.17 for Luna). Increasing density of atmosphere or fluid the object is falling (or sinking) through will reduce velocity.

“t” is the time in seconds. “d” is the distance fallen in yards in “t” seconds. “v_i” is velocity in yards per second after “t” seconds of falling.

“v_a” is the average velocity in yards per second for an object that has been falling “t” seconds.

The above does not consider air density, which would become significant during a long fall. A useful calculator for this can be found here:

Free Fall with Air Resistance (time and velocity) Calculator
 

THS 3e p.57 notes:

Falling Damage: To compute falling damage under gravity other than 1 G. figure the damage that would have occurred under 1 G. per p. B131.[3e] then multiply it by the local gravity. E.g.. a fall that is computed to do 12 points of damage (before DR is taken into account) would do 24 points of damage under 2 Gs. but only 2 points under 0.16 G.
Falling Objects: Use a similar procedure for determining the damage done by falling objects. Those interested in absolute realism should be aware that terminal velocity (the maximum speed at which an object can fall before air resistance) is decreased in low gravity. More importantly terminal velocity is lower in a thick atmosphere, higher in a thin atmosphere and unlimited in vacuum! So the effective maximum fall (200 yards for most objects; 50 yards for people, who have high air resistance) may vary widely. A general formula: terminal velocity is multiplied by 0.25 in a very dense atmosphere (Venus), 0.5 in a dense atmosphere (Titan), 1.5 in a thin atmosphere (like some space colonies maintained at low pressure), and 2 in a very thin atmosphere (Mars). It is unlimited in trace atmosphere or in vacuum.

LLW: Water Cannon and Brine Throwers.

            The only GURPS stats for a water cannon that I can find are in GURPS Vehicles 3e  (p.118) and these omit certain criteria that one might wish to know. The table below attempts to adapt those rules to TS 4e. It is assumed that the water cannon is mounted on a suitable vehicle. Being intended for TS this system is a little lighter than those of earlier TLs. Total weight of a system is dependent on the reservoir capacity, maximum number of shots being represented by “S”. Volume of the reservoir tank can be taken to be S x 0.08 cf. Each shot of liquid weighs 4.25 lbs. A single, totally filled, 100 shot small water cannon therefore weighs 20+25+425 = 470 lbs and has an 8 cf tank. A reservoir tank may supply more than one projector. Each additional projector weighs 20lbs if small, 40lbs if medium and 80lbs if large.

LIQUID PROJECTOR (Water Cannon) (DX-4 or other Liquid Projector-4)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Empty Weight	RoF	Shots	WPS
Small Water Cannon	4d Special	-	40/60	20+0.25S	Jet	S	4.25
Medium Water Cannon	4d Special	-	55/80	40+0.25S	Jet	S	4.25
Large Water Cannon	4d Special	-	80/120	80+0.25S	Jet	S	4.25

 

            A water cannon is treated as a jet (4e p.B106) but using the 1/2D and Max ranges given on the table. It does no damage and instead has a knockback effect. It does the equivalent of up to 4d damage for calculating knockback.

            Knockback rules are for every full multiple of the target’s ST-2 rolled, move the target one hex away from the water cannon. A target that has no ST or is not resisting uses HP instead (4e p.B378). Knockback into something hard may cause actual damage. (GURPS Vehicles 3e suggests 1d per 2.5 hex of knockback).

            Potentially a water cannon can have dyes, irritants or malodorants added to the water. Some versions have a separate reservoir allowing the operator to only use additives when desired. In practice such additives are seldom used since their use in a water cannon can result in a major clean-up problem!

Brine-Thrower.

            The availability of compact, efficient refrigeration units allowed the development of a variant known as a brine-thrower. The addition of additives such as salt to the water allows it to remain liquid when chilled to below normal freezing point. Treat as a normal water cannon but with a follow-on effect similar to being immersed in arctic seawater. Every minute roll against health or lose 1 FP. Normal clothing, including winter clothing provides no defence. A diver’s drysuit, high levels of cold tolerance or something water-tight such as a battle-suit may provide some protection.