Telemechanics and Stealing Technology

[Library Ogre]

I've been thinking about stealing technology with Telemechanics (you know the standard way it works... a person with Telemechanics and Machine Ghost goes up to robot X with a disk in his pocket, gets an accurate blueprint of the machine with TM, and then transfers it all to the disk via Machine Ghost, or one of a dozen different scenarios). It triggered something in me, specifically a memory of this.

Note: With fabber technology available, it is not at all uncommon (and hardly suprising) for popular items like the trusty Strohl Munitions BH-series "Big Handguns" to be knocked off by scam artists trying to make a quick buck. It IS, however, uncommon for the knock-offs to be as good as the real thing. After all, in the galactic marketplace, anything worth making well is worth making LOTS of, so typically the brand-name manufacturers can make the genuine article for less than anyone else can.

Thus the importance of (and the legislation governing the use of) the logo. Sure, it's easy to manufacture a convincing logo right along with the rest of the item, but do you really want a weapons manufacturer upset at you for cutting in on their business? Some of their biggest customers may actually volunteer to help them track you down, lest your lower-quality gear fall into friendly hands and get someone hurt.

Naturally, none of this applies to Schlock's new weapon. Petey fabbed it for him, and 'cutting costs' was not on the agenda. Petey COULD have fabbed a logo to go right along with it, but he's a law-abiding warship (mostly), and figured Schlock would be just as happy without the logo as with the logo. If Schlock looks unhappy in the fourth panel, it's because he hasn't had a chance to FIRE the BH-250 yet. Once he's strapped it on and cut it loose he'll lose track of his 'logo-angst' in a euphoric orgy of plasmariffic destruction.

Addendum to note: The phrase "euphoric orgy of plasmariffic destruction" was plagiarized from the Strohl catalog, and appears on this site without permission. If they come looking for me, I was never here.

Now, this is going to have several layers of application, depending on setting. In Phase World, I think it will be similar to as written... it will be nearly impossible to police patents due to the size of intergalactic society, so people will instead police their logo. On Rifts Earth, with a less developed police force, policing anything will be difficult, but you will see people violently defend their creations, not just their logos. On Heroes Earth, I think you'd see a degree of espionage around it, and on N&SS Earth, espionage would be de rigeur.

[rat_bastard]

Bear in mind that while Telemechanics gives you schematics (and total recall give you the schematics again) it does not tell you what materials the weapon is made of.

one thing I have ruled is that forcefields require a artificially created element that is not manufactured on rifts earth. Also there is a point where there are high tech counters to Telemechanics.

[Library Ogre]

Bear in mind that while Telemechanics gives you schematics (and total recall give you the schematics again) it does not tell you what materials the weapon is made of.

one thing I have ruled is that forcefields require a artificially created element that is not manufactured on rifts earth. Also there is a point where there are high tech counters to Telemechanics.

How do you explain Triax's forcefields, then?

[rat_bastard]

Bear in mind that while Telemechanics gives you schematics (and total recall give you the schematics again) it does not tell you what materials the weapon is made of.

one thing I have ruled is that forcefields require a artificially created element that is not manufactured on rifts earth. Also there is a point where there are high tech counters to Telemechanics.

How do you explain Triax's forcefields, then?

Same idea, vastly inferior material.

thats why the triax forcefield does not hold a candle to naruni forcefields.

[Library Ogre]

Bear in mind that while Telemechanics gives you schematics (and total recall give you the schematics again) it does not tell you what materials the weapon is made of.

one thing I have ruled is that forcefields require a artificially created element that is not manufactured on rifts earth. Also there is a point where there are high tech counters to Telemechanics.

How do you explain Triax's forcefields, then?

Same idea, vastly inferior material.

thats why the triax forcefield does not hold a candle to naruni forcefields.

Instead of a far smaller budget and development time?

(Naruni: Several centuries and trillions of PW credits)
(Triax: A few years and millions of Earth credits)

[rat_bastard]

Bear in mind that while Telemechanics gives you schematics (and total recall give you the schematics again) it does not tell you what materials the weapon is made of.

one thing I have ruled is that forcefields require a artificially created element that is not manufactured on rifts earth. Also there is a point where there are high tech counters to Telemechanics.

How do you explain Triax's forcefields, then?

Same idea, vastly inferior material.

thats why the triax forcefield does not hold a candle to naruni forcefields.

Instead of a far smaller budget and development time?

(Naruni: Several centuries and trillions of PW credits)
(Triax: A few years and millions of Earth credits)

I think its been established that Naruni is not as cool as it could be...

and thats billions of earth credits...

[rat_bastard]

I think its been established that Naruni is not as cool as it could be...

and thats billions of earth credits...

I think the best force-fields are the Phase Fields (either one). I think the PW section on Phase Fields shows you could pop-up a super-field that prevents everything from penetrating (a black bubble) but that mean no sunlight, no air and so-on. That P-Field that cuts incoming damage by 10 (divides it by 10) is pretty slick, even if it only works for half the original armor's MDC.

So all in all, Naruni's stuff is *fairly* cool. If you look at the writeups in the Anvil Galaxy book, under the Uteni/True Naruni RCCs you see their FF (Naruni saves it's best stuff for itself) hold somewhere around twice the MD of the stuff they sell.

Another good source for Force fields, even better than Naruni are the Ugakwa from Mindwerks. They should beat Naruni in most cases, they're just much smaller. I forget the particulars on their RCCs length of being around the megaverse, but I believe it's less than Naruni's.

don't forget the spider people in Dee-bees of north America.

[Daikuma]

I think the best force-fields are the Phase Fields (either one). I think the PW section on Phase Fields shows you could pop-up a super-field that prevents everything from penetrating (a black bubble) but that mean no sunlight, no air and so-on. That P-Field that cuts incoming damage by 10 (divides it by 10) is pretty slick, even if it only works for half the original armor's MDC.

Hey, speaking of Phase fields, what exactly is the degree of competency that a psionic using telemechanics would have regarding phase tech if he is not a Promethean or Phase adept? Something, anything?

[Library Ogre]

IMO, Phase tech isn't entirely "real", so you can't get how all of it works by using TM. You're following how it works, and then part of it disappears, and it reappears over there, and disappears over there... you have no idea how it works.

[Daikuma]

IMO, Phase tech isn't entirely "real", so you can't get how all of it works by using TM. You're following how it works, and then part of it disappears, and it reappears over there, and disappears over there... you have no idea how it works.

Wowe imagine the headache from that schematic!

[Jefram_denkar]

A fiend of mine played one hell if a Psi-tech who got his hands on lots of C.S gear including the SAMAS and used his abilites to start building his own personal versions of the SAMAS.

Sure it takes time and money but the psionic abilites he had made it happen.