Nanoplague Question

[Awall]

I just picked up Splicers last week and had a few question about the Nanoplague.

Would someone in Host armor or any of the organic armor still be affected? They wouldn't be able to any metal object without being affected?

If the answer to the first question is that "NO" armor protects from the Nanoplague then a dastardly useful tactic would be for the machines to use frag grenades and missiles just because of the contaminated metal that would be left behind?

Awall

[Awall]

Thanks. I though so, but I had doubts.

[The Baron of chaos]

Now One could puzzle if there is somethign those ******* nanomachines can't affect.
My question is, there is a splicer feature that add force field. The nano plague work EVEN through the force field!!
If yes, eplain me in DETAIL how the **** cna do it.

[demos606]

The only reason the bio-force field should stop the nanoplague is if it environmentally seals the being it surrounds. This poses the question of just how that being is to breathe now since there sren't any bio-enhancements that generate air/water. You're also foiled by the fact that the plague requires close contact to trigger, this typically implies inside the force field radius.

[Poocho]

Hmmm, at first this sounded like a big whole, since the fact that Host Armor can be affected by the plague would mean that melee attacks against the robot would cause it to trigger. But I seem to remember something in the book saying that robots aren't affected.

But this would mean splicers would almost constantly be attacked, since battlegrounds, ruined cities, etc. are covered with bits of metal--either from ruins or from dead robots. A Splicer could be eaten alive by simply walking through a battleground. Hmmm, doesn't sound good to me....

--Poocho

[Jefffar]

There's a ceratin ammount of time youc an touch metal befoe the nanites react. So landing a punch on a robot shouldn't be too bad, but grapplign with one would be potentially deadly - even if you won

[Poocho]

Either way, if Host Armors can be attacked by metal, they'd still get eaten alive if they set foot on a battleground or ruined city.

And what about the metal ore in rocks? If a Dreadguard is climbing a mountain, does he have to worry about the iron in the rock attacking him?

[Poocho]

Perhaps, but don't the nanobots attack the metal at a molecular level? If so, there would be nothing impure about the metal molecules themselves; they'd just be surrounded by lots of unusable molecules.

I don't plan to go with that myself, but I'm just comparing logic.

--Poocho

[The Baron of chaos]

ahh the inconsistency of the Nanoplague...this is goign to become the highlight of the board.
Sincerely I underlined more than a time tha t Metal is AREAALLLy borad term. Technically also some organic key element are metals, at elas t on chemical point of view.

[Poocho]

That's true. I hadn't thought about that. Humans and organics have iron as a part of them. What's to keep the nanobots from zipping those iron molecules in and out of your body, turning you into swiss cheese in minutes? It would be similar to the scene in Xmen 2 where Magneto sucked all those iron fillings out of the guard.

Perhaps there needs to be a ruling as to how substantial a chunk of metal needs to be before the nanobots decide to bother with it. That again brings to mind the perils of walking through any battlefield or ruined city.

I don't know,
Poocho

[demos606]

From the way the book is written, there seems to be a minimal mass with a minimal purity required before the plague can react in an effective manner. Granted, everything and its mother has metallic elements in its composition it seems but in living things the concentrations are well below the levels needed for an effective reaction.

The rock with iron ore inside would likely do absolutely nothing unless the ore composed more than half the mass of the rock and even then there would need to be signifigant surface exposure for an effective reaction.

[Poocho]

Alright, I'll accept that. But I'm still a bit paranoid about the prospect of accidentally stepping on a large piece of metal (perhaps only the tip is exposed, but a large chunk is buried under rubble) and losing your foot.

[demos606]

As long as you step and move you *should* be ok since it takes a few seconds for a reaction to trigger. If your GM is throwing metal objects into the scenery just to %&*% with you and not providing you warning to the presence of metal, slap em around till they get a clue - Resistance fighters are raised from birth with a severe paranoia regarding metal and are keenly aware of its dangers and would *never* willing stand on an exposed chunk of it unless theyre on a robots back blasting it for all theyre worth in a banzai charge.

[Poocho]

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks again for humoring me!