Forums of the Megaverse®

With a game being planned that I'll spend some time as a player and some time as gm I had some questions for specific tools. The character i'll be playing while as a player is a palladium world dwarf on rifts earth which starts with metalworking as a bonus rcc skill (character occ is operator). The tools I would like to ask about primarily are forging hammers, anvils of various sizes, tongs and a forge that can be set for either sdc or mdc materials likely one that can be powered from a nuclear generator. My question on these tools would simply be what kinds of prices for them?
The other question on my mind currently is if a sword, knife or other hand held melee weapon is made from mdc materials and used by a character with robotic or higher strength does it still only do structural damage or would it be same dice but causes mega damage? This question I ask since some are clearly stated with this variable while others are not.

For the muscle powered tools, the places to look would be Rifts England and Mystic Russia.

For power tools (like say big Blue from Forged in Fire, or grinders) you will need search the internet. Coming up with equivalent U. Credit prices for them. But as for guesses....air/power hammer: 15-30 K UC, depending on quality of grinder: 500 UC - 6,000 UC. All of that is assuming they are avalible. Hydrolic Presses would be like grinders, they come in versus qualities...cheap/slow ones (probably hand modified to go faster) 1000 UC to purpose built (like the ones on forged in Fire): 10-25 K UC.

Note the following it basic not lazy thinking along with a perfictly good canon rule....
If a normal blade is made out of MDC materials, it is just a SD blade. However, it will not break if used by a PS that can do MD with it's punches. The normal rules about blades is that they ether do the blade's listed damage rating + the SD str. bonus from the attribute chart, OR they do the character's Punch/Strike damage according to their PS's relevant charts.
--For the nit pickers, yes this rule was intended to prevent the player from stacking a blade's damage rating with their chars Punch damage rating. (I believe it it in a Q&A somewhere.) So what if it works just fine with the question asked.
***To give an example:
Joe Schmo is a PA pilot and weilds a No-Dachi he had made from the scrap structure of his last ride. When he is waking around town with it and gets into a fight it only does 3D6 SD (+PS bonus). But when he is out on the range working, say...hunting furry beatles, the blade lets him do the PA's punch damage to the FB.

The Bearded Tech, there are a variety of weapon materials described as adding to Supernatural Strength damage. These are generally of magical, extradimensional, or otherwise unusual provenance. Examples include Xiticix resin, Gargoyle-sized weapons, Mutant bone weapons, Soul Weapons, and Kisentite. An example of a weapon made from more "traditional" MDC materials which inarguably adds to Robotic Strength damage is found in Northern Gun 1. The book details several Bangsticks/powerheads which usually are used in conjunction with Big Bore shotgun shells, but when wielded as solely blunt weapons inflict 1d4-1d6 plus MDC punch damage. While most MDC hand tools would work as described in RUE there is a decent argument for adding a point or two to, say, a cyborg dwarf smith clubbing someone with a giant wrench, for keeping with a theme if nothing else.

Robotic/Supernatural Strength damage does not stack with weapon damage except where it does, as directly stated in every printing of most of the books, and on these forums.

The argument is stupid anyway. Why did humans pick up sticks to hit each other with? Because they did more damage than using their fists.

At what point do fists stop doing more damage than weapons held in fists? Is it a size thing? Do robots not get the advantages of leverage and mass? Are Titans unable to utilize "Chopping" because of their mystic nature?

Stack the damage. Combat just got deadlier, but that works both ways. Players will really value their 80 MDC when the baddie does 8d6+ a swing. Those MDC PC powerhouses swinging polearms? Meet Titus, the Rahu-man merc with four different magical blades.