Re: War of the Worlds in DS2

Interesting stuff.  A few comments I've got on it...

I'm not quite sure how one reconciles forcefields into DS2 without
forcing a
pretty much complete rebalancing of the system, regardless of how strong
or
weak they are.	I'm not sure if it was an oversight on Saint Jon's part
or
if his vision of the armor assumed that you could as easily call it a
combination of armor and forcefields.  It's conceivable that shielded
armor
could be taken as a different armor type, similar to how ablative and
reactive armor is handled now.	I'd tend to say they should be even more
expensive than stealth, however, if they're going to be useful enough
that
they're even worth using at all.

Lastly...

A comment (possibly OT) on H.G.Wells' original vision in his novel. 
Wells
was trying to convey a quasi-religious message that no technology can
equal
the works of God, and therefore humanity should be humble.  The problem
is
that today his vision of an alien race (Martians) that can ignore human
weaponry but could be stopped by common microbes that we are immune to,
as
an illustration of God's wisdom in putting such things here to protect
us
against all comers, has progressively fallen on its face over time.

His original tripods that could be stymied by what we now consider
laughably
sluggish ironclad rivercraft and stopped in token numbers wouldn't fare
too
well against modern guided missiles.  The 1938 broadcast that upped the
ante
to massive B-17 airstrikes also would've had troubles with guided
weapons,
to say nothing of the obvious nuclear trump card.  Even the 1953 movie's
hoverships, which could ignore nuclear devices outright, fall short in
their
implementation of Wells' vision, against modern biowarfare.  After all,
an
alien invader that can't even put up with the common cold isn't going to
have much fun at all against weaponized anthrax.

This isn't to say that there aren't still natural events that can
outmode
human technology.  The problem is that there aren't any that can do so
without destroying the entire planet.  Even the nuclear winter of an
asteroid strike that _wouldn't_ shatter the entire planet could be
reproduced.

E

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Pope" <tpope@exchange.cs.cmu.edu>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Cc: <Stargrunt-Fullthrust@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 5:33 AM
Subject: War of the Worlds in DS2

> As I mentioned a bit earlier, working with a friend of mine, we've
come up
> with the very beginning of a WWII mod for Dirtside (expanding on the
one
> posted a lont time ago by Mike Elliot) along with a set of rules for
the
> Martian invaders, movie style.
>
> The rule modifications are still very much in playtest version.  They
work
> decently well in a vacuum, but there are still some balance issues
with
the
> Martians (especially the shielding) that have to be worked out.
>
> As we have more time to playtest (a rare commodity these days) we will
post
> some scenarios and additional rules.
>
> http://okapi.andrew.cmu.edu/lerchey/www/DSII/wwii.html
> http://okapi.andrew.cmu.edu/lerchey/www/DSII/martians.html
>
> Comments are welcome, of course.
>
> Tom