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Re: (TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #635



At 08:34 PM 12/2/04 -0500, Sethkimmel@aol.com wrote:
...
OB TFT: I agree with the contention the advantages of modern missile weapons
is firepower and ignoring primitive armor more than sheer mass
destructiveness. I also agree that rifles and shotguns are MUCH more destructive than handguns...I guess the best way to quantify modern weapon damage is to research, research and research starting with the FBI statistics (I believe a lot of this
is on the web after being declassified) and then working down to information
available through local police departments (which frankly probably won't be
cooperative), to colleges that have criminal justice and especially forensic
science programs....

Here in Seattle, the police reportedly have a rule that has them shooting suspects with swords within a range of I think 30 feet... seems extremely bloodthirsty and cowardly to me, especially if there is only one guy with a sword who isn't charging and the officer has a gun out and loaded. Anyway, some folks have been shot whom it didn't seem really needed to be for the actual risk to officers, who had swords, or who were just driving a car and making the police feel unsafe.

More comical was a local police team sent out to control a wild dog in a suburban neighborhood. Animal control wasn't on the scene, but a half dozen police surrounded the dog... and ended up shooting, and hitting each other, while the dog ran away unharmed. Um... training? Rules of engagement? I mean, I know I played TFT and GURPS tactical combats for many years, so my standards for intelligent and competent tactics are pretty high, but... eegad.


Here's another question: what about the morale aspects of being shot at in
Cidri? Will the locals s#$t their pants and run away, or (being fans of Arthur
C. Clarke...:-) ) , just assume it's another form of weird magic and try to
figure out ways to nullify it? Hmm; what happens to a minigun crew who has just
fired at a wizard who has a "return missiles" spell up?

Depends on the local culture and the level of magic and primitive gunpowder they are used to. Of course, anyone will be rightly scared of deadly weapons that outclass their own. They'll probably adapt fairly quickly, though. Also, imported firearms would probably want to be air-tight, as the reason for the 1/6 chance of failure on Cidri was mainly due to something in the air, IIRC.

My thought about Reverse Missiles was that it would work just fine against bullets... meaning that the minigun crew better hope for a weapon jam before they shred themselves.

I have occasionally thought it would be interesting to do an adventure with reverse migration - a magic-equipped party from Cidri visits Earth. How long would modern humans take to figure out how to deal with Reverse Missiles, or even someone very clever the Image spell ... my guess is a smart wizard given time to lie low and figure out modern society, could do very well. Scientific-minded people would have a harder time figuring out magic, than magic-minded people would have figuring out technology, I would tend to think. After all, the scientific conclusion from someone shooting at someone, and getting hit themselves, tends to be that the enemy had unseen allies returning fire. I suppose open-minded forensics people might conclude there was some sort of technological bullet reflector after counting the rounds spent versus holes, and the trajectories.

PvK
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