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Re: (TFT) 1 point of 'damage' vs. 1 point of Fatigue



I had the same feeling about this last one... its basically trying to simplify how 'damage' works in real life down to force, without taking into account all the things force interacts with in real life.

Thats just not how it works. Even GURPS wouldn't really be able to do it in the way you (Jay) seem to want to. I think when it comes to damage its best to just think of it a bit abstractly. I could apply the same force to the back of the neck and to a fellows abdomen, and the first might kill him, while the second might hardly bruise him.
On Apr 29, 2011, at 1:30 PM, PvK wrote:

You're leaving out some of the math for us to be able to check your calculations, not that anyone here would.

But also, in your enthusiasm for the common unit of measure, I think you often jump several levels of "what's actually happening" between point A and B. For examples:
What about the surface area per pound of force?
What about the hardness of the thing applying the energy to a body?
What about the hardness of the body or armor or object itself?
What about how strongly the receiver is held in place to resist the incoming forces?
What about the angles and shapes involved?

I think your investigations are interesting, and the subjects are all interesting, but often when I try to read and follow along, my reactions are always similar:
1) That's an interesting and relative starting point.
2) Wait, where did those numbers come from and why are those the units and equations?
3) Weird conclusions that seem off.
4) Doesn't GURPS already have a version of this, which is closer to reality that both TFT and Jay's conclusion? 5) This would be far more interesting if Jay would start from GURPS rather than TFT, and then try to get a step or two more accurate.

Recommendation: Get GURPS Basic Set, GURPS High Tech, and GURPS Vehicles. Try to integrate your data with those. Then if you prefer TFT's level of detail, work backwards from there.

For example, GURPS does have rules for explosions which start with force, account for distance, break damage into concussion effect and fragmentation (maybe heat too? don't remember). Also GURPS has concepts which are missing in TFT but which seem the minimum necessary to get from A to B with any level of meaningfulness in the types of equations you are trying to solve, such as attack type and target type, and damage effects for inanimate objects and levels of destruction for human bodies...

--- Jay_Carlisle@charter.net wrote:

From: "Jay Carlisle" <Jay_Carlisle@charter.net>
To: <tft@brainiac.com>
Subject: Re: (TFT) 1 point of 'damage' vs. 1 point of Fatigue
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:53:07 -0700

1 gram is a little tough to visualize for most of my players here in the
states.
However, most d6 are a bit over 5 grams.
Now if I use the 3000 joules bit for 1 gram of TNT then Im talking roughly a ton in foot pounds, or about 10,000 foot pounds for a die six worth of the
stuff.
This suggests that a players Figure standing on a point about 12 feet, or 3 hexes away from a d6 chunk of TNT would catch about 5.5 foot pounds of force
across their body.
As I count 1 point of ST as 5.5 pounds moved 1 foot in 1 second Im tempted
to call this 1 point of damage
That would suggest that it would take about 10d6 of TNT (about a tenth of a
pound) to kill Joe Average @ ST 10 and 3 hexes away minimum.
The problem is that professional athletes generate forces between 1000+ pounds with a punch to 2000+ pounds with a football tackle and 3000+ pounds
for something like a Rampage Jackson body slam.
Now athletes are trained to receive such forces and also have equipment that goes a long way towards damage mitigation but the math works out to about 350ish damage for a 1 ton blow which is what Joe ought to be able to do with
a 10 pound sledge at the end of a 3 foot handle and a full swing.

Maybe its the abstract thing?
Pair it down by about 30% to account for training, 30% to account for proper equipment, and 30% to account for dynamic movement and your down to 10% of that order of magnitude which is back in the ballpark of the back of the
envelope Im considering.

So by the fault-lines of this idea Im at something like 4 trillion joules for a kiloton or about 725 billion damage on the point and subject to the
inverse square much less other mitigating issues.

What do they call it on-line?
DPS?
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