(TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #1004

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

At 22:14 -0400 4/27/08, Jay wrote:
> I hear you Peter and Erol.
> Now if I was a Player I'd be bugging you about learning to fly upsidedown.
> No?
> What about if I pick up Acrobatics?

"Aerobatics" would be the appropriate skill if it existed, but I'd 
say you could substitute "Acrobatics".

At 22:14 -0400 4/27/08, TFT Digest wrote:
>  > > @ 100psi per 1pt dam this is 1,600,000psi
>  >
> >  psi? Seems to me fireballs would do damage by heat rather than pressure.

<oversimplification alert>

	Explosions that create shock waves can do damage according to 
the "overpressure" which is reasonable to measure in psi (and 
decreases like 1/r^2 from the center of the blast, I think).

	This is why most of even an HE bomb's mass is in the casing, 
rather than the explosive. The concussion effect is built up by the 
explosive pressurizing the casing up to its burst point. Any more 
explosive is more or less wasted. The point is to store as much 
energy as possible in stretching the casing, then release it all at 
once when the casing ruptures.

	Fuel-air explosives are one exception; they detonate fast 
enough (and are large enough in volume) that the inertia of the air 
surrounding them is enough to build up a reasonable shock wave 
against.

	Nukes are another exception; again, the prompt radiation 
heats a sufficient volume of air that the inertia of the air 
"outside" allows a good shock wave to build up.

	Next question is *how* a Fireball does its damage. I think of 
it as being an energy-deposition effect. Magic Fist deposits impulse 
(like a fist) (and which I would attempt to convert to kinetic 
energy), Fireball deposits convected heat (like a flame-thrower), 
Lightning deposits ions or electrons (like a lightning bolt). In any 
of those cases, I would assess damage by energy deposited rather than 
by overpressure. It's not completely trivial, but it would be 
possible to add up kinetic energy (assume some mass for fist + arm, 
use  E =  1/2  (m) (v^2)  ), or thermal energy (BTU's isn't quite 
right, but close), or total charge times voltage for kWh in the 
lightning bolt.

	I don't know how to convert petard or grenade explosions into 
an energy system. Those clearly do concussion damage most 
appropriately rated by overpressure. If Fireballs (Or Lightning, or 
Wizard's Wrath) work like these weapons, the above is not worth 
reading and I'll crawl back under my rock...

At 22:14 -0400 4/27/08, TFT Digest wrote:
> Is that a limit on how big a Fireball can be?

	I like some practical limits I've seen used as "house rules", 
such as "no more points than the basic ST of the wizard", or "no more 
points than the basic IQ of the wizard". There's a hint of a limit 
(20 points) in the size limitation on Fireball Rods in the Magic 
Items sections of AW. That said, as a Wizard, I'd really love to be 
able to hire a whole flock of apprentices and take down Hoover Dam 
with a single, Thor-like Magic Fist of several thousand points. Very 
cinematic.

	Has anyone run statistics on how powerful a spell could be 
cast by having a wizard at the center of a bunch of concentric rings 
of Aid-ing apprentices?  Start at the outer ring, everyone casts a 
full-ST Aid on the next ring in, then next turn everyone in that ring 
casts a full-Aided-St Aid on the next ring in, and so on? Eventually 
missed rolls catch up with you, but it would be interesting to see 
how much ST could make it in to the wizard at the center and what the 
variance on that number is.

At 19:37 -0400 4/26/08, David wrote:
> I have to agree here.  It has not been my experience either that the
> lethality of a combat system encourages people to be more diplomatic.

Hmmm. May I deduce we have a rather non-lethal combat system here on 
the mailing list?

:-)
--
						- Mark, 210-379-4635
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