This was posted over in the Fuzion character sheet thread, as part of another discussion, but I realized it could be posted over here as well. I bet most of you never figured this one out! ^_^
(TECH GEEK NOTE) OH!!! That reminds me!! I was about to mention the fight between Nene and the Boomer that was assisting Mason on top of the Genom tower in BGC 3 Blow Up as an example here (she did take him down on her own, after all!). And I just remembered something about Nene's hardsuit that I thought I should mention and that none of the BGC fuzion books seem to have caught. Nene actually has one knuckle bomber on her right power arm. In all of BGC, it was only shown one time. There's a quick clip of her backhanding the head of the boomer that's on top of her in that fight on top of the tower. And when she does, there's an explosion that takes him out! I wondered if she had triggered her laser at point blank, but that wasn't ever described as something she could do with that weapon. I never knew how that one blow seemed to have taken out the boomer until I looked closely at the tech drawings of Nene's hardsuit and guessed at some of the original Japanese notations in the big ARTMIC BGC book (where R. Talsorian got most of it's line art from). Nene's knucklebomber is directly opposite of her laser on the power arm - on what would be heel of the "hand". It looks like an aperture or coverplate for another laser, but it's really a single knucklebomber that she can use in desperation. And it's in perfect position for that backhand blow that takes out the BU-55C in that fight. I'm 99% sure of this. It would make all kinds of sense for Sylia to provide Nene with one "holdout" weapon in case of emergencies. (END TECH GEEK NOTE)
-Logan
Your help is invaluable. This is exactly the one detail I needed for a scene I am revising. Thank you.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Your help is invaluable. This is exactly the one detail I needed for a scene I am revising. Thank you.
Wow! Is it really that pivotal? I'm glad as heck to have helped out in that case. I guess that means I get another mention in the Concordance then? ^_^
Mind you, I'm not as certain that this feature is included on the 2nd Generation Nene Hardsuit. The drawings aren't as clear there. But all of the other KnightSabers weapons were carried over from 1st to 2nd Generation, I don't see why Nene's wouldn't be.
-Logan
(edited to include the note on the 2nd gen hardsuit)
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Wow! Is it really that pivotal?
Pivotal? I wouldn't say that. But its existence adds weight to the likelihood of something that happens. I don't want to get any more specific than that.
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I'm glad as heck to have helped out in that case. I guess that means I get another mention in the Concordance then? ^_^
Probably. You're certainly getting one at the end of the credits at the bottom of the file.
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Mind you, I'm not as certain that this feature is included on the 2nd Generation Nene Hardsuit. The drawings aren't as clear there. But all of the other KnightSabers weapons were carried over from 1st to 2nd Generation, I don't see why Nene's wouldn't be.
That doesn't much matter, as the suits in DW2 are hypothetical 5th Generation hardsuits, which pretty much mix-n-match features from all the others as I see fit for the needs of the story. For example, Linna has shockdarts, but she's also back to the paw-and-gauntlet arm designs. Similarly, Priss' hardsuit is back to bombers and railguns, although it still maintains the "hardpoints" that allow third-generation "powerups" to be attached. In fact, by this point, Sylia has added the modular parts option to all four suits, not just Priss', as evidenced by all the extra equipment the Sabers showed up with at the end of chapter 11. Tucking a hold-out knucklebomber into Nene's suit is a relatively small matter compared to all that.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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That doesn't much matter, as the suits in DW2 are hypothetical 5th Generation hardsuits,
They went through 2nd Gen in the original BGC OAVs, then had another change in design at the beginning of Crash. It sort of depends on what you're keeping as far as concept, but it seems to me that these would be 3rd or 4th Generation hardsuits instead of 5th Gen. But that's just being nitpicky I guess.
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which pretty much mix-n-match features from all the others as I see fit for the needs of the story. For example, Linna has shockdarts, but she's also back to the paw-and-gauntlet arm designs.
Good, good. I thought the shock darts were a nice idea, but I didn't know why in the world Sylia would get rid of weaponry that worked so well for Linna like the Knucklebombers and lasers. In my mind, your version of the basic suit looks like the 2nd Gen suit mostly, but with the shock dart option added. Probably the only visible change to Linna's suit in that case would be an extra slot on the underside of the power arm sleeve for the right shock dart to come out of. Similarly the left arm would have a bit of a raised section and slot on the inside wrist.
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Similarly, Priss' hardsuit is back to bombers and railguns, although it still maintains the "hardpoints" that allow third-generation "powerups" to be attached.
Yes, no problems there, as it's mainly the "backpack" on Priss' suit that has the hardpoint attachment points. Again, I see it visually as her 2nd Gen suit but with the Crash backpack.
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In fact, by this point, Sylia has added the modular parts option to all four suits, not just Priss', as evidenced by all the extra equipment the Sabers showed up with at the end of chapter 11.
Yes, I see that. And the backpack hardpoints and power connectors are a relatively minor structural modification to the basic suit design. It makes sense. Although I would think that fitting certain armaments around Sylia's flightpack or Nene's sensor booms would prove problematical, to say the least.
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Tucking a hold-out knucklebomber into Nene's suit is a relatively small matter compared to all that.
Indeed. ^_^
And while we're on the subject, there's something else I should probably mention, now that you have BGC: Before and After. Look at page 67 where they have printed the schematic drawings of the inner musculature and other details of the hardsuits. The middle drawing on the far right shows that the helmets actually do have significant neck support, in the form of linear actuator attachment points right behind the jawline. Putting the lie to one of Doug's tactical eval points - "There also seemed to be a criminal lack of neck support under those helmets..." from DW-II-09.
-Logan
Mind you, all this is frantic handwaving to cover the fact that I took liberties with suit features to fit the needs of the story.
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but it seems to me that these would be 3rd or 4th Generation hardsuits instead of 5th Gen.
Well, let's see. Assume what they're wearing at the start of the first OAV is 1st Generation, they go through three generations of hardsuit in two years. Assuming they're only using 5th-generation suits three years later is probably doing Sylia a disservice, except that (as I noted in the text) tensions and boomer incidents had been much much lower for at least a year or two, so there's been less impetus for the kind of arms race we saw in the OVAs.
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In my mind, your version of the basic suit looks like the 2nd Gen suit mostly
Yeah, that's pretty much how I envisioned them, except Nene's has the pure-pink color we see in
Crash! instead of the pink-blue two-tone she started with.
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Although I would think that fitting certain armaments around Sylia's flightpack or Nene's sensor booms would prove problematical, to say the least.
True; I wasn't really thinking much of that when I decided who got what upgrade. However, even so, I think I can justify things: Except for its tank, most of Sylia's upgrade is on her arm, and the tank can piggyback over her flightpack. Nene's flight system mounts lower on her back, closer to her center of gravity, than her hypersensors do, and the wings are offset from her body by about a foot so she doesn't easily swing her arms or anything else into them; that this keeps them out of the way of her sensors is also intentional.
How's that?
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And while we're on the subject, there's something else I should probably mention, now that you have BGC: Before and After. Look at page 67 where they have printed the schematic drawings of the inner musculature and other details of the hardsuits.
Will do, when I get home tonight.
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The middle drawing on the far right shows that the helmets actually do have significant neck support, in the form of linear actuator attachment points right behind the jawline. Putting the lie to one of Doug's tactical eval points - "There also seemed to be a criminal lack of neck support under those helmets..." from DW-II-09.
Well, Doug hadn't done an extensive study of the suits... And god knows he's wrong about other things often enough -- we'll put this one on his tab, too.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.