GURPS: Mass Effect, Part Six

So, further poking at the bear. Still concentrating on armor. My original thinking was "nanoweave armored vacc suit, but really, the N7 Armor that Space Jesus wears in ME2 and ME3 is really space armor ... so let's do some evil maths.

Presuming TL10:

  • Space armor has DR 75. Add ablative Shields of 30, this gives total DR of 105
  • Scenario 1: Hostile with gauss rifle - 6d+2(3) pi-
    • Bullets do average of 20 points.
    • BULLET 1: Even with armor divisor, this round will not penetrate the DR. Shields are reduced by 20, bringing total DR to 85.
    • BULLET 2: DR 85/3 = 28 ... so again, unable to penetrate DR. Shields depleted as of this round.
    • BULLET 3: DR 75/3 = 25. Average damage is not going to penetrate this DR at all. To get through, a shot is going to need to average 26 points on 6d+2 which isn't impossible (all 4s?) but is unlikely.
    • Note: Gauss weapons can be boosted which increases piercing damage by +1 per die at the cost of draining the propellant bottle. If that's the case, then we need to recalculate thus:
    • Boosted bullets do 6d+8 or average of 26.
    • Boosted Bullet 1: DR 105/3=35, so round doesn't penetrate. Shields reduced by 26, bringing total DR to 79.
    • Boosted Bullet 2: DR 79/3=26, so average damage does not penetrate (only just). Shields are completely depleted at this point, bringing DR to 75.
    • Boosted Bullet 3: DR 75/3=25, so average damage does penetrate with a pathetic 1 point. Apply pi- stuff (halved) then impaling (doubled) and the target takes 1 hp. A firefight with this is going to take a looooong time... 
    • Observation: UT has gauss weapons as 4mm. I'd really like to see a larger caliber and how that stacks up...
  • Scenario 2: Hostile with grav gun - 4d (10) imp inc
    • Bullets do average of 12 points.
    • Bullet 1: Armor divisor means this protects against 10, so 2 points will get through. As impaling, that means 4 hp damage. Painful but not likely fatal. Shields reduced by 12, bring total DR to 93.
    • Bullet 2: DR 93/10=9.3, so 9 points resisted. This means 3 points get through, which is doubled for impaling to 6. Character has now taken a total of 10 hp damage which puts a normal person at 0 hp and a PC is probably around 2 or 3 hp left. Shields reduced an additional 12 points, leaving only 6, for total DR of 81.
    • Bullet 3: DR 81/10=8.1, so 8 points resisted. 4 points get through, which doubled (impaling) equals 8. Character has taken a total of 18 points and shields are completely depleted.
So once again, grav guns, with their armor divisors of 10 are too powerful and, against space armor (or combat hardsuits which have the same DR), gauss weapons aren't powerful enough ... unless I can find rules for higher caliber railguns (e.g. 8mm or even 10mm as opposed to standard 4mm) at which point gauss weapons will probably once again become the preferred weapon of choice...

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