Future Soldier

ffw.jpgYou may have heard one bit or the other about the “Future Combat System” project of the US military. Now, there is a new and completed article in the English wikipedia that gives a good overview about the current development of the Future Combat System and the very heart of it, the Future Force Warrior:

The Future Force Warrior project seeks to create a lightweight, fully integrated infantryman combat system. (…) (It) envisions the radical use of technologies such as nanotechnology, artificial powered exoskeletons, and magnetorheological fluid based body armor to provide the infantry with significantly higher force multiplier than the opposing force. (…)

The first phase of the project involves a development of the technologies to help reduce the soldier’s fighting load and power requirements and improving the soldier’s protection, lethality, and environmental and situational awareness, with planned deployment in 2010, to serve the Army’s short-term needs. The Army’s plan is to introduce the subsystems in “spirals” every two years, instead of one large rollout every ten years. The U.S. military hopes to develop a fully realized end product sometime in 2032, incorporating research from U.C. Berkeley’s BLEEX exoskeleton project and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies into a final design.

Killer Robots

I guess the next time my PCs are going to infiltrate some corp compound, they will meet this little enemy:

Killer Robots will kill you

I’m at a loss to stat this thing. Speed maybe 20 km/h? Would that gun be a 7.62? Looks like it carries at least a 100 rounds. I would give it a 10+d10 to attack and 7+d10 for Initiative. Remotely controlled it would gain the skill of the operator. A netrunner could hijack it, if the right controller program is available.

Robot Tank guided by an Xbox 360

DARPA (who accidently invented the internet) has spend millions to create autonomous vehicles. Their newest toy is the crusher:

Crusher Robot Vehicle
Carnegie Mellon University/National Robotics Engineering Center

Itf weighs nearly 7 tons, has a top speed of about 25 mph (its engine is a diesel from a VW Jetta!) and is designed to be totally autonomous, but can be operated remotely if necessary, foxnews.com writes.

It can go from one point to another useing its GPS sensors and internal maps to plot out a route. Only obstacles over six feet tall or deep force it to detour. With a camera it can spot troops 4 kilometers away.

[Otherwise, its a nerds dream. You] “drive” it with controllers for racing video games. A hacked Apple iPhone gives remote updates of the Crusher’s internal diagnostics. And a standard Xbox 360 controller raises the mast antenna, rotates the cameras and, given the situation, fires the weapons.

Good job news for xbox gamers, I would say.

Have a look at the vids.

Hello Kitty craze – the female 'punk no longer wears leather

Damn, wasn’t I in love with tough Molly Millions when I read William Gibsons Neuromancer for the first time. Implanted Mirrorshades, Rippers under the fingernails and tight leather pants… he defined the look of tough ladies for ages. But these days, a girl with crowd approval needs to be cute. Even if you are a cyberpunk. Especially, if you’re a cyberpunk!

But we from www.cyberpunk2020.de are well aware of the difficulties to brave a dangerous dystopian world and look cute while firing an fully automated shotgun at a gang of cybercrazed boosters. We gave you the Hello Kitty assault rifle, a Hello Kitty handgun, and more pink guns than you can shake a stick at. But we realize that a gun is not the only fashion statement the female punk can make. You ladies are usually very interested in your fingernails, so we can help you there.

If that’s overdoing for you, check out these Hello Kitty Contact Lenses – they really freak me out!

Depending on the change in your pocket, there is cheaper or more expensive transport available for you. As you can see, the Hello Kitty franchise keeps the girl punk covered: Look cute while being deadlier then Molly Millions ever was!

Defending CP2020

Many people think that Cyberpunk 2020 is outdated, because the game makes assumptions on the future that – meanwhile – have proven to be wrong.

That’s okay. Let them. They are right.

But: What can be done about that? There are three basic “roads” open to “revamp” or adjust Cyberpunk 2020 to keep it up with the pace of technology and society:

  1. Ignore the problem. Hey, to err is human. To ignore is divine. You can just say that Cyberpunk 2020 follows a timeline that may have been our own up until nineteen80something. But which went another way since then. This way you can just stick with the oversized mobile phones and the huge “computer in a suitcase” stuff from CP2020. Our world went iPod. CP2020 went Cyber. Deal with it – by not dealing with it.
  2. Revamp the system. This is the Cyb3rpunk way to go: Either redo the whole system (or use the HARDWIRED setting instead, which is less of a contradiction to our “real here and now”) or – if you don’t want to trash your ongoing CP2020 campaign – move the timeline ahead 5-10 years and use this “gap” to place historical events that explain the change in the setup (you can use the articles tagged “cyb3rpunk” on this website for inspiration).
  3. Use your imagination, dammit! “So a mobile phone costs over a hundred eb and still looks rather huge in CP2020? Well, players, of course you can have a sleek mobile phone for free from one of the corporations – but I thought we were playing CYBERPUNK here. And Edgerunners sure are paranoid, so they use “overexpensive” (and dead-ugly) mobile phones from a small manufacturer in some far-away land that doesn’t sell out its customers to the IRS and the LEDiv.” This third road is somewhat a mix of the 1st and 2nd way to handle “contradictions”. It’s not the most elegant (that would be totally revamping the setting) nor the most time-efficient (that would be to ignore everything), but it takes “the best of both worlds”. The only thing you have to do is take a fresh look at CP2020 tech and gear and make up explanations for seemingly (key word!) incorrect prices and stats. Memory Unit seem too small? “That’s 1 MU for Data PLUS the necessary encryption or license attachment”. Laptop computer seem too huge? “That’s because in 2020 you need extra powerful radio transmitters to cut through all the electronic smog”/”That’s including acid rain protection”/”That’s the model of the only independent manufacturer left in the ISA”/”That’s pimp style, because size DOES matter”.

Have fun!

Bizarre Nomad Cycle

Just when you think you have seen everything, including Hello Kitty Gun Designs, you find something really new, like this approach to a truly “all-terrain” motorcycle:

The info about the bike comes from this site, where it reads:

“You may not have room in your garage (or budget) for a dirt bike and a snowmobile and a four-wheeler. But what if one vehicle could take the place of all three? That´s the idea behind the Hyanide, a wild concept vehicle created by German designers Oliver Keller and Tillman Schlootz for the 2006 Michelin Challenge Design. This year´s competition showcased vehicles made especially for California´s diverse and often rugged topography. Named for its supposed resemblance to a crouching hyena, the Hyanide is designed to run on a flexible rubber tread that spans the machine´s entire underside. So if any part of the bottom is touching the ground, the Hyanide should be able to move, no matter how deep the quagmire, no matter how rough the terrain. (…)

Both the front and rear of the Hyanide rotate into a turn, which would give riders extra control while making sharp turns or climbing hills. To drive the vehicle, you´d steer with your hands as well as your feet, and you´d wear special shoes that snap onto the pedals, like on a racing bicycle. To turn left, for example, you´d push the right side of the handlebar forward, to point the front of the tread left-it´s the same motion as on a motorcycle. At the same time, however, you´d also push back on the right pedal, angling the rear of the tread into the turn. This action would twist the tread into a crescent shape and whip the Hyanide around a turn.

The Hyanide currently exists only as a one-fifth-scale model, and Schlootz and Keller have no plans to bring a production version to market. Keep your fingers crossed, though-Hyanide´s unique drivetrain impressed a lot of automotive-industry heavy hitters at the Challenge Design. Maybe one of them has an overcrowded garage.”

Thanks to the guys from the Battlelords of the Twenty-Third Century RPG Forum, who brought my attention to this gem.

Cyb3rpunk | Attitude STAYS everything

Attitude stays everything – dies gilt in der von Marken und Ersatzkulturen beherrschten Welt von 2035+ noch mehr als je zuvor. Jeder cyb3rpunk Charakter wählt einen Cult als seine persönliche Identifikationsbasis.

Jeder Spieler kann selbst bestimmen, wie stark seine Hingabe zu „seiner“ Szene ausgeprägt ist. Diese Hingabe wird in Form eines Rang (= REP innerhalb jener Szene) ausgedrückt und kann am Start 1 bis 3 Punkte betragen. Im Falle, dass der Spieler Continue reading “Cyb3rpunk | Attitude STAYS everything”

Cyb3rpunk | Identicards

Identicards fungieren stets auch gleichzeitig als Kreditkarte und unterscheiden sich nach Stufe (Level) sowie danach, welche Personenmerkmale direkt auf der Karte gespeichert sind (und demzufolge bei Erteilung der Karte in jedem Fall Eingang in die Zentralregistratur finden):

(S)ignature, (F)ingerprint, (H)andprint, (R)etinaprint, (V)oiceprint, (G)eneprint (DNA-Profil).

Das Format der im Folgenden geschilderten Karten ist demzufolge:

[Name] – [Personenmerkmale] – [mtl. Kosten] – [Kreditrahmen (max. Auszahlung/Zinssatz bei Belastung]] – [Fälschungs-Schwierigkeit/Reputationsbonus]

Es ist absolut möglich, mehrere IdentiCards zu besitzen, und tatsächlich haben die meisten Normalbürger 2-3 verschiedene IdentiCards, um an die jew. an die Karte geknüpften Vorteile zu kommen (z.B. Rabatte beim Erwerb von Leistungen des Sponsors, Zugang zu Sponsoren-Fitnessclubs oder -Freizeiteinrichtungen etc.). Der Reputationsbonus bedeutet, dass eine Karte aufgrund bestimmter Merkmale Zugang zu den Leistungen eines höheren oder auch niedrigeren Levels gibt. Ein Beispiel hierfür wäre eine per Kauf erwerbbare IdentiCard eines Sponsors, der besonders strenge Maßstäbe daran anlegt, wem er die Karte aushändigt.
Wichtig: Sobald man eine Identicard besitzt, sind deren Berechtigungen auch per mit ihr verbundenen Personenmerkmalen abzulesen. Wer z.B. eine Card mit (V)oiceprint hat, kann also auch per Stimme zahlen.

■ [lev0] Zeroes. Personen ohne IdentiCard bzw. ohne Akte/SIN in der Central Registry werden als Zero bezeichnet. Zeros sind nicht geschäftswürdig und damit von Continue reading “Cyb3rpunk | Identicards”

PROGRAMMING 103: Might makes right

PROGRAMMING 103:
Might makes right

Pistol
CLASS: Anti-Personnel COST: 6,750eb
STRENGTH: 2 MU: 4
PROGRAMMING: 162 DIFFICULTY: 27
FUNCTION(S): Anti-Personnel
OPTION(S): Superrealistic Icon
COST MULTIPLIER: x25 (Anti-Personnel x25)
ICON: The Icon can vary depending upon the netrunner’s taste, but will always represent a pistol from the induction of such a weapon until the present (CP2020) time.
DATA: Does 1d6 points of neural damage. This program will hold from eight to eighteen charges (dependent upon the icon you choose) before it has to be reloaded. One shot will be fired with each pull of the trigger; therefore, doing damage for each bullet.
Submachine Gun
CLASS: Anti-Personnel COST: 7,000eb
STRENGTH: 3 Continue reading “PROGRAMMING 103: Might makes right”