Taking Cover: Dumpsters

Tallor · 07-27-2016, 12:36 AM

Alternate Title: Crouching Dumpster, Hidden Garbage

You can't always choose your battles, and in an urban environment, you have to make due with a variety of artificial emplacements. Walls of concrete, cinderblocks, or bricks are almost always a good bet for damage resistance, but sometimes all you have between you and your firearm-wielding foe is the thin, cheap sides of the humble-but-ubiquitous dumpster.

...So how much DR does a dumpster have?

Let's start with the math. Cheap steel gives about DR 55 per inch[1], and the walls of a dumpster are 0.1046" thick.[2] Rounded down, this gives an average of DR 5, or DR 10 since a projectile has to penetrate both the near and far walls.

However... this assumes that the dumpster is empty, which is rarely ever the case[3]! I believe that additional "garbage shielding" is in order:

Low-Density Rubbish[4] ----- DR 2-4
Ordinary Trash[5] ------------ DR 5-6
Brush and Bulky[6] ------- DR 8-20
Architectural Debris[7] ---- DR 30-60+

What do you think?
----------------------------------------
[1] GURPS Campaigns p.559
[2] How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
[3] Personal experience of the author.
[4] Shredded paper from offices, recyclable cardboard, plastic bags, etc.
[5] Found behind every TL5+ restaurant, depending on when they invent the dumpster proper.
[6] Somewhat packed branches and/or chunks of tree forts. Can also stand for lighter architectural debris.
[7] Loose bricks, timbers, drywall, the works. Not as tough as a solid wall of material, but still extremely difficult to penetrate. A character with Serendipity may opt to have their dumpster full of bricks and girders, making overpenetration nearly impossible!

07-27-2016, 12:36 AM	#1
Tallor Join Date: May 2016	Taking Cover: Dumpsters Alternate Title: Crouching Dumpster, Hidden Garbage You can't always choose your battles, and in an urban environment, you have to make due with a variety of artificial emplacements. Walls of concrete, cinderblocks, or bricks are almost always a good bet for damage resistance, but sometimes all you have between you and your firearm-wielding foe is the thin, cheap sides of the humble-but-ubiquitous dumpster. ...So how much DR does a dumpster have? Let's start with the math. Cheap steel gives about DR 55 per inch[1], and the walls of a dumpster are 0.1046" thick.[2] Rounded down, this gives an average of DR 5, or DR 10 since a projectile has to penetrate both the near and far walls. However... this assumes that the dumpster is empty, which is rarely ever the case[3]! I believe that additional "garbage shielding" is in order: Low-Density Rubbish[4] ----- DR 2-4 Ordinary Trash[5] ------------ DR 5-6 Brush and Bulky[6] ------- DR 8-20 Architectural Debris[7] ---- DR 30-60+ What do you think? ---------------------------------------- [1] GURPS Campaigns p.559 [2] How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement [3] Personal experience of the author. [4] Shredded paper from offices, recyclable cardboard, plastic bags, etc. [5] Found behind every TL5+ restaurant, depending on when they invent the dumpster proper. [6] Somewhat packed branches and/or chunks of tree forts. Can also stand for lighter architectural debris. [7] Loose bricks, timbers, drywall, the works. Not as tough as a solid wall of material, but still extremely difficult to penetrate. A character with Serendipity may opt to have their dumpster full of bricks and girders, making overpenetration nearly impossible!