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Old 07-19-2015, 07:00 PM   #1
El Ravager31
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Tennessee
Default How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

So, I'm about to start running a campaign for several players. Its going to start off on Modern Day Earth, but will soon become a futuristic Space Campaign (or possibly an Infinite Worlds type campaign). One of my players wants his character to have Bow as his main weapon. He's going all in on this with Weapon Master (bow), Heroic Archer, Zen Archery and he's buying the strong bow perk to allow himself a higher STR bow.


Needless to say, the Ultra Tech book doesn't mention bows so I'm trying to put something together so that a futuristic bow would not be completely outmatched. I mean, a bow that's doing 2d damage (if a strong bow) is no match for any high tech weapon really.

That being said, I'm really having a bit of trouble with how to beef the bow up. So far, I'm thinking along the line of sonic impact arrows (that might allow a +1 die of dmg) with an armor divider, but I would love to hear some thought from anyone who might have considered this before. Could there be force arrows like the melee weapons and if so, what kind of damage bonus would they add and would a higher STR bow have in effect?
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Old 07-19-2015, 07:49 PM   #2
Ulzgoroth
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Okay, it doesn't look like you're under any illusion here, but I can't resist pointing out that realistically, there's no way an Ultra Tech bow would be a remotely sensible weapon.

That said, onward.

Force blades never care about the ST of the user. Making them into missile weapons wouldn't change that. The Force Blade at half a pound is really rather too heavy for an arrowhead, but you don't need 18" of blade for an arrowhead either, so perhaps you could miniaturize.

The classic way to make a bow do something other than fling pointy sticks is to use gadget arrowheads. UT doesn't directly address this, but...thimble grenades packing 25mm warheads are .06 pounds. That's within the weight range of perfectly reasonable arrowheads. Which means that it's more or less reasonable to have arrows tipped with any kind of 25mm warhead. (Including the Plasma Lance warheads from the designer's notes.) Which should really give you all the firepower you need! There are more sensible ways to deliver 25mm warheads than a bow, but there aren't a lot of targets that can stand up to them. If you really feel the need for more, the quarter-pound 40mm warheads are badly overweight for a normal arrow, but you could still shoot them for a moderate distance.
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Old 07-19-2015, 08:27 PM   #3
El Ravager31
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
Okay, it doesn't look like you're under any illusion here, but I can't resist pointing out that realistically, there's no way an Ultra Tech bow would be a remotely sensible weapon.

That said, onward.

Force blades never care about the ST of the user. Making them into missile weapons wouldn't change that. The Force Blade at half a pound is really rather too heavy for an arrowhead, but you don't need 18" of blade for an arrowhead either, so perhaps you could miniaturize.

The classic way to make a bow do something other than fling pointy sticks is to use gadget arrowheads. UT doesn't directly address this, but...thimble grenades packing 25mm warheads are .06 pounds. That's within the weight range of perfectly reasonable arrowheads. Which means that it's more or less reasonable to have arrows tipped with any kind of 25mm warhead. (Including the Plasma Lance warheads from the designer's notes.) Which should really give you all the firepower you need! There are more sensible ways to deliver 25mm warheads than a bow, but there aren't a lot of targets that can stand up to them. If you really feel the need for more, the quarter-pound 40mm warheads are badly overweight for a normal arrow, but you could still shoot them for a moderate distance.
First off, I will say you're right that I certainly have no illusions with regards to the bow. I also want to say a big Thank You!! I actually had not seen the Designer's Notes before, and that helps a lot. It could really even be one of the smaller warheads (smaller than 25mm) because I really just don't want him to be completely at a disadvantage when they first make the jump to the higher tech level. Using something similar to the Plasma Lance would definitely allow him to be able to help the party out in a fight, especially until he could get the points and find someone to train him on beam weapons.


This really does help me out a lot, because I was thinking along the same line as you with the "pointy stick" thought. The damage would be good enough for scraps with normal lightly armored (for high tech that is) folk and that's mainly what they're going to have to worry about at first. By the time they're going up against the heavily armored (DR 30 or more) people, this character should have earned the points and found training for picking up skill with more appropriate weapons. Thanks again!
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Old 07-19-2015, 08:27 PM   #4
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

"The city is flying! We're fighting an army of robots! And I have a bow and arrow! None of this makes sense!"
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Old 07-20-2015, 01:44 AM   #5
Phantasm
 
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
"The city is flying! We're fighting an army of robots! And I have a bow and arrow! None of this makes sense!"
Best line of that movie, and fitting for any bow-slinging hero of TL6+.

Also, take a line from Hawkeye and Green Arrow in the comics. They use bow-and-arrows, but the trick arrows they use are often best, and easily statted using UT.

Signature Gear (Consumable) from Supers lets you replenish your supply of warhead arrows between sessions (or GM permitting, whenever you're off-camera). It's not just for superhero games.

Also, don't forget armor-piercing arrow-heads for punching through that first layer of armor.
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Old 07-20-2015, 05:46 AM   #6
El Ravager31
 
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbrock1031 View Post
Best line of that movie, and fitting for any bow-slinging hero of TL6+.

Also, take a line from Hawkeye and Green Arrow in the comics. They use bow-and-arrows, but the trick arrows they use are often best, and easily statted using UT.

Signature Gear (Consumable) from Supers lets you replenish your supply of warhead arrows between sessions (or GM permitting, whenever you're off-camera). It's not just for superhero games.

Also, don't forget armor-piercing arrow-heads for punching through that first layer of armor.

I honestly had not thought about the Consumable Signature Gear from the Supers book, so I wanted to say thanks for the tip... I'll definitely be suggesting that to the player.


Weby, I definitely like what you have as far as the arrows that your elves will be using. That definitely gives me what I've been looking for plus the costs that you have on those seem pretty consistent with the wealth of the campaign.
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Old 07-20-2015, 01:48 AM   #7
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Set aside the arrows for a second (that's already dealt with). What about the bow itself? Is the compound bow the best we can do? What about the super-advanced materials of ultra-tech civilizations, or even more advanced techniques? Silly, I know, but what about a "grav bow" or something else ridiculously anime-esque, like a bow that uses some kind of energy "string" to fire its arrows. Any thoughts on the sort of scale or a source of inspiration on how to handle that beyond "Whatever I feel like?"
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Old 07-20-2015, 02:31 AM   #8
Anthony
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mailanka View Post
Any thoughts on the sort of scale or a source of inspiration on how to handle that beyond "Whatever I feel like?"
In the end, it's a matter of what technobabble you want. As long as bows are limited to putting out the energy that's put into the bow when you draw it, you're not going to get anything too impressive -- a bow with a draw strength of 100 lb and a draw length of 3' is capped at 300 ft-lb, which is on the low end of pistol energies; your basic assault rifle puts out 1200 or so. Come up with a bow that puts out more energy than you put into it, and all bets are off.
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Old 07-20-2015, 03:16 AM   #9
weby
 
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

One of the possible special backgrounds in my next scifi campaign that I am building is to be from planet Elvenhome.. A place where the locals try to emulate the fictional elves including the odious personal habit(Claims to be an elf)


So of course they use bows:

Elven bow: Composite recurve bow with electronically accelerated memory material return(powered by a b-cell good for 500 shots). HUD link. Compact targeting scope(Infravision)(+3), Multispectral laser sight(+1), +2 gunner program. ($24 000). Special effect: uses bow skill even to fire guided missiles.

TL Weapon Damage Acc Range Weight RoF Shots Cost ST Bulk
11 Elven bow thr+8 imp* 7(8)+3 x30/x35 4/0.1 1 1(2) $24,000 9 -7

*damage type varies by arrow.

Elven Arrows:
Can carry any 10mm, warhead typical:
Training: imp $1
War arrow +4 damage imp(10) $60
Apex pi+(2) liked: 1d-4 cr ex [1d-2] $10
Plasma 1d+2 burn ex sur $15
Hemp 8d(5) imp inc + linked 1d-2 cr ex [1d-2] $10
Biochemical Aerosol $5+carrier thing cost typical things:
riot gas $2
sleep gas $0.5
Paralysis gas $10
Payload arrows, carry a 25mm warhead, half range -1 acc.
Plasma: 6d burn ex sur $80
Hemp 6dx3(10) cr inc + linked 2d cr ex [1d+1] $40
Tangler: ST 15 (+1 per additional layer) $40
Thermobaric 8d+8 cr ex inc $80
Beiochemical 2 yards radius 10 doses $20

All but training are Multitargeting: use one of:
infrared homing( Homing (Infravision) skill 14)
semiactive laser homing(guided attack: Guided attack homes in on the laser sight dot)
passive (no homing system active)

Maybe that can serve as inspiration.
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Old 07-20-2015, 04:29 AM   #10
TJA
 
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Default Re: How to go about making an Ultra Tech Bow

An UT bow could help to draw it ... or increase the force on the arrow.
Something like a crossbow :)
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