GURPS Prime Directive

[maximara]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

The Kill - 1 setting does 1d damage. I think the real issue is that the Phaser I doesn't have any settings higher than that. It should be at least better than a 9mm pistol. Nobody minds that you can turn a phaser down to 1d damage.

Which as I have said before this "Phaser I doesn't have any settings higher than that" makes no sense as we see people/things disintegrated with a Phaser 1 in the show several times:

"What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "Private Little War", "The City on the Edge of Forever", an attempt is made in "Operation Annihilate!" but the creatures are too alien and "Friday's Child".

[Jean_Sexton]

The phaser-I in the Star Fleet Universe is a very light weapon. It is used primarily to stun. The phaser-II is the standard weapon and does have a disintegrate setting. The phaser rifle and pulse phaser are the real "I want to kill someone" weapons, although both still have a stun setting. The repeating phaser is meant to kill things, plain and simple. This makes sense in the Star Fleet Universe where the characters that have lighter phasers (remember they are limited to Star Fleet personnel) aren't really trying to kill things as they explore. The Marines have more deadly weapons because when they are involved, things are serious.

Back in the day, I remember hearing that they playtested more deadly phasers and everyone hated them. One shot, boom, your character (or the villain you carefully created) is dead. The players (and GMs) didn't like it, so it got toned down.

If you want to kill something, stun it. Then cut its throat. Stun works better now, so that is a possibility.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by maximara

Which as I have said before this "Phaser I doesn't have any settings higher than that" makes no sense as we see people/things disintegrated with a Phaser 1 in the show several times:

But this isn't the show. It's the Star Fleet Universe. It may derive from the show, but it's not beholden to it.

[adm]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Point of trivia I'm curious about: which came first, "Mad Jack's Hole" from Star Fleet Universe, or "Jackson's Whole" from The Vorkosigan Saga?

Mad Jack's Hole was first formally published 1988 in Star Fleet Battles
Captain’s Module B, I don't know if it was previously published in something like Nexus as a playtest release.

I also don't know which Vorksigan book first had "Jackson's Whole".

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by adm

Mad Jack's Hole was first formally published 1988 in Star Fleet Battles
Captain’s Module B, I don't know if it was previously published in something like Nexus as a playtest release.

I also don't know which Vorksigan book first had "Jackson's Whole".

I beleive it was probably the short story "Labyrinth" which introduced Taura. If not it was the novel _Brother in Arms_ and both were published in 1989.

Both the SFB and early Bujold works were probably obscure to the other. I'd look for what ever made Jackson's Hole Wy. linked to libertarian thought.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

But this isn't the show. It's the Star Fleet Universe. It may derive from the show, but it's not beholden to it.

Except as others have noted the derivation is so weak sauce that it is borderline useless. It also doesn't logically from the fact that the type 2 phaser is effectively a adapter for a type 1 phaser.

Since the SFB license is tied to the Franz Joseph Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual I looked at what that said about a Type I and Type II phaser.

Sorry about the terms but I am pulling directly from the Manual

Hand-phaser-Type I
(01:08:50)
Eff. ranges in Meters
Overload Blast Radius: 40
De-materialize: 10 (this is the disintegrate setting)
Disrupt: 20 (This is the kill setting)
Heat: 2
Stun: 30

Hand-phaser-Type II
(01:08:52)
Eff. ranges in Meters
Overload Blast Radius: 135
De-materialize: 30 (this is the disintegrate setting)
Disrupt: 60 (This is the kill setting)
Heat: 6
Stun: 90

So there are your required, per the SFB license reference material, function and stats for the type I and type II phasers. This also means my off the shelf stats were closer then I realized.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by adm

I also don't know which Vorksigan book first had "Jackson's Whole".

AFAICT Vor Game, published in 1991, so maybe Bujold did get it from Star Fleet Universe. This would make sense—I'd previously heard people describe Jackson's Whole as her take on the Ferengi, but that seems like a much less good match.

[Jean_Sexton]

Originally Posted by maximara

So there are your required, per the SFB license reference material, function and stats for the type I and type II phasers. This also means my off the shelf stats were closer then I realized.

I am sorry, but no. I am not at liberty to discuss the contract, but our phasers are what they are at this point in time. Were we to time travel back to the early 1990s when we first codified them, we might be able to change that. Barring a time machine, do feel free to house rule them to be what you want them to be.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Jean_Sexton

I am sorry, but no. I am not at liberty to discuss the contract, but our phasers are what they are at this point in time. Were we to time travel back to the early 1990s when we first codified them, we might be able to change that. Barring a time machine, do feel free to house rule them to be what you want them to be.

Well that is annoying as GURPS 4e would allow them to be much much more.

For those interested I have put together the guts of building TOS Phasers on the GURPS wiki's Prime Directive page. It's crude as all get out but it pulls from GURPS Ultra-tech and takes advantage of 4e rules.

[Sgt_G]

Hi, Jean! I just signed up over here. :)

So, I'm looking for and not seeing: how many shots does a phaser get on a full charge??

Thanks!!