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Old 10-22-2007, 08:13 PM   #1
dgswensen
 
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Default Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

I'm just wondering, since the original Biotech didn't seem that heavy on stats, and it seems there would be little conversion necessary to bring 3E Biotech over to 4E. Is the new book full of enough new material to warrant purchasing it again?

The same question goes for Ultra-Tech 4E. Thanks for any thoughts on this.
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Old 10-22-2007, 08:21 PM   #2
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

With Biotech, absofreakinglutely. It's a better book, completely rewritten. Honestly, as a biologist myself, I'd remove the gaming and science fiction aspects of the book and hand part of it to the general public as a primer on Biotechnology.

Ultratech is also an improvement and expansion, but I don't think it's as much of one as the Biotech book.
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Old 10-22-2007, 08:21 PM   #3
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Yes.

Bio-Tech is twice as big as the original and has been updated not just to 4th edition but updated to the current state of the art for bio sciences. Its a very cool book. Ultra-Tech is pretty much the same but not as much new stuff since it combines UT1 and 2. Even so it still adds some new stuff and updates the old stuff.
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Old 10-22-2007, 08:57 PM   #4
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Toss me in for a BIG vote of YES. You will love them. They are so spiffy that I absorb something new every time I crack one open. Worth. Every. Penny.
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Old 10-22-2007, 09:51 PM   #5
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Both books are extremely tasty. I have the old, I love the new. The others were gear fiestas but didn't bother being too internally consistent. The new books offer a much greater insight into both how to use this high tech goodness as well as tossing a ton of gear at you.
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Old 10-22-2007, 10:17 PM   #6
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Much of the crunch is somewhat necessary, as well, since certain things are implemented rather differently in 4e versus 3e, and it seemed to be pretty prevalent in bio-techy stuff. Also, the new chapter on medicine has some damn fine rules for simulating real wounds, along with the medical procedures necessary to fix them up. But yeah, the best reason to buy this would be the dozens upon dozens of extra pages with no rules at all . . . the ones that explain how biotech works and what it is, which lets even the most unaware GM fake it enough to introduce a new virus into his game that passes a basic reality check.
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Old 10-22-2007, 11:12 PM   #7
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Yes, yes and yes again.
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Old 10-23-2007, 07:18 AM   #8
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dgswensen
I'm just wondering, since the original Biotech didn't seem that heavy on stats, and it seems there would be little conversion necessary to bring 3E Biotech over to 4E. Is the new book full of enough new material to warrant purchasing it again?

The same question goes for Ultra-Tech 4E. Thanks for any thoughts on this.
Yes, there's lots of new material in both the new Biotech and UT as well. For example, there's Transhuman Space-inspired nano-symbiotes in Biotech.

There's probably more new and more different materisl in UT. There's more that stuff from 3e that became incompatible in 4e. I ran a Space campaign a year ago and instead of trying to convert the 3e UT books to 4e, I used 3e gadgets and ranged combat rules. Now I could use the new UT instead.

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Old 10-24-2007, 10:14 AM   #9
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

BIO is certainly worth it. Both the new and the updated stuff.

UT is more dubious, because it doesn't add any conceptually new stuff, unlike BIO. In fact, UT lost some stuff from 3e's inventory lists. Where are those cool grav-gauntlets that work almost like TK or Force Extension? Why only grav waldos which have ST around 1 or so?
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Old 10-24-2007, 01:23 PM   #10
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Default Re: Is Biotech / Ultra-Tech 4E worth it if you own Biotech 3E?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Molokh
UT is more dubious, because it doesn't add any conceptually new stuff, unlike BIO. In fact, UT lost some stuff from 3e's inventory lists. Where are those cool grav-gauntlets that work almost like TK or Force Extension? Why only grav waldos which have ST around 1 or so?
This complaint is peculiar. The "cool grav gauntlets" from the 3e books were called "Long-arm Gloves" and the Gravitic Waldoes are listed as being sometimes called "long-arm gloves" in their text description.

Gravitic Waldoes do have less ST but are able to reach inside things in 4e which the 3e version couldn't. They don't have horrid DX penalties either. That's actually more like TK in my opinion.

At any rate there most certainly are things in the 4e version of UT that weren't in the 3e version. Nanosuits, Ghost-particle Cannons, expanded (though less cinematic) bionics, Trek-style replicators, more sensors, a much fuller selection of vehicles and lots of other stuff.

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