(IW) Conveyor Suits

[arcanus]

IW.P28. Power System - A jump requires 200 kJ of energy per ton of capacity – delivered in a single pulse. A typical pulsed power system for the field generator costs $50 and weighs 5 lbs. per kJ.

Hi All,
The above description suggests that Conveyor technology can be very small and portable for small loads.

A sensible development (especially for Scouts) could be Conveyor suits rather than vehicular conveyors, this allows the devices to be hidden, small and compact.

Has anyone used conveyor suits in their campaigns?

[Donny Brook]

Such a suit would have to be about 100lb to transfer 200lb of agent and gear. I'm not sure I'd call that portable.

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Such a suit would have to be about 100lb to transfer 200lb of agent and gear. I'm not sure I'd call that portable.

Good point - although if split between suit and a backpack, a heavy load for a short period of time (the jump), with the option of then stowing the backpack for the return trip.

Of course adding a power assisted frame might still be more man-portable than a full vehicular conveyor.

[Anaraxes]

FWIW: US MIL-STD-1472G, "Human Engineering", specifies a maximum total load of 45% of body weight for marching, 30% for close combat. "Portable" is defined as something intended to be carried less than 2 km; "portable test equipment" has a maximum limit of 90 lb. items to be lifted by one person with a two-hand lift should not exceed 82 lb. (Yeah, I noticed that, too.)

100 pounds is a little high, but not completely out of the question, if your agents are in good shape and just wear it to make the hop with a short trip -- preferably to some secure space on the other side, like a base or safe house, possibility with assistants to help lift that backpack onto your conveyor field containment / guidance suit. If you need to carry a bunch of other gear for your mission, and hike to and from some secluded spot so the mundanes don't see you appear and disappear, it's a bit much.

If the mission had to be carried out by me, I'd be forced to wait for the conveyor. Feel free to add that as a plot complication, when the agents can't manage to retrieve the aging, out-of-shape scientist that was their target. Any agent/PC worth their acronym should have thought of that, so presumably the plan that didn't require them to rely on the individual suits has to go awry somehow. But when does that ever happen on an adventure?

[Willy]

100 pounds, sounds first to much for a backpack, but it is handable, even walking with it to a close by hideout. Of course you need to calculate the whole mission equipment you need, not to mention weapons, food and all that in the weight you have to carry. There are reports about the Desert Storm where SAS members were forced to carry 90 kg of backpacks several time from the helicopter to a hideout 2 miles a mile away. The old mountan man, and trappers often carried, rucksacks and furs weighting 90 kg to market, and with the bought staples back to their cabins in the wilderness days of walk away. As I can state from personal experience for a fit or very fit adult its possible with 150 kg carried by both arms to move at walking speed 300m and 2 stairs, it wasn´t funny and I was in the shape of my live, we had than a problem with the parking and a very tight time schedule for days. I was still very happy after that problem was solved. Before you ask I weighted little under 74 kg than. The actual military regulations are mostly to be on the safe side, to avoid to being held responsible for health problems. It´s like firefighters in my country, who are not allowed to use a full weight training dummies. The problems occur years later when you get back problems.

[dcarson]

Throw in a couple more pounds for a hand cart so you can drag it along.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by arcanus

Of course adding a power assisted frame might still be more man-portable than a full vehicular conveyor.

I am now imagining some rogue faction that uses Jump-capable suits of power armor (probably adapted from the tech of some high-TL parallel). Could make for an interesting encounter.

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by isf

IW.P28. Power System - A jump requires 200 kJ of energy per ton of capacity – delivered in a single pulse. A typical pulsed power system for the field generator costs $50 and weighs 5 lbs. per kJ.

I would have the scouts have atypical power supplies that are lighter and more expensive.

Thats what I am thinking an a-typical Ultratech battery, however with a long recharge time (say 6 hours or more).

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

I think one of the key points of using a vehicular conveyors is that it allows for back-up systems, as well as cargo space to carry necessary equipment, including survival and medical gear.

Agreed and this idea isn't to replace them, its just exploring the other options. A vehicle to a Pliocene parallel or second jump sounds far more practical, base of operations, protection, supplies.
However quiet insertion to a post Renaissance Worldline following drone survey or even entering Shiku-Mon quietly this seems like an intial step.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Conveyor Suits sound awesome, but they almost belong in a different setting. It still takes 10 minutes before each jump, You can't wear one and blend in with the locals, and if you end up in a fight your escape route is directly in the line of fire. That said, a suit that lets you jump between worlds and time-lines is a very evocative idea... It just doesn't sound like the Infinity Patrol.

I'd have it far longer between jumps, very limited payload and longer recharge time so that on balance a vehicle or even static conveyor remains the mainstay of conveyance.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I am now imagining some rogue faction that uses Jump-capable suits of power armor (probably adapted from the tech of some high-TL parallel). Could make for an interesting encounter.

That had crossed my mind, specially following Spec-OPs having Conveyor atmospheric Drop-ships which are TL10, powered armour conveyors remove the weight concerns.

I think there is wiggle room within cannon on P.84 IW it lists Petroleum as being moved by Sub-Quanta Tankers, that suggests even at sub-quantan level Infinity has the capability of moving more than 300 tons per jump.

Also Project ZK-GO from Worlds of Horror suggests alternative conveyor capacity - herding large quantities of fish (and sea water), could as simple as swallowing up several hundred tons and jumping or something larger.

With the possibility that cannon has now progressed to mid 2030s it does make me wonder how higher TL power sources etc might have now been incorporated.

[Rupert]

The pulsed power system is, by VE2 standard, extremely heavy for the charge it carries. When fooling round with some back-of-the-envelope numbers I bumped up the energy requirement a great deal to get the required mass up to the numbers in Campaigns and Infinite Worlds.

That aside, TL9 powercells in VE2 hold 50% more charge per unit weight than TL8 systems, which helps a bit. 4e power systems are different, but we have no real idea what the step from TL8 to TL9 brings us (where's VDS when we need it?). If this was Spaceships I'd assume a ~1.5 multiple per tech level (i.e. that it follows the range/speed table like just about everything else) and call it a day.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by Varyon

I am now imagining some rogue faction that uses Jump-capable suits of power armor (probably adapted from the tech of some high-TL parallel). Could make for an interesting encounter.

Yeah, adapted, or even cobbled-together, from a high-tech TL. Make it a one-off, highly durable, but difficult to fix, impossible to replace.

Steel (a.k.a. GURPS Reign of Steel) might have such power suits, intended for human slaves to use in work. Zone Washington likely has a bunch of them.

Or Combine, where the focus is on robotic armored vehicles.

(is Combine, with that corporate state and the Paneuropean Federation, supposed to be the IW version of a world-setting, like Steel is? Maybe OGRE or Car Wars?)