Nebfer
03/23/10 11:51 PM
72.146.126.2
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I posted this on another forum but I wanted to get some other input...
While it's not always the most healthy things to do, I have been interested in how the B-techs RPG gear would compare to it's real world counter parts... Well first off here some stats and ability's of some of the gear one can find in the B-tech universe... While I have provided some real life gear, I'm wondering what you guys think or have experience with.
Note much of the info comes from the 3rd edition, with some from the newer "4th" edition (AKA A Time of War).
Radios (Radios / Cell phones are known as communicators)
Micro Military Communicator
Weight: 5 grams
Range: 2 kilometers
Battery life: 20 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Mostly used by Covert ops personnel can be hidden just about any where. like as a hearing aid.
Military communicator
Weight: 100 grams
Range: 10 kilometers
Battery life: 20 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
has a multitude of frequencies
capable of Scrambling it's transmission (for security)
Can be equipped with head phones
Most B-tech factions have them built into their helmets, so almost every soldier has one.
Field Communicator (Squad/Platoon level)
Weight: 1,000 grams
Range: 25 kilometers
Battery life: 20 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Same capabilities as the Military Communicator but adds
Can Monitor 6 channels at once
Can send Burst transmissions
Can Transmit Video
Long Range Communications Kit (Company Level, this is also found on battle armor, BA squad leaders have sat coms)
Weight: 5,000 grams
Range: 50 kilometers or 2,500km to Satellite
Battery life: 4 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack or 30 hours with a 3,000g HC Satchel Battery)
Same as the above devices but also has
Can Monitor 24 channels at once
Laser Coms capable (though you need an Support laser)
Microwave Coms capable (with this and the above ability it has effectively unlimited range)
Sat coms capable
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Real life gear As far as I can find...
AN/PRC-117F "Falcon II" Man pack radio
Weight: 4.5 to 6kgs with out battery depending on the source... (the battery is about 1.33kg IIRC)
Range: ~16km, ~500km Sat Com
Battery life: ~10+ hours
Ability's: Sat coms capable, can monitor 10 channels, can encrypt transmissions...
This is a current issue radio.
Most vehicle radios seem to also have a range of around 40 to 50km.
To me it seems B-tech has the functions of a hand held radio in a "cellphone" sized package.
The abilitys of a Manpack Radio in a hand held radio.
And the abilitys of a vehicle radio in a man pack radio (though many vehicles use Man Packs with power amps...).
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Night Vision Optics
Light amplification
Night vision Scope (also acts as a telescopic scope)
Weight: 450 grams
Effective range: 1,000m
Battery life: unknown
(it removes all night time based modifiers, most often mounted on a Rifle)
Range is not stated in 3rd edition but in the New edition. interestingly both editions do not mention battery life... (possibly similar to other devices)
Night Vision Goggles
Weight: 600 grams
Effective range: unknown
Battery life: 200 hours
(it removes all night time based modifiers)
Range is not mentioned in both editions, But I would think it's not far from it's scoped counterpart. (you can still shoot out to 1,000+ meters in the dark with it...)
IR Optics
Rangefinder Binoculars
Weight: 500 grams
Battery life: 200 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Functions:
Laser Rangefinder
400x Zoom Binoculars (electronic)
Weather sensors (wind, temp, ect...)
Light amplification gear
IR Sight
-Human at 1,000m
-Vehicles at 3,000 meters more
-Battlemechs at 10,000 meters
The New Edition dose not mention the Weather or IR sights as part of it's abilities (but it dose not describe any equipment really). Also some Helmets have a Rangefinder on them but the only rangefinder described in the RPG(s) is this device.
IR Scanner
Weight: 400 grams
Effective range: 5,000 meters (it has the same IR capabilities as the Rangefinder Binoculars)
Battery life: 200 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Also has a 300x Zoom
Note: range is not stated in the New edition of the RPG
Ultrasonic detector
Weight: 3,000 grams
Effective range: 10 meters (through light walls)
Battery life: 200 minutes (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Mostly used by Comstar/ WoB forces they also have a Helmet mounted version but with half the range.
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Some real life stuff
PVS-7 Night Vision goggles (PVS-14 is smiler but only .4kg)
Weight: .7kg (with out battery?)
Battery life: ~15 to 50 hours
Detection Range: ~200 to 400 meters
PVS-22 Night Vision device (mostly used on scopes)
Weight: .9kg
Battery life: ~40 hours
Detection range: ~750m
AN/PAS-13B Medium Thermal Sight
Weight: 2.3kg (with battery, with out it's ~1.3kg)
Battery life: ~7 hours
Detection range: 1,100m man, 4.2km vehicle (in narrow view, 5x mag)
Well it's not all that easy on some but at the least B-tech seems to have real life beat in the battery life department by a factor of 4 or 5...
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Remote Sensors
Heat Sensor
Range: 1,000 meters
Weight: 500 grams
Battery life: 200 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Can detect anything bigger than a lit match in a 1,000m radius.
Motion Detector
Weight: 250 grams
Range: 10 meters
Battery life: 200 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Detects objects larger than 5 cubic centimeters
Amusingly the new RPG mentions a range of 10km (likely a typo)
Portable Radar
Weight: 5 kilograms
Range: 10 kilometers
Battery life: 40 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Detects anything larger than .5 cubic meters in a 10km radius, Most vehicles can detect the emissions of such devices however.
Note: A human is 1 cubic meter.
Real life systems seem to be about 3 or 4 times the weight (or more) for smiler performance. like the AN/PPS-5C
Seismic
Weight: 2 kilograms
Range: 5 kilometers
Battery Life: 40 hours (with a 20 gram HC Micro Power Pack)
Smallest object detectable is a walking man
Also how would you rate B-tech Infantry Armor? My thoughts on this is that in general it's better, as in part real life armor is upwards of 15kgs for the torso, where as B-tech that would give you the head, arms and legs, though perhaps not with the same amount of protection but some do get close. Not to mention the armor also has built in Radios and often NVG gear as standard.
So how would these systems compare to real life stuff. Now of coarse they do not exist, so making real comparisons is impossible but in general...
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