Could be. Though more logical for me would be VodooTech reverse-engineered from CA tech captured during the war. Getting something form the ancient ruins and bringing it up to the level where it becomes a field-applicable technology (even for an elite unit - we're not talking about one-off application carried by a character, which we could write off as a prototype undergoing field testing, like with Hector's plasma rifle), that feels to me like too fast. I mean, we're moving the story 5 years fast-forward. Need to discover the new wormhole, survey the world on the other side, start settling it, and get into a colonial-style land grab, then have the Japanese do a 180 on the PanO. That means there's not that much time for the Japanese to play Indiana Jones in the ruins, find the right artefact, science the heck out of it, and reproduce it on a scale to make it available to their troops, even if we're talking the elite ones. Of course, Gutier might've just handwaved it all away, but I think he's not that kind of a guy. Note: this would suggest, in turn, that more Human Sphere armies have access to the Nanoscreen technology. Unless the Japanese have grown unreasonably big in the meantime. What I mean... When we've last seen them, Japanese have (successfully) rebelled against YJ, and managed to carve for themselves some formerly YJ controlled territories on various planets. They were, however, limited to leftover tech from their time as part of YJ (granted, some focus there was specifically theirs, and some tech was a bit different from YJ) and some hand-me-down PanO equipment. They were considered a minor faction, and I've seen them as basically struggling to keep what they had. Which didn't, in my eyes, look unrealistic. They were also seriously being propped up by PanO. Now, we're told, they turned on PanO. Meaning they needed to secure production base, tech knowledge and population significant enough to contend with The Big Blue - somethign they clearly didn't have in the Uprising era. And obviously there aren't much forces left in the Sphere to support them: not PanO obviously, and neither YJ. The Nomad / Haqq cooperation might be interested in taking PanO down a peg, but not in participating in an open conflict with it. And from there, we're left with Ariadna, Aleph, O-12 - none of whom seems viable. That is, unless JSA managed to attract support form CA. Heck, or Tohaa. Politics can make some very strange bedfellows. Or Gutier can, again ,apply handwavium. Or, of course, something is going on I cannot have predicted above. ...don't look at me, I'm just theorizin' my butt off here
Freelance Operator Samsa could have been a sales agent for the remnants of the Concordat. They may have been shattered by the Ur legal department, but there's probably enough stock on hand to buy some clout with a very minor human faction. JSA may be getting second-hand Bioroids, I mean Batroids... I don't think the Macross franchise IP has been plundered yet.
They could be changing the Nanoscreen that it cannot be affected by skills that take away cover. Like Marksmanship, Frenzy/Impetuous, templates.
Yeah I think the "no cover" skill is likely tied to the Nanoscreen rather than Frenzy. Th N5 wording might just make NanoScreen -3 to be hit with BS attacks and +3 to armour vs BS attacks. would make all interactions cleaner
We all know the Japanese have top tech and industrial capacities after they had to leave almost everything behind with the Uprising. Or, you know... weebs sell
Do you need top tech and industrial capacities to use some device made by others? We don't know the fluff yet, it seems a bit early to whine...
Never too early. While JSA definitely does need a broader set of capabilities to hack it as a full-blown Vanilla faction, experience has shown most complaints about everyone getting expanded capabilities come from Yu Jing, who have received basically nothing in the way of new options for years and are only barely getting back to where they were before Uprising (and have much better industrial capacity than JSA). There'd probably be more whining from the PanO crowd too, except there's almost none of us left- I'm really hoping the N5 relaunch hits it out of the park with the faction redesigns so we can get some new discussions going (and I don't have to hang out in the traditional Yu Jing Depression Corner thread to talk about the game!).
Talking about oversaturation: Maybe it is time, to update the design of the profiles. Clusters and/or structures will help reading it. It could be movement skills, shooting skills, specialist skills etc. in groups. Any ideas?
At this point it's to late to be coming up with other things. We need to work with what we have, not what we want.
Which I noted down as Gutier handwaving it. Realistically speaking, yes, you need to have tech / industrial capabilities. Either your own, or rented from someone who made that tech. Tech will need adjustments. Overhauls. Spare parts. Fine tuning. Your basic automatic rifle needs to be cleaned (which isn't rocket science by any means, but you need to teach the grunts how to do it right), and occasionally inspected by a skilled gunsmith. If something is wrong with it, it takes a supply of spare parts and a skilled gunsmith to install them. No parts - no functioning guns. No skilled technicians - no repairing guns if they malfunctioned. No basic maintenance - eventually stuff malfunctions, and badly. I.e. needs repairing. And we're talking about weapons - and tech - that are essentially late 1940s, maybe early 1950s era technology. So yeah, by today, everyone who is anyone has it. OK, switch to Infinity and Nanoscreens now - we're not talking 1950s, we're talking nanoware protective clouds, something that 5 years ago was outside of practical application in the entire Human Sphere. How do I know it? Because up to the era of Shattergrounds, no Human Sphere unit had it. So yeah, you don't have to have the tech/industrial capacity. Except once your Nanoscreen gets out of tune / malfunctions, you are - in the best case - left with no Nanoscreen, and with no-one who knows how to repair it. Worst case... that's faulty nano. What guarantees do you have it cannot go _black goo_? Especially since hey, neither you nor any of your unit mates knows how this stuff works and what can it do when it is broken...
Bioroids have been a part of the Appleseed franchise since the beginning. And bits of Appleseed have been defintiely poached already ;)
Does not have to be handwaving. And again, you know nothing about what the fluff will be and yet, you are complaining. Wait for it, you'll complain after (I have no doubt you will... ) Or maybe you don't. Because, you know, it's a fictional universe so... Could be a self adjusting tech that never breaks. Could also be something that breaks but that they found in great numbers so they can just trash it and use a new one. Etc... Or maybe it doesn't. Because, you know, it's a fictional universe so... Could be a weapon that doesn't need cleaning. Could be a weapon that doesn't need particular training. Etc... I won't quote the rest of your message to keep showing you why "maybe you don't" or "maybe it doesn't", you got the idea. It's a fictional universe, you can do whatever you want. Just wait for the fluff.
It's just nice to have some consistency with things in our fictional universes. Only certain factions having access to certain tech makes them more interesting. When factions have everything, they have nothing.
Oh, I am waiting. As for complaining - am I? As far as I can see it, I'm merely theorizing on the implications of the presence of Nanoscreens on the Hatamoto. Trying to draw conclusions from its presence. Plus, sure, you are correct - Clarke's 3rd law. Espcially Clarke's 3rd law reversed. Except so far we haven't seen magic in the Human Sphere - Infinity simply has not been that kind of a game up to this point :P Stuff so far has been sticking to some part of internal logic. Tech that self-adjusts and never breaks- which is what you're calling for - would be voiding the 3rd law of thermodynamics. Voiding enthropy. That'd be kinda big, wouldn't it. In fictional worlds where magic is a thing - which, under most systems, classifies these settings as fantasy - you can void laws of nature - or certain aspects of it - by applying said magic. That's still handwavium, though, if there's no in-universe set of rules governing it. Do that in something that resembles a sf setting, that's just waving your hand to make an issue nonexistant. And you're now suggesting a pretty big handwave here.
