- You are not allowed to reveal that they help you with alchemy, but if someone catches a glimpse of them you are allowed to say 'they are OK, I can't say more'
- It does, but it is on a scale of conceptual power that is simply beyond them, it is beyond most things in this age of the world
- The Slick version has to be able to drive around on a public road without raising eyebrows, it would be nice if it could stand up to a cursory search but it's not necessary
- Sure they have pilots you can make those
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
we can force the most destructive sort of tumble, but yeah agree to disagree.
I think we can start at least before then. At resource 5 a $500,000 purchase and renovations done with supernatural cheating is in reach.
We have a ruling that MHM has a synergy allowing large scale projects on the order of putting a shell around the city, so redoing a building on a ridiculous time scale and then letting it sit until we can get away with opening should be squarely in our capabilities.
Bob's magic knowledge is impressive, but he doesn't know everything and is almost certainly younger than these elves. He's also never been owned by an alchemist of note; he shouldn't be particularly good at it relatively speaking.
Trainer quality does matter to our results, and limited AP makes getting the best possible options more important.
You're narrowing down the conditions too much, and trading away a huge amount of interesting story space to get it.
Even a little more flexibility would let us get a lot more out of the crossover setting and keep the profound cosmic power feeling profound and cosmic, rather than being a minimum buy in that just keeps going up.
Thinking about options.
For Heavy
Real world APCs, Tanks, self propelled artillery, vtols/choppers and maybe Jets.
Cyberpunk Style Rigger Party Van featuring Extra Armor, Rocket pods, more Drones, firing ports and gun turrets.
Warstrider? Might not be possible without using our gossmar.
For Slick
CIA style/Secret Service style Armored SUV
Cyberpunk Style Rigger Party Van featuring Drones, firing ports and popout turret guns on sides/top.
Bond style spy gadget cars or vans with auto changing paint jobs. (rockets, popup guns, oil/slick caltrops, mines, gatling gun, ECM, mortars and miniature missiles)
For Heavy
Real world APCs, Tanks, self propelled artillery, vtols/choppers and maybe Jets.
Cyberpunk Style Rigger Party Van featuring Extra Armor, Rocket pods, more Drones, firing ports and gun turrets.
Warstrider? Might not be possible without using our gossmar.
For Slick
CIA style/Secret Service style Armored SUV
Cyberpunk Style Rigger Party Van featuring Drones, firing ports and popout turret guns on sides/top.
Bond style spy gadget cars or vans with auto changing paint jobs. (rockets, popup guns, oil/slick caltrops, mines, gatling gun, ECM, mortars and miniature missiles)
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- Location
- Germany
I'm just kinda frustrated that we have good side-characters like Isabel and Olivia or our friends and our oldest brother around, but we can't take them to anything interesting because they don't fullfill the " you must be this tall to ride" conditions.
Some Exalted friends would solve that.
I assume thats why we have Elves helping do some of the manufacturing.
So they know how to do the maintenance.
1) Maturity has nothing to do with being a party member though?
And character development is not gated by age either.
I mean, Kincaid is older than McCoy, but that doesnt make McCoy the more mutable of the two.
2)Given as the entire series is basically Harry's evolving emotional and character development? Finding his place in the world?
I would beg to disagree with your characterization of Dresden.
I mean, Harry? Mature? Lol.
3)I remember. But I dont think you have thought this through.
Lydia has Dex 3, Brawl 3, Athletics 2, Stamina 2. She had Soak 2, no armor or soakboosting abilities at the Raith purge. She can spend only 2 Essence a turn. She had a better than even chance of dying to 3x of Lord Skavis bodyguards if they'd ganged up on her at the Raith party while bloodbuffed and rocking Celerity instead of beating futilely at Molly's armored hide.
I mean, people with this sort of statline:
And that Combination Discipline that allowed them to ignore several points of armor.
Im not even talking Elder shit.
Yes, Lydia can contribute, but she isnt exactly throwing hands at even optimal DB levels, let alone Celestial Exalt.
So I dont see the point of the argument that we need other Exalts who can mechanically contribute; we dont have her along because she can throw down like Molly, no one currently can.
1&2)Okay, cool.
3) Gotcha.
4) Im sorely tempted to go full gonzo and give them an armed V-280 design.
Or a HSVTOL that converts from a VTOL tiltrotor to a jet, like this Boeing design, and allows both range and response time
View: https://youtu.be/5cjGTIFJcx4
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You would need the Crafting Charm to even think about making a warstrider, those thing run on Essence. You would need to figure out how to make a Heart-stone, or more likely several of them. Basically you would have to reverse engineer Motonic Physics and then find some what to make them overwrite present physics in the confines of your device. On the plus side if you can do all of that you would have an Artifact.... Capital A work of divine inspiration.
Molly certainly would not start exalted crafting with that, but there is a lot of other weird wondrous and terrible stuff you can make. Want to make a bespoke demon? A construct with supernatural powers of your own design? An anti-magic grenade? Exalted crafting is hard because reality has grown slow and sluggish, it needs reminding every time or maybe... well if you do it enough to knows.
- Location
- Brazil
The answer is for them to act in the areas of their abilities and interests and not have to be forced to reach Exalted levels. Molly has adventures with her power level and the others have their own adventures without Molly.
Or maybe we just have different definitions of what "anything interesting" is. So agree to disagree.
I would be interested in poking other exalted only when we are at E5 or higher, so we can limit the damage of malicious Exalted.
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So yeah, Warstider a little out of Molly's rang at the moment.
What about a, theoretically mundane outside of the inevitable Cyber-Demon possessing it, powered exoskeleton or powered frame though?
The problem is the physics of a bipedal war-mahcine do not work with current military tech and that is about what Molly has access to in terms of mundane crafting. An AI is not going to fix that on its own.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Look, all the capabilities they would reasonably need are easily accessible without venturing too deep into super tech.
[X] Divide your attention equally between both
-[X] Light: A SUV with tinted windows, unassuming at first glance but unnerving under close examination. A scratch in the point reveals an smooth iridescent surface no blade or bullet can mar. A careful listen to the engine reveals that it's pitch doesn't change at all as the vehicle accelerates. The suspension rides *too* smooth.
-[X] Heavy: It *looks* like a BMP-2, but that camouflage is only skin deep. Inside there's a single continuous crew compartment, without any driver or gunner spaces. The tracks on closer examination are made of contiguous rubber coated bands. And it shares its lighter cousin's... oddities.
--[X] Inscribed into the bodies and armor are lines of silver the form interlocked magical circles, each doing its part to shield the vehicle's occupants from magic. Even the circuit boards - made with more conductive silver rather than gold - are laid out to make the hex of magic flow over them.
--[X] If the cyber devils represent a unacceptable security breach, then we can switch to remote control from the passenger compartment, with VR glasses and controllers... through that will be less capable overall. The decision is up to Piotr.
Nacreous diamondoid materials are light and strong and tough and can bulletproof even a unobtrusive armored car against autocannon fire and missiles while keeping the vehicle light and transportable.
A digital demon to act as a backup driver and manage an actively actuated suspension. A series hybrid propulsion system with a motor per wheel (but not *in* the wheel - we want to keep unsprung weight low) and a free piston linear generator and diamond flywheel to provide cruise power and peak acceleration respectively.
The Heavy is more of the same nacreous diamond material, powerplant, and active suspension. But. Piotr, two squads? Home slice, what are you smoking.
We can fit one squad and a pair of extra seats for specialists, comfortably I might add - with space to do field medicine, or drag in a bit of loot, or any number of other things. If you want two Squads Piotr, you bring two of these vehicles - your soldiers will thank you for the extra firepower.
The free piston linear generators have been sunk under the infantry cabin to double an anti mine protection, the treads are basically reinforced rubber tracks but made with woven diamond cables for reinforcement instead of steel and something... not quite rubber for grip.
The armament is... Basically the same as a BMP but with a Molly twist: 30 mm autocannon is redesigned into a remote turret: fully automated and controlled by a digital demon gunner, with a backup control to a PlayStation controller in the crew compartment. It's barrel is also made with a diamond weave overwrap, and the gun reinforced to operate at *much* higher pressures than before, pressure enough that the 30mm can throw it's munition hard enough to deal with the sorts of enemies that need good armor piercing ammo. It's also been redesigned to be self contained, and no longer pierces the body armor - through it may need a small hatch to feed ammo reloads through from a secondary magazine in the hull. I'm not gonna detail it's internals.
It's got a missile launcher, so they have the option of specialized missiles.
It's got a machine gun and grenade launcher as secondary armament - all controlled by cyber demon gunners with crew backup controls. I'm sure Odin's folks have a lot of specialized munitions on hand and we can customize our weapons to work with them.
It's driven by another digital demon, with the same active suspension that lets it float over rough terrain.
Really the use of cyber demons as gunners and driver that lets us pack a full squad into this thing.
Edit: FPLG are even simpler and more reliable than traditional internal combustion engines while taking the name fuel, and electric motors have a reputation for needing very little
Also added a thing about building magical circles into the vehicle itself to shield the passengers from magic.
All in all, these vehicles blend in nicely to maintain the masquerade, exceed the protection values, bring great firepower to the table, and they fit with the existing logistics and maintenance chain.
Through they'll have to order replacement parts from us for the diamond bits.
[X] Divide your attention equally between both
-[X] Light: A SUV with tinted windows, unassuming at first glance but unnerving under close examination. A scratch in the point reveals an smooth iridescent surface no blade or bullet can mar. A careful listen to the engine reveals that it's pitch doesn't change at all as the vehicle accelerates. The suspension rides *too* smooth.
-[X] Heavy: It *looks* like a BMP-2, but that camouflage is only skin deep. Inside there's a single continuous crew compartment, without any driver or gunner spaces. The tracks on closer examination are made of contiguous rubber coated bands. And it shares its lighter cousin's... oddities.
--[X] Inscribed into the bodies and armor are lines of silver the form interlocked magical circles, each doing its part to shield the vehicle's occupants from magic. Even the circuit boards - made with more conductive silver rather than gold - are laid out to make the hex of magic flow over them.
--[X] If the cyber devils represent a unacceptable security breach, then we can switch to remote control from the passenger compartment, with VR glasses and controllers... through that will be less capable overall. The decision is up to Piotr.
Nacreous diamondoid materials are light and strong and tough and can bulletproof even a unobtrusive armored car against autocannon fire and missiles while keeping the vehicle light and transportable.
A digital demon to act as a backup driver and manage an actively actuated suspension. A series hybrid propulsion system with a motor per wheel (but not *in* the wheel - we want to keep unsprung weight low) and a free piston linear generator and diamond flywheel to provide cruise power and peak acceleration respectively.
The Heavy is more of the same nacreous diamond material, powerplant, and active suspension. But. Piotr, two squads? Home slice, what are you smoking.
We can fit one squad and a pair of extra seats for specialists, comfortably I might add - with space to do field medicine, or drag in a bit of loot, or any number of other things. If you want two Squads Piotr, you bring two of these vehicles - your soldiers will thank you for the extra firepower.
The free piston linear generators have been sunk under the infantry cabin to double an anti mine protection, the treads are basically reinforced rubber tracks but made with woven diamond cables for reinforcement instead of steel and something... not quite rubber for grip.
The armament is... Basically the same as a BMP but with a Molly twist: 30 mm autocannon is redesigned into a remote turret: fully automated and controlled by a digital demon gunner, with a backup control to a PlayStation controller in the crew compartment. It's barrel is also made with a diamond weave overwrap, and the gun reinforced to operate at *much* higher pressures than before, pressure enough that the 30mm can throw it's munition hard enough to deal with the sorts of enemies that need good armor piercing ammo. It's also been redesigned to be self contained, and no longer pierces the body armor - through it may need a small hatch to feed ammo reloads through from a secondary magazine in the hull. I'm not gonna detail it's internals.
It's got a missile launcher, so they have the option of specialized missiles.
It's got a machine gun and grenade launcher as secondary armament - all controlled by cyber demon gunners with crew backup controls. I'm sure Odin's folks have a lot of specialized munitions on hand and we can customize our weapons to work with them.
It's driven by another digital demon, with the same active suspension that lets it float over rough terrain.
Really the use of cyber demons as gunners and driver that lets us pack a full squad into this thing.
Edit: FPLG are even simpler and more reliable than traditional internal combustion engines while taking the name fuel, and electric motors have a reputation for needing very little
Also added a thing about building magical circles into the vehicle itself to shield the passengers from magic.
All in all, these vehicles blend in nicely to maintain the masquerade, exceed the protection values, bring great firepower to the table, and they fit with the existing logistics and maintenance chain.
Through they'll have to order replacement parts from us for the diamond bits.
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This is very cool but there is a problem in using cyberdevils, they are loyal to Molly, only to Molly ever. You cannot order then to be loyal to someone else above you (though you can delegate lesser authority) so they present a security breach in someone else's military vehicles.
- Location
- Germany
[X] The 'Heavy' If Monoc needs this kind of firepower things have really gone south
-[X] KISS- Look up designs for existing military vehicles, and ask Old Piotr what he would fix in them, then build the result, with various incremental improvements based on the advantage of artisanal precision over massproduction and what flashes of inspiration you might find.
-[X] Stunt: As you look through various designs a picture is forming in your mind. The classic Bradley would be a good start, but too small to hold two squads and a driver, while the firepower was barely acceptable. The British Warrior vehicle was slightly larger and with a better start in firepower. In your thoughts you see the upgraded engine coming together, capable of driving a vehicle made for 12 men at nearly the same speed, while you considered if an additional missile-launcher would be more help or vulnerability on the top.
-[X] KISS- Look up designs for existing military vehicles, and ask Old Piotr what he would fix in them, then build the result, with various incremental improvements based on the advantage of artisanal precision over massproduction and what flashes of inspiration you might find.
-[X] Stunt: As you look through various designs a picture is forming in your mind. The classic Bradley would be a good start, but too small to hold two squads and a driver, while the firepower was barely acceptable. The British Warrior vehicle was slightly larger and with a better start in firepower. In your thoughts you see the upgraded engine coming together, capable of driving a vehicle made for 12 men at nearly the same speed, while you considered if an additional missile-launcher would be more help or vulnerability on the top.
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*Looks at the rolls*
Well, seems like it's official, we have reached the *other exalts think you are flaunting it* levels there.
Three rolls at more than 10, one at almost 20, this was a good time for us.
It wouldn't, because Isabel and Olivia still would be interesting and unable to *contribute* in the way you talk there.
The solution is not new characters, it's to search how to help the one that are there matter in their own domain, not try to compete in ours.
The reason we don't have bipeds military vehicles is that they actually are shit in reality, walking is difficult, and you can get way more out of a quadrupedal form or even more legs more easily.
Bipeds robots are not worth it unless you break the laws of physics.
So what happens if we make a light vehicle that works by being so blatant nobody looks at it?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If the cyberdevils are an issue, we can switch to remote controls from the crew compartment.
But I think the question of 'do you accept this potential security breach in exchange for greatly expanded performance' should be posed to Piotr. I think it's also a matter of whether they trust us to deal in good faith and not take the opportunity to spy on them.
That is something Molly can ask certainly.
@DragonParadox how heavy is heavy? Because I am thinking we take a stab at Bolo mk 1. With MHM helping in large scale projects, it should be within our capability.
IFV/Light Tank, something that can stand up to light and old anti-tank weapons but he is not expecting them to stand up to top of the line tech. If you can do better that is great, but not at the cost of being too heavy, this thing has to be able to cross bridges and drive over soft ground.
Those are some hefty rolls, hopefully just doing that well is enough to get him to take us seriously.
I have a couple of thoughts here.
The first is to make something wholly mundane, but shaped to make it a cast iron bitch to effect with magic.
The other is to lean into how DF uses foci which aren't enchanted but do help a caster increase their own leverage to make something which itself isn't enchanted but makes a caster much more effective at something specific while using it to fill in for a weapon.
The specific inspiration I had for this was the importance of pentagrams in most DF magical traditions. They have a lot of heavy symbolic meaning in confining/directing power, along with circles.
Molly has already demonstrated the ability to make very exotic carbon structures, from gems to her fancy armor.
So consider the potential of Fullerenes; specifically the varieties that can form dodecahedrons, flat planes of pentagons, or various connected elements creating atomic scale rings. There's also potentially something interesting to be done with nested structures containing cores of other elements and the symbolic value of rare materials.
For example:
In classic hermeticism fire and sulfur are closely associated, and the alchemical symbol is triangle. Tungsten Sulfide is a compound that actually naturally forms triangular prisms at a molecular level.
If you want to throw fire at someone is there a better focus than a gem composed layers of runes/geometric shapes asserting the will of the caster over reality written in lines of perfect molecular scale pentagrams enclosing individual atoms of silver, all of which trace over a fractal rod symbolically invoking fire at every observable scale?
Seems like the sort of leverage you'd want to turn a spark's worth of effort into a death ray.
It's probably a bit of a reach, but I wanted to float the idea anyway because nanoscale magical engineering sounds like the sort of hilarious bullshit an exalt in a modern setting would try.
I get the frustration, I just think the solution is to expand our horizons and do things that engage with the setting as it stands.
They aren't powerful enough for our boss fights, but as long as the quest doesn't power scale to insane levels there is stuff they can do that is relevant. Social things for one, particularly related to other mortals.
Realistically the bosses we fight are always going to be a challenge, trying to chase everyone being that level isn't viable. That doesn't mean everything outside of the things that are really Molly's job to handle have the same requirements.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Nacreous diamond can certainly do all that. For those who don't know, it's basically a composite of flakes of diamond suspended inside a polymer and linked with short carbon nanotubes. The result is a material that can flex instead of shattering, but in extremely hard all while being very light.
APFSDS might be able to pierce an IFV with nacreous diamond plate from sheer sectional density... but anything short of that will really struggle.
Doing it this way also means we don't have to deal with the manufacturing hell of making long unbroken carbon allotropes.
Ah, ok. Significantly lighter than I expected. Ok, I'll probably go with slick then. Need to think of what exactly to write, then.
Yeah, the idea is it needs to drive on poor roads, or no roads in all weather and most climates. Proper main battle tanks are both too hard to maintain in numbers and too obvious for what Monoc needs, even when they call in the cavalry. They are not out here trying to reenact the battle of Kursk, what they need it to stand up to is people with small arms and RPG7s, other mercenaries and non-state actors more than nation states
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- She/Her
The bit about circles is actually a great idea:
--[] Inscribed into the bodies and armor are lines of silver the form interlocked magical circles, each doing it's part to shield the vehicle's occupants from magic. Even the circuit boards - made with more conductive silver rather than gold - are laid out to make the hex of magic flow over them.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
We could also just put the shiny surface under a sacrificial plastic cover.
And a nacreous diamond surface *is* shiny:
(A piece of non diamond nacre for reference)
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