[wolfrider66]

Hi folks, I'm reading Conspiracy Theories about bug spirits on page 36:

From 2067 through 2072, multiple government and corporate intelligence agencies
began to report a significant drop in the global population of bug
spirits, anywhere from a two percent decrease (in regions where
the SOTA technology was fairly scarce) to a nine percent decrease
(in regions where the SOTA technology was more abundant).

what is SOTA technology?

[FastJack]

Hi folks, I'm reading Conspiracy Theories about bug spirits on page 36:

From 2067 through 2072, multiple government and corporate intelligence agencies
began to report a significant drop in the global population of bug
spirits, anywhere from a two percent decrease (in regions where
the SOTA technology was fairly scarce) to a nine percent decrease
(in regions where the SOTA technology was more abundant).

what is SOTA technology?

State Of The Art - the latest and greatest. Right now, iPhone5 is SOTA.

[Exodus]

State Of The Art - the latest and greatest. Right now, iPhone5 is SOTA.

That's arguable, SOTA shouldn't have such an awful GPS system.

To broaden the definition, SOTA is the best at what it does that is available at that time.

[Wakshaani]

I, for one, would love to update the old SOTA rules and bring 'em forward sometime.

[beowulf_of_wa]

please do, and while you're at it, vehicle design rules, (no it doesn't have to be another RBB)

[Mirikon]

Vehicle and weapon design rules would be awesome.

[beowulf_of_wa]

and yes, i know many people say, " just build it and convert it"  but without some set rule for how catalyst converted earlier edition vehicles, we'll end up with 4000 Aztechnology Aguilar EX++ variants and no rhyme or reason for the massive stat difference.

i tried converting a couple vehicles from 2nd and 3rd ed to current, couldn't really wrap my brain around the difference in values. it seems some of the vehicle attributes shifted from "higher=better" to "lower=better" and other attribs just disappeared. not to mention (but i'm going to) that even in earlier versions, some of the attribs seemed to only matter in that one book, possibly only for the build accounting.

[All4BigGuns]

Vehicle and weapon design rules would be awesome.

By now, everyone should know that I agree with this.

I, for one, would love to update the old SOTA rules and bring 'em forward sometime.

Honestly, IMO, these were a bigger PITA than they were worth when it comes to bookkeeping.

[foolofsound]

Vehicle and weapon design rules would be awesome.

Having never played previous editions: where the vehicle/weapon design rules for them any good? I know that I would love to see drone/vehicle creation rules, but I can see them being a major balance problem.

[Mirikon]

Vehicle and weapon design rules would be awesome.

Having never played previous editions: where the vehicle/weapon design rules for them any good? I know that I would love to see drone/vehicle creation rules, but I can see them being a major balance problem.

As with any ruleset where people could create their own gear, there were things that could be exploited like crazy. Which is why any DM worth their DM Screen should know that they ought to go over such material, to make sure that not only is it rules legal, but also makes sense. One classic example is an assault rifle that someone got to have a concealability of a holdout or some such craziness.

[DaveDaveDaave]

Hi folks, I'm reading Conspiracy Theories about bug spirits on page 36:

From 2067 through 2072, multiple government and corporate intelligence agencies
began to report a significant drop in the global population of bug
spirits, anywhere from a two percent decrease (in regions where
the SOTA technology was fairly scarce) to a nine percent decrease
(in regions where the SOTA technology was more abundant).

what is SOTA technology?

I think that`s more due to a change in the Invae tactics. Previously they used to recruit stalkers and social inadequates who , once magically active tried fool things like kidnapping world famous music stars or infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. It would seem more likely the Intelligence Agencies are not seeing a drop in population of Bugs but simply ..... finding them between 2pct to 9pct less often. I`m expecting the Hive to take some rogue nation such as North Korea or the Ghoul homeland any day now and set up shop trading shiny magical doodands and the chitinous secrets of the universe for unwanted population such as clones on the use-by date, criminals, the mentally ill or ... metahumans.

[Black]

Hi folks, I'm reading Conspiracy Theories about bug spirits on page 36:

From 2067 through 2072, multiple government and corporate intelligence agencies
began to report a significant drop in the global population of bug
spirits, anywhere from a two percent decrease (in regions where
the SOTA technology was fairly scarce) to a nine percent decrease
(in regions where the SOTA technology was more abundant).

what is SOTA technology?

I think that`s more due to a change in the Invae tactics. Previously they used to recruit stalkers and social inadequates who , once magically active tried fool things like kidnapping world famous music stars or infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. It would seem more likely the Intelligence Agencies are not seeing a drop in population of Bugs but simply ..... finding them between 2pct to 9pct less often. I`m expecting the Hive to take some rogue nation such as North Korea or the Ghoul homeland any day now and set up shop trading shiny magical doodands and the chitinous secrets of the universe for unwanted population such as clones on the use-by date, criminals, the mentally ill or ... metahumans.

They may have already done one better and grabbed themselves a megacorp...

[Mirikon]

I think that`s more due to a change in the Invae tactics. Previously they used to recruit stalkers and social inadequates who , once magically active tried fool things like kidnapping world famous music stars or infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. It would seem more likely the Intelligence Agencies are not seeing a drop in population of Bugs but simply ..... finding them between 2pct to 9pct less often. I`m expecting the Hive to take some rogue nation such as North Korea or the Ghoul homeland any day now and set up shop trading shiny magical doodands and the chitinous secrets of the universe for unwanted population such as clones on the use-by date, criminals, the mentally ill or ... metahumans.

No, I don't think the bugs will make any inroads in Asamando. Why? Because unless a bug is high level enough to know some masking, they show up as a bug on the astral. And ghouls, being dual-natured, are very good at spotting other critters on the astral.

No, other than the personal domains of dragons and immortal elves, I can't think of anyplace more secure against Invae invasion.

[Black]

I think that`s more due to a change in the Invae tactics. Previously they used to recruit stalkers and social inadequates who , once magically active tried fool things like kidnapping world famous music stars or infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. It would seem more likely the Intelligence Agencies are not seeing a drop in population of Bugs but simply ..... finding them between 2pct to 9pct less often. I`m expecting the Hive to take some rogue nation such as North Korea or the Ghoul homeland any day now and set up shop trading shiny magical doodands and the chitinous secrets of the universe for unwanted population such as clones on the use-by date, criminals, the mentally ill or ... metahumans.

No, I don't think the bugs will make any inroads in Asamando. Why? Because unless a bug is high level enough to know some masking, they show up as a bug on the astral. And ghouls, being dual-natured, are very good at spotting other critters on the astral.

No, other than the personal domains of dragons and immortal elves, I can't think of anyplace more secure against Invae invasion.

Our last best hope against the Bug invasion... a kingdom of flesh eating ghouls! 

[DaveDaveDaave]

I think that`s more due to a change in the Invae tactics. Previously they used to recruit stalkers and social inadequates who , once magically active tried fool things like kidnapping world famous music stars or infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. It would seem more likely the Intelligence Agencies are not seeing a drop in population of Bugs but simply ..... finding them between 2pct to 9pct less often. I`m expecting the Hive to take some rogue nation such as North Korea or the Ghoul homeland any day now and set up shop trading shiny magical doodands and the chitinous secrets of the universe for unwanted population such as clones on the use-by date, criminals, the mentally ill or ... metahumans.

No, I don't think the bugs will make any inroads in Asamando. Why? Because unless a bug is high level enough to know some masking, they show up as a bug on the astral. And ghouls, being dual-natured, are very good at spotting other critters on the astral.

No, other than the personal domains of dragons and immortal elves, I can't think of anyplace more secure against Invae invasion.

Our last best hope against the Bug invasion... a kingdom of flesh eating ghouls! 

Yus thanks for that I forgot that dual natured critters tend to be very good at assensing. Would anyone come running to help tho if Bugs swarmed Asamando?The Hive ran and may still be running Crashcart(tm). I could see them infiltrating a regional office of one of the big 10 if they had a decent enough shaman to trigger Flesh Forms.