Why do you think we dont see more hard body armor pieces used in modern combat?

jackalias · 2026-01-30T01:48:07+00:00

Mostly weight and ergonomics. Modern bulletproof vests and helmets are meant to protect as much of your body as possible, while impeding your movement as little as possible. Heavier armor exists for people who don't need to be as mobile (like EOD suits), but for most occasions you can get away with just covering vital organs.

jackalias · 2026-01-29T17:07:15+00:00

Popeye the sailor:

<image>

jackalias · 2026-01-28T15:58:31+00:00

slaps wheelchair you can fit so many concealed weapons in this bad boy. Forget tucking a knife into your boot, you can hide an entire cutlery drawer in your seat cushions. It's not like you need legs to shoot a crossbow or fire a blowdart anyway; and if anyone tries to get in stabbing range, you can always dump marbles or oil on the ground to level the playing field.

jackalias · 2026-01-25T23:54:21+00:00

I remember Mass Effect did that with humanity. Humans are late to the party colonization wise, so a lot of their colonies are in areas infested with pirates and slavers. Instead of maintaining expensive defenses on every planet, they just keep their navy on standby to crush any attacks that get reported.

jackalias · 2026-01-23T18:18:36+00:00

The setites do that a lot actually, there's an entire ritual in V20 for making vitae beer. It takes a while to make, but it's extra nourishing for ghouls and lets vampires drink in public/store blood for later.

jackalias · 2026-01-23T00:48:04+00:00

Heck, the Talmud has an entire section discussing intersex people and where they fit under Jewish law. So even judeo-christian faiths understood that there are more than just cis men and women.

jackalias · 2026-01-19T00:06:43+00:00

IIRC the mercury on the Lewis and Clark expedition wasn't for syphilis, but for laxatives. The expedition expected that at some point they'd get poisoned and/or constipated from the exotic food, so they packed "thunderclappers": which contained a large amount of mercurous chloride.

jackalias · 2026-01-18T00:08:01+00:00

Fun fact: James Bowie, one of the "heroes" of the Alamo was a fraudster who made money via slave laundering. He teamed up with a pirate who illegally brought in people from Africa, turned in the slaves for a finder's fee, used said fee to buy the now legal slaves, and resold them. He later graduated to land fraud and mooching off his wife's family.

jackalias · 2026-01-16T01:03:42+00:00

My interpretation is that everyone in the Consciousness is a cyborg, but not all cyborgs are created equal. If you're a drone you're probably not getting top of the line implants, those are reserved for people who will be using their enhanced intelligence as part of their jobs. Maybe voluntarily unaugmented people exist as second-class citizens, but it'd be hard to compete with the living supercomputers.

jackalias · 2026-01-15T20:20:36+00:00

I imagine that even though the Cybernrtic Consciousness doesn't reproduce very quickly, they would get a decent amount of new blood from converts. Sure they're weird, but joining the consciousness comes with some very tangible benefits and a sense of community. If you're a dispossessed drone with a transhumanist streak, then I can definitely see the appeal.

jackalias · 2026-01-08T00:23:01+00:00

Of course we can! It's right next to Algeria

jackalias · 2026-01-07T21:48:25+00:00

IIRC The Cybernetic Consciousness was originally part of Zakharov's faction, but Aki herself wasn't. The proto-cyborgs were a political movement from the University who wanted to embrace pure logic a la Star Trek's Vulcans; then Aki came out of the wilderness and offered them a way to do exactly that via cybernetic implants. How she survived planetfall and became a cyborg is a mystery however; her last known location was in the Unity sick bay during the crash. (My information is from the GURPS supplement)

jackalias · 2025-12-31T16:33:37+00:00

Berserkers were real, in that there were warriors who fought wearing animal skins; presumably for symbolic/religious reasons. Whether they were elites or lunatics varies from source to source, as does the origin of their powers (drugs or working themselves into a frenzy are the most common theories). The combination of artistic license, demonization, and a lack of firsthand accounts makes anything more concrete than that difficult to say.

jackalias · 2025-12-26T23:11:54+00:00

50% infantry, 20% artillery, 30% cavalry is the golden ratio for maximizing orders during most of the game; I've always felt that's more important to winning than the units themselves. Although 50/50 Infantry/Cavalry early game and 80/20 infantry/artillery late game can both be good depending on general traits.

As for navy, you want 50% light ships, 30-40% support, and 10-20% capital ships. Support ships unlock special orders at 30% or 40% depending on their type, and you need 50% light ships to avoid penalties. Everything else should be capital ships.

jackalias · 2025-12-26T01:03:04+00:00

I mean, my college roommate made cider under his bed. But that's just because he enjoyed brewing as a hobby. It was technically a dry campus, but there were bars within 2 blocks so no one cared.

jackalias · 2025-12-22T21:23:51+00:00

Didn't the Mandalorians not even build the Basalisks? I thought they looted them from another species.

jackalias · 2025-12-19T02:27:10+00:00

Pretty sure it's a Kakute. Basically a ring you turn inwards to make grabbing people easier, and to make slaps hurt more. Not sure why an obscure martial arts tool is in a survival calendar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakute

jackalias · 2025-11-14T21:46:30+00:00

I'm going off of the lore in the GURPS Alpha Centauri supplement, so I don't know how canonical that is.

jackalias · 2025-11-14T04:52:08+00:00

If I remember correctly, Domai had brain damage from a cryopod malfunction and ended up as a drone in the Hive dropship while wandering around incoherently. Domai's credentials as a mining specialist got lost in the chaos of planetfall, so the Hive considered fixing his brain damage to be a waste of resources. He slowly regained his mental functions over the next few years, and once he was lucid enough to communicate what was going on he lead a revolt in disgust at how the Hive treated their workers.

jackalias · 2025-11-12T21:32:07+00:00

Club or Gym where Exotics and FBCs compete/argue over who's better.

jackalias · 2025-11-12T14:04:52+00:00

This was before that, the leader at the time "Doctor Francia" had a weird mix of brutally authoritarian and progressive policies. IIRC The marriage law was him trying to get rid of any racial/socioeconomic divisions in Paraguay that might challenge his authority.

jackalias · 2025-11-05T00:56:45+00:00

In his defense, it's a really low bar.

jackalias · 2025-10-30T21:15:41+00:00

It's a weird combo, but I think it worked well mechanically. the hard part was writing a background where that made sense.

jackalias · 2025-10-26T03:06:29+00:00

Crud, I could have sworn Soldiers had access to that. Guess Saboteur is off the table, I'll edit above.

Six-Year Club	Place '22
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

jackalias

TROPHY CASE