Gear: Contested Entry

A Transit Law officer executing a warrent on a notorious smuggler. A dashing and sophisticated thief planning a heist of a piece of priceless old Earth art. A group of rugged explorers venturing into Antecessor ruins from before the dawn of complex life. All too often, adventuring folks want to get someplace where someone else doesn't want them. These are the tools they can use.

Access Equipment

This section is for obtaining entry through physical barriers. If there's some thing or obstacle in the way that is preventing you from getting where you want, you can probably find something here to help you get over, around, or through it.

  • Abseiling Harness: A climbing harness and descender, used to rapidly descend down a rope from vertical faces, overhangs, or hovering vehicles. This set of gear does not include the rope. The harness also allows improved safety in climbing up a rope, and makes vertical extraction easier if someone can pull the rope up from above.

    Mass: 1.5 kg
    Price: $15

  • Aperture Portal: Large aperture ports allow you to open a hole in a deflector screen that you can walk through. See the description of aperture ports for details on how they work, and mass and pricing. Generally, a normal-sized Human, Pannova, or Laer can squeeze through a 50 cm diameter portal with difficulty and some contortion, Tweechi can wriggle through a 20 cm portal, Gummis can squeeze though a 1 cm portal in a few minutes or a 10 cm portal in a few actions, and Pirang and Mants can force themselves through a 70 cm diameter portal. Humans can just step through a 100 × 200 cm portal, Tweechi can easily step through a 50 cm portal but require at least 200 cm in the horizontal direction to fly though without aerobatic maneuvers, and most other species can easily step through a 100 cm diameter portal.

  • Axe, Fireman's: An axe designed for chopping through doors and walls. It has an axe blade on one side for chopping large holes, and a pick spike on the opposite side for punching through hard, tough obstacles. As Gummi tech increasingly merges with Human Tech, many fireman's axes are being augmented with disruptor screens (see the melee weapons section).
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HHack+5½ RS+4+0+½+1+1+41+2+½+0
    swing, 2HPierce+7 RS+1-½+2+1+1+2

    Mass: 3.5 kg
    Price: $3.5

  • Breacher Saw: A power saw with a diamondoid blade. Used against immobile objects, it does Pen 8, Wound +3 Hack damage per action for up to 3 actions per combat round, and Pen can accumulate from action to action until the object is cut through; or excess Pen can be traded for increased Wound to cut through thin or flimsy objects faster (every RS Pen is decreased Wound increases by the same number of RS). If used in melee combat, it has -2 to hit because of its clumsy handling – use the melee weapon stats below for damage.

    Breacher saws use a standard SMES puck for power. They can be augmented with disruptor screens in the same fashion as a melee weapon, although this will increase their power use and decrease the cutting duration. Since they already have the benfit of an advanced material blade, this adds +3½ to Pen and -3½ to AP. Because only the blade needs to be disruptor-augmented, it only counts as a 1 kg weapon for the purpose of cost and power consumption of the disruptor equipment.

    Benchmark - a breacher saw can cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at a rate of 0.5 cm/s. If augmented with a disruptor screen, this rate increases to 5 cm/s. Against different materials, row shift the cutting rates by the difference in Armor Scores.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HHack2d6, -1 RS+3-½+4+0+0+20.5+2+¾-2

    Power: 5 kW
    Duration: 800 s (12 minutes)
    Mass: 4 kg
    Price: $30

  • Bolt Cutters: Anything 1 cm diameter or smaller can fit inside the cutting head. Clamping the handles shut does +8 RS from your unarmed combat Pen, with -4 AP, Wound -2 to anything inside the cutting head. While the cutters could easily snip off a finger or other similar-sized extremity, it is practically impossible to get the cutting head around vulnerable parts in melee combat – either use the cutters as a club, or first incapacitate your target via grappling or other means. Bolt cutters are clumsy to use as a club, and have a -2 penalty to hit. The head of the more recent bolt cutters are often augmented with disruptor screens (see the melee weapons section).
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HSmash+5½ RS+1+0+½+1+0+30.7+2+½-1

    Mass: 3 kg
    Price: $5

  • Disintegrators: Disintegrators are a Gummi tool used for removing bulk material, such as stripping, cutting, digging, and drilling. The relatively wide beam focus means disintegrtaors are not used for precision work. Their disruptor field abrades away at the surface of material in its path, reducing solid matter to a cloud of fine dust and liquid into a fog of droplets. Living flesh tends to fall more towards the liquid side. Disintegrators fire continuous rays that eat into whatever they encounter. These are focused beams, and can be intentionally defocused to disintegrate a wider area. Their rays fluoresce violet in air. The vibration is ultrasonic, in the MHz range, so most living things cannot hear it. Like all disruptor beams disintegrator rays smell of ozone and produce a buzzing, tingling sensation akin to an electric shock to those close to the beam.

    Disintegrator beams are continuous. The effective ROF is usually 1 but can be any positive integer the attacker chooses (by swinging the beam around faster you can increase the effective ROF). No more than three actions can be used to shoot a disintegrator in one combat round. They have a Wound Score equal to the defense roll of the target plus the Range score, down to a minimum of the score listed in Brackets under the Wound column (for a rapidly dodging target, you are probably only going to slash the beam across their body, resulting in a wide but shallow wound). The attacker can voluntarilly increase the minimum Wound score by slashing farther with the beam during his attack. The Penetration is 2d6 row shifted by the number under the Pen column, minus by the Wound score, minus the Score of [ROF], and minus the user's Action Score (if you act faster, the less time is in your action to hold the beam on the target). Decrease the Pen before you account for the maximum Wound Score for the target's Size. Goodies can be spent to increase the Pen roll or to decrease the Wound Score by 1 (thus increasing the Pen as well). Against a stationary target, you automatically cause the Wound Score you want down to the score listed in brackets, and automatically cause the maximum Pen possible with no need to roll. Damage type is Abrade, which is mechanical damage that can remove armor in the same fashion as Burn damage.

    Disintegrator rays are focused beams. For every range band beyond the range score listed under Focus, increase the minimum Wound Score by 1 and row shift the Pen by -1. (This is different from pulsed beams where the Pen is row shifted by -2, because the increase to Wound also row shifts the Pen as well).

    You can adjust the focus and power of disintegrator beams. Increasing the focused spot size allows you to treat the damage as if it were in any range band larger than the one it is currently in. Decreasing the power allows you to decrease the Pen by any amount desired. It takes an action to change either focus or power.

    When using a disintegrator against an immobile object, you can take an automatic 12 for the 2d6 roll. Treating an average armor roll on the 2d6 as 7, the rate of cutting and drilling works out to
    cutting rate = value of [4½ + Base Pen - Armor Score]
    drill time = value of [Armor Score - 1.5 - Base Pen + Base Wound].
    For convenience, benchmark cutting rates are given. Shift the cutting rate up or down by row shifts given by the difference in Armor Scores from the benchmark.

    DescriptionPenWoundAPROFDurationBulkAimRCLStrFocusSigMassPrice
    Mini Disintegrator+0 - Wound RS[2]+0*18 m-1½+0+0-6-2+30.2|0.0410|0.8
    Light Distgr. Torch+4¼ - Wound RS[4]+0*18 m+½+0+0-2+2+61.5|0.380|6
    Medium Distgr. Torch+6 - Wound RS[5]+0*18 m+3½+0+0-1+4+74|0.6200|12
    Heavy Distgr. Torch+8 - Wound RS[6]+0*18 m+4½+0+0+2+6+810|1.5600|30
    Light Industrial Distgr.+10 - Wound RS[7]+0*18 m+6+0+0+5+8+1030|51.2k|100
    Med. Industrial Distgr.+14 - Wound RS[9]+0*18 m+7½+0+0+11+12+14180+4010k|800
    Hvy. Industrial Distgr.+18¼ - Wound RS[11]+0*18 m+10+0+0+17+16+161.2k+30080k|6k

    • Mini Disintegrator: Benchmark – can drill a 4 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 25 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 0.25 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Light Disintegrator Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 7 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 12 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 0.8 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Medium Disintegrator Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 10 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 8 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 1.7 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Heavy Disintegrator Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 15 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 6 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 3.5 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Light Industrial Disintegrator: Benchmark – can drill a 20 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 4.5 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 6 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Medium Industrial Disintegrator: Benchmark – can drill a 40 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 2.5 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 25 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Heavy Industrial Disintegrator: Benchmark – can drill a 70 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 1.2 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 80 cm/s once drilled through.

  • Gecko Grips: Hand, forearm, knee, and foot pads coated with reversible gecko adhesive. This lets you climb surfaces, even sheer walls and ceilings, without the risk of falling or the need to find handholds.

    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $2

  • Gecko Grapnel: A grappling hook that deploys a gecko adhesive pad on impact rather than prongs.

    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $2

  • Grappling Hook: Attach a rope to it and throw it up so the hooks catch a projection. Then climb up the rope to scale the wall. It can also be used to clear tripwires - throw the hook across the tripwires from a distance, then pull it back. Many find that the grapnel can be more easily and accurately placed using a whisper drone with a gripper rather than throwing - particularly non-humans, who do not have the same native throwing ability.

    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $2

  • Ladder, Portable: A foldable ladder that can be quickly assembled for scaling walls and other obstacles, made up of half-meter long sections. When folded, it is 60 cm long. Assembles or disassembles in five actions per half-meter.

    Mass: 2.5 kg
    Price: $5per half meter section

  • Laser Torch: A close-focus continuous laser for welding, drilling, and cutting materials.

    Because the laser torch beam is continuous, its use differs from normal ranged weapons that deliver their energy all at once. The effective ROF is usually 1 but can be any positive integer the attacker chooses (by swinging the beam around faster you can increase the effective ROF). No more than three actions can be used to shoot a laser torch in one combat turn. They have a Wound Score equal to the defense roll of the target plus the Range score, down to a minimum of the score listed in Brackets under the Wound column (for a rapidly dodging target, you are probably only going to slash the beam across their body, resulting in a wide but shallow wound). The attacker can voluntarilly increase the minimum Wound score by slashing farther with the beam during his attack. The Penetration is 2d6 row shifted by the number under the Pen column, minus by the Wound score, minus the Score of [ROF]. and minus the user's Action Score (if you act faster, the less time is in your action to hold the beam on the target). Decrease the Pen before you account for the maximum Wound Score for the target's Size. Goodies can be spent to increase the Pen roll or to decrease the Wound Score by 1 (thus increasing the Pen as well). Against a stationary target, you automatically cause the Wound Score you want down to the score listed in brakcets, and automatically cause the maximum Pen possible with no need to roll. Damage type is either Burn or Beam, depending on which type penetrates the barrier's Armor better (Burn if the listed Mech Armor Score is higher than the Burn Armor Score, Beam otherwise).

    Laser torches have focused beams. For every range band beyond the range score listed under Focus, increase the minimum Wound Score by ½, the AP by 1, and row shift the Pen by -½. When AP reaches zero, stop changing the AP and increase the minimum Wound by 1 while decreasing Pen by 1 RS instead. (This is different from pulsed beams where the Pen is row shifted by -2, because the increase to Wound also row shifts the Pen as well).

    You can adjust the focus and power of laser torch beams. Increasing the focused spot size allows you to treat the damage as if it were in any range band larger than the one it is currently in. Decreasing the power allows you to decrease the Pen by any amount desired. It takes an action to change either focus or power.

    Example: An infiltrator with a pocket laser torch is trying to gain access to a computer behind a carboplast wall with Armor Score Mech +9, Burn +10. The wall protects with the lower of these, +9. Since moment-to-moment accounting is not neccessary for this task, treat the infiltrator's Action Score as +0. This gives him three actions of cutting in one three second combat round, or one cutting action per second. For long-term cutting, assume an average armor roll of 7 for the wall. The Armor Score of +9 plus the AP score of the torch of -4 gives five row shifts to the armor roll, bringing the Penetration required to pierce the wall to 40. To get 40 points of Penetration from the maximum damage roll of 12 takes +3½ RS, so the Wound score needs to be -5½ to get the required Pen. For a slash, the width of the slash is Value of [Wound + 3], or 0.45 cm/s. The infiltrator can cut through the wall at a rate of 0.45 cm every second, or 27 cm per minute. To get a hole big enough for him to wiggle through will take a few minutes.

    All the assumptions in the example work out to
    cutting rate = value of [4½ + Base Pen - Armor Score - AP]
    drill time = value of [Armor Score + AP - 1.5 - Base Pen + Base Wound].
    remembering that AP is usually negative so you will be increasing the cutting rate and decreasing drill time. For convenience, benchmark cutting rates are given. Shift the cutting rate up or down by row shifts given by the difference in Armor Scores from the benchmark.

    DescriptionPenWoundAPROFDurationBulkAimRCLStrFocusSigMassPrice
    Pocket Laser Torch+0 - Wound RS[-10]-4*10 m-1½+0+0-5-2+100.3|0.0612|1.2
    Light Laser Torch+2 - Wound RS[-9]-4*10 m+0+0+0-1-1+121|0.245|4
    Medium Laser Torch+5 - Wound RS[-7½]-4*10 m+4+0+0-1+2+143.5|0.8180|15
    Heavy Laser Torch+7 - Wound RS[-6¾]-4*10 m+5+0+0+2+4+1610|2500|45
    Light Industrial Las.+10 - Wound RS[-5]-4*10 m+6+0+0+5+6+1735|71.5k|150
    Med. Industrial Las.+13 - Wound RS[-3½]-4*10 m+7½+0+0+10+10+20180|358k|700
    Heavy Industrial Las.+16 - Wound RS[-2]-4*10 m+9½+0+0+16+13+231k|20045k|4k

    • Pocket Laser Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 0.07 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.12 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 0.8 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Light Laser Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 0.1 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.08 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 1.7 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Medium Laser Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 0.2 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.06 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 4.5 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Heavy Laser Torch: Benchmark – can drill a 0.3 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.045 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 8 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Light Industrial Laser: Benchmark – can drill a 0.4 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.025 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 25 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Medium Industrial Laser: Benchmark – can drill a 0.7 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.017 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 60 cm/s once drilled through.
    • Heavy Industrial Laser: Benchmark – can drill a 1 cm wide hole through Armor Score +9 carboplast in 0.008 seconds, and cut through Armor Score +9 carboplast at 170 cm/s once drilled through.

  • Prybar: A rigid lever for wrenching open structures. If inserted into a crack, it can provide +5 RS to base unarmed Pen with Wound +0 RS and -½ AP. It cannot be used in this fashion in combat unless the target is held immobile or otherwise incapacitated, see the melee weapons stats if a prybar is to be used as a club.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 1HSmash+3½ RS+1+0+½+1+2+20.5+2-1-2
    swing, 2HSmash+4½ RS+1+0+½+1+2+2

    Mass: 0.7 kg
    Price: $1.5

  • Ram, Portable: A battering ram held in both hands and swung underarm at a structure to break it down. Rams can be augmented with disruptor screens, in the same fashion as melee weapons.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HSmash+4 RS+3-½+½+3+1+41+2+1+0

    Mass: 5 kg
    Price: $4

  • Sledgehammer: A heavy maul for smashing through obstacles. Refer to the melee weapon table for damage. For best results, use against the latch or hinges of a door so you don't have to batter down the whole thing. Sledgehammers can be augmented with disruptor screens, in the same fashion as melee weapons.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HSmash+3½ RS+3-½+½+3+1+41+2+½+0

    Mass: 3 kg
    Price: $2

  • Sledgehammer, Big: An even bigger maul than a standard sledgehammer.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HSmash+4 RS+3-½+½+3+1+41+2+1+0

    Mass: 5 kg
    Price: $4

  • Wrecking Bar: A meter-long, heavy, sturdy metal rod for smashing through structures, rocks, and hard dirt. One end terminates in a conical pick, the other in a chisel-wedge, both of which are capped in carboplast for extra hardness and protection. Consult the melee weapon table for damage. It can also be used in a similar method to a prybar against stationary objects, providing +7 RS to base unarmed Pen with Wound +0 and AP -½ as Smash damage if it can be inserted into a crack and full leverage can be applied. Wrecking bars can be augmented with disruptor screens, in the same fashion as melee weapons, but the disruptor does not help when applying leverage.
    UseTypePen
    (size +0)    		WoundAPSharpBlunt
    Wound    		Def
    (size +0)    		Bulk
    		LengthImbalWSizeWLen
    swing, 2HSmash+5½ RS+1-½+½+1+1+41+2+½+0
    thrust, 2HSmash+5 RS+1-½+½+1+1+0

    Mass: 3.5 kg
    Price: $5

Infiltration Equipment

Sometimes, the place you want to get into is not just protected by physical features, but by guards and wards and cameras and alarms and an ever-vigilant AI keeping watch and coordinating the security. What is an adventurer up to no good to do?

  • Distortion Field Generator: A distortion field hides the user from aedar sensors. Anyone using a distortion field generator is at -4 to detect with aedar, and aedar gets no bonus to detect them from their life signs, motion, or composition.

    Power: 50 W
    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $60

  • Disguise Kit: A set of makeup, wigs, and various prosthetics to make you look like someone else. This is a basic set – with access to a pack fac and several hours, you can print out and fit everything from customized false noses and ears to full facial masks, good for a +2 bonus to disguise yourself.

    Mass: 5 kg
    Price: $20

  • Forgery Tools: A set of tools for reproducing the physical component of identification cards and cash cards. To get the software and stored data right, be sure to get the proper software.

    Mass: 5 kg
    Price: $30

  • Lockpicks: Lets you use the Open Lock skill on key locks.

    Mass: 0.1 kg
    Price: $5

  • RAM Suit: A suit made of radar absorbing materials that give a -4 to detect with radar and suppress any Doppler life signs from the wearer (but does not mask other Doppler-based signals from the wearer, such as movement. The -4 to general detection still applies even when moving, but so does the +2 for movement).

    Mass: 0.5 kg
    Price: $30

  • Security Bypass Kit: A set of tools specialized for bypassing and defeating electronic locks, alarms, and other security systems. This is basic equipment for the Use Gear (Security Systems) skill for tasks related to defeating security systems (if used for diagnosing, repairing, or installing security systems, the kit is rather sparse and you have a -2 modifier. A full electronics kit can be used for the latter tasks to eliminate the penalty).

    Mass: 2 kg
    Price: $50

  • Spoof Decoy: This gadget synthesizes a radar return signal that mimicks the signal of something else, such as the Doppler life signs (and movement) signature of a specific kind of sapient or animal. Attach one to a whisper drone to lead the guards away from your true location. Variants are also available for spoofing aedar.

    Mass: 0.5 kg
    Price: $7

  • Holo Suit: A holo suit is made of a flexible holographic display. Cameras and other EM sensors distributed over the suit capture 3-D images of the environment, and compute a display that mimics the surroundings. The reproduction is not perfect from all viewpoints, but it is often good enough to fool observers. The distortions are most pronounced at high angles of incidence or where line of sight goes through several overlapping sections (like first passing through an arm and then the body, for example). The suit does not cover the soles of the feet – it's not durable enough for that and doesn't provide very good traction, although the tops and sides of the holo cloak shoes make an approximation of the ground underneath them. Equivalent coverings for vehicles have similar issues with tires and treads – although the holo cloak can project light onto the tops and sides of the tires to add some degree of camouflage, there will still be areas that are not covered.

    Observers have a -4 to all Spot or Use gear (sensors) checks to see the wearer with vision, lidar, and thermographic sensors, and the wearer suffers no penalty for trying to Sneak while in plain sight against vision and thermographic sensors (but not lidar). A holo suit can be combined with a RAM suit and/or thermal cloak to get the benefit of both or all.

    A holo suit works by detecting and emitting light, so it can also emit additonal light if needed. The suit can shine beams of light that act like a spotlight, or all around illumination like a lantern with +2 RS to illumination range, although this negates any stealth benefits. More artistic users might also shine decorative patterns around them, or use the holographic surface as a display to show pictures, scenes, information, or nearly anything else that will fit in the silhouette of the wearer.

    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $300

  • Thermal Cloak: A full-body suit with a low emissivity surface. The suit may get warm from your body heat, but it does not radiate infrared light. In fact, it reflects the ambient infrared background, mimicking the surroundings. There is no bonus to detect anyone wearing a thermal cloak because of their high temperature. If used with chameleon clothes, the user gets the bonus from these clothes against thermographic sensors as well. A thermal cloak gets hot, because you have just cut off a major way to shed heat. Treat the thermal cloak as cold weather clothing.

    Mass: 1 kg
    Price: $30

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