alt.War: Turning Anger into productiveness

[Username17]

I don't know a damn thing about the Khouang Combine, what should I read to pick up on it? I'll just leave it out of my first draft completely.

It's basically the corp arm of Vietnam. Here's an uncompleted segment on it from the Laos writeup. The full piece will have a thing on Combine corp culture and stuff, like the ESPRIT writeup.

The Khouang Combine
“Marx guaranteed a unity in ownership between capital and labor.”

Many people on both sides of the war will tell you that the Khouang Combine shares identity with the nation of Vietnam. Dai Lao partisans will tell you that the Vietnamese are strangling the country's economy with the Combine. Pathet Lao partisans will tell you that the unstoppable armies of the Vietnamese are backing the Combine – and by extension their side. The reality is a bit less exciting than that. The Combine is 100% owned by the nation of Vietnam. That part is true. That means that every single Nuyen that the Combine makes in profit goes to Vietnam. But the Combine also has executives and even non-executive workers who get “bonuses” when the company does well. What this means in essence is that the country only owns 80% of the company, as the profits are reduced by 20% every year to pay the bonuses of the people who work for it. Meanwhile, the call as to whether the Combine needs to call on big daddy Vietnam is made by the executives of the Laotian regional division – whose bonuses are on the line if the division has to kick back too much to the Vietnamese Army. So they have not – as yet – called for the country to come and bail them out in Laos.

The Combine is heavily influenced by Vietnamese Communist thought. They favor the hammer over the sickle, and focus on heavy industry wherever possible. Of their eight product identity divisions, one is devoted to agriculture and the other seven are industrial in nature. They issue new five year plans every year, so by corporate standards they think long term. Within Vietnam, the central planning hierarchy is fairly straight forward. There's a central committee of board members who represent the interests of the Vietnamese state, and there is a chain of command of executive decision making that runs parallel in Combine Motors and Combine Heavy Industry alike. In regional subdivisions, things get more complex, as there is an additional chain of command for the subdivision that is also giving orders.

• What is wrong with our society that a corporation that thinks five years ahead is considered far sighted and wise? There are hominid skeletons in the region that date back 1.7 million years. And they want a medal for considering the implications of their actions for five?
• Monkeywrencher

The eight product identity subdivisions within the Combine are Arms, Chemicals, Electronics, Farming, Heavy Industry, Manufacturing, Motors, and Oils. Needless to say there is heavy overlap between the mandates of these subdivisions, and the Combine is often in competition with itself. For example, KC Arms and KC Motors both produce an armored cavalry assault vehicle (the BT-4 and the KBXB-2 respectively). KC Chemicals, KC Heavy Industry, and KC Oils all have lines of paint. Originally this was some sort of deliberate strategy of the Vietnamese Central Committee to spark innovation, at this point it can't really stop because the different Combine divisions have decisions made for them by people whose bonuses are tied to the strength of the division rather than the company as a whole.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

Awesome, excellent.

[Username17]

Vietnam: Power and Stability
“Winds come and go. The Mountain stays.”
Posted by: Hound Dog

Vietnam has been on a continuous war footing for over a hundred years. It has been at war with great powers near and far and it has never ever lost. Time and time again, the Vietnamese have proven that they are willing to take losses that are nothing short of catastrophic in order to achieve victory over foreign aggressors. Time ad time again, people have made the mistake of assuming that Vietnam had come out of their last war weaker than they went into it. Vietnam has triumphed over Japan twice, over Cambodia twice, seen the ends of China, Champa, and the Dega Alliance, they've had victory over France, Laos, and the Dayaks, but their victory with the most historical impact was their victory over The United States. Both because the US had previously gone a century and a half without losing a war, and also because it was the first war that the United States had fought where the man on the street didn't think they were the “good guys” (although it certainly wouldn't be the last). That war shattered the psyche of Americans and led directly to the downfall of the most powerful empire on Earth. And if you want to do things in Vietnam, I suggest using that.

Vietnam has strict visa requirements and gives wide powers to an extensive and efficient police force to track foreigners in the country. But they also have a thriving misery tourism industry for North Americans. They don't understand it, since for them the war with the US was just one of many, but they benefit from it and they even encourage it. So while you have to explain what you're doing and where you're going in pretty exhaustive detail to customs and the federal police, you can get away with some crazy shit if you preface it with some bizarre tie-in to the US-Vietnam war. If you come from (or claim to come from) any part of the former US or have ancestors who did, then requests to get into the country and wander around looking at battlefields from a hundred years ago is probably going to get a fast track approval.

What this means in practice is that if you have a mercenary contract on the Laotian border and you want to come in from the Vietnamese side for whatever reason, you actually ca do that, regardless of the presence of federal police with a hankering to nose into your business. You could come up with some elaborate lie and maybe get believed and maybe get detained, but if you just tell them that you intend to dress up in camouflage and wander around off grid on the Laotian border for a few weeks, “because your great grandfather fought in the Tet Offensive”, the authorities will roll their eyes and just let you do that. Guys running around in fatigues at the old battle sites is a big business for them, and they put up with it.

Vietnam is an anomaly both in the region and the world. It still runs itself according to the precepts of mid-twentieth century communism. It's not a throwback country like Kurdistan or Moldavia, it's literally just still doing that. Which is not to say that it is unchanged from a century ago, because it is not. While the politburo still exists, and there is still only one political party allowed, there are now “factions” that do their own political organization and would be considered policlubs if they were anywhere else. While the nation is still “communist” they also recognize corporate extraterritoriality, and even have their very own state-owned corporation that operates throughout the world.

Dak Seang
“If the forest will fight us to the death, then we shall slay the forest.”

Dak Seang is a fortified city on the border with the Montagnard Confederation in Kon Tum province. A decade ago it was considered to be on the border with both Laos and Cambodia, with the regions over the border being effectively controlled by the Plig and their human tribal allies, but now that the Plig have annexed their controlled portion of Laos, it's all Montagnard Confederation over the border. There is a feeling of continuous siege in Dak Seang, in no small part because it is essentially under continuous siege. When the Plig began growing the forests and overrunning villages in 2014, Dak Seang was mostly known for being a minor town that served the then-regional capital of Polei Kan with its airport. However, with years of assault by the forests and the Plig, the region was forced to rely more and more on the airport for supplies.

Gradually, nearby towns and villages were destroyed one by one, and with a heavier and heavier military presence around Dak Seang, the displaced people went where the jobs were. Dak Seang's status as a gradual accumulation of a larger and larger defensive work is plainly visible in the city's layout today. Each expansion to the city was accompanied by the addition of new defensive works, and thus each neighborhood is cordoned off with walls and guard towers. With the entire area under continuous martial law, you'd think that it would be practically impossible to get in or out. But fortunately there was a battle of Dak Seang back in 1970 where a lot of helicopters came in and out to resupply the American forces while they were being sieged by the Vietnamese. If you claim to be descended from one of the green berets or helicopter medics, you can pretty much get the run of the place.

Dak Seang is a money sink for the Vietnamese government, resources are continuously sent in to wage a constant war of attrition with the Plig that the Vietnamese forces cannot realistically lose no matter how many times giant boars rush the defenses. But it isn't just a place where the government sends land mines and artillery shells and soldiers with little expectation of seeing them come back – Dak Seang also sends out a tremendous amount of raw materials. The forest is growing towards the city walls every night, and the Vietnamese cut it back every day. And that's a lot of wood. There are similar upwellings of ore as the mountains form and reform only to be torn to shreds by giant metal monsters.

The city doesn't really have a civilian government at all, it is literally conceived of as a military base despite the presence of permanent residents and a civilian economy. The commander is General Bùi Qui. And she is called “the turtle lady” because of the implacable defensive stance she has organized for the city. While she is a military officer, she also has ensured that there is a substantial amount of investment in the economy. Under her command, the city has been able to produce more and more of what it needs in on-site factories. At this time it is estimated that Dak Seang could hold out in a siege without resupply for half a year, and that number might be pessimistic.

Still, while the strategy in Dak Seang is primarily a build and turtle one, the Vietnamese are constantly on the lookout for some means to actually kill the forest. Considerable amounts of research has been spent on the so-far fruitless search of a means to actually cut off the abilities of the Plig to project force.

Ho Chi Minh City
“Where can I go to get all the weapons? Because I need a lot of weapons.”

Ho Chi Minh City used to be called Saigon about a century ago and was the site of the last stand of the Americans back then. Foreigners come in droves to see the reenactments of the “Fall of Saigon”. Ho Chi Minh City has become the most foreigner friendly city in Vietnam, and has a huge expatriate community. Vietnam has a lot of corporate connections, and most of them build their offices here, where the politburo is far enough away for them to get away with stuff and the economy is vibrant enough to sustain them. It also has a tremendous black and gray market, and is the place war mongers go when they want to get their hands on coveted Vietnamese military hardware.

Southeast Asia has been a mercenary hotspot for several hundred years, and Ho Chi Minh City has been relatively stable for about 70 of that. As that is the longest that any major city has been able to claim relative stability in the region, it is a prime place for meetings and bases for operations. Numerous mercenary outfits have regional offices in Ho Chi Minh, and the city has the country's largest and most vibrant shadowrunner community. It's also home to the largest community in the country, period. Ho Chi Minh is a sprawling metroplex hemmed in only by the Mekong Delta and the Saigon River. The whole expanse has about 20 million people, and is one of the largest cities on the planet.

Ho Chi Minh City boasts its own tunnel city in the district of Cu Chi. The Cu Chi Tunnels were originally built by the Viet Cong during the war of unification as a way to hide from American and ARVN forces, but in the decades since they were expanded into a major tourist destination. In the 40s it was discovered that Orks and (especially) Dwarves actually prefer living under ground, and major residential developments were added. It's like the Ork Underground of Seattle or Halferville of San Francisco, but there's no stigma to it at all. A hundred years ago there were about 120 kilometers of tunnels. Today it's close to four times that.

Running the Shadows in Ho Chi Minh
You might think that being in a city with a lot of foreign corporations, huge amounts of poorly controlled weapons, and a general disinterest on the part of the central government to the doings or safety of those corporations would make something of a haven for shadowrunners. And you'd be right. Ho Chi Minh has a shadowrunning community to rival Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok. But there are definitely things that a shadowruner should know before going here for a job or a permanent base of operations.

The first thing is that you should under no circumstances mention your family. I know you're in East Asia, so you probably think you should drop references to your honored grandfather or something. Don't do it. They take that commie “Draw A Line” thing seriously in Vietnam, and if you imply even for a moment that you let family considerations enter professional thought patterns, people will treat you like you wore your pants on your head. The next thing to understand is that the Năm Cam basically don't exist inside Vietnam. They are big internationally, but within the home land they've been basically destroyed. That's why they are constantly trying to drum up support for various invasions of Vietnam. Point is: your Năm Cam contacts are worth less than nothing in Ho Chi Minh. The big players in the underworld here are Korean Jo-Pok, Triads, and the black clad Federal Police themselves.

Beyond that, you'll want to figure out how to live and hide in Vietnam. Vietnam doesn't have a SINless population. I don't mean that they don't acknowledge their SINless population, I mean they literally don't have one. They go out and put numbers on everyone. After the Champa insurrection, they even went out to the little villages and tagged everyone. If you want to get into Vietnam, you need at least a fake SIN. If you show up even momentarily without a number in the system, a number will be assigned to you. They won't wait until you get arrested for a crime like in the CAS. On the flip side, Vietnam's data sharing treaties are pretty minimal, so you don't need a very good fake SIN if it's supposedly based outside Vietnam, Russia, Czechoslovakia, or Aztlan (they share SIN data with those countries, so fabrications that involve them are much more likely to blow up in your face).

Now the job structure itself. You are getting work from someone named Mr. Nguyen. That's just the regional variation of Mr. Johnson, don't worry about it. You might be given missions to do any of the standard stuff: extraction, sabotage, wetwork, or whatever. But whatever it is that you're doing, you're expected to do it quietly. The police in Vietnam aren't contractors, they are armed and motivated paramilitaries, and they only turn a blind eye to the shenanigans in Ho Chi Minh because it is advantageous to the state for them to do so. If stuff starts blowing up or enough civilians get caught in the crossfire to make the news, the heat will get turned up high. The Vietnamese shadowrunning community simply doesn't even have a word for Pink Mohawk jobs, that sort of thing is literally unthinkable.

Enemies of the State
“What is dissent but a attack on our ideals? What is crime but an attack on our society?”

Vietnam tries to maintain an image as a country which has very little crime and a great deal of unanimity amongst the people. And this is actually basically true. When elections are held various factions win and lose, but 80% of the vote does go to one branch or another of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, and the different factions are not really that different one from another. Crime seriously is pretty low compared to any country in the immediate vicinity. Vietnam has nationalized police, and they are on the whole much harder to bribe than Lonestar or Knight Errant, and they have done an impressive job of crushing not only separatist groups but also criminal syndicates within their borders.

And yet, for all that, they do have criminal organizations. They don't have the power of the Yakuza or the reach of the Vory, but they exist. And if you're looking to do some shadow work in Vietnam, you'll probably want to work with them. Vietnamese syndicates you may be familiar with from elsewhere just don't exist in Vietnam. The Năm Cam rings were stamped out within the actual country, and now only exist among Vietnamese expats elsewhere in the world. The 5T Triad is made of Vietnamese people, but it was created in Australia and never made its way back to the fatherland. The Red Hand is active in Czechoslovakia, but it was also created in Czechoslovakia (back when it was still Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Oberpfalz). There is actually very little overlap between the criminal gangs active in Vietnam and the criminal gangs active elsewhere in the world that have Vietnamese people in them.

The Rễ
It is difficult to overstate how much power the Vietnamese military has in Vietnamese society. The military directly employs 3% of the population, and its share of GDP is substantially higher. So it should come as no surprise that the Vietnamese military has its own criminal syndicate working inside it. It's known as the Rễ, and their motto is that they are underground and feed the tree. Practically what they do is sell off Vietnamese military equipment that has been marked as lost or destroyed on the black market and bring in contraband and hookers for military personnel. Members of the Rễ have ranks in that organization that are completely independent of their rank in the actual military.

Rắn Hổ Mang
Rắn Hổ Mang is a mercenary organization that is registered in Ho Chi Minh. They have a snake theme to their uniforms and equipment and hire out to commit terrorism around the world. Most analysts believe that they are a shell corporation for Yǎnjìngshé in Yunnan. According to their charter, they aren't supposed to break the laws of Vietnam, but Yǎnjìngshé breaks those laws all the time by supplying military assistance to Yunnanese smugglers and conducting terrorist activities along the Yunnan and Guangxi borders. Federal police haven't established that Rắn Hổ Mang's masked commander is necessarily the same as Yǎnjìngshé's; but the moment they do, expect them to have to fight their way out of the country. Rắn Hổ Mang has some impressive tech and magical support, and the inevitable showdown between them and Vietnamese special forces is probably going to be ugly.

The Hundred Birds Triad
The Zhuang are a minority population in Vietnam and the majority people of the adjacent nation of Guangxi. They are a Tai people, closely related to the Lao, Dong, and Siamese. And there is a criminal syndicate called the Hundred Birds Triad that makes most of its money by bringing in goods from Japan and Siam. They are mostly non-violent and most of their crime is simply reselling foodstuffs, clothing, and simchips from other countries – without paying the appropriate taxes and duties of course. The Triad also deals in other kinds of contraband from time to time.

The A18
Vietnam doesn't go through new intelligence agencies as often as Russia does, but the famous and brutal A18 agency that regularly appears as the villains in Siamese spy thrillers from the fifties was replaced by the CCC in the mid sixties after A18's spectacular failures during Crash 2.0. How does this relate to organized crime? Well, A18 didn't exactly disband like it was supposed to. Much of the organization still exists, and the buro chief has basically become a crime boss. They infiltrate regular and công an bảo vệ police agencies and finance their shadier operations by reselling goods seized in police raids and by regular extortion.

The Vietnamese Nationalist Front
Inspired by dramatic tales of the ARVN, but even more inspired by direct cash payments by Japanese corporations, the VNF is an opposition group that tries to undermine the Vietnamese state and create a new, more corp-friendly government. Unlike most other organizations branded as “enemies of the state”, the VNF literally and specifically sees themselves as exactly that. Their actual power is pretty limited, but you wouldn't know that if you got all your news about Vietnamese politics from Japanese newsfeeds.

• When Japan got in their fight with Vietnam over islands in the South China Sea, they started feeding any resistance groups they could find in Vietnam to try to get more leverage. Since then, they've been sending cash and weapons to the VNF just as a force of habit.
• Simba

Enchanted Vietnam
“Awesome means that it inspires awe, not that it is good.”

The Vietnamese government is atheistic and mundane, and is extremely conflicted about what to do with the geomantically powerful locations of the region. On the one hand, they are cultural treasures and often as not UNESCO Heritage Sites, but on the other hand they are a genuine source of power that the government cannot command or control. So far, the government's treatment of these places has been schizophrenic – alternatingly praising and promoting them as a source of tourism and civic pride and cordoning them off with soldiers and red tape. Here are some of the most controversial ones:

Son Doong Cave
“The interior of the Earth is surprisingly habitable.”

The largest cave in the world is in Quang Binh Province, near the Laotian border. It goes down dozens of kilometers, has layer after layer of actual jungle in it, it's own fast flowing river, and if you go down far enough in it you end up in another world because the damn thing sits on a metaplanar portal. It is part of the Ke Bang Forest Restricted Area, and there are numerous caves around it that go down dozens of kilometers and have hundreds of chambers that contain grottoes with underground foliage and flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. It is important to stress the fact that these caves had underground forests in them well before 2012 rolled around, which sprouted around shafts of light that shone through cracks in the ceiling. But since then, the forests have gradually grown out into the permanent darkness. The Vietnamese government allows researchers and explorers into the caves, but only with approval from the central committee, and only with a military escort. And even then, no outsiders have been allowed to explore more than 8 kilometers into that thing since 2048.

• The Draco Foundation has applied for a research permit every year since their founding, and been rebuffed every time.
• Ringmaster
• The Naga don't call this cave Son Doong, they call it “Patala” and they want it – bad. Of course, they'd have to get through 175 kilometers of Siam and another 175 kilometers of Laos just to get to the part Vietnam is willing to fight them over, but that doesn't mean they aren't considering it.
• Heartfinder
• The Montagnard Confederation lays claim to it as well, and when they draw their own borders they include the entirety of Ke Bang Forest. The word is that the Vietnamese army has one or more Plig chained up inside Son Doong, or maybe in one of the nearby caverns like Phong Nha. But the Vietnamese have held them cold at the Ho Chi Minh Trail for 69 years – all the Montagnard gains have been on the Laotian side of the border.
• Bɨryekomo

Hạ Long Bay
Located in Northern Vietnam, Hạ Long Bay is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It's also a smuggling haven that ships contraband into and out of Vietnam. Rising out of the sea are literally thousands of limestone rocks whose tops are often as not covered with dense foliage. Many of these rocks have sea caves in them, and smugglers have set up miniature secret docks all over the area. Vietnam makes a token attempt to patrol the waters, but while they regularly sink smuggling vessels, it's not really much in light of the amount of small boat traffic that makes connections with Hainan, Guangxi, and the Canton Confederation.

The waters also have an odd effect that comes on whenever the moon is full. During those times, an enchantment comes on that allows animals to breathe the water. It's still the ocean, so it's salty as hell and extremely unpleasant, but you can do it. There is a lot of smuggling going on during the rest of the month, but that one day smugglers go nuts. Secret stashes in underwater caves get used and people literally walk contraband in and out of the country.

• There is a tribe of merrow who have been after something in Hạ Long. They won't go in for whatever reason, but they pay metahumans in pearls to check out parts of the sea bottom they are interested in.
• VanHelsing

Ngoc Son Temple
The capital of Hanoi is a drab industrial hellhole that is probably not a place you will go if you're a foreigner and aren't working for Aztechnology or the Combine. But it is the capital and has been since the country was known as “North Vietnam”, and there is a lot of nationally important administration and industry there. And right in the middle of the city is a 19th century Buddhist temple on Hoam Kiem Lake. Next to the temple is a three and a half tonne turtle named Kim Qui, who may in fact be the golden turtle god who made a magic sword for Emperor Lê Lợi, paving the way for Vietnamese independence from China in 1428. The government has a weird love-hate relationship with the temple and the turtle. On the one hand, the entire affair glorifies Vietnamese independence and national heroes. But on the other hand the mythical sword Thuận Thiên is still lost, and there are more than a few people in the government afraid that the turtle will make someone the rightful emperor of Vietnam.

• This is not an idle worry on their part. In 2046 some guy had a shiny sword made and used magic to grow very tall and claimed the title of Emperor. The sword was a fake, but he still got himself a pretty serious revolt going before the police took him down.
• Chun The Unavoidable

Tây Ninh Holy See
Cao Dai is a confusing syncretic religion that simultaneously believes in the Buddhist cycle of death and rebirth and the one-true-god of Islam. They were also started by a French civil servant in Vietnam in 1926. Their holy symbol is the all-seeing-eye, they venerate ancestors, recognize Jesus as one of the Buddhas, and they don't eat meat. And their main temple is in the southern city of Tây Ninh. There are an unbelievable amount of watcher spirits around that temple, the temple itself has some sort of astral gateway that they use to receive divine guidance, and the religion's roughly two million adherents has made it simply too big for the state to crush without a really good reason.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

I seriously need to get my shit together, I'm starting to look bad.

[Username17]

Still working on the chart. Central Asia is also done:

Central Asia
Organization	Personnel	Mechanization	Magic	Air	Naval	Space	Matrix	Modernization	Overall
Abkhaz	F	D	E	E	F	E	E	E	F
Afghanistan	D	D	E	D	F	F	E	D	T
Georgia	E	D	F	C	D	E	C	C	E
Mongolia	E	B	C	E	F	C	D	C	E
Russia	A	A	D	A	A	A	A	B	A
Tibet	F	F	A	F	F	E	F	F	E
Tuva	F	C	C	E	F	C	E	D	F
Turkestan	C	C	D	B	F	A	B	B	C

-Username17

[Username17]

Laos gets a small entry, but it's a small country.

Laos: a Humanitarian Crisis
“The lower the stakes, the more vicious the conflict.”
Posted by: Immortal
Laotian History Timeline

1904: France takes Laotian territories from Siam and incorporates them into French Indochina.
1940: Vichy France cedes Laotian territories to Japanese occupation.
1945: Japanese forces withdraw from Laos. Laos declares independence.
1946: France reinvades Laos. Communist Pathet Lao resistance formed.
1954: Laos achieves independence from France.
1958: Laotian government collapses amid intervention by the United States.
1960: Year of three coups. Laos has several short lived military governments as different factions vie for control.
1962: Laos negotiates a neutralist government. Neutrality is roundly ignored and both the United States and Viet Cong forces are fighting in Laotian territory within the year.
1973: The United States loses its war against the Vietnamese, withdraws from Laos.
1975: Vietnamese backed Pathet Lao take over the country, the king is forced to abdicate.
1991: Vietnamese and Soviet military aid to Laos discontinued, centralized management of the economy abandoned.
2011: Laos suffers extremely badly from
2029: Thailand invades Laos. Laos calls to Vietnam for military aid, which is provided. Thailand is driven back.
2034: Jungles dominated by the Plig grow stronger along the Vietnamese border, forcing Vietnamese withdrawal. Thailand invades and annexes part of Southern Laos.
2037: Laos is used as a staging ground for Vietnamese attacks on Montagnards and Drug Lords in Cambodia. Laotian territories in Thailand are not recaptured.
2043: Vietnamese military bases set up in southern regions to fight drug gangs and Montagnards.
2052: Khoung Combine builds a modest arcology in Ban Nape.
2065: The Dai Lao faction that is openly hostile to Vietnamese presence takes control of the government in the wake of the Crash and the economic turmoil that accompanies it. Vietnamese ordered to leave their military bases.
2066: Portions of Southern Laos fall under the complete control of the Plig. Montagnard Confederation recognized as a state.
2067: The Dai Lao government expels Vietnamese merchants from the country. Laotian credit rating lowered to D grade by the Corporate Court. Laotian economic crisis begins.
2069: Laotian elections postponed indefinitely due to instability. Corporate Court cancels all lines of credit. Mass protests begin.
2071: Pathet Lao branded a terrorist organization and barred from standing for election. Dai Lao wins over 90% of the seats in parliament, civil war begins.

Laos is an emergency. Laos has been an emergency for about 3 years, and it really wasn't doing that great before that. But that does not change the fact that it is an emergency now. Laotian people are dying of preventable communicable and noncommunicable disease at a rate that is completely unacceptable in the modern world. The crisis began because a combination of investor pullout by the Vietnamese and a cancellation of credit by the corporate court has pushed them into a state of autarky for which the country was ill-prepared. The crisis has been exacerbated by the country spiraling into civil war and the necessary infrastructural improvements being put off indefinitely. With finances essentially frozen, the Laotian people cannot buy the medicines and machines that they need, and with the bureaucracy paralyzed they can't make those things themselves either.

• How can a disease be noncommunicable? Germs spread, that's what they do.
• VanHelsing
• Not all diseases are caused by germs. Kwashiorkor, for example, is caused by nutritional deficiency of proteins. It causes the body to be unable to regulate its osmotic pressure, which is why you see those distended bellies on starving kids on the trid.
• Heartfinder

For most of its existence in the modern era, Laos has been a satellite state of Vietnam, acting almost as a Vietnamese colony. Completely dependent on Vietnam for manufactured goods, security, and political thought, they sent massive amounts of copper, zinc, and hydroelectric power across the border into Vietnam. Still, the Vietnamese investment in Laos was always pretty minimal, and Laos languished as a least developed country from the beginning. In the sixties there grew a strong Lao nationalist movement called the Dai Lao, which shook and then broke the Vietnamese leash. The Vietnamese army left, but the country is in ruins. GDP has been in freefall ever since and the pro-Vietnamese has taken up arms against the state.

• The Laotians are culturally and linguistically similar to the Siamese, but have a shared colonial history under French rule with the Cambodians and Vietnamese. Laos kicked most of their Vietnamese occupiers out, but has been experiencing some buyer's remorse on that independence. Turns out that only people working for the Khouang Combine have jobs.
• Simba

In the meantime, the government has lost the ability and the inclination to provide basic services to the people. While electric power is essentially unmonitored, the wires are not getting repaired when they are damaged. Water, sanitation, healthcare, and security are not being provided. Dacoity is on the rise. During all the confusion, Montagnard tribals are seizing more land and demolishing villages in the south. The international community has been smugly ambivalent about the plight of the Laotian people – preferring to use Laos as an example of what happens when countries challenge corporate power than to halt the spread of parasites among the civilian populace. NGO relief agencies are the only boots on the ground saving lives – and we're not doing nearly enough.

The Khouang Combine
“Marx guaranteed a unity in ownership between capital and labor.”

Many people on both sides of the war will tell you that the Khouang Combine shares identity with the nation of Vietnam. Dai Lao partisans will tell you that the Vietnamese are strangling the country's economy with the Combine. Pathet Lao partisans will tell you that the unstoppable armies of the Vietnamese are backing the Combine – and by extension their side. The reality is a bit less exciting than that. The Combine is 100% owned by the nation of Vietnam. That part is true. That means that every single Nuyen that the Combine makes in profit goes to Vietnam. But the Combine also has executives and even non-executive workers who get “bonuses” when the company does well. What this means in essence is that the country only owns 80% of the company, as the profits are reduced by 20% every year to pay the bonuses of the people who work for it. Meanwhile, the call as to whether the Combine needs to call on big daddy Vietnam is made by the executives of the Laotian regional division – whose bonuses are on the line if the division has to kick back too much to the Vietnamese Army. So they have not – as yet – called for the country to come and bail them out in Laos.

The Combine is heavily influenced by Vietnamese Communist thought. They favor the hammer over the sickle, and focus on heavy industry wherever possible. Of their eight product identity divisions, one is devoted to agriculture and the other seven are industrial in nature. They issue new five year plans every year, so by corporate standards they think long term. Within Vietnam, the central planning hierarchy is fairly straight forward. There's a central committee of board members who represent the interests of the Vietnamese state, and there is a chain of command of executive decision making that runs parallel in Combine Motors and Combine Heavy Industry alike. In regional subdivisions, things get more complex, as there is an additional chain of command for the subdivision that is also giving orders.

• What is wrong with our society that a corporation that thinks five years ahead is considered far sighted and wise? There are hominid skeletons in the region that date back 1.7 million years. And they want a medal for considering the implications of their actions for five?
• Monkeywrencher

The eight product identity subdivisions within the Combine are Arms, Chemicals, Electronics, Farming, Heavy Industry, Manufacturing, Motors, and Oils. Needless to say there is heavy overlap between the mandates of these subdivisions, and the Combine is often in competition with itself. For example, KC Arms and KC Motors both produce an armored cavalry assault vehicle (the BT-4 and the KBXB-2 respectively). KC Chemicals, KC Heavy Industry, and KC Oils all have lines of paint. Originally this was some sort of deliberate strategy of the Vietnamese Central Committee to spark innovation, at this point it can't really stop because the different Combine divisions have decisions made for them by people whose bonuses are tied to the strength of the division rather than the company as a whole.

Working for the Combine
The Combine has very stodgy traditional Vietnamese Communist values. They really do behave in many ways like it was the nineteen seventies instead of the twenty seventies. On the one hand this meas that if you are working for them you get profit sharing and have a union advocate and get to vote on whether your boss gets a raise. On the other hand, the company is extremely nosy about your private life. The Combine doesn't give a crap whether you are an elf or a troll, but they are very homophobic and intensely distrustful of people who worship gods (Buddha doesn't count by their reckoning, but Jesus and Allah do). Furthermore, they will ask you to inform on your fellow workers and your fellow workers will be secretly informing on you.

Still, if you are used to work for other corporations, it is important that you understand how the game is played. The Combine takes the commie egalitarian stuff pretty seriously, if your boss is giving you crap, you can and should report that to the union representative. They really do have the power and the inclination to take on management on behalf of lowly grunts. They take the sexual harassment policy seriously too. The commie stuff extends to the dress code. You can dress nice, but don't dress too nice. And don't dress French or Japanese, they hate that. However, also the Combine will stick its nose into your business. They will collect reports of what you do after work, they will go through your garbage. They will have a magician come in and mind probe you every year. Failing to live up to their 20th century moral standards can get you punishment from above.

The Combine in Laos
First of all, the Khouang Combine's presence in Laos is illegal, such that Laos has laws at all right now. The Dai Lao government revoked Khouang Combine extraterritoriality and gave eviction notices to all Vietnamese merchants, which includes Combine administrative staff. And while the Combine did haul off everything that wasn't nailed down (and many things that were) from Vientiane, they haven't evacuated Ban Nape at all. Rather than shutting down their arcology, their position in Ban Nape has been entrenched. The factory has been producing a lot of artillery that has just been accumulating in the city, and the government has effectively no control there at all.

With its position just twelve kilometers from the Vietnamese border, 94 kilometers from the Mekong, and 250 kilometers from Vientiane, Ban Nape historically has more trade with Vietnam than it does with Siam or the rest of Laos. And that situation has grown even more prevalent with the economic crisis and civil war. The people of Ban Nape eat because the Combine buys rice from Vietnam for them with the proceeds from the paint and packaging that the arcology workers produce for export. Ban Nape has become a 150,000 person micro-state that is arming the Pathet Lao faction.

Vientiane
“You cannot eat sandalwood.”

The capital of Laos has swelled with war refugees. Just a quarter million people lived in Vientiane according to the 2065 census. But since the collapse of basic services in the hinterlands, the population has grown to more than three times that. And since more than half the populace of the country still lives in increasingly untenable rural settlements, there is no reason to believe that process will do anything but accelerate. And while that might not seem like much (being just a tenth the population of Bangkok), it's important to understand that Vientiane simply hasn't ever had more than four hundred thousand people in it before and it it simply lacks the infrastructure to handle this may people. Housing, water, and sewage are stretched to the limits and beyond. Homelessness is on the rise and sanitation is breaking down.

The Siamese were initially supportive of people moving to Vientiane, which after all is a stronghold of Dai Lao power and support. But as things began to fall apart and more and more people attempted to flee across the river to Siam, the Siamese have closed all four bridges to Laos to civilian traffic and have begun shooting refugees. Siam still maintains a humanitarian mission in Vientiane, but their supplies are woefully inadequate for the magnitude of refugees and food riots at their distribution centers are common.

Vientiane is the home of the most sacred and nationally important monuments of Laos, most notably Pha That Luang which is the gold covered temple that appears on all the Arocards. The Buddhist monks have thrown their doors open to displaced people, and the grounds have become a tent city filled with refugees. The Vientiane Black Crescent mission is also out on the lawn, and I do a lot of work there. The monks officially do not take sides between the Dai Lao and the Pathet Lao, and are amongst the easiest group for foreign aid organizations to work with. The government and anti-government armies are quite likely to accuse foreigners of being spies.

[Username17]

So here it is, alt.war Armor:

The New Armors
“Before selecting your weapon, you may wish to select pants.”

The first thing to note is that in Alt.War, we are not keeping track of Ballistic and Impact armor. The numbers just aren't different enough to worry about it. From now on you just have an armor rating, and if you're really luck – a hardened armor rating as well. Armor capacity is also handled differently in that the mods one can get for armor have a minimum capacity rating to be applied to an armor, but don't actually use any capacity up. Mods also have a coverage requirement, how much of the body has to be covered by the armor for the mod to do any good. Armor coverage also determines the difficulty of taking called shots to avoid the armor. Armor that covers more is harder to bypass with precise aiming, whether it is made of thick plates of plastisteel or a largely ceremonial ballistic weave.

Like weapons, Armor takes Strength to use effectively. If the Strength requirement exceeds the character's actual Strength, then physical actions are taken with a -2 dicepool penalty for each point the armor's required Strength exceeds the character's actual Strength. Physical actions include Defense checks but do not include Soak rolls.

Armors of the 2070s
“Clothes make the man.”

Armor Name	Armor Value	Capacity	Coverage	Strength	Availability	Cost
Clothing	0	1	2	-	-	20-100,000¥
Leather Jacket	2	2	1	1	-	200¥
Meta-Leather Jacket	4	2	1	1	-	2,500¥
Actioneer Business Suit	4	2	2	2	8	1,500¥
Armor Clothing	3	1	2	2	2	500¥
Armor Jacket	6	2	1	4	2	900¥
Full Body Suit	6	2	3	4	10	1,100¥
Stealth Suit	6	2	3	3	10R	8000¥
Lined Coat	6	4	2	3	4	1,000¥
Urban Explorer Jumpsuit	6	1	3	3	8	500¥
Form Fitting Armor	1/R	0	1/R	2	6	500¥/R
Obvious Armors
Chainmail	2[H]	1	2	4	8	900¥
Bunker Gear	6	4	4	4	6	3200¥
Containment Gear	4	4	4	4	12	5500¥
Hi/Lo Temperature Suit	2	3	3	4	8	7000¥
Riot Control Armor	8	3	3	4	10R	4000¥
SWAT Armor	4[H]	4	3	5	16R	9000¥
Battle Armor	5[H]	4	4	6	14R	15000¥
Assault Armor	6[H]	4	4	7	16R	24000¥
Power Armor	6[H]	4	4	2	18R	30000¥

Armor Mods
“Clothes make the man, but fire retardant treatment makes the clothes not catch on fire.”

For the armor mods, the capacity and coverage values represent the minimum levels of both that must be present in a suit of armor for the mod to be installed.

Mod	Capacity	Coverage	Availability	Cost
Auto-Injector	2	-	4	1500¥
Bio Monitor	1	2	2	350¥
Camouflage Coloration	-	3	5	200¥
Chemical Protection	1	3	4	250¥/R
Chemical Seal	3	4	6	1000¥
Chest Plate	2/R	1	6	1000¥/R
Fire Resistance	1/R	1/R	2	100¥/R
Flotation System	1	4-Capacity	8	2000¥
Gel Packs	1/R	2	8R	1500¥/R
Insulation	1/R	1/R	4	150¥/R
Nonconductivity	2	1/R	6	200¥/R
Faraday Cage	3	4	6	1200¥
Radiation Shielding	1/R	1/R	8	100¥/R
Ruthenium Coating	2	3	12R	7500¥
Shock Frills	1	1	6R	200¥
Thermal Damping	1/R	1/R	10F	500¥/R
Thermal Equalizer	4	4	12F	3000¥

Auto-Injector
An auto-injector can be included in clothing or armor. It can be triggered with a button, a wireless code, or a linked device. The linked Auto-Injector is a discrete component. A character is welcome to simply wear an Auto-Injector separately if it does not fit into their armor – but that would be more visible.

Bio Monitor
A character can include a Bio Monitor in their armor. The linked Bio Monitor is a discrete component. A character is welcome to simply wear a Bio Monitor separately if it does not fit into their armor – but that would be more visible.

Camouflage Coloration
Camouflage has come a long way from the days of sticking twigs to people with mud. In the 2070s, camouflage is a mostly a series of squares of varying shades (called digicamo) which have angled light reflectivity to break up body shadows. Camo is available in a variety of styles (urban, vegetation, desert, etc.) and increases the threshold to see the wearer by 1 while they are in an appropriate surrounding.

Chemical Protection
Armor that is treated with liquid resistant materials provides Hardened Armor equal to its rating against Acid or Contact Poison attacks. This Hardened Armor ignores the Armor Penetration qualities of Acid or Contact Poison attacks, and is not halved under any circumstances. It is available in Ratings 1 to 3. Chemical Protection is of no help against inhaled, ingested, or injected poisons.

Chemical Seal
Extensive personal protective equipment can be made to environmentally isolate the wearer. The chemical seal uses a vacuum layer to fully prevent gases from reaching the user. While the chemical seal is active, the user must use an air supply. The chemical seal can be activated or deactivatd as a complex action. Armor with a direct neural interface can be activated or deactivated with a free action.

Chest Plate
The chest plate is a rigid piece of ceramic placed over the vitals in the heart region. Even in the 2070s, chest plates are heavy and uncomfortable, and are noticeably unusual therefore. A Chest Plate provides 1 point of Hardened Armor per rating, but only has a coverage of 1. A Chest Plate is available in ratings 1 or 2, and increase the Strength minimum of the character's armor by their rating. Chest Plates can be worn without armor that can accommodate them as essentially armor in and of themselves, but this is extremely obvious.

Fire Resistance
Armor that is treated with fire retardant materials provides Hardened Armor equal to its rating against Fire attacks. This Hardened Armor ignores the Armor Penetration qualities of Fire based attacks, and is not halved under any circumstances. It is available in Ratings 1 to 3.

Flotation System
The flotation system inflates even under water due to compressed air or a chemical reaction, allowing the character's armor to become super buoyant and act as a life preserver when triggered in just 3 seconds.

Gel Packs
Gel Packs are capsules filled with rapidly hardening shock gel that are attached to the insides of armor to provide additional protection over the vital regions. They provide an extra point of armor per rating, but only have a coverage of 2. Gel Pack systems are available in ratings 1 and 2. The protection they provide is ablative in nature. Once the packs are broken and the gel hardens and leaks they aren't really good for much. After absorbing a few shots, the rating degrades and gel has to be replaced. How many shots they can take before refills are needed will vary and it has more to do with how many individual pieces of flack are striking than how powerful the attacks are. Figure that a burst from an automatic shotgun will pretty much fuse the whole shebang, but that it will last through a whole clip of standard pistol rounds. Refilling gel packs costs half as much as getting them installed in the first place.

Insulation
Armor that is treated with temperature maintaining materials provides Hardened Armor equal to its rating against Cold attacks. This Hardened Armor ignores the Armor Penetration qualities of Cold based attacks, and is not halved under any circumstances. It is available in Ratings 1 to 3.

Nonconductivity
The name is something of a misnomer, as Nonconductivity treatments actually employ highly conductive fibers, but arranged in such a manner as to not conduct electricity to the wearer. It provides Hardened Armor equal to its rating against Electrical attacks. This Hardened Armor ignores the Armor Penetration qualities of Electrical attacks, and is not halved under any circumstances. It is available in Ratings 1 to 3.

Faraday Cage
Fully body covering armor can provide a complete Faraday Cage.

Radiation Shielding
Made of a combination of high density materials and high Hydrogen content plastics, Radiation Shielding is heavy, but keeps out alpha, beta, and gamma particles. It provides Hardened Armor equal to its rating against Radiation attacks. This Hardened Armor ignores the Armor Penetration qualities of Radiation attacks, and is not halved under any circumstances. It is available in Ratings 1 to 3. Add the Rating to the Strength required to use the armor optimally.

Ruthenium Coating
Ruthenium coating is an electrically induced color-changing system that mimics and exceeds conventional camouflage in any terrain. It increases the threshold to spot the user by 2.

Shock Frills
Only available on armor that has Nonconductivity treatment or a Faraday Cage on it already, Shock Frills are capacitors that release a powerful electric shock to things that are in contact with it. Regular Shock Frills discharge the first time something touches them, while Shock Frills that have a DNI can be discharged at will.

Thermal Damping
Available in ratings 1 to 3, the Thermal Damping system increases the threshold to spot the user with infrared observation by its rating.

Thermal Equalizer
The Thermal Equalizer regulates the user's infrared signature based on the surroundings, and makes the user essentially invisible in the IR spectrum. They can still be seen in visible light, but an exclusively IR sensor has no chance of locating them.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

(doublepost)

[RiotGearEpsilon]

From the looks of things, the only armors that can accept the presence of a Faraday Cage are Bunker Gear, Containment Gear, Battle Armor, Assault Armor, and Power Armor. Of these, characters can only start with Bunker Gear or Containment Gear. So, a lot of characters who want to employ the 'drop out' mode of brain protection are going to be interested in those. Bunker Gear is, obviously, not excellent shadowrunning wear (although it has a certain style) but I don't have any idea what Containment Gear is. I can't find it in Arsenal.

I do think there should be a faraday cage option that's reasonably open to chargen characters.

[Lokathor]

How many points of hardened armor do the armors marked with [h] have?

I assume that the Form Fitting armor tops out at rating 6, but Riot Gear goes up to armor of 8, so what's the deal with that?

[RiotGearEpsilon]

I think(?) that [h] armors are pure hardened armor.

I assumed that Form Fitting Armor can't go above 4; I think Coverage 4 is the maximum, so you couldn't have Form Fitting Armor 5. It would have a Coverage 5, which is impossible

[Username17]

How many points of hardened armor do the armors marked with [h] have?

The number they say they have.

I assume that the Form Fitting armor tops out at rating 6

Coverage only goes up to 4.

I do think there should be a faraday cage option that's reasonably open to chargen characters.

Why?


Anyway, this is me testing out the new format by putting up the wapon chart through the Automatics:

Holdout Pistols
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Cavalier Scout	3	-	SA	7 (c)	Pistol (Holdout)	4		¥
Fichetti-Tiffani Needler	5 (f)	x2	SA	4 (c)	Pistol (Holdout)	4	5R	500¥
Raecor Sting	5(f)	x2	SS	5 (c)	Pistol (Holdout)	3	6R	350¥
Streetline Special	3	-	SS	6 (c)	Pistol (Holdout)	4	4R	100¥
Morrissey Elan	3	-	SA	5 (c)	Pistol (Holdout)	3	7R	450¥
Walther Palm Pistol	3	-	SS/BF	2(b)	(Holdout)	4	4R	175¥
Light Pistols
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares Light Fire 70	3	-	SA	16 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	3R	350¥
Beretta 101T	3	-	SA	12 (C)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	4R	200¥
Beretta 200ST	3	-	SA/BF	20 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	7R	550¥
Ceska vz/ 120	3	-	SA	18 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	4R	350¥
Colt America L36	3	-	SA	11 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	4R	150¥
Colt Asp	3	-	SA	6 (cy)	Pistol (Revolver)	2	3R	175¥
Fichetti Executive Action	3	-	SA/BF	18 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	12R	700¥
Fichetti Security 600	3	-	SA	30 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	6R	450¥
Hammerli 620S	3	-	SA	6 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	1	8R	650¥
SA Puzzler	3	-	SA	12 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	15F	900¥
Seco LD-120	3	-	SA	12 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	3R	250¥
Taurus Multi-6	3/4/5	-	SA	6 (cy)	Pistol (Revolver)	2/3/4	7R	200¥
Walther PB-120	3	-	SA	10 (c)/15 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	9R	400¥
Sakura Fubuki	3	-	SA/BF/FA	10 (ml) x4	Pistol (Automatic)	2	10R	2000¥
Machine Pistols
Ares Crusader	3	-	SA/BF/FA	40 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	7R	700¥
Ceska Black Scorpion	3	-	SA/BF/FA	35 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	8R	550¥
FN 5-7C	3	-	SA/BF/FA	20 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	8R	600¥
PPSK-4 Collapsible Machine Pistol	3	-	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	20F	2800¥
Steyr TMP	3	-	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	8R	600¥
Ares Predator Full Auto Mod	4	-	FA	15 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	4	4F	700¥
Fichtti Securty Full Auto Mod	3	-	FA	30 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	6F	900¥
Heavy Pistols
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares Predator IV	4	-1	SA	15 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	4R	350¥
Ares Viper Slivergun	6(f)	x2	SA/BF	30 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	2	5R	500¥
Browning Ultra-Power	4	-1	SA	10 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	4R	300¥
Cavalry Deputy	4	-1	SA	7 (cy)	Pistol (Revolver)	3	4R	225¥
Colt Government 2066	4	-1	SA	14 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	6R	500¥
Colt Manhunter	4	-1	SA	16 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	4R	300¥
Eichiro Hatamoto II	6	-1	SS	1 (m)	Pistol (Holdout)	5	10R	800¥
HK Urban Fighter	4	-1	SA	10 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	14F	1400¥
Morrissey Alta	4	-1	SA	12 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	7R	850¥
Morrissey Elite	4	-1	SA	5 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	4	6R	450¥
Nitama NeMax	4	-1	SA	10 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	16R	1700¥
PSK Collapsible Pistol	4	-1	SA	8 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	18F	2300¥
Remington Roomsweeper	4	-1	SA	8 (m)	Pistol (Revolver)	3	6R	250¥
Ruger Super Warhawk	5	-2	SS	6 (cy)	Pistol (Revolver)	3	4R	250¥
Ruger Thunderbolt	4	-1	BF	12 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	12R	750¥
Savalette Guardian	4	-1	SA/BF	15 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	7R	800¥
Walther Secura	4	-1	SA	12 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	3	5R	300¥
Walther Secura Kompakt	4	-1	SA	9 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	4	7R	400¥
WW Infiltrator	4	-1	SA	15 (c)	Pistol (Automatic)	4	16F	1100¥
Submachine Guns
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
AK-97 Carbine	4	-1	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	3	4R	400¥
Ares Executive Protector	3	-1	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	3/2	9F	1000¥
Beretta Model 70	3	-2	BF/FA	35 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	5R	650¥
Colt Cobra TZ-110	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	32 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2 (Gas Vent)	5R	550¥
Colt Cobra TZ-115	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	32 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	5R	475¥
Colt Cobra TZ-118	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	32 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	5R	650¥
Colt M24A3 Water Carbine	4	-	SA/BF	30 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	10F	1200¥
FN P93 Praetor	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	50 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	1	11F	650¥
HK-227X	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	28 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	8R	800¥
HK MP-5 TX	3	-2	SA/BF/FA	20 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	1	4R	550¥
HK Urban Combat	4	-	SA/BF/FA	36 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	16F	2400¥
Ingram Smartgun X	3	-2	BF/FA	32 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	6R	650¥
Ingram SuperMach 100	3	-2	SA/FA/HV	40 or 60 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	9F	975¥
Ingram Warrior-10	4	-	SA/BF	30 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	4R	400¥
Sandler TMP	3	-2	BF/FA	20 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	4R	350¥
SCK Model 100	3	-2	SA/BF	30 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	6R	750¥
Uzi IV	3	-2	BF	24 (c)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	4R	500¥
Assault Rifles
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
AK-97	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	38 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	1	4R	500¥
AK-98	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	38 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	2	8F	1000¥
Grenade Launcher	Grenade	Grenade	SS	6 (M)	Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launchers)
AK-297	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	60 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	1	10R	3500¥
Ares Alpha	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	42 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	3	12F	1700¥
Grenade Launcher	Grenade	Grenade	SS	6 (M)	Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launchers)
Ares HVAR	4	-2	SA/BF/HV	50 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	2	11F	2400¥
Colt M22	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	40 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	1	6R	1100¥
Colt M22A3	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	40 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	1	9F	1600¥
Grenade Launcher	Grenade	Grenade	SS	6 (M)	Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launchers)
Colt M23	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	40 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	2	5R	750¥
HK G12A3Z	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	32 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	3	9F	1750¥
Nitama Optimum II	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	3	10F	2200¥
Shotgun	6	-	SA	5 (M)	Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launchers) Longarms (Shotguns)
Semopal vz/88V	4	-2	SA/BF/FA	35 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	1	8F	1650¥
Battle Rifles
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Combine XBR55	5	-2	SA/BF/FA	36 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Longarms (Rifles)	4	12F	4500¥
FN SFCBR	5	-2	SA/BF/FA	20 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Longarms (Rifles)	4	8F	2400¥
HK G13B	5	-2	SA/BF/FA	20 (c) 50 (cy)	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Longarms (Rifles)	4	16F	2200¥
Ares MR-62	5	-3	SA/BF/FA	15 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Longarms (Rifles)	4	10R	1800¥
AZT Poctli	5	-2	SA/BF/FA	30 (c)	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Longarms (Rifles)	4	14F	3600¥

Edit: Ninjaed!

[Lokathor]

I think(?) that [h] armors are pure hardened armor.

This is what I was looking for.

Coverage only goes up to 4.

But could you buy "Form Fitting Armor 6" with Armor 6, Capacity 0, Coverage 4 for 3,000 NY? Or does the cap of Coverage 4 cap the overrall rating as well?

[RiotGearEpsilon]

I do think there should be a faraday cage option that's reasonably open to chargen characters.

Why?

The 'drop out' option is going to be hugely in demand under your EotM ruleset, and it's something of a necessary utility for a proper 'stealth suit', to block out your natural EM radiation.

I recommend you drop the Capacity cost of the Faraday Cage while leaving the coverage minimum at 4. That way, characters can get it using a max-coverage Form-Fitting Armor, combine it with a camoflague coloration, and thermal damping, and play Old Snake.

Edit: Alternatively, you could allow a Capacity 0 Coverage 4 effect which increases the difficulty of detecting your biological network or connecting to it, but isn't actually a faraday cage. There ought to be an EM Stealth equivalent to the Ruthenium and the Thermal Damping.

[Lokathor]

The 'drop out' option is going to be hugely in demand under your EotM ruleset, and it's something of a necessary utility for a proper 'stealth suit', to block out your natural EM radiation.

Dropout isn't in huge demand from what I've seen with my players. Firewall is cheap, Electronic Warfare is a very good skill that everyone will have average to high, and Signal Defense stacks when it overlaps.

Also, a faraday cage also isn't "perfect matrix stealth", it's actually the exact opposite. Any source of wi-fi blocking is immediately obvious to absolutely everyone, because there should be signal there but there isn't. The device you seem to be looking for (high protection for the brain) is already in EotM, and it's called a "Head Jammer". It is also very very obvious when you're using it.

The way to be stealthy about using the Dropout tactic is to have high Hacking and Intuition, make killer Matrix Stealth tests, and then don't take any matrix actions that break your stealth (which is mostly just matrix attacks, but forming connections also does it). No equipment required.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

A Faraday cage is perfect matrix stealth _if no one knows you are there_. If they're looking at you, it's obvious that you're dropped out; if they don't know you're there at all, your EM profile can't give you away. Right?

[Ganbare Gincun]

Looks like the Golden Turtle might be in trouble IRL.

[Lokathor]

A Faraday cage is perfect matrix stealth _if no one knows you are there_. If they're looking at you, it's obvious that you're dropped out; if they don't know you're there at all, your EM profile can't give you away. Right?

Exactly wrong. Because they're not looking at you with the visual part of the EM spectrum in the first place. They're looking at you with signals that go through walls and people and there's wireless data in all places at all times. A faraday cage blocks that, and suddenly there's a big person shaped hole where there shouldn't be any hole at all. And that is insanely obvious.

Pretend that High Density Signal only used the visual wavelengths. Well then a "faraday suit" would just be a black cloth suit. Well as long as you're inside your black cloth suit they can't see what's inside your suit, and you're protected in that sense. But, they can see that you're a man in a funny suit, and so they know that something is up.

The Hacking Skill
...
Matrix Stealth
Normally, everything in the Matrix is quite visible (or at least potentially visible to people who are looking for it). However, there is a lot of data, and while you can't make your presence in the Matrix undetectable, you can make it rather a chore to locate you. This is a process that involves spoofing your access ID as a standard software updating routine, running your connection through dozens of intervening nodes and embedding your key data in holograms of adorable kittens with inspirational messages about increasing productivity. Or something. It's not game mechanically important what exactly it is that you are doing to not get noticed. It's not important whether you are attempting to not get seen or trying to get seen as something that is summarily ignored. In either case you simply roll Intuition + Hacking, and targets who don't get comparable hits on Matrix Perception tests don't notice you. And yes, letting loose with a Black Hammer barrage does give you away. Program actions that are obvious will show onlookers that you exist and their reality filters will automatically make you stand out, so once you push things into matrix combat territory you seriously might as well just have your icon be something awesome looking.

To use the "visual spectrum only" thing again, the best option isn't to use a ninja suit to hide your features, the best option is usually to make your features look the same as everyone else around you and then hide in the crowd. Or look like the janitor mopping up a spill that no one cares about.

[Echoes]

To use the "visual spectrum only" thing again, the best option isn't to use a ninja suit to hide your features, the best option is usually to make your features look the same as everyone else around you and then hide in the crowd. Or look like the janitor mopping up a spill that no one cares about.

Which is exactly how actual ninjas operated (replace janitor with rice-paddy farmer). That, or they'd be dressed like samurai because they were just samurai with special training.

The whole solid black ninja outfit comes from kabuki theatre, where the stage hands would dress all in black. The audience became used to ignoring them, so when the story needed a "hidden" assailant, they'd dress up like a stage hand and then jump out on stage and stab someone. Memetic mutation took over from there because the only ninjas most people saw were in fiction.

And yeah, it really seems that Hacking (and Electronic Warfare to a lesser degree) is a pretty fundamental skill when it comes to being a Shadowrunner. Not having it will directly impact the effectiveness of your entire team a good portion of the time.

Honestly, the whole "we have one dude who's the Matrix guy" mentality never made sense to me in the world of Shadowrun. The Matrix is ubiquitous, which means not knowing how to interact with it is like not knowing how to drive or shoot a gun as a modern-day PMC. Sure, maybe you've got a guy who specializes in it and is better than anyone else, but everyone needs to be competent when it comes to Matrix stealth and Electronic Warfare. Shit like decryption and slicing can be handled by the specialist, but defending yourself and not being noticed instantly are things everyone needs to be able to do.

[Username17]

More formatting weapon charts!

You know, it wasn't until I actually formatted the table myself that I realized how surprisingly uninteresting the shotguns are in SR. There is precisely one that has a non-standard bore.

Sport Rifles
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Mannlicher Wildhunter	6	-3	SS	6 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	5	7R	1200¥
Winchester Model 64	3	-2	SS	20 (m)	Longarms (Rifles)	1	2R	400¥
Remington 750	5	-3	SS	5 (m)	Longarms (Rifles)	3	4R	500¥
Remington 950	6	-3	SS	5 (m)	Longarms (Rifles)	4	4R	675¥
AZT 577 T-Rex	7	-2	SS	4 (m)	Longarms (Rifles) Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon)	6	12R	2400¥
Sniper Rifles
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares Desert Strike	5	-3	SA	14 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	5	10F	3350¥
Barrett Model 121	6	-4	SA	14 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	6	18F	9000¥
CZW Ostřelovač	6	-3	SA	12 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	6	16F	6500¥
HK PSG Enforcer	4	-3	SA	2 x 12 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	4	12F	4800¥
Ranger Arms SM4	5	-4	SA	15 (c)	Longarms (Rifles)	4	16F	6200¥
Walther MA-2100	4	-3	SA	10 (m)	Longarms (Rifles)	5	10F	5000¥
Shotguns
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Auto-Assault 16	5	-1	SA/BF/FA	32 (d)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	18R	8000¥
Boyd & Richards Desperado	5	-1	SS	5 (m)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	10R	1700¥
Defiance T-250	5	-1	SA	5 (m)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	3R	475¥
Enfield AS-7	5	-1	SA/BF	10 (c) 24 (d)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	12R	1100¥
Franchi SPAS-22	5	-1	SA/BF	10 (m)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	10R	1250¥
Mossberg AM-CMDT	5	-1	SA/BF/FA	10 (c)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	12R	1000¥
PJSS Model 55 Shotgun	5	-1	SS	2 (b)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	7R	1200¥
Remington 990	5	-1	SA	8 (m)	Longarms (Shotguns)	4	4R	550¥
Street Sweeper	4	-1	SS	1 (b)	Longarms (Shotguns)	3	5R	175¥
Light Machine Guns
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares MP-LMG	4	-3	BF/FA	50 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	4	12F	1500¥
Ingram White Knight	4	-3	BF/FA/HV	50 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	4	12F	2000¥
Ingram Valiant	4	-3	BF/FA	40 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	4	10F	1200¥
EMERK-V	4	-3	FA	Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	4	14F	900¥
GE Vindicator Minigun	4	-3	FA/HV	Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	3	16F	5500¥
SA Nemesis	4	-3	BF/FA	60 (c)	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	4	17F	3500¥
Medium Machine Guns
FN MAG-5	5	-3	FA/HV	50 (box) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	5	14F	5500¥
Stoner Ares M202	5	-3	FA	50 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	5	12F	4500¥
Ultimax MMG	5	-3	FA	40 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	5	13F	4500¥
Heavy Machine Guns
Ruhrmetal SF20	6	-3	FA	40 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	6	15F	6500¥
RPK HMG	6	-3	FA	40 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	6	16F	6000¥
Stoner Ares M107	6	-3	FA	40 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	6	15F	7500¥
Ultimax HMG-2	6	-3	FA	50 (c) Belt	Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	6	15F	7500¥
Assault Cannons
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares Thunderstruck Gauss Rifle	8	-8	SA	10 (c) +10 (battery)	Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon)	4	24F	13000¥
Ares Vigorous Assault Cannon	8	-7	SS	12 (c)	Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon)	9	18F	4000¥
AZT Tlatlatzin Gauss Rifle	8	-8	SA	20 (c) +external power source	Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon)	5	24F	12000¥
Norsutykki L-47	7	-7	SS	10 (c)	Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon) Longarms (Rifles)	7	15F	4800¥
Panther XXL	8	-7	SS	15 (c)	Heavy Weapons (Assault Cannon)	8	20F	5500¥
Laser Weapons
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares Redline	3	-half	HV	200 (battery) External Power Source	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	14F	7500¥
Ares 3rd Dawn	4	-half	HV	200 (battery) External Power Source	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	3	18F	12000¥
Ares Apollo	6	-half	HV	200 (battery) External Power Source	Automatics (Assault Rifles) Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns)	6	24F	30000¥
Renraku Taiyou	5	-half	HV	External Power Source	Automatics (Assault Rifles)	5	20F	24000¥
Flame Weapons
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
AZT F3a	4	-half	FA	100 (tank)	Automatics (Assault Rifle)	3	14F	1800¥
Shiawase Blazer	3	-half	FA	80 (tank)	Automatics (Submachine Guns)	2	16F	1200¥
Special Weapons
Weapon Name	Damage	AP	Mode	Ammo	Skill	Strength	Availability	Cost
Ares S-III Super Squirt	Chemical	-	SA	20 (c)	Pistols (Revolver)	1	4	¥500
Fichetti Pain Inducer	Special	-half	FA/HV	100 (battery)	Automatics (Assault Rifle)	1	8R	2000¥

[RiotGearEpsilon]

Would it be at all helpful if I transferred that hot mess of table to a spreadsheet on googledocs?

Edit: I do maintain that a Faraday Cage suit should be chargen possible (if expensive) and that an automated Matrix Stealth armor augmentation would be completely hip. If not an armor augmentation, then a hardware signal baffling mechanism that can be purchased and slotted in to your commlink.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

Possible point of concern: You may wish to alter how armor penetration interacts with Hardened Armor.

Right now, I'm more likely to have my weapons do Physical Damage instead of Stun Damage against someone in Hardened Armor, as their total armor rating will be lower. Additionally, each additional point of armor penetration is worth significantly more net damage. If I confront someone with Armor 4 and I use AP -2, that will increase average hits on the damage roll by 2/3rds - 1/3 per die removed. If I confront someone with Armor 4H and I use AP -2, that will increase average hits on the damage roll by 2 - 1 per die removed.

I don't know how much of this is intentional, but it seemed worth pointing out.

[Username17]

Would it be at all helpful if I transferred that hot mess of table to a spreadsheet on googledocs?

I genuinely have no idea. I think that ultimately this is all going to b put together into a single series of posts, and that if people want to convert it into docs or pdfs they totally can.

Possible point of concern: You may wish to alter how armor penetration interacts with Hardened Armor.

Right now, I'm more likely to have my weapons do Physical Damage instead of Stun Damage against someone in Hardened Armor, as their total armor rating will be lower.

That is the normal rules. Hardened Armor people can only take physical damage from physical attacks. What with every attack that would be converted to Stun being negated entirely instead. I may put in a caveat that hardened armor can convert to stun if the damage after reduction is equal to or less than the armor value, but honestly I don't much care. The convert to stun rule really didn't work as intended anyway. For anything. To an extent we're fixing a good deal of that by going to a single track system so peoples' natural tendency to have higher Bodies than Willpowers doesn't make the physical track longer than the stun track, but I'm honestly unsure as to whether it's worth trying to save the mechanic or not. It's a fair amount of fiddling for something that people usually forget and never worked properly.

Additionally, each additional point of armor penetration is worth significantly more net damage. If I confront someone with Armor 4 and I use AP -2, that will increase average hits on the damage roll by 2/3rds - 1/3 per die removed. If I confront someone with Armor 4H and I use AP -2, that will increase average hits on the damage roll by 2 - 1 per die removed.

Yes. That part is extremely intentional. Without that difference there's no point at all in having AP numbers better than -2. You could seriously just reduce the AP numbers by 3 and add 1 to the DV.

-Username17

[RiotGearEpsilon]

Every Troll with an assault cannon just got the biggest smile on their face, Mr. Trollman. Hmm, Trollman. WE KNOW WHERE YOUR LOYALTIES LIE HMMMMM

[RiotGearEpsilon]

Okay, more stream of consciousness writing because that is apparently the only way I can get anything done.

Let's talk about the process of hiring a mercenary or mercenary company, or finding a job as a mercenary, in the Sixth World.

You might ask, well, hey, can't we just go on Monster.com and get ourselves a mercenary? In fact yes, yes you can. There are a myriad of trusted intermediaries who make aliving acting as a go-between for major hires. But. BUT. This only works for LEGAL mercenary jobs. You can use these mercenary clearinghouses to hire reputable forces to guard your convoys, defnd your territory, kill terrorists, suppress insurrections, or whatever. But once you want to start invading enemy countries, committ atrocities, or otherwise do things that the Corporate Council are going to frown on... Well, then you have troubl. The matrix nodes that will act a go-betweens to hire people for that sort of job do not have logos, and they do not have fixed locations, but they do exist. They're the matrix equivalent of a back-alley full of thugs waiting to be hired.

Ideally, if you work for a mercenary company, you will never have to think about these matters; your employer has contracted a job, off you go. You wind up in Indochina because the management decided it was a moneymaker. IF so, congratulations, they should cover all of the details for you. But if you ARE the person in the mercenary company who's trying to work all this out and get the new hire on the Indochina account, let me fill you in on the details.

Most mercenary companies (such as 'my' own Optimal Solutions) operate their own clearinghouse matrix site for hiring out soldiers in whatever unit or quantity seems appropriate, but they all use the same set of information processing tolls to do it. (Example would be the modern airline industry and ITA Software's scheduling programs.) I'll add a bit of flavor by recommending people hit this site first.

I'll then nail down some of the better options for under-the-table mercenary work, along with the sort of people you'll get hired by if you do that - namely, by the major corporations, to do Khmer Rouge wetwork on other corporations or on nations which oppose them, most frequently to act as terrorists on behalf of the Dai/Pathet Lao, by the Nag Kampuchean Generals - through several intermediaries, as most of them aren't too savvy (except for one who actually has a set of trodes and the will to use them).

Single mercenary 'heroes' are more likely to get picked up by Nag Kampuchea (because no one with a real organization and an accounting department is going to work for the sort of bizarre barter they'll pay in), Siam (because they need professional expertise and training ability far more than they need manpower), and Vietnam (because they have the resources to hire the absolute best of the best to serve them, like show-dogs).

Once you're actually hired, you're going to have maybe two to three days, tops, to get ready for the new locale - international warfare goes quickly and you'll be expected to use some of your advance to pay for a fast ticket if you don't have a ride provided by your mercenary contractor corporation. If you don't speak the local language, pick up the appropriate linguasoft and a set of trodes and practice with it on the way over to reduce your accent to something tolerable. Showing up without appropriate language skills is unforgivably gauche when you can buy competence in the airport giftshop.