Re: THE CHALLENGE

>From Richard Johnson:

Re: The Frontier

> Law:
> The confederates figured out if they went the way of imperial caste/
> democracy, the Zhodani would have to interfere.  Likewise, if they
> became socialist, the imperium would send ships.  Thus they formally
> declared themselves an "anarchy", proclaiming the rights of each
> individual the highest morality.

As I see it, within both the Imperium and Zhodani Consulate there exist all
sorts of world governments.  There are caste democracies within the Zhodani
Consulate (in fact, I thought the Consulate was one).  There are probably
socialist governments in the Imperium - they'd count as either democracies or
self-perpetuating oligarchies, depending on the referee's view of socialism
and whether it was Western or Eastern type socialism.

>From James Perkins

Re: The Challenge

> Or, if you are prone to having trigger-happy players, you could always
> set them up for a horrible case of mistaken identity, where they blow
> the head off some small, helpless innocent, like a small child.  Or
> subject them to an enemy that can't be plowed over (say they enslave
> children, for example, and the children are forced to confront the
> all-invincible PC).

Just in case the PC's aren't susceptible to such moral dilemmas, because they
don't have morals (likely, given our earlier descriptions), it does no harm
to have something really powerful in reserve.  Something which can remind them
they're not Masters of the Universe.  Something which can eliminate them with
much the same ease as they'd eliminate a small, not-too-bright rodent. A few
possibilities:

Imperial Marines.  I used the "Striker" combat rules, and just about never let
PC's get hold of the high-tech battledress, which was impervious to anything
except FGMP's.  Marines get the stuff as standard.  But, if the PC's do get
hold of FGMP's and/or such battledress:

Imperial Marine Grav APC.  As seen in Striker, book 3.  Armoured to resist
anything short of a tac nuke, and armed with a heavy rapid-pulse fusion gun,
a range of nuclear missiles, and a laser carbine.  In addition, the Marines
inside can stick their FGMP's through ports in the side and fire out.  But
if the PC's do have tac nukes, or if they just sit in their starship and try
to zap the APC from orbit:

Tigress class dreadnought.  As seen in Supplement 8, Fighting Ships.  Maximum
armour, maximum firepower, enough screens and computers so that the PC's nukes
won't get near it.  It also carries 300 fighters in case you want to give the
PC's one last warning.  If the PC's have something capable of taking out one of
these, use a full squadron.  If they can beat that, there's something wrong
with the universe.

Summary: Peace through superior firepower!  If they think being trigger happy
solves everything, show them just how right they are.

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]

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