No Glitter Boys?

[Starmage21]

In the past week, I have come across 2 separate rifts games with 2 separate GMs and gaming groups. They both are not allowing glitter boys to be played in their games.

I understand GMs perogative and all, having ran several games myself where certain things just wouldnt fit. Why, in a "regular" rifts game, would you say that no glitter boys allowed?

[Dustin Fireblade]

Powerful gun, over and beyond what other player's get (at least normally available on Rifts Earth).

Powerful PA suit, over and beyond what other player's get (at least normally available on Rifts Earth).

Player's tend to spend a lot of their time inside the suit.


Plus some groups just don't like to work a Glitter Boy into their combat tactics.

[csbioborg]

I was going with the complaining that always happens when the glitterboy gets destroyed and they can't get a new one right away. That and the fact most of the fire power get unloaded on them in most likely scenarios. Why did they concentrate all thier attacks on me. Becsue your in the giant suit and everyone else is human size lying in the prone.

[sHaka]

Sounds like a limitation in GM ability to me, or experience. Glitter boys are way down on the worry list when it comes to restricting classes.

I think the only time I'd bar them from play is if they couldn't be realistically dropped into my setting or if I had a particular theme, like a city rats campaign. Each to their own though, I guess.

[Starmage21]

Sounds like a limitation in GM ability to me, or experience. Glitter boys are way down on the worry list when it comes to restricting classes.

I think the only time I'd bar them from play is if they couldn't be realistically dropped into my setting or if I had a particular theme, like a city rats campaign. Each to their own though, I guess.

It was not my intent to point out that these people are bad GMs, but rather try to understand the non-obvious reasons why they would be barred.

[AlanGunhouse]

Do not forget the more obvious reasons, like being in an area where there are no spare parts...or in a swamp where there is no safe anchorages...or, well you get the picture. There are places Glitter Boys are simply inappropriate.

[T-Willard]

Maybe they don't want what one group did to me. Had someone roll up a GB pilot, they sold the GB suit, and bought **** of other weapons and armor.

[Starmage21]

Maybe they don't want what one group did to me. Had someone roll up a GB pilot, they sold the GB suit, and bought **** of other weapons and armor.

Thats funny, but unfortunately true. The Glitter Boy O.C.C. doesnt seem to be the type that would do that. Maybe a Glitter Force Trooper O.C.C. from Free Quebec might.

[runebeo]

Maybe they don't want what one group did to me. Had someone roll up a GB pilot, they sold the GB suit, and bought **** of other weapons and armor.

Well a lot of weapons don't make up for the advantages of having a GB. The game was going to be call Boomers so not having GBs allowed would take one of the core classes away. I know there can wield a lot of power, I think of them like a tank and sniper all in one, yet still leaves a lot of spots of a squad that needs to be filled to make it perform well. I also think more Glitter Boy 7s should be included in Free Quebec GB army and throughout North America, because of its advantages of no pylons, more versatility than a normal one and looks so dam cool.

[Dead Boy]

When someone wants to play a Glitter Boy when I'm GMing (it's come up twice), I have no problem allowing it because the way I see it, the GB's shortcomings makeup for its strong points. Those shortcomings being;

1) They're ten feet tall, shiny, and can't easily seek out cover.

2) Being the biggest, and perceivably baddest dude in the fight, GB's tend to draw the heaviest fire.

Put those two together and they tend to burn through that 770MD surprisingly fast, while doing good by the rest of the party by taking some of the heat off of them. It balances out well in my opinion.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Before RUE limited ammo supply

CYA...HB

I always thought that 100 shots was way more than enough myself. I don't think the one player I GM'ed years ago in a campaign was ever down more than 50 shots.

Then he got a bunch of anti-vampire rounds later and used a 50/50 mix.

And there was never a round 3 that I recall either when his GB suit entered the battle, so at most he would expend 12 shots in a battle.

At any rate if another player wanted to be a GB then I'd only allow 100 shots.

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

i would totally let someone play a GLitter Boy, because i run urban games, where characters cant stay in power armor all the time. a Glitter Boy Pilot without a GLitter Boy is just another dude with a gun.

[Starmage21]

I personally would not want a player starting out with a Glitterboy. However, an Robot Pilot O.C.C. with the Power Armor M.O.S. is free to select the Glitterboy as one of the suits he or she has trained with in the past. Having the Robot Combat skill there means that in the future, I might consider rewarding that player with a Glitterboy (though possibly only temporarily).

WHY?

[Aramanthus]

I have no problem with the GB or any variants. Including my own. It's up to each and every GM as to whether or not theyu can handle those. Of course I think that not allowing them is to miss some of the flavor of Rifts.

[Aramanthus]

That is the advantage of that particular OCC. I've always had fun playing those too.

[FreelancerMar]

I would personally have no problem allowing a GB pilot and the GB in a game. There is a small problem for the GB and the GB pilot however. Outside of FQ in North america, The NGR in Europe, The 1 kingdom in South america, and Japan. Nobody is qualified to Repair them and even if you do find a Qualified Repair person, the repair/replacement parts are likely to be impossable to find outside those areas. That does not even take into account the number of people that would want to steel it. Even if you go to 1 of those areas to get replacement parts and/or ammo. The Local Government would in all likehood Confiscate The GB anyway. In FQ Private ownership of a GB is Illeagle just like the Private ownership of a Samas in CS terroritory is Illeagle. However in the case of the GB, FQ would be unlikely to throw the pilot into a prison cell like the cs would for possessing a Stolen Samas. FQ would probably allow the GB pilot to keep the GB only if certain conditions are met. 1 of those conditions would be Enlisting in the QB military as a GB pilot. Becoming a licensed Privatee(Mercenary). There are a few other options that I cannot think of at the moment. The bottem line is that the GB and logistics fot it are very rare outside of a few areas and if you go into 1 of those areas you will loose your GB. The following actually happened with a group I played in.

Player took a GB pilot. GB got damaged. (we were in the FQ area at the time) GBP PC took the armor into a local repair shop to get it fixed. Repair mechanic said it would take a few days to fix it. Player group came back in a few days only to find out that the FQ military confiscated the GB suit. The GB pilot not only lost his suit but because the mechanic demanded payment upfront for repairs, PC GBP was out a load of credits too.

I personally would not do that to a PC but there are many GM's out there that will. It depends on the mood of the gm.

[Talavar]

I'd allow glitter boys as well, because of many of their limitations as others have noted.

My one problem with the glitter boy is that the character doesn't have a lot of possible progression. The character starts with one of the best suits of power armour, and about the most powerful ranged weapon in the game. There's not a lot of room for growth there as they level up. Sure, they get a little more accurate, and more attacks/round, but compared to some classes, the player gets almost everything up front.

That's true of other classes as well though, but the robot pilot as a similar example, can start with a crappy suit of power armour, then work up to a better one.

[Aramanthus]

In a canon game that is almost correct. I also agree that the Operator can fix and repair any GB. Although every GM has the option of creating other powers who might have GB construction capabilities and research facilities.

[FreelancerMar]

Not qualified to repair it? I'd say any Operator with Robot Mechanics could repair a Glitterboy. The only fly in the ointment would be the special armor. Replacement armor would have to be forged out of standard MDC materials which, thanks to an advanced robotics kit in the Rifts Bionics Sourcebook, is easy enough to do. Likewise, a destroyed boomgun would probably have to be replaced with a more conventional weapon until another boomgun can be found, but the suit IS reparable.

You did not read the entire sentence which states that "even if you did find a qualified robot mechanic" The origional materials are not available. This means that with each repair not using the "Origional Materials" makes it less and less a glitterboy with each repair.

I will also Revise my last statement about striping a GB from itts Owner/Pilot.

I personally would not normally do that to a PC depending on the Players behavior and actions..

[Starmage21]

Not qualified to repair it? I'd say any Operator with Robot Mechanics could repair a Glitterboy. The only fly in the ointment would be the special armor. Replacement armor would have to be forged out of standard MDC materials which, thanks to an advanced robotics kit in the Rifts Bionics Sourcebook, is easy enough to do. Likewise, a destroyed boomgun would probably have to be replaced with a more conventional weapon until another boomgun can be found, but the suit IS reparable.

You did not read the entire sentence which states that "even if you did find a qualified robot mechanic" The origional materials are not available. This means that with each repair not using the "Origional Materials" makes it less and less a glitterboy with each repair.

I will also Revise my last statement about striping a GB from itts Owner/Pilot.

I personally would not normally do that to a PC depending on the Players behavior and actions..

Here's the problem chum. Most of those glitter boys that are in ownership of the glitter boy power armor have been in posession of them since the age of chaos. Their heirlooms that are used in combat time and time again. This tells us specifically that those suits can be repaired and re-armed easily.

Since the Free Quebec book came out, we know that they never lost their ability to manufacture the parts, and neither did several other countries on the planet. For one reason or another, these countries are probobly the reason those heirloom suits still function just as good as one fresh off the assembly line.

Additionally, anyone with the mechanical engineer skill OR robot mechanics is going to be able to fix a glitter boy (the former requiring a mechanical engineer skill roll to see if he can, then another to actually fix it as per the skill). These guys are going to be able to be found all over the place as the Glitter Boy travels about rescuing villages and kingdoms from marauding brodkil and other supernatural or mundane threats. Often, it is the leaders of those kingdoms and villages that offer to repair the glitter boy and re-arm it as the reward for their service.

[Tiree]

I never had a problem with Glitterboys in the game. Dragon's on the other hand I do ban with prejudice!

[rat_bastard]

have you tried the glitta boyz in the new sourcebook 1?

they come in small medium and large deary...

I is drunk

[FreelancerMar]

@starmage21

My Post about the Logistics is Post CS war with FQ Not Pre-FQ/CS war.

The parts and materials Required for the Repair of a GB would have dried up
post FQ removing itself from the CS. The CS would in all likelyhood Seize
any and all materials related to GB Refit and repair. Likewise FQ would not
be inclined to allow Indipendant GB pilots to Keep the suits and would have
stoped supplying the parts and materials to Independant Refit/Repair shops
outside of FQ. The parts and Materials would have "Dried" UP. As for the
heirloom aspect. The cost to Repair/refit the suit would have sky rocketed
due to supply and demand. The supply has been cut off which means the
demand for those materials have gone up. All in all its not a good time to be
an Indipendant GB pilot.

[Starmage21]

@starmage21

My Post about the Logistics is Post CS war with FQ Not Pre-FQ/CS war.

The parts and materials Required for the Repair of a GB would have dried up
post FQ removing itself from the CS. The CS would in all likelyhood Seize
any and all materials related to GB Refit and repair. Likewise FQ would not
be inclined to allow Indipendant GB pilots to Keep the suits and would have
stoped supplying the parts and materials to Independant Refit/Repair shops
outside of FQ. The parts and Materials would have "Dried" UP. As for the
heirloom aspect. The cost to Repair/refit the suit would have sky rocketed
due to supply and demand. The supply has been cut off which means the
demand for those materials have gone up. All in all its not a good time to be
an Indipendant GB pilot.

I think youre forgetting about the immense resources of the black market. Im sure the CS has done all they can even in the past to dry up parts for machines they'd rather not see used against them, yet the machines still do continue to be seen.

[Rimmer]

Before RUE limited ammo supply

CYA...HB

I always thought that 100 shots was way more than enough myself. I don't think the one player I GM'ed years ago in a campaign was ever down more than 50 shots.

Then he got a bunch of anti-vampire rounds later and used a 50/50 mix.

And there was never a round 3 that I recall either when his GB suit entered the battle, so at most he would expend 12 shots in a battle.

At any rate if another player wanted to be a GB then I'd only allow 100 shots.

I think most people consider the "1000" shots to be the typo and not the original "100"

[ApocalypseZero]

A question to pose to your GM's next time this situation is brought about........

"Do you take Spells away from a Mage?"
"Do you take Bionics away from a Borg?"
"Do you take guns away from the Headhunter?"
"Do you take the Bio-Comp and Drug Harness away from a Juicer?"
"Do you take Psionics away from the Mind Melter?

I'm sure you can continue the train of thought. Essentially, to allow one to play and Glitter Boy pilot without the Glitter Boy (and not given a chance to lose it) is unacceptable and I will go as far to say BAD GMING! Now, I'm reluctant to call anyone a bad GM, but when you take away that which makes the character (in the beginning, and not through play), you suck plain and simple. The thing I love about Glitter Boys is that the other players tend to hate them more than my cabal of villains. And that IS part of their weaknesses. Ever had a mage in the middle of casting (we'll say Annhilate) just to have his GB buddy shoot and cause the Mage to be interrupted? The target of the Annhilate changes after that.

[Library Ogre]

I don't think it is bad GMing to ban a Glitter Boy. One of my rules for a successful Rifts game is to clearly define what you want in a game before people begin making characters; the kitchen-sink games tend to cause the biggest problems, IME.

[ApocalypseZero]

I don't think it is bad GMing to ban a Glitter Boy. One of my rules for a successful Rifts game is to clearly define what you want in a game before people begin making characters; the kitchen-sink games tend to cause the biggest problems, IME.

After reading this, I feel I must clarify my post above. I have no problems with limiting O.C.C.'s, as we all do this and it's for the scope of the game that will be taking place.

But allowing one to play something, then taking away that character's 'root' in the game (GB Pilots with no GB's, Robot Pilots with no Robot, etc) transcends 'Scope of the Game' and falls into a bad G.M. light. Of course, this is also from the onset of character creation. Losing such a thing during play is acceptable as it is a risk of the character they are playing.

[rat_bastard]

Pick up Sourcebook 1 (rev)

Glitter boys come in tall, grande and venti now. Ask for a grande glitter boy, if that does not work go with a tall

they use the same piloting skill so you can switch out for other suits as you move on.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Before RUE limited ammo supply

CYA...HB

I always thought that 100 shots was way more than enough myself. I don't think the one player I GM'ed years ago in a campaign was ever down more than 50 shots.

Then he got a bunch of anti-vampire rounds later and used a 50/50 mix.

And there was never a round 3 that I recall either when his GB suit entered the battle, so at most he would expend 12 shots in a battle.

At any rate if another player wanted to be a GB then I'd only allow 100 shots.

I think most people consider the "1000" shots to be the typo and not the original "100"

Could be, I didn't pay that much attention to that particular discussion when RUE came out and it's 1000 shot GB. It's canon though, but like I said I just wouldn't allow a 1000 shots.

[rat_bastard]

A GB who sells his armor is a GB looser who will die from sitting his own grenade that he traded it for if i were the GM.

for the price of one glitter boy you can get easily 40-50 suits of Sampson power armor, with the barter skill you can most likely save enough on that transaction for all the pilots you would need...

that to me is way better than some crappy glitter boy.

[AlanGunhouse]

Perhaps the trick is to bring the price of the GB down to reflect market forces?

[rat_bastard]

A GB who sells his armor is a GB looser who will die from sitting his own grenade that he traded it for if i were the GM.

for the price of one glitter boy you can get easily 40-50 suits of Sampson power armor, with the barter skill you can most likely save enough on that transaction for all the pilots you would need...

that to me is way better than some crappy glitter boy.

Unfortunately Archie still has control of those sampsons and they start shooting grenades at the guy who bought them. For Archie its just for laughs. It seems like the armor suits find it humorous.

Sampsons are northern gun, not Titan. Archie can only control them if he reprograms them.

[runebeo]

Our group played two groups in our Rifts campaign. One is high powered team and the the other is more of normal from the core book and in both game we have Glitter Boys, we never really had and balance issues with them. The most problems with a class was the Psi-Ghost, it kept interfering with the GM's dungeon and complex plans and the dragon's teleport ability also has caused our GM to think twice about allowing them too. I understand not allowing some classes, but make a second campaign up with a high power level for some variety. Try new things is how we learn what we like. I never cared to play a warrior types and after trying a Paratrooper I really regretted not trying warrior class earlier. I never player a GB because of his lack of personal power outside the bot, but my friends both love playing them and I may try one some night just to try them out.

[Dog_O_War]

Glitter Boys represent the pinnacle of technology, even after the golden age. That is why they are so expensive. They are also a munchkins' dream-machine. You can literally survive in one for weeks on end without leaving the armour.
The gun has the most damage and range out of all personal and robot firearms, especially available to PC's. Missiles still out-range it, and the larger ones out damage it (especially factoring in AoE), but that does not detract from its power.
It takes half-damage from the most commonly available weaponry in Rifts, and has more MDC (pound for pound) than any other suit or vehicle out there.
As for it "being shiny" and "tall"; 10.5 feet is hardly a giant target, though it is more noticeable. But the shiny aspect is easily modified via paint (and don't think this will affect its laser resistance - any painted part will burn the paint off first before it actually strikes the PA).

As for why a GM would ban this; it (even the human behind the PA) is superior to most other PA pilots and OCC's in almost every way. Prying a GB pilot from his suit is like tick-removal; possible, but you basically gotta smoke him out. It is the +5 armour and sword. It starts with a weapon and sophisticated equipment that people have trouble dodging in range (its strong-point), to melee, where you'd have to be supernaturally strong to compete (as it has a hefty robotic strength).
RC:E gives the pilot - even one with a low PP an advantage over juicers.
'Borgs cannot compete in any aspect other than it has no squishy bits. They also have (on average) 1/3 the MDC the Glitterboy has though.
The only OCC that can really pose a 1 on 1 challenge versus the Glitter Boy is the Cyber-Knight, and that's only if you don't know how to deal with a CK (try area bursts; they can't dodge that and you don't need to roll a hit against them to actually hit them. Abit meta-gamey though in approach, but nothing a single skirmish couldn't tell you).

There are magic OCCs that might be able to offer a starting challenge straight out of the main book, but realistically does that make them a more prime choice for the GM to disallow in-game? Remember folks, those magic OCCs that are able to compete right from the start often take alot of thought to do so. The Glitterboy is straight out of the box powerful.

What does all this mean? Rifts might not have a sense of game balance, but GMs do. They might see the Glitterboy as an unbalancing factor to one of the two facets of the game; the PC power level, "hey, I pilot a Glitter Boy. You guys wanna go do amazing things?" says the GB pilot. "You mean, watch you do amazing things. This is a shanty town, bub" says the vagabond; and the setting power level. The GM might've put alot of work into a gritty gang-war city-fighter, and your impregnable character kinda takes a dump all over that hard work. Even if you said, "but I won't even use the boomgun!"

Another is how much cheese that player will want when he decides to bring the wine to the game.
That is, how much whinning will he do when you destroy or severely damage his "character" (these types see the suit and the pilot as one in the same all too often). He'd be happy with an extreme amount of cheese take place just to reverse or repair his suit. Up to and including millions of credits for no reason just so his suit can be repaired back to working order.

See, something more inline with a medium-low powered group (maybe a head-hunter, a light 'borg, a Ley-Line Walker, a Merc, and a Psi-Stalker) would be a Glitterboy with a damaged suit; half MD, and no working Boomgun (or maybe it feed system is busted and it needs manual loading) would work well with this group. It gives the pilot something to strive for (fixing the suit), and it doesn't make everyone else feel under-powered and under-utilized.

Nothing feels worse than making a character designed for a purpose just to have someone else bust out some cheese and make you feel obsolete.

[Starmage21]

Glitter Boys represent the pinnacle of technology, even after the golden age. That is why they are so expensive. They are also a munchkins' dream-machine. You can literally survive in one for weeks on end without leaving the armour.
The gun has the most damage and range out of all personal and robot firearms, especially available to PC's. Missiles still out-range it, and the larger ones out damage it (especially factoring in AoE), but that does not detract from its power.
It takes half-damage from the most commonly available weaponry in Rifts, and has more MDC (pound for pound) than any other suit or vehicle out there.
As for it "being shiny" and "tall"; 10.5 feet is hardly a giant target, though it is more noticeable. But the shiny aspect is easily modified via paint (and don't think this will affect its laser resistance - any painted part will burn the paint off first before it actually strikes the PA).

As for why a GM would ban this; it (even the human behind the PA) is superior to most other PA pilots and OCC's in almost every way. Prying a GB pilot from his suit is like tick-removal; possible, but you basically gotta smoke him out. It is the +5 armour and sword. It starts with a weapon and sophisticated equipment that people have trouble dodging in range (its strong-point), to melee, where you'd have to be supernaturally strong to compete (as it has a hefty robotic strength).
RC:E gives the pilot - even one with a low PP an advantage over juicers.
'Borgs cannot compete in any aspect other than it has no squishy bits. They also have (on average) 1/3 the MDC the Glitterboy has though.
The only OCC that can really pose a 1 on 1 challenge versus the Glitter Boy is the Cyber-Knight, and that's only if you don't know how to deal with a CK (try area bursts; they can't dodge that and you don't need to roll a hit against them to actually hit them. Abit meta-gamey though in approach, but nothing a single skirmish couldn't tell you).

There are magic OCCs that might be able to offer a starting challenge straight out of the main book, but realistically does that make them a more prime choice for the GM to disallow in-game? Remember folks, those magic OCCs that are able to compete right from the start often take alot of thought to do so. The Glitterboy is straight out of the box powerful.

What does all this mean? Rifts might not have a sense of game balance, but GMs do. They might see the Glitterboy as an unbalancing factor to one of the two facets of the game; the PC power level, "hey, I pilot a Glitter Boy. You guys wanna go do amazing things?" says the GB pilot. "You mean, watch you do amazing things. This is a shanty town, bub" says the vagabond; and the setting power level. The GM might've put alot of work into a gritty gang-war city-fighter, and your impregnable character kinda takes a dump all over that hard work. Even if you said, "but I won't even use the boomgun!"

Another is how much cheese that player will want when he decides to bring the wine to the game.
That is, how much whinning will he do when you destroy or severely damage his "character" (these types see the suit and the pilot as one in the same all too often). He'd be happy with an extreme amount of cheese take place just to reverse or repair his suit. Up to and including millions of credits for no reason just so his suit can be repaired back to working order.

See, something more inline with a medium-low powered group (maybe a head-hunter, a light 'borg, a Ley-Line Walker, a Merc, and a Psi-Stalker) would be a Glitterboy with a damaged suit; half MD, and no working Boomgun (or maybe it feed system is busted and it needs manual loading) would work well with this group. It gives the pilot something to strive for (fixing the suit), and it doesn't make everyone else feel under-powered and under-utilized.

Nothing feels worse than making a character designed for a purpose just to have someone else bust out some cheese and make you feel obsolete.

I have to wonder what kind of games people play where theyre worried about a glitter boy being so greater than they are that they feel useless.

Most of the encounters provided by sourcebook 1 include entire squads of enemies that range from CS forces in Spider Skull Walkers to Titan robots.

Do your groups never traverse terrain or actually wander the countryside looking for adventure (trouble)?

Considering the power creep in rifts though, I tend to laugh at glitter boys for being woefully under-powered. Combat borgs with 400+ MDC on their main bodies carrying Wilk's lasers that do 3d4*10 MD is pretty scary.

[Dog_O_War]

I have to wonder what kind of games people play where theyre worried about a glitter boy being so greater than they are that they feel useless.

Most of the encounters provided by sourcebook 1 include entire squads of enemies that range from CS forces in Spider Skull Walkers to Titan robots.

Titan robots, really. You mean those giant robots Glitterboys can see for miles, and get a full round of attacks on before the titan gets in-range with anything but missiles? That and it takes that same glitterboy a single round of hand-to-hand attacks to reduce that titan robot to zero MDC?
This is before any other PC can even do anything. Basically your party has to stand there and watch the Glitterboy do cool stuff and not take any damage in the process.
As for an entire CS Squad; One skull-walker = one melee round of attacks.
That platoon had better be in a transport and not on foot, otherwise they have to cross 4000 feet before any of their squad-weapons are within range to deal half-damage (yay CS weaponry being lasers) and another 400 feet before their "heavy-hitter" gets within range to use his C-29. I will mention that every single target here is litterally a one-shot kill for this Glitterboy. If there is a transport, it's most likely a Mark V, which is disabled by that very Glitterboy in 3-4 hits. Basically the Glitterboy can kill everything and be on his merry way before the party can even get a die-roll in. They're most likely just shooting at incoming missiles simply because they are the only targets available.

This is because the Glitterboy can always engauge these targets at maximum range, thanks to its internal radar of atleast 5 miles distance. Flying PA is just looking to get killed as well, simply because if they do get close enough, the party swats them with their similarity-ranged weapons.

Do your groups never traverse terrain or actually wander the countryside looking for adventure (trouble)?

Considering the power creep in rifts though, I tend to laugh at glitter boys for being woefully under-powered. Combat borgs with 400+ MDC on their main bodies carrying Wilk's lasers that do 3d4*10 MD is pretty scary.

Those combat borgs that the Glitterboy has turned into expensive collanders 2000 feet outside of their ranges? Glitterboys have between 6-7 attacks per round on average! That's four for basic or expert, one for boxing (possibly), and two for RC:E. The boomgun does an average of 95 points per hit. Those Wilks laser-cannons do an average of 70, divided by 2 or 35 MD per hit on a burst to the Glitterboy. Your math is the only thing here that is pretty scary and woefully underpowered. It would literally have to be 4 to 1 against the Glitterboy before he began to take damage, and I gotta say, the scrap from those 'borgs, as well as the prices those cannons sell for will be more than enough to repair the GB.

[Daniel Stoker]

Charging a GB across an open field is silly, but who does that?

Floopers?


Daniel Stoker

[DhAkael]

-yawn-
Only reason I ever restricted use of Glitterboys in my game, is when I had players who would ONLY play a GB...period.
The damn suits are more trouble than they are worth for the PLAYER though; no spares easily available, armour alloy is rare, BIG WALIKNG ARC-LIT TARGETS!

As GM I just say; "Okay...you WANT to be a Glitterboy pilot? Sure, I can slot ya in..." *EVIL GRIN*
There is no logical reason to ban the suits outright, cuz really, they aint that powerful. I know KS has basicly gimped all OTHER weapons in his 'verse so that the Boom-gun is king. Knock out the recoil-compensator jets or worse, the pivot hinge (metal fatigue anyone?) and well... the Player has several million credits of walking target with NO other built in weapons.
Heck, BORGS are more usefull and have many many many more features to offer as PC's and as combat assests.

GM's who outright ban the GB's are just being lazy, unimaginative and well... nit-picky.

[Daniel Stoker]

I've almost always allowed Glitterboy's in my game unless I'm doing something like a City Rat game where the player just won't be able to be IN their suit for most of the game and it's not really fair to them.

But outside of situations like that I usually let people play them with warnings based on the game on how it might not be the smartest thing (swamp based adventure) or that if the rest are just in body armor that the Glitterboy is probably going to be pretty much everyone's first target to try and take out and that repairs can be ugly when out in the middle of nowhere. But if the player really wants it, it's usually not to hard to work in for most games that I run.


Daniel Stoker

[Dog_O_War]

A glitterboy standing in a woodland area can't use his radar past the trees.

Why? Do radio-waves have a tough time with trees or something? Especially when detecting metal objects twice the size of a 50 foot RV? (in girth).

And if that's the case, how are these mystical skull-walkers and Titan robots finding and engaging the Glitterboy?
Remember that RADAR will have seen an advance in 300 years.

An approaching squad using forest and terrain occlusion to their advantage won't show up on radar assuming they were able to pick out the GB standing out in the open so his radar works.

Just gotta think about the situation you're dealing with.

A force with the same (if not inferior) method of detection.

Remember, "shiny" doesn't show up on radar. Giant robots and walkers do. As well as squads of infantry with radios.

[Natasha]

FOPEN radar would likely be available to CS units.

[Vrykolas2k]

GBs aren't that powerful if you know what you're doing.
I've killed one with a 'borg... the only real damage I took was getting into h-t-h, where it couldn't shoot me. And I ambushed it so it only got one shot off. There went my armour...
I've taken two out with a dragon hatchling. 'Port in, do some damage, 'port out and heal, 'port in...
They use ammo. Even if you give them the some-what logical 1000 round drum, they're likely to run out, or at least low, until they can find a place to re-arm. Repairs are costly. The sonic boom screws up half the party.
The GB has plenty of draw-backs to offset the advantages.
Ban them?
Not me...

[AlanGunhouse]

Assuming those other characters are in any condition to fight after a few assaults with a Boom Gun.

[Mack]

One time I play-tested a GB versus 3 SAMAS for my GM. He had the Sam's take called shots to the GB's right hand so I couldn't adequately control the gun. I retaliated with called shots to the Sams' heads, but they got my hand before I could take them. Things went downhill after that. Speed and swirling tactics for the win.

[Killer Cyborg]

Powerful gun, over and beyond what other player's get (at least normally available on Rifts Earth).

Powerful PA suit, over and beyond what other player's get (at least normally available on Rifts Earth).

Player's tend to spend a lot of their time inside the suit.


Plus some groups just don't like to work a Glitter Boy into their combat tactics.

Do not forget the more obvious reasons, like being in an area where there are no spare parts...or in a swamp where there is no safe anchorages...or, well you get the picture. There are places Glitter Boys are simply inappropriate.

if they couldn't be realistically dropped into my setting or if I had a particular theme, like a city rats campaign. Each to their own though, I guess.

the complaining that always happens when the glitterboy gets destroyed and they can't get a new one right away.

1 cost to much to maintain.
2 cold be spotted a looong way away
3 Before RUE limited ammo supply
4 the sonic boom pretty much forced the GB to fight alone most of the time.

Because power should be earned.

Well, that covers all the reasons that sprang to my mind.

[Rahmota]

Well I dont really ban GBs but I do make sure they dont get to have all the limelight either. All of the aforementioned reasons like strategy and tactics, resource management, etc.. are all brought into play.

[Talavar]

One time I play-tested a GB versus 3 SAMAS for my GM. He had the Sam's take called shots to the GB's right hand so I couldn't adequately control the gun. I retaliated with called shots to the Sams' heads, but they got my hand before I could take them. Things went downhill after that. Speed and swirling tactics for the win.

You should have won - unless the Samas were using non-standard weapons: you can't make called shots with burst weapons (rail guns).

[ApocalypseZero]

One time I play-tested a GB versus 3 SAMAS for my GM. He had the Sam's take called shots to the GB's right hand so I couldn't adequately control the gun. I retaliated with called shots to the Sams' heads, but they got my hand before I could take them. Things went downhill after that. Speed and swirling tactics for the win.

You should have won - unless the Samas were using non-standard weapons: you can't make called shots with burst weapons (rail guns).

Plus I believe the Boom Gun can be voice activated/fired. That may be a different model than the standard though.

Also, quick note: For those arguing 100 or 1000 Shots, please know that it wasn't changed in R:UE. It was changed long before then.

[ApocalypseZero]

The 100 shots to 1000 shots type for the Boom Gun Payload was originally changed in the old Rifts Main Book, in the latter printings. I know it shows up in 16th printing. tt was also changed in the Free Quebec Worldbook. Both were before R:UE. The notion of R:UE changing this little thing is null and void. The 100 was a typo from day one. The Glitter Boy has 1000 shots. People need to deal with this fact and move on.