New to the forum and to rifts.
I have locked vault doors that my players need to open but I'm not sure what the best puzzle/tech lock would be. A lot of what I can find doesn't really fit the setting. These vaults need to have survived from the great cataclysm and I'd like it to be high tech. What suggestions are there?
Rifts puzzles
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Nekira Sudacne
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Re: Rifts puzzles
People with high tech don't use puzzle doors, they use 8086 bit encryption.
The only thing that seems plausible to me is the maitance guy or some disgruntled employee hid parts of their password all over, using various computer puzzles that have to be solved with programming and hacking (Like a picture that has to be broken into binary and loaded as a movie file to play a clue that leads to another file which hides a part of the encryption key and an audio file that has to be filtered a certain way to play a clue that leads to another part...
And so and so on. the password itself is nigh unhackable. but some employee/past hacker/rouge AI left a breadcumb trail a really smart hacker can follow for the lulz.
The REAL problem with vault doors is anyone with a wilks laser torch and a weekend can get through any vault door ever made. each pair of e-clips gives you 480d6 MDC per two hours, or an average of 6720. given the kind of supply most high tech parties roll around with, the trouble is convincing them to solve your puzzle vs. just doing things the boring but easy way.
Assuming a supply of e-clips and/or a portable power generator, a single wilks laser torch can do an average of 80,640 MD in a day. I don't know how thick your door is, but I doubt it's thick enough.
it's not that breaking into a vault is hard, it's that it's hard to finish before an army of cops arrives. No cops, no pressure, so the only way they will do the puzzle is if the puzzle seems fun in it's own right.
The only thing that seems plausible to me is the maitance guy or some disgruntled employee hid parts of their password all over, using various computer puzzles that have to be solved with programming and hacking (Like a picture that has to be broken into binary and loaded as a movie file to play a clue that leads to another file which hides a part of the encryption key and an audio file that has to be filtered a certain way to play a clue that leads to another part...
And so and so on. the password itself is nigh unhackable. but some employee/past hacker/rouge AI left a breadcumb trail a really smart hacker can follow for the lulz.
The REAL problem with vault doors is anyone with a wilks laser torch and a weekend can get through any vault door ever made. each pair of e-clips gives you 480d6 MDC per two hours, or an average of 6720. given the kind of supply most high tech parties roll around with, the trouble is convincing them to solve your puzzle vs. just doing things the boring but easy way.
Assuming a supply of e-clips and/or a portable power generator, a single wilks laser torch can do an average of 80,640 MD in a day. I don't know how thick your door is, but I doubt it's thick enough.
it's not that breaking into a vault is hard, it's that it's hard to finish before an army of cops arrives. No cops, no pressure, so the only way they will do the puzzle is if the puzzle seems fun in it's own right.
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You can have something done good, fast and cheap. If you want it done good and fast, it's not going to be cheap. If you want it done fast and cheap it won't be good. If you want something done good and cheap it won't be done fast. ~ Dark Brandon
Re: Rifts puzzles
Thank you. Im used to d&d where you puzzles make sense and never even thought of encryption. I think I may try and have them solve with the small puzzles for the code but prepare for the brute force method.
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ShadowLogan
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Re: Rifts puzzles
You could have multiple keys that have to be turned together, which makes picking them a bit more complicated. Might even consider having the keys "disassembled" and they have to be put back together.
You could have the locks requiring energy to release, and there is no power (could even make it so the energy format is specialized so they can't simply hook up an Eclip or something, ex it could be AC at a non-standard Frequency). Alternatively could be missing part of the release mechanisim, or it has parts that need to be serviced/replaced.
Could have an environmental issue that has to be addressed because opening the vault under those conditions would damage/destroy what ever they are looking for either directly or as a safety feature to prevent tampering. (Ex. flooding)
Could have biometric locks, and they have to "forge" authenticity.
Have the displays/controls put in backward/upside down, or using unfamiliar language or symbols in use, or require the use of ASC II codes to enter the passcode (they can't just enter A-B-C on the keyboard, they have to use the ASC codes to enter A-B-C)
As Nekira said, you might need to add in some reason to go the long way instead of just cutting into the door with a torch or just ripping off the door (with a high PS score, likely SN or Robotic). Never mind something like Astral Projection on the physical plane and then Teleporting in, or Mystic Portal, or Intangibility (of course these depend on what's on the other side of the vault door and how big the vault is), etc which are going to be alot harder to stop.
You could have the locks requiring energy to release, and there is no power (could even make it so the energy format is specialized so they can't simply hook up an Eclip or something, ex it could be AC at a non-standard Frequency). Alternatively could be missing part of the release mechanisim, or it has parts that need to be serviced/replaced.
Could have an environmental issue that has to be addressed because opening the vault under those conditions would damage/destroy what ever they are looking for either directly or as a safety feature to prevent tampering. (Ex. flooding)
Could have biometric locks, and they have to "forge" authenticity.
Have the displays/controls put in backward/upside down, or using unfamiliar language or symbols in use, or require the use of ASC II codes to enter the passcode (they can't just enter A-B-C on the keyboard, they have to use the ASC codes to enter A-B-C)
As Nekira said, you might need to add in some reason to go the long way instead of just cutting into the door with a torch or just ripping off the door (with a high PS score, likely SN or Robotic). Never mind something like Astral Projection on the physical plane and then Teleporting in, or Mystic Portal, or Intangibility (of course these depend on what's on the other side of the vault door and how big the vault is), etc which are going to be alot harder to stop.