Glitter Boy the Holy Grail of pre Rifts tech

[Nekira Sudacne]

Buy one on the black market.

buy one from Triax

steal one

[Dr. Doom III]

Steal one in Japan.
Steal one in South America.
Steal one in Quebec.
Steal one in the NGR.
Steal one in Earth Orbit.

[Temporalmage]

Steal one in Japan.
Steal one in South America.
Steal one in Quebec.
Steal one in the NGR.
Steal one in Earth Orbit.

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

[Temporalmage]

Personally I always figured that the Glitter Boy is the best of the widespread tech to survive the Cataclysm and because it is a juggernaut that its plans were spread far and wide. Remember that there is supposedly another manufacturer of the GB in North America somewhere out West as per the main book, and it's wholly possible that ARCHIE might be able to build them (or an improved version?) himself.

Does anyone else wonder if there was some serious tech (guns, PA, armor, etc.) that the US military had which we have not heard mentioned yet? Maybe cutting-edge or even experimental at the time of the Cataclysm that maybe the CS does not have the tech to make?

The manufacturer out west was explained in the New West book. The Black Market found Area 51, and several brand new GB's, among other things, inside. They have sold several of them on the open market, hence the rumers as stated in the main book.
The books have been pretty specific that there's very few places that can even fix a GB, let along make em.

[Dr. Doom III]

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

But they don't make them.

[Temporalmage]

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

But they don't make them.

Ya I know. I read somplace that there was some organization/govt in the Phase World setting that had hundreds and thousands of GB's. Enough to take down a mountain! That always seem kinda weird to me, I mean if they are so freaking rare, how did they get all the GB's that they are sopposed to have?? Oh well I geuss it's "Writers Fiat" again. "sigh"

[Temporalmage]

That's what I mean a Glitter Boy PA may be easy get but keeping up in good repair isn't in Rifts, specially on the West Coast.

Ya. I can only think of a few places in all of North America where repairs are possible. Kinda makes ya wonder when ya meet up with one so far away from repair faciliites don't it?

[Nekira Sudacne]

Actually I would say that Phase World Tech can make the Glitterboy and probably does. Just that there are other things that the make that are better than the Glitterboy. But of course, why make a hugly expensive GROUND unit when you have to worry about space and air.

that's why the only way to make a glitter boy praticle is to make an Air Unit out of the material.

no, I'm serious. look at it. 760 MDC and only weighs a ton and a half. that's a lot of protection for light weight.

[Zer0 Kay]

Uh...time to envoke the cheesy nano bot auto repair? "That's my kill the material belongs to me!" Cheesy or UBER Cheesy or Mega UB...?

[Rallan]

Oh and it would be logical to assume that ARCHIE III and ARCHIE VII both have the design specs for the ultra-dense reflective armor Glitter Boys use, even if neither of 'em have bothered to set up suitable manufacturing capabilities yet. After all, both of them were created by one of hte world' largest pre-Rifts megacorporations, and it's safe to assume that a company like Cyberworks would have that sort of information available to it (after all, Rifts Japan has already showed us that other companies were allowed to manufacture Glitter Boys under license from the KLS Corporation).

Oh and for that matter there's a chance that even Mindwerks might have a chance of knowing how to manufcature GB armor. But since they don't currently have any facilities set up for it, and since they don't seem to do manufacturing on a big scale anyway, the practical side of manufacturing glitter boys might be beyond their capabilities.

[Jason Richards]

the Native Americans at Fort Apache have some as well, and can repair them.

[Borast]

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

But they don't make them.

Ya I know. I read somplace that there was some organization/govt in the Phase World setting that had hundreds and thousands of GB's. Enough to take down a mountain! That always seem kinda weird to me, I mean if they are so freaking rare, how did they get all the GB's that they are sopposed to have?? Oh well I geuss it's "Writers Fiat" again. "sigh"

No...'cause it's "low-tech" and easy to build.

All they need is to pick-up ONE working suit, reverse engineer it, and in a very few short years, they have 'em coming off the production line like model "T"s

[Dr. Doom III]

Oh and it would be logical to assume that ARCHIE III and ARCHIE VII both have the design specs for the ultra-dense reflective armor Glitter Boys use, even if neither of 'em have bothered to set up suitable manufacturing capabilities yet. After all, both of them were created by one of hte world' largest pre-Rifts megacorporations, and it's safe to assume that a company like Cyberworks would have that sort of information available to it (after all, Rifts Japan has already showed us that other companies were allowed to manufacture Glitter Boys under license from the KLS Corporation).

Oh and for that matter there's a chance that even Mindwerks might have a chance of knowing how to manufcature GB armor. But since they don't currently have any facilities set up for it, and since they don't seem to do manufacturing on a big scale anyway, the practical side of manufacturing glitter boys might be beyond their capabilities.

Cyberworks and KLS Corp were (and still are) bitter rivals.

[Mike Taylor]

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

But they don't make them.

Tri-Galactic Military Services is buying them from somewhere. I sincerely doubt they are coming to Earth and getting them from Free Quebec, Japan, or the NGR. I also doubt that Freedom Station and KLS would be inclined to sell to aliens.

[Rallan]

Cyberworks and KLS Corp were (and still are) bitter rivals.

I know, and that's all the more reason for Cyberworks to have gone out of it's way to acquire the specs on building GB armour. If you wanna outperform your competitors, it pays to know what their product is capable of.



Rallan

[grandmaster z0b]

As far as the proliferation of GBs goes, I think that's fairly obvious. They were being manufactured by the KLS corperation for the US military. The US military also arms it's allies like the Japanese SSDF, Isreal, and other places.

The GB is a good ground-pounding unit, and is small enough to engage in urban combat and such. While I'm a bit proponent of air-power and long range artillery bombardment in combat, there comes a time when after everything is wasted, that someone has to go in on the ground to mop up the remaints. That is what GBs are for. They probably proliferate becuse they were not the most powerful thing in the US Arsenal and the US goverment figured that as long as it had an edge with Artillery, real Aircraft, etc... it could share things like SAMAs, GBs, etc... to help pump up it's allies....

I think that the US Army would pump out Glitter Boys and SAMAS in huge numbers as they fill the one gap the US army dosen't have a big technological advantage in - urban and guerilla warfare.

Lets take Iraq as an example, the US Army had such a big tech advantage that they didn't have a lot of problems invading and destroying most of the Iraqi military. However the tech gap seemed to close once it came to urban combat. Even though the average Iraq rebel's equipment is technologically inferior to a US soldier, the tech gap isn't much of an advantage in close range urban conflict.

Now, the US has the most advanced tech in every other way, so there is no great need to spend huge amounts of money upgrading the airforce and navy. Imagine how much easier the current war in Iraq and Afganistan would be if they could send in SAMAS and Glitter Boys instead of normal infantry. It also allows more surgical strikes instead of bombing the crap out of everything, reducing civilian casualties.

[Blue_Lion]

Don't forget Phase world and Atlantis! Sopposedly GB's are a hot commodity in the three galaxies.

But they don't make them.

Ya I know. I read somplace that there was some organization/govt in the Phase World setting that had hundreds and thousands of GB's. Enough to take down a mountain! That always seem kinda weird to me, I mean if they are so freaking rare, how did they get all the GB's that they are sopposed to have?? Oh well I geuss it's "Writers Fiat" again. "sigh"

No...'cause it's "low-tech" and easy to build.

All they need is to pick-up ONE working suit, reverse engineer it, and in a very few short years, they have 'em coming off the production line like model "T"s

Easy to build?
I doubt that, it is built at a sub melecular(SP) level atom by atom. With phase world tech they have come up with high mdc materal easer to build. Second the idea and formlia for the armor is exclusive to the glitter boy.

They technolgy to build a gliter boy is something Phase world never devloped. Rember they hit a wall, even if they find aworking glitter boy it will not tell them how the armor was made they can copy the interanal working and the less advanced boom gun, but the hard armor is something they never devloped and would take more effort to build.

As to make the glitter boy fly, it realy does not need it. It is not a do all PA it was a walking tank. For it's combat roll flight is undeeded, also it's curent weapon system makes flight and combat imposible. You do not need to try to make it do every thing then you're miltary gets over specalized and leaves it's self open to a 1 hit counter.

Also the phase world shield technolgy makes the gliter boy armor unneeded why waste the efort on a fling GB when a air/space pa with shield can have more mdc are cheeper to repair and build. If the GB was alll that then the Nurnii would have knocked it off, they do not instead they devolpe an armor with thermal Kinetic abilties.

[Blue_Lion]

As far as the proliferation of GBs goes, I think that's fairly obvious. They were being manufactured by the KLS corperation for the US military. The US military also arms it's allies like the Japanese SSDF, Isreal, and other places.

The GB is a good ground-pounding unit, and is small enough to engage in urban combat and such. While I'm a bit proponent of air-power and long range artillery bombardment in combat, there comes a time when after everything is wasted, that someone has to go in on the ground to mop up the remaints. That is what GBs are for. They probably proliferate becuse they were not the most powerful thing in the US Arsenal and the US goverment figured that as long as it had an edge with Artillery, real Aircraft, etc... it could share things like SAMAs, GBs, etc... to help pump up it's allies....

Compaire the GB to inftry is bad a GB can not clear a building to tall and heavy, a GB replaces a tank, the armor is lighter however stats on the gun fall short several areas.

Speed, the 120 MM has a muzle speed almost as fast, with larger rounds and wider pay load.

Mobilty, the M1 Arbrum main battle tank can move and shoot, while the GB can has to plant.

Power plant, a 120MM can fire with no power, aming and moving the gun by hand, (used when the tanks engine is knoked out, happend several times.) if the GB loses power the EM rail fun is dead and the pilot can not move sitting duck.

Now a Samas in Urban combat has mobilty, it may be able to go in smaller areas than the Attack hecopter that it replaces, and can fight on the ground. How ever it can not clear a building, the boady is to wide engines and wings would make it to wide to go in most buildings.

So Samus and gliter boys are posible upgrades to modern attack vehicles but would not reduce the loss of inf.

Now Some of the Triax suits could go indoors and clear a building, as could man sized ground PA and some space PA of Phase world.

I think that the US Army would pump out Glitter Boys and SAMAS in huge numbers as they fill the one gap the US army dosen't have a big technological advantage in - urban and guerilla warfare.

Lets take Iraq as an example, the US Army had such a big tech advantage that they didn't have a lot of problems invading and destroying most of the Iraqi military. However the tech gap seemed to close once it came to urban combat. Even though the average Iraq rebel's equipment is technologically inferior to a US soldier, the tech gap isn't much of an advantage in close range urban conflict.

Now, the US has the most advanced tech in every other way, so there is no great need to spend huge amounts of money upgrading the airforce and navy. Imagine how much easier the current war in Iraq and Afganistan would be if they could send in SAMAS and Glitter Boys instead of normal infantry. It also allows more surgical strikes instead of bombing the crap out of everything, reducing civilian casualties.

[glitterboy2098]

Compaire the GB to inftry is bad a GB can not clear a building to tall and heavy, a GB replaces a tank, the armor is lighter however stats on the gun fall short several areas.

a GB is only 11 feet tall. most buildings have ceilings of 12 ft or so. and while most doors are only 7 ft, a GB can still bash its way through. and who say's it needs to use the door? it can go right through a wall.

Speed, the 120 MM has a muzle speed almost as fast, with larger rounds and wider pay load.

and comparable damage. but look at the deminsions. the M-1's gun is 12 feet long, and weighs a ton or so. and thats just the barrel. the ammo weighs many pounds, so to carry a decent ammo load, you'd need a few more tons.

a boom gun uses 1-2 pound shells, that are 6 or so inches long, and a barrel no more than 6 feet long.

it crams a tankcannon into a rifle.

Mobilty, the M1 Arbrum main battle tank can move and shoot, while the GB can has to plant.

no argument, but don't consider the GB a walking tank, but rather a human sized motorised feild peice. artillery needs to stop to fire, as does the GB.

Power plant, a 120MM can fire with no power, aming and moving the gun by hand, (used when the tanks engine is knoked out, happend several times.) if the GB loses power the EM rail fun is dead and the pilot can not move sitting duck.

the 120mm also uses massive shells and lots of explosive to pull off what the boomgun can with just a few dozen magnets. and remember, when the M-1 has no power, it can still shoot, but it has very limited rate of fire, cannot traverse quickly, and all the precise aiming gear is offline.

and remember, to take out a GB's powerplant, you have to beat through massive armor protection. a M-1's can be taken out by a luck hit to the rear.

and look at the range. a GB's nuke 0plant can run for 20 years. an M-1, maybe a 8 hours before it runs out of fuel.

Now a Samas in Urban combat has mobilty, it may be able to go in smaller areas than the Attack hecopter that it replaces, and can fight on the ground. How ever it can not clear a building, the boady is to wide engines and wings would make it to wide to go in most buildings.

the wings would be down at its side in confined spaces, so width is not an issue. plus, like a GB, it too can bash through a wall.

So Samus and gliter boys are posible upgrades to modern attack vehicles but would not reduce the loss of inf.

not upgrades, not replacements. but a new form of infantry support. one that packs the power of the conventional forms, but in a size that and form that can travel to the same places the foot soldier can.

Now Some of the Triax suits could go indoors and clear a building, as could man sized ground PA and some space PA of Phase world.

yep.

I think that the US Army would pump out Glitter Boys and SAMAS in huge numbers as they fill the one gap the US army dosen't have a big technological advantage in - urban and guerilla warfare.

but you just argued against that. you argued that a GB and SAMAS was ill suited to urban warfare, and that they were not mobile enough, which makes tham ill suited for guerilla warfare.
make up your mind. either they are good at it or not, you can't have both.

Lets take Iraq as an example, the US Army had such a big tech advantage that they didn't have a lot of problems invading and destroying most of the Iraqi military. However the tech gap seemed to close once it came to urban combat. Even though the average Iraq rebel's equipment is technologically inferior to a US soldier, the tech gap isn't much of an advantage in close range urban conflict.

actually, in the urban fights we still hold the edge. in iraq we moved in, took some fire, and still managed to kick the behinds of the republican guard. and that was just our recon groups. when the main thrust started, the guard bugged out, and went home.

and when fighting arabs, we have a massive advantage due to religious and training reasons. in islam, to kill another person is to anger allah and to forfit you place in heaven. so arab troops just kind of spray bullets in the general direction of their targets, so if the target is killed, it was "allahs will", and the troop is not resonsible. needless to say this makes them very unlikely to hit a target.

the US troops have no such imits, so when they encounter these "spray and pray" combatants it's " READY, AIM, FIRE" and down goes one, wash rinse, repeat.

Now, the US has the most advanced tech in every other way, so there is no great need to spend huge amounts of money upgrading the airforce and navy. Imagine how much easier the current war in Iraq and Afganistan would be if they could send in SAMAS and Glitter Boys instead of normal infantry. It also allows more surgical strikes instead of bombing the crap out of everything, reducing civilian casualties.

the war in iraq is over. currently we are fighting foreign insurgents who are using the US presence to attack us. and so far, we haven't needed GB's, or SAMAS type things to put the smack down on the insurgents. our own troops average a 200 to one kill ratio, and thats just the ones killed by rifle fire. when our planes, tanks, and choppers get involved, their usually isn't enough left to identify.

[grandmaster z0b]

Glitterboy2098: The reason Blue_Lion seemed to contradict himself was that he was actually quoting me but didn't make it clear when he was quoting and when he was making a statement. I was the one who was stating that SAMAS and Glitter Boys would make urban combat easier and is the logical next step in technology from that angle. I was also not trying to say that they would make infantry obsolete, and also agree with Blue_Lion in that a lot of the Triax PA's would be better at urban conflict, but this thread was not about Triax.

I don't share your opinion about the war being over... you are still fighting so if it's not a war what is it? The point I'm trying to make is that it would be a hell of a lot easier if you did have some sort of PA and that is exactly why the US military is trying to develop that technology.

[glitterboy2098]

the US/Iraq war is over. currently we are fighting the war on terrorism, it just happens to be in Iraq. so yes, the war is not over, but you need to specify WHICH war.

(technically, we fought 3 wars in the last decade. terrorism, Iraq, and the korean war, which never officially ended, and which we currently are under a cease fire agreement, albeit a very long one.)

personally, i'd love to see our troops with powered armor, it would make things so much easier.

[grandmaster z0b]

the US/Iraq war is over. currently we are fighting the war on terrorism, it just happens to be in Iraq. so yes, the war is not over, but you need to specify WHICH war.

(technically, we fought 3 wars in the last decade. terrorism, Iraq, and the korean war, which never officially ended, and which we currently are under a cease fire agreement, albeit a very long one.)...

Really "terrorism" is not a country or group and therefore one cannot have a war on "terror" any more than one can have a war on "evil". Every army that invades a country has to fight insurgents, it's part of the invasion. When the Nazi’s invaded France they beat their army easily but still had to fight the resistance, it didn't stop being a war just because you’re not fighting an army.

It's all just semantics anyway, wasn't the conflict in Korea a "police action" and not a war?