Biped: none, for aquatic animals

[Soldier of Od]

Okay, so, looking at the aquatic animals in Rifter #29, if you have Biped:none, you are able to swim ten times faster than normal. I've rolled up a couple of characters, and it seems to be ridiculously fast: a P.S. of 25 has resulted in a swimming speed of 1km every melee! Looking at real sharks as a comparison, they swim at about 8kph (up to 19-50kph in short bursts). Have I buggered up my calculations, or is this just stupidly fast? I don't have the original book with me at the moment, is there any equivalent rule for semi-aquatic animals in ATB, like frogs or otters?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Rali]

I really wish Palladium would drop the Spd attribute. It does get ridiculous much of the time.

[Soldier of Od]

So, does no one have any opinions or advice on this? Is the x10 correct, or are there any contradicting or alternative rules that I don't know about? Have I definitely calculated it correctly? (I used the rules under the advanced swimming skill, which us the P.S. attribute as opposed to Spd., but you're right, sometimes Palladium games do go mad for speed).

[glitterboy2098]

probably a palladium oversight. my suggestion? let them tire 1/10th as quickly. (in effect, have 10x the P.E. when swimming). it seems like that would make more sense..

[Soldier of Od]

Wow! I got a reply from the actual writer! I feel honoured! (hmmm... that sounds sarcastic, but I assure you it wasn't meant to be)

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate that you were basing it on other rules, I guess there are plenty of conflicting Palladium rules out there and you would want to make sure yours are on the same lines as other games.

I don't mean to be picky - your Rifter article was very good - but the ATB book gives swimming speeds under the swimming skill, so average swimming speeds you've mentioned don't fit in the game rules. And it also gives rules for how long the speed can be maintained, which is also pretty high. I guess the swimming skill was overdone in the first place. And just to reiterate, swinmming speed is based on PS, not Spd.

According to the rules an average human with a PS of 10 can swim at 30 metres per melee, so 7.2 kmph, and with a PE of 10, can maintain that speed for 2.5 minutes. It also says that for aquatic animals (such as the ones in your article) 'fast swimming' can be conducted for hours without fatigue. Ten times faster than that would be 72 kmph. And that's just average. With PS bonuses on size level, a higher PS is quite common in ATB.

Sorry to harp on about it; I'm sure its more to do with existing rules that you transferred rather than anything wrong with what you've done personally. Does anyone know of any alternative rules for aquatic creatures in other Palladium games that may be a little more realistic? Thanks.