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magics got crappy range

A lot of spells have crappy duration. Not very good for utility use.

Magic CAN be powerful, and given the necessary preperations, CAN kick some serious ass. but lets look at it both ways here.

2 CS grunts vs a high-level mage.

CS grunts are limited in what they CAN do. their armor, equipment and weapons are limited and once they're gone it's back to base or to hell.

the mage also has what the CS grunts have, but magic, which he can use to renew his other resourses endlessly.

lets take a look, because this fight can go MANY ways, depending on how SMART both sides use their abilites. lets just say that the mage was taking a stroll out outisde of CS normal patrol range, but still had all his stuff(isn't stupid) but wasn't really expecting to have to use it; and was caught flat-footed by CS grunts in a grassy feild.

senario one.

CS grunts have the intiitive. they have a good range (about 1600 feet away) and open fire. they both empty their clips.

the mage will likely have some light armor on, but no spells up as he wasn't ready.

end result: the mage is mist.

senario two: the mage had the initiave. he could cast a spell. so he starts casting. impervious to energy, or annialte. it dosn't matter, because the grunts still gun him down in a blaze of laser fire before he can get the spell off.

but a high-level mage isn't stupid, and has other things. . .

senario three. he might have a talismen of Invinsible Armor, Impervous to energy, and a slew of other things for just such situations.

senario 4:

the mage has inititave. he activates his talismen of Impervious to energy. now the fight is on.

the grunts, not realising this, open fire. and do nothing.

mages turn. he can activate another talismen of Invisnible armor, or armor of ithan, because the grunts MIGHT have some Fragmentaion grenades that will blow his head off (if it's just partial armor like they wear) so he does.

grunts: realise that things arn't going well, so they take cover and call for backup, likely throwing whatever grenades they have. damage noted.

mage. now fully preped for combat, can now take his time to cast a heavy hitter. at this range, Power Bolt is a good call, but he's too far for the big guns, so he picks wither superhuman speed or wingless flight.

the grunts: can either retreat or hold their ground. sinse they realise they can't hurt the mage anymore, they decide to retreat.

now what happens next depends on the mage. once the speed spell gets off, whatever one he uses, he can esily catch up to them. or he can let them go, and retreit himself. after all, backup in the forms of Sams are on the way.

now we get into sub senarios.

sub 1. he retreats himself, using invisibility superior, camelion, or maybe just teleport to get away.

sub 2. he catches up with them and can likely finish them off with whatever gun or TW weapon he has at a fair distance. after all, he's faster and they can't hurt 'em.

he can CoA them in place, taking his time to polish them off, maybe ballistic fire, maybe annailate if he's a jerk.

but lets say he traps them with CoA and finishes them off with magic. now sub sub senarios.

sub-sub one. he kills them, but now a couple of SAM'S arrive as backup. his impervious to energy is still up, but it's no good aginst their Rail Guns. his invincsable armor will hold him for a while, enough to get off another spell likely, but he can't take cover or outrun the fast, mobel SAMAS.

he might be able to take out one with an offensive heavy-hitter, to be polished off later. or he can create a distraction with magic to hide and make an escape with invisibility superior, or teleport, or. . .


as you can see, the possibilties are endless in magic vs tech. what it comes down to is not only WHAT you have, but HOW you use it.

Magic users are actually weak, unless they've had ample time to prep. Look at it this way. A 4th level Ley Line Walker might have say 5 attacks, a Burster has 5 attacks, and a Coalition Grunt has 5 attacks. A Burster can fry people 5 times in a round, the CS guy can blast 5 times in a round, while the mage at best can cast two spells in a round. The mage has to wear "organic" armour of some type, which unless he goes to Atlantis isn't going to be all that great. The Burster, on the other hand, and the CS guy, can wear whatever they want.