After the battle...

[Athos]

I would say the power supply is well protected, otherwise it would become an obvious target in battle. I have no idea how they would get a nuclear reactor that small or what they would use steam wise as a turbine. The leap of faith you have to take here is that the technology is so advanced from what we know today, it works like magic. Its small, its safe and it lasts for 20 years... yay power armor.

[Killer Cyborg]

Heres a question for all you guru's out there. After a big heated battle involving different PA's and robots, would there be alot of radiation pollution on the battlefield?

Most likely.

When a robot or PA is destroyed, does that include the power source or would it still be intact to prevent that very situation from happening?

I don't think the power source would necessarily be breached every time, but it would be likely to happen a lot.

[Dr. Doom III]

No.
Not unless the bots were destroyed with a lot of overkill.
Most bots that are "destroyed" still have intact pilot's compartments. Something tells me the radioactive parts would be just as well if not better protected.

[Dr. Doom III]

so w/ the bigger bots, unless the reinforced pilots compartment is also destroyed, then the power plants should be intack (maybe banged up and need fixen but still okay).
But what about PA's? maybe if they take 1.5 times max body damage then might the power source be leaking?

However you want to play it. There are no particular rules that I know of.
Just that depleting the main body still leaves a lot of the unit intact.

Sort of like totaling a car but not puncturing the gas tank.

[Dr. Doom III]

Standard EBA has "at least minimal radiation shielding".
Whatever that means.

I think there are rules for this in Warlords of Russia. For the Moscow crater.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Check out the "self-destruct" on CWC page 134.

[Marcethus]

hmmm good question Mike but so far I have never had that come up in a game. Only time I had uber destroy mecha was in Rt and I don't recall how I handled radiation if I did.

[grandmaster z0b]

I presume the power plant is a form of "cold fusion" so that unless the actual power plant itself is breached and radioactive material spills out, then no leakage. As most characters are in EBA anyway I don't usually worry about it.
One question is that if the nuclear plant is so well protected, and it's one of the most expensive parts of a robot or PA, wouldn't battlefield salvage be big business?

[Dr. Doom III]

I presume the power plant is a form of "cold fusion" so that unless the actual power plant itself is breached and radioactive material spills out, then no leakage. As most characters are in EBA anyway I don't usually worry about it.
One question is that if the nuclear plant is so well protected, and it's one of the most expensive parts of a robot or PA, wouldn't battlefield salvage be big business?

The CS most likely has and the NGR does have clean up crews who go out and gets the wreckage and in the NGR case spent U and DU rounds.
I don't really see other kingdoms getting into large mass battles with mechs to make it a growth industry.

[Svartalf]

I go with those who say that power supplies and reactors are normally well shielded and that, unless such elements are deliberately misted, there should be little to no radiation contamination.

[Svartalf]

Just where do you get that self destruct notion? FAIK that's only a skelebot feature, and not part of other CS PA and bots (and I just checked in CWC).

Also, even for skelebots, I guess the charge would be concentrated about the bot's brain and key mechanism, not the reactor.

Given the CS's attitude about their nukes, I just don't think they'd design their stuff so it spreads radioactive pollution all over the countryside as soon as destroyed in combat.

[Dr. Doom III]

I go with those who say that power supplies and reactors are normally well shielded and that, unless such elements are deliberately misted, there should be little to no radiation contamination.

I just wanted to clarify that also, that 89% chance of a power plant rupture was after the self destruct sequence was performed. Of course that process only inflicts 3d6x10 MDC. So i guess in a game you could roll to see either a) the 3d6x10 being the power plants mdc or b) how much extra damage it would have to take to rupture.

What do you guys think?

It's 3D6X10 to the internal componets remember.

I'd go with something like 100 points over the main body you get a 10% chance of rupture with an extra 1% for every 1 point more.


If you blow up something and the last hit did enough damage to take the main body to -120 points that would have a 30% chance for example.

Or something like that.

[Svartalf]

Since it is part of the big bots, but not PA, it looks like it is a system that must be voluntarily activated by the pilot, not necessarily an automatic one... it is aimed at avoiding the bot being captured more or less intact, not at slagging what is already a wreck with limited salvage value

[Svartalf]

You realise that a crew that activated this would be the first to weather the blast... given that bot crew wear only light armor, that's tantamount do suicide... are CS pilots kamikaze?

[Dr. Doom III]

You realise that a crew that activated this would be the first to weather the blast... given that bot crew wear only light armor, that's tantamount do suicide... are CS pilots kamikaze?

Odds are it has a timer.

[grandmaster z0b]

Also something else i found in the CWC book that was interesting was that under the RCSG (Rift Control Study Group) Scientist OCC theres a lil blurb in the Equipment Available Upon Assignment. It says that they can get a

radiation suite (remember, the "Dead Boy" body armor is not environmental suite)

So what heck does that mean? ? ?
On page 100 of the CWC it says that the coalition armor is radiation shielded, so would this mean that it does not offer complete protection to stay in that area, and instead just enough protect to get you out of that area? Oh man why do i feel like i've open up a bigger can of worms now

I've noticed that no one has touched this yet...

[Dr. Doom III]

I've noticed that no one has touched this yet...

Oops.

It's a mistake since it is an EBS and all EBA has "at least minimal radiation shielding."
What they should have said is that Dead Boy armor is not good enough to hang out for long periods in a high radiation environment.

[Athos]

The problem with radiation is that it never leaves your body. All effects are cumulative. If you pick up 100 rads here, then you are exposed to 50, then later on to 90, even though none of those exposures by themself will kill you, the cumulative effect of all three will.

[Dr. Doom III]

Personally I figure that the nuclear plants have as much armor around them as the entire robot itself. This not only prevents the radiation problem but creates a cottage industry dedicated to powerplant "recycling".

And where in the heck are they getting all of the radioactive material for these plants anyway? Does the CS or Northern Gun have a mine/access to a mine somewhere?

I believe they mine Uranium in Northern Ontario. Which in the game is the CS state of Iron Heart.

[Vrykolas2k]

Personally I figure that the nuclear plants have as much armor around them as the entire robot itself. This not only prevents the radiation problem but creates a cottage industry dedicated to powerplant "recycling".

And where in the heck are they getting all of the radioactive material for these plants anyway? Does the CS or Northern Gun have a mine/access to a mine somewhere?

I believe they mine Uranium in Northern Ontario. Which in the game is the CS state of Iron Heart.

Well, I guess that's better answer than I was thinking... they just mass-produce it to fit in with the method of story-telling.