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Ripper Addennum: Quality Variance

CadetNewb

CadetNewb

Well-Known Member
From what I understand, the quality of any Ripper varies greatly due to different manufacturers as well as material used. One Ripper can be primarily made of Zesuaium, armor and bladed weapons, and be someone's personal guard, while another may be made of Yama-Dura through and through, armor and weapons.

We've been getting some new players, so I thought it was appropriate to bring this up and ask permission to add to/alter the article so that it explicitly states this.

Right now, there's no mention of the 'Quality Control' that they use in the construction of Rippers.
 
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I want to note - I have no desire to create a new variant of the Ripper. Even my modified one had only the forearm blades changed from Zesu to YD.

And again, it is all because of the line I quoted from the Zesuaium wiki.
 
I think the big problem here, Wes, is that regardless of your feelings on what they are, and how dangerous they are, nothing was said about other GMs using them as fairly weak mooks for quite a bit of time. That's resulted in a decent bit of canon portraying them as quite obviously weaker then a pure Zesu armor. So regardless of what we decide to go ahead with in terms of describing its armor and general makeup, there also needs to be thought to an IC explanation for the variance in canon that's already present. There's no avoiding that side of things.
 
Sigma said:
I want to note - I have no desire to create a new variant of the Ripper. Even my modified one had only the forearm blades changed from Zesu to YD.

And again, it is all because of the line I quoted from the Zesuaium wiki.
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Then can you explain how Rita, Laura, and Benrhard managed to take one down with HPARs and plasma guns? Because according to the Zesuaium page, that would be physically impossible. It's immune to melting and doesn't transfer heat, which means plasma weapons would be worthless. In fact, literally the only weapons in the 4th Fleet arsenal that would be capable of scratching their armor is the missiles our PAs have. It doesn't even make sense that Jan managed to stab one with a plasma spear in the last mission. In light of that, I'd suggest either changing the material page or changing the Rippers, one or the other, because as it stands, the fact that we even managed to take one of them out is baffling.
 
Though I like the idea of either quality control of material availability affecting what the Ripper is made of, I'd like the Rippers to be Yamataium or Yama-Dura in hull, Zesuaium in blade more. It'd fit with what's happened IC much better and requires less explanation. But this whole thing also made me realize something else.

It looks like the NMX don't have a 'mainline unit'. They seem to go right from Neko Cannon Fodder to Rippers. Yes, they have captured Mindies and Daisies, but by having the word 'Captured' implies that its not in very widespread use. And I'm left a little clueless about the Type 31 and 31 Mishhu. How are those supposed to be used and where? Because there's no clearly defined in-between ground between mooks and the elites, something's gotta get used for something it's not meant to be.

Because of that, I think Rippers are being shoved into the role of 'general purpose enemies'. And for Nepleslian players, judging by the stats on the Wiki, they do happen to come pretty close to equals when comparing a Hostile and Ripper.
 
Doshii Jun said:
Plasma can hurt Zesu. It just isn't the most effective way to do it.
Click to expand...

You said that before, but that comment is inconsistent with the wiki.

They do happen to come pretty close to equals...
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Yeah, when you don't account for the fact that Rippers are just as fast and yet use armor that's apparently far superior, lol.

Sorry, I just really can't get over the ridiculous OPness of Zesuaium according to the wiki article. It's just way over the top to me, and to be honest I never see it roleplayed that way anyway.
 
GMs, and many players who have been around, know about this general inconsistency in the SARP. The wiki says one thing, while GMs kinda finagle their own interpretation without violating the submission creator's intentions. I would wager most GMs have experienced this.

It's part of the division of power we maintain SARP. While GMs try to keep to the wiki as best they can, there are times that GMs bend a submission to suit their narrative purposes in the pursuit of the most entertainment for players, and to tell the story they want told.

Responsible GMs tries to explain why something doesn't fit the wiki. That's what is going on here, and it's part of why SARP is as awesome as it is.

With Zesu, Fred made the call that plasma could do some damage to Zesu so a Zesu-armored opponent (or PC) could be harmed with weapons not aether or anti-matter. He might have said something about plasma being a kind of lesser anti-matter (I know that doesn't exist, but you get what I mean).
 
I get what you're saying, Doshii, I'm just saying that that is not consistent with the wiki, so the wiki should be changed?

I thought it was important to maintain a certain standard of quality in respect to the wiki articles, to make sure that new players coming in know what's going on? If I were a new player and a GM mentioned something had Zesuaium armor and I went to check on the wiki and saw that article, I'd assume I need anti-matter or aether weapons to harm it.
 
Still waiting on a definitive answer to: "What do I do with Zesu Rippers if Zesu is supposed to be phased out?"

And now, how are we killing Zesu Rippers if the major of weapons are solid slugs like the HPAR or lasers?
 
Zesu I think is being "Phased Out" on PC ships and races. I.E Yamatai. While the Mishhu seem to be using it full tilt.
 
How about we put "By later in the Second Mishhuvurthyar War, Ripper armors were being hastily constructed using whatever armor materials were available, resulting in considerable variance in their toughness. The original Rippers of the First Mishhuvuthyar war were of uniformly high end construction while the NMX produced them in more places with lowered standards, especially after the destruction of the SMX shipyard at Sbuhfaba."

And we add stats for cheapo versions.
 
Sounds good to me, gives some variety for the GM's to use and stats to portray them accordingly.
 
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