[gurps] Starship Troopers, open questions

[Rupert Boleyn]

Onno Meyer wrote:
> Unless there is a typo in my spreadsheet, I think I have the bones
> of a suit. I'll try to turn it into a basic marauder unit.
>
> Is there any evidence for stealth or IR cloaking? I don't recall any,
> and Heinlein makes a point how the suits track each other by radar.
>   
The book dates from a time when there was no such thing as anti-radar 
stealth, of course. Also, they'd be tracking IFF transponders, not 
necessarily the suits themselves (they'd have to in heavily build up areas).

> A 200-lb. trooper and 10 gallons of water as reaction mass are 285
> lbs. 
>
> I'll probably GURPSify the Y-Rack Launcher as two separate EMGLs
> with a shared magazine. 
>
> * A 240-kJ flamer with a D cell is 15 lbs., just right for a sidearm. 
> * A reloadable launcher for 20-lb. missiles is 20 lbs., for a total of
>   100 lbs. with four rounds. But what kind of homing? He lets it have 
>   a look at the target, which could be literally OH. Alternatively a 
>   bigger flamer could be carried. 
>   
I assumed radar, and an inertial backup in case of a lost target seems 
reasonable - Rico made a point that nukes were valuable weapons, not to 
be wasted, so you wouldn't want them just 'timing out' if they lost 
their targets.

> * 250 40mm HE grenades for the Y-Rack are 80 lbs.
> * Leave a few dozen pounds for specialty grenades.
>
> That brings me to about 220 lbs. of ammo and some 500 lbs. total 
> load. The empty suit can be 1,500 lbs. 
>
> Does that fit?

Sounds about right. I'm sure the Y-rack would be replaceable with 
something else if necessary, too. BTW, you'll need enough extra carrying 
capacity to deal with extra air and powercells/fuel being carried from 
time to time, presumably at some cost to other payload or to agility.