Yet Another State of the Blog: A Burning Phoenix

Hey guys long time no see.

You might have noticed that I haven't posted or have really been active on the forum or on discord in a while and really this sucks.

I really do miss seeing how excited people got when I uploaded something new, I mean there is nothing more fulfilling and humbling then knowing something you made is effecting people, some on the other end of the globe. I never thought I'd ever manage something like this. I also miss reading over say Mailanka's blog and getting inspired to spin off one of his ideas and then he'd be inspired by what I was doing or helping out Ol' Ghostdancer on some number crunching or some design work or just hanging out with you guys on discord. You guys were like an online family.

So what happened?

Well a lot of stuff sadly.

On one hand my curse of a job has somehow found a way to just sink further and further into ghd rings of hell. Remember when I last posted about my job and I said things were looking up and we had hired two new people? They have long since quite as well as another worker and then they (finally) hired something new only for them to work a 4hr shift, from 4pm to 8pm, and never show up again. Oh and another worker plans on putting in her 2 week on Monday.... that leaves.... just me. Literally, the entire closing staff has either quite or is about to. I've been working so hard I hardly remember what a day off. Because of this, when I'm not at work I'm so worn out and exhausted I lack to energy to want to bother with anything.

On the other... well I don't want to get to deep with my non-work personal life but.... things are not good right now. I'll just keep it at that for now.

So between the stress of my hellish job and my personal life..... Because of this my muse is kinda dead right now and I'm probably in some state of depression. This has made me just want to shut away everything and has made it hard to do anything I used to enjoy. Hell, I've been trying to force myself write and explanation for why I've gone dark for a few months now.

So is that it? Is GURB a dead blog now?

Well despite all this, despite how gloomy things are right now... no. No, it's not dead. While it's probably going to be a while before I can sort things out and get back to writing I refuse to give up and quite just because life is rough right now.

It's going to be a while and I can give no time frame. I tried to force a return before only for life to swipe me back down. So while the blog is, for now, officially on hiatus... I do plan on returning when things are... well I wouldn't say all fixed... I don't think I'll ever totally fix the hot mess that is my life, but once things have calmed down a bit (At lest on the personal life end of the problems.... given it's gotten this bad at my job and they're still doing nothing to fix it I don't think that part is ever going to get better until I can find a way to out of that hellhole.) and I can get some energy back I'm going my damnedest to make my come back.

Till then sorry for the seemingly endless bad news and lack of updates guys. I hope you all are still here when I can make my come back.

Till then, never stop crunching and have a happy holidays.

High Tech: Raytheon Pike Laser Guided 40mm Munition

Yeah, that's the one.

In my post covering 30mm Gyrocs you might of noticed a pic I placed in there showing a really small missile with the words, “Welp, looks like TL9 is getting closer and closer.” written below it. Well there is a really good reason I stated that, I just didn't really explain why. You see that wasn't just a mock up of some “in the pipe works” concept but rather an example of Raytheon's newest toy, the Pike.

What makes the Pike special and a example of emergent TL9 tech is that its a laser guided mini-missile that's dimensions are only 40×430mm and weighs less then two pounds! Even better, it's designed to be fired out of conventional 40mm grenade launchers that are capable of firing what High-Tech calls long rounds (High-Tech pg 143) such as the H&K M320.

While not yet self guided and a bit bigger, the future depicted in the Transhuman Space where military rifles comes equipped with self guided 30mm mini-missiles is now looking very likely!

Now the actual weapon is still in development and has yet to be officially adopted, it is already close enough that it is being tested in field (by the Canadians it seems though I the sources on this is kinda sketchy. But this would be fitting since Transhuman Space's creator is Canadian heh) so there is a chance that well connected PC's in a modern game could find a way to snag a couple. I'm sure a group of monster hunters will put them to good use. Note that the current test model will only work in slightly modified grenade launcher thought the final model should be able to be fired from any launcher that can fire long rounds.

Now since the Pike is still in development and a rather new weapons system, there isn't exactly a lot of hard data out there so some of the stats I've come up with are borderline ass pull, especially the cost and accuracy and missiles speed. The other stats are reasonably sound.

Raytheon Pike 40mm Precision Guided Munition, 40mm (USA, 2020-)

The Pike is a 40mm precision-guided mini-missile developed by Raytheon that can be fired from conventional breach loaded 40mm grenade launchers such as the Heckler & Koch M320 or a FN mk 13 mod 0.

Unlike the 40mm grenades normally fired by these platforms, the Pike uses a digital, semi-active laser seeker to guide itself to the target and is powered by a rocket that gives a maximum range of 2,200 yards or 1.2 miles. The Pike can be guided using a laser designator that is attached to the firing rifle or by another team member and is capable of picking up a target that have been lazed after the round has been fired blind.

When fired, the Pike is “kicked” out the barrel but a soft launch system similar to regular 40mm grenades to a distance of about 3 yards. After that the main motor kicks in propelling it to a max range of about 2,200 yards in about 15 seconds.

The munition is meant to be used against fixed and slow-moving mid-ranged targets and uses a 10 oz HE-AB warhead (High-Tech pg. 174).



It is also meant to have greater accuracy and longer range then typical “RPG” systems and standard 40mm grenades while being lighter and far cheaper then current man portable guided weapon system.



The Pike is loaded just like a normal 40mm grenade, you slide the breach open and slide in the munition then close and lock the breach. This takes 3 ready actions. Then either firer, if the have a laser desingtor attached to their rifle, or another solider lazes the target using another ready action which gives +3 to Acc. The firer then takes an Aim Maneuver to line up the munition and gain the benefits of the +3 Acc and finally makes another ready action to make an unmodified Artillery (Guided Missile) roll to fire. Though as stated before, it can be blind fired (use Guns (LAW) in this case) and then have a target lazed with in a 60 degree cone in front of the munition while it is in flight. It will still receive the +3 Acc for being guided but does not gain the benefits of its own Acc of 3.

While so far only a HE-AB warhead is planned (shown in table), a potential HEDP warhead would do 7d×2(10) cr ex with 7d+1 cr ex [2d] linked. A hypothetical Thermobaric warhead would do 13d+1 cr ex (divide damage [2×distance in yards from the center of the blast]).

While this will not normally mater, it has backblast 1d+1.

ARTILLERY (GUIDED MISSILE) (IQ-5)

TL Weapon                           Damage            Acc     Range        Weight   RoF    Shots   ST   Cost   LC Notes

8    Raytheon PIKE, 40mm   11d cr ex [2d]    3        150/2,200    1.7        1          1(3)     6†    $700    1     [1, 2, 3]

[1] The munition has a minimum range of 30 yards.

[2] Has hazardous backblast, (see description). 

[3] Homing Attack (see BS pg. 413). Gunner uses Artillery (Guided Missile) to aim.

Fictional Firepower: Hughes MIB-3 Hammerhead

Hughes MIB-3 Hammerhead 190×150mm Short Range, All Mode Anti-Mecha/Surface/Ship Missile (UEG 2015-)
Used by all branches of the United Government Armed Forces including the United Earth Robotechnology Defense Force (RDF), The Armies of the Southern Cross (ASC), as well as the United Earth Robotechnology Expeditionary Force (REF); the Hammerhead has been the primer dog fighting missile since post 2015. With one of the most impressive kill counts of any missile in history, it is carried on almost all destroids, aircraft and and other vehicles currently in service including (but not limited to) the VF-6 Alpha (which it was originally developed for), VF-12 Beta, VF-4 Lightning III, MBR-10 Mk II Excalibur, and the F-206 Falcon II.

The Hammerhead is effectively a Terran upgraded copy of the feared Zentraedi Glatrlan Diwhaug, better known under its Terran codename MPA-6A Maggot Universal Dogfight Missile, and has a similar cylindrical main body with raised seeker section. Where it differs is its wider but squatter body to allow to a larger and more powerful warhead to be carried. Despite this, the Hammerhead is still small enough to be carried in large numbers like it's zentraedi fore bearer and even boasts almost twice the range.

Its primary role was also originally the same as the Maggots, to allow the carry of enough missile to let the firing platform to fire off a salvo of three to five rounds in the hope of over whelming the enemies point defense so a few missile get through. However the envisioned threat of troilian advanced forces never fully manifesting and the REF instead found its self at war with the mad tyrant Regent invid forces where the Hammerhead found its self as an even more well suited for this new target environment. Almost all invid mecha lacked any real form of point defense and could in most cases  be one shotted by the missile. In fact the only real down side was that even though most platforms could carry upwards of 30 or more of this missile, the shear numbers the invid could throw into even a low level battle meant that even this number of missile was barely ever enough.

Two types of warheads were available, a armor-piercing, hardcore explosive (see APHEX, Ultra-Tech pg. 152) warhead that is the most common used for air-to-air engagements while a high-energy plasma warhead (see Plasma, Ultra-Tech pg. 158) is against bunkers and other ground targets. Both versions warheads were 13lbs.

The original Hammerhead models where introduced in late 2015 and  used Combined IIR and active radar/home-on-jam seekers (treat as TL9 multi-Spectral Homing, Ultra-Tech pg. 146)  with the Hammerhead A carrying the APHEX warhead and the Hammerhead B carrying the plasma warhead. Both the A and the B where largely  phased out by the REF in 2026 but stayed in service by the ASC until its collapse at the hands of the invid. However a large stockpile remained even after the fall of the United Earth Government which added both local anti-invid resistance fighters as well as reclamation forces sent by the REF.

Starting in the 2025 the REF, with help the now liberated robotech master homeworld of Troil, developed a version of the Hammerhead with a slightly more advanced radar and hyperspectral seeker that was better suited to tracking invid mecha (treat as TL10 multi-Spectral Homing). The warhead options however remained the same as they both served in the anti-invid roles exceptionally well with the APHEX warhead now being called Hammerhead C and the plasma armed one being called Hammerhead D.

All versions were capable of off angle lock-ons.


Backblast: 6d+2 burn.

ARTILLERY (GUIDED MISSILE) (IQ-5) 
TL Weapon                                                         Damage          Acc   Range        Weight RoF Shots   ST   Cost        LC Notes
10   Hughes MIB-3 Hammerhead A, 190mm    7d×13(2) pi++  4      1,125/9,000  64        1      1(20) 17M  $130,000 1     [1]
       follow-up                                                     5d×5 cr ex [9d+2]

[1]The Hammerhead B model replaces the APHEX warhead with a plasma one that does 6d×26 burn ex sur. The B model is otherwise identical to the A model. 



While I figure a good chunk of you already know what this lil' missile I just stated up is all aboot, just in case you're scratching you head; I am yet again diving into the world of The New Generation saga from Robotech. Given that my last two posts covering the topic are among my most visited along with getting requests to cover more tech from the setting I decided now was a good time to get back at it (of course rediscovering an old file tucked away on my computer holding nothing but Robotech stuff might of had a thing or two with this as well heh).

Of course this is just a quick tease while I got limited net. In the mean time I'm gonna be tackling a few more robo-toys for you guys to play with (along with a couple of non-Robotech goodies that are pretty close to being done as well) so hang tight for now, there's more to come!

More GURPS Blogs that I like Part IV: The Revengeance Part II!

Holy crap, has it really been a year and a half since I posted about other GURPS blogs that I like?

Welp, time to bring an end to that nonsense! Especially now that the Brotherhood of GURPS Bloggers (who may or may not blog to much...) is over a hundred strong on the GURPSday list that the good ol' doctor of GURPS ballistics has to put together for us (really guys, Doug and Christoper deserve a big hand for how much they have helped the GURPS blog community grow).

First up is n-Body Politics by GURPS forumnite Kreios. Fundamentally this blog is an exercise in world bulding. Which I must say is a niche that needs more filling in the blogOshpere. Basically Kreios is  working on a fairly hard sci-fi setting he is currently calling n-Body Politics and each blog post covers what kinds of tech he wants for the setting, how to handle that tech and how what parts of GURPS he needs to use to get it to work. So far he's found Transhuman Space to be a good source of inspiration for his setting and is currently experimenting with both how 3rd and 4th edition handled specific situations and types of gear.

I got to say that blogs like this are excellent resources for new comers who want to run a game in GURPS or, hell, RPG's in general. Since one of the largest hurdles for new comers is how to even to start to come up with something to start with, this kind of blog (along with Mailanka's excellent Psi-Wars series of posts) help to give a good frame of reference to start off from.

Given how each blog post builds off of each other as he describes his setting, this is one of the few blogs I'd recommend starting from at lest his second post and reading them all in order (especially as his post count right now tops off at only 27 as of this post being write).

But just in case you don't have the time, here's a couple of good examples of what this blog is about.

This is the second post on the blog and the first one the really covers what the blog is about and goes to show you how much detail he's putting into this setting. 

This one covers a very important aspect of war that often ignored, the dreaded L word, Logistics.

And for some tech fun, some write ups covering some future AFV and fighters.

Next up is a blog I found out about only a few days before I started writing this blog quite on accident. It's called Biroids and Bombots  and run by a gentleman called Phil who I inso far as I know is not a member of the forums or GURPS discord. This blog is excursively about Transhuman Space and a rather meaty resivor of posts covering new weapons, new cybershells, new ways to use existing setting tech and musing on how to adapt more modern military tech and trends that came out after Transhuman Space first came out to the setting. While sadly a good chunk of his posts only describe the tech he covers rather then provides stats, the posts that do are nice and crunchy. Just the way I like it.

His post on 20mm Micromissiles and Rounds (which includes friggin' 20mm shotgun rounds!) is the first one I came across. A very good first impression.

His latest post on the effects of smoke on the battlefield is a pretty over all useful one.

This post covers the rules side of using weapons in Transhuman Space but if another overall generally useful post.

While lacking stats, this write of a spider like scybershell is both awesome and terrifying, especially since I hate Eight Legged Freaks! 

Last up is the quirky but fun blog 3d6 and Go! by GURPS Discord regular Natherz. While neither crunchy and not really sci-fi or tech originated he does cover a lot neat GURPS conversions of  anime characters well as going pretty much all out in doing a GURPS conversion of the adorably awesome micro-anime Aggretsuko as well as posting all sorts of useful tables and item cards for the low, low, price of free.

Here's his GURPS Aggretsuko adaption. It has a special stress mechanic that needs some place testing so if you give a try please drop him your thoughts on it either in a reply to the post or on the discord server.

As a major Cowboy Bebop fan (if you haven't seen it and are a fan of Firefly, then you're pretty much already a fan of Cowboy Bebop, you just don't know it yet) I also support his write of the series lead, Spike Spiegel. More Bebop please.

Also just for the LAWLZ, his write up of the inferior Pokemon lead, Ash Ketchum (and Pikachu).

Also, Also the One Punch Man himself.... though his Trademark (Always kills with one Punch) seems like a bit of  a cop out heh.

A Large Battle Update Ship Approaches!: Shield: Reactionary Armor

Recently, fellow GURPS blogger Cheomesh added another insanely detailed write of a NOD vehicle on his blog for his Command and Conquer campaign, The Rekeb light tank.

Basically an improved up modded version of the M24 Caffee that is typical of NOD's habit of taking seemingly out of date third world vehicles and remaking them into systems that are useful on the modern battlefield.

Well while reading over his write up I noticed that he had a variant using reactive armor  and he used my rules for stating them up. He also noted that their stats seemed to be a little too good vs. KE rounds. Well he was right. My stats are for hypothetical  TL9+  which are based on more advanced of modern generation 3 type reactive armors which are designed to defeat KE rounds as well as HEAT. They type of reactive armor that NOD would have, especially given that his setting is in the 90's would be closer to Gen 1 reactive armors which had little in the way of defeating KE rounds outside of the normal DR the bricks of reactive armor had.

So I left a reply on his blog clearing that up and on a whim I decided to look over my reactive armor post and.... well... I noticed that I kinda goofed up on some of the numbers! I really don't know what happened but more then likely it had something to do with my old habit of staying up to around 4 in the morning attempting to finish my posts by Thursday.

So needless to say I reedited the post with the corrected numbers!

Sorry for an inconvenience this caused! I'll try to keep and eye out for any other mistakes this large and correct them as needed. I also may go back and update some posts if I find newer data that makes what I posted out of date.

So once again, here's the link to the post: Shield: Reactionary Armor. 

Ultra-Tech Ultra-Gear: 30mm Gyroc

Who doesn't like the idea of arming themselves with hand held rocket launchers?


While Ultra-Tech gave some us some 15mm gyrocs to play with, I think it doesn't hurt to up the firepower quota a little higher.

In todays post I not only give a 4th edition take on 30mm gyrocs, but stat every type of warhead a 30mm warhead can take as well as give you guys some more upgrade options for both 15 and 30mm gyrocs.



Follow me after the jump if you are read to Gy-Roc!

Ultra-Tech Ultra-Quickie: Electrolaser Design

While I wasn't originally planning on posting this week, inspiration hit me last minute!

I was  flipping through Ultra-Tech (as I'm want to do) when I came across the section on Electrolasers and realized I never paid these weapons too much mind before. I gave that section a quick read and decided to see if I could take it apart and build a logical system out of it.

Despite the massive amount of typos and oddities there were on weapon stat tables, I was able to quickly take it apart and thought what the heck, might as well make quick post out of it!

Hop on over the jump break and see how to add Electrolasers to the list of weapons you can build with the Blaster and Laser Design System.

Ultra-Tech: New Laser Options

A while ago a user of the GURPS Discord server by the name of Jose asked me for help designing a TL10 laser that could be used underwater, punch through DR300 and had to be at lest somewhat man portable but at lest he was ok with it being disposable. Sounded like a fun challenge so I gave it go and came up with a bit of an house rule that let him have a laser with a 3 armor divisor at the cost of a major reduction in range, slapped it on a disposable laser and made it out of advanced material to get the weight down to a semi-reasonable level.

Well, he was happy with it and I figured that I had my next blog post.... and then life happened.

But now I'm back! Follow me after the jump for more musings and options to get more millage out of your laser weapons.

Spaceships Ultra-Quickie: Even More Survivable Spaceships

Yeah, it's been a while. I tried back when I posted my lost article to get back to blogging but sadly things didn't go to well.

Welp, I'm taking another shot at getting the ball rolling and hopefully I can make it stick this time heh.

So I figured might as well start off with a quick lil' post to easy back into things while I finish up some of more complex ideas.

For this quick post I'm gonna take another crack at making ships and vehicles you make in GURPS Spaceships a little more survivable.

Military Grade Armor (TL10+)
The stats for Nanocomposite, Diamondoid, and Exotic Laminate represent the type of materials that would be used in either civilian level vessels or "unarmored" style ships that are more like modern navel destroyers. This is usually do to cost since higher grades of armor materials are far more expensive. However, higher grade materials are available if cost isn't a major factor.

Military grade armor doubles the dDR that a system of  Nanocomposite, Diamondoid, and Exotic Laminate give buy cost 4 times as much. This armor also counts as laminate and doubles its dDR against shaped charge and plasma based attacks.

Do to the cost most large ships and vehicles are not going to be able to afford to cover the whole ship in the best armor and instead will only either only cover the sides likely to be hit in combat (such as the front hull for tanks or for ships meant to attack into their forward arc while approaching the enemy) or you can use my optional rules here to simulate adding armored belts to protect only specific sections of a ship.