Pre P.A. Calendar technology level?

[Thinyser]

So my campaign has a group of super-soldiers dropped from orbit to Rifts Earth at -3 P.A. (thats three years before the P.A. Calendar starts or 2283 A.D. of our calendar) and have only a vague idea of what level of tech should be around at that time. Obviously there are MD weapons and MDC armor to be scavenged and some way to charge the e-clips available, but would you say there are manufacturing facilities that can make these items yet? (man made not made from MDC hide/carapace)

What level of tech would you have at this time period? Give examples (would you say that bionic limb replacement was available? full borg conversion? nuclear power sources? hover-vehicles? etc.) and where you could find said levels of tech.

Provide reasons if you wish. Cite book and page references if you really want to impress me!

[partingshot]

You may want to take a gander at Rifts® Chaos Earth (specifically pages 50-94). It deals with pre-Rifts technology in a landscape set directly after the Apocalypse.

[Mr. Jays]

Triax was around, so some of its older equipment must have been

[Thinyser]

You may want to take a gander at Rifts® Chaos Earth (specifically pages 50-94). It deals with pre-Rifts technology in a landscape set directly after the Apocalypse.

Problem with that is that we are talking about a time almost 200 years after the apocalypse not in the few years directly following it.

Thanks for the reference though!

[Thinyser]

Triax was around, so some of its older equipment must have been

You are correct and thank you for the reference also! That said a detail I left out was that the group landed in what was west Kansas and is now in what was Colorado.

[Glistam]

I thought Wilks Laser Technology was around. Let me check New West... Nope, not active yet. The Rogue Scientist Wallace John Wilk won't discover the South Dakota factory (which was spared during the cominc of the Rifts) until around 21 P.A. (24 years after your campaign is set). This is on page 203 of Rifts New West.

The New Navy is active at this time, but they aren't directly providing weapons to the inland survivors. Still, those who they let go may have brought equipment with them as they traveled.

Free Quebec was around - page 20 of WB 22 says Free Quebec survived the apocalypse and never fell through the dark ages. It managed to fight back and survive, becoming a true power around 50-60 years before the start of the P.A. calendar. That's mostly because of Glitter Boys.

Page 8 of Northern Gun 1 seems to indicate that the arms manufacturer was around and making weapons through the Dark Ages, so their gear (as per the earlier books, I'd imagine) may be available.

You can also still have them find and salvage old NEMA or military equipment.

[H.P. Hovercraft]

In the Kansas/Colorado area, it's going to be mostly up to you; there just aren't many canon references in that time frame.

Bandito Arms (or an early version of it) 'may' exist, but no Area 51 tech (as they haven't found it yet).

Pg 8 of Bionic Sourcebook says, "...throughout the devouring Dark Age........bionics not only survived, but thrived." So, limb replacement et. al. should be available.

One thing to keep in mind is TW. Although obviously not "pure" tech, it could easily provide E-clip charging, armour repair and vehicles......and given that your chars are headed into New West territory, it's worth a consideration.

I'm sure that if NG has manufacturing capabilities at this time, then the CS does also.......

........and the CS need to be looked at in this time frame, as well. Prior to 12 PA, the Coalition was, "a peaceful, introspective community (WB 11, pg20)" who also had, "a small, experimental magic division."

[Thinyser]

I thought Wilks Laser Technology was around. Let me check New West... Nope, not active yet. The Rogue Scientist Wallace John Wilk won't discover the South Dakota factory (which was spared during the cominc of the Rifts) until around 21 P.A. (24 years after your campaign is set). This is on page 203 of Rifts New West.

The New Navy is active at this time, but they aren't directly providing weapons to the inland survivors. Still, those who they let go may have brought equipment with them as they traveled.

Free Quebec was around - page 20 of WB 22 says Free Quebec survived the apocalypse and never fell through the dark ages. It managed to fight back and survive, becoming a true power around 50-60 years before the start of the P.A. calendar. That's mostly because of Glitter Boys.

Page 8 of Northern Gun 1 seems to indicate that the arms manufacturer was around and making weapons through the Dark Ages, so their gear (as per the earlier books, I'd imagine) may be available.

You can also still have them find and salvage old NEMA or military equipment.

Awesome that helps a lot!

They actually have found a good sized cache (20 rifles and 10 pistols with 1 eclip for each) of NEMA gear in Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) facility (but no survivors) and no ready way to charge the eclips since the nuclear power-plant there was powered down and out of coolant and almost melted down. They do have some "backpack-nuke power supplies" from their own orbital drop pods but they will only charge the eclips that go with their (very weak for Rifts) 1d6MD per shot laser rifles (very powerful for the pre-golden age tech it is) that they had with them in their drop pods without modifications that they simply don't have the tools for yet.

They have looted some MDC EBA armor (Bushman) from bandits they defeated as well as some homemade fury beetle armor they made themselves.

[Thinyser]

In the Kansas/Colorado area, it's going to be mostly up to you; there just aren't many canon references in that time frame.

Bandito Arms (or an early version of it) 'may' exist, but no Area 51 tech (as they haven't found it yet).

Pg 8 of Bionic Sourcebook says, "...throughout the devouring Dark Age........bionics not only survived, but thrived." So, limb replacement et. al. should be available.

One thing to keep in mind is TW. Although obviously not "pure" tech, it could easily provide E-clip charging, armour repair and vehicles......and given that your chars are headed into New West territory, it's worth a consideration.

I'm sure that if NG has manufacturing capabilities at this time, then the CS does also.......

........and the CS need to be looked at in this time frame, as well. Prior to 12 PA, the Coalition was, "a peaceful, introspective community (WB 11, pg20)" who also had, "a small, experimental magic division."

Awesome thanks for those references! How prolific/available do you think TW is in that time?

in the timeline that I read (p12 RGMG) it said that the C.S. is formed in 33 P.A. (prior to that it was Chi-town but not technically the Coalition States) and they (Chi-town) likely did have quite substantial manufacturing facilities quite a while before the P.A. calendar started.

[kaid]

So my campaign has a group of super-soldiers dropped from orbit to Rifts Earth at -3 P.A. (thats three years before the P.A. Calendar starts or 2283 A.D. of our calendar) and have only a vague idea of what level of tech should be around at that time. Obviously there are MD weapons and MDC armor to be scavenged and some way to charge the e-clips available, but would you say there are manufacturing facilities that can make these items yet? (man made not made from MDC hide/carapace)

What level of tech would you have at this time period? Give examples (would you say that bionic limb replacement was available? full borg conversion? nuclear power sources? hover-vehicles? etc.) and where you could find said levels of tech.

Provide reasons if you wish. Cite book and page references if you really want to impress me!

If you can find it I would check out mutants in orbit that combined with chaos earth is probably your best snap shot of what orbital habitats would have had technology wise.

For gear found on the ground once they arrive.
Nema gear is a good guide line because most of the initial CS weapons from the old RMB were basically nema weapon copies. Most of the tech during the dark ages would have been factory sites that were originally setup to produce nema weapons/armor. NG was active in an early form during the latter parts of the dark ages but I would have to double check if they ever listed a founding date.

Bionics survived during the dark ages a lot of it I imagine was constant recycling of "used parts" from battle field casualties see charr from the dinosaur swamp books for how that would work.

Also there is a chance at alien tech as during that time frame the rifts were still more active than they currently are so quite a bit of exta dimensional cross pollination.

[Glistam]

Rifts: Underseas is also using pre-cataclysm military technology.

[kaid]

Rifts: Underseas is also using pre-cataclysm military technology.

Good call I always forget about that but yes new navy is using front line naval issue equipment armor/weapons so that likely would be gear one could still find in mainland bases.

[Library Ogre]

At 3BPA, I don't imagine there's going to be too much difference in available technology, just in technology availability. A good chunk of the higher-end stuff is pre-Rifts, so it exists, but a lot of the bigger players are smaller. There may also be some old big players who are now gone, and the various CS States (save Lone Star) will exist, but as independent nations (so Iron Heart, New Chillicothe, and Quebec are all extant, but not skull-themed).

[Thinyser]

So my campaign has a group of super-soldiers dropped from orbit to Rifts Earth at -3 P.A. (thats three years before the P.A. Calendar starts or 2283 A.D. of our calendar) and have only a vague idea of what level of tech should be around at that time. Obviously there are MD weapons and MDC armor to be scavenged and some way to charge the e-clips available, but would you say there are manufacturing facilities that can make these items yet? (man made not made from MDC hide/carapace)

What level of tech would you have at this time period? Give examples (would you say that bionic limb replacement was available? full borg conversion? nuclear power sources? hover-vehicles? etc.) and where you could find said levels of tech.

Provide reasons if you wish. Cite book and page references if you really want to impress me!

If you can find it I would check out mutants in orbit that combined with chaos earth is probably your best snap shot of what orbital habitats would have had technology wise.

For gear found on the ground once they arrive.
Nema gear is a good guide line because most of the initial CS weapons from the old RMB were basically nema weapon copies. Most of the tech during the dark ages would have been factory sites that were originally setup to produce nema weapons/armor. NG was active in an early form during the latter parts of the dark ages but I would have to double check if they ever listed a founding date.

Bionics survived during the dark ages a lot of it I imagine was constant recycling of "used parts" from battle field casualties see charr from the dinosaur swamp books for how that would work.

Also there is a chance at alien tech as during that time frame the rifts were still more active than they currently are so quite a bit of exta dimensional cross pollination.

Thanks but FYI they were military unit sent up to orbit frozen since 2035 not actually part of any orbital society.

Interesting idea on the alien/cross dimensional tech.

[Thinyser]

At 3BPA, I don't imagine there's going to be too much difference in available technology, just in technology availability. A good chunk of the higher-end stuff is pre-Rifts, so it exists, but a lot of the bigger players are smaller. There may also be some old big players who are now gone, and the various CS States (save Lone Star) will exist, but as independent nations (so Iron Heart, New Chillicothe, and Quebec are all extant, but not skull-themed).

Nicely said. Thanks!