Mines in Shadowrun Shadowrun is not a battle oriented game, by design, but it does have a setting that allows for quite a bit of military action. After all, there is a notable lack of superpowers on the globe; only allied coalitions of nations can muster enough overwhelming military power to lean on their opponents in the manner that Russia and the United States did throughout the "Cold War" and beyond. With all these smaller nations and governments around, there is a notable increase of "brush wars"; of passing conflicts, small battles, minor skirmishes and things of a less than all out nature. Guerrilla warfare is the term that comes to mind, and the one that I will use. As a result of this shift in the global socio-political balance; defense contractors and other weapons designers shifted their focuses. Where the emphasis used to be on single use, massive weapons systems and platforms; now things are multi-functional, versatile and flexible. Aircraft are capable of more than just air-to-air combat, or air-to-ground combat; they can handle both. Tanks that can operate effectively in toe to toe slugfests on the battlefield or block to block in an urban maze. And that means infantry that can do more than merely look around corners, spot for air delivered weapons and shoot at opposing infantry. The new era of high technology has given the modern solider a whole host of options for offense and defense against what was once the sole realm of vehicles only. Part of this new infantry combat system is explosives, specifically missiles and mines. I've dealt with missiles, rather effectively I think; and now I'll turn to mines. As with the ranged delivery explosive systems, mines have many options and many configurations that give them the spread of abilities to assist the troops regardless of the situation. What follows is the basics, as I've detailed them, of a complete mine or mine system. You can get light or powerful, simple or complex, quick or intricate; all as you need or decide. These are rules that are flexible and fun to use, putting tactical decisions firmly in the hands of the players and GMs that choose to make them. -----Detonation Systems----- The key in any explosive device, missile, mine, bomb, is the detonation parameters. How does it detonate, what is required to set it off? Modern mines are very sophisticated in their detonation. The host of options is nearly inexhaustible in it's variety and ability to give what is required to meet the needs of the situation. First up would be the old stand by, pressure. The mine has pressure applied to it and it detonates. I don't have the background in the maths required to be specific, or I'd get technical with PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) pressure and such. I'll just handle it with straight weight and some kind engineer type out there reading this can contact me with the proper figures and a short explanation. Generally, the detonator can be set to any level of pressure before it detonates; as light as a breath of wind to as heavy as a suborbital. This is important for a classic tactic; set your mines to not detonate for anything less than about the weights of your enemy's heavier equipment. The screening forces and advance/scout forces pass right over your heavily concealed ordnance and only begin detonating when the prime targets are in the kill zone. After pressure, tripwires of all sorts can be used. These are generally only used for anti-personnel varieties, or for wide damage zone devices (wide in this instance means a large area, whether uncontrolled or shaped charge); allowing detonation of the device before the target(s) are actually *over* it. Old fashioned tripwires can be used; move them at all (ie, cause a pull on the sensors that secure either end of the wire) up to or past their pressure threshold and they detonate the device. You can also double the threat by making the tripwire a monowire; not only does that give you the laceration damage of a monowire, it might distract your target(s) into thinking it merely a cut-trap. Lasers are a higher tech variation on tripwires. Without the proper equipment, lasers are far more invisible than a wire. Visible light lasers aren't very noticeable unless the air has enough particle to "scatter" the light. This scattering principle also goes for non-visible light laser systems; infrared and ultraviolet. Regardless, if the laser beam is broken (the sensors at either end register an interruption in the beam) and detonation occurs. Moving along, there's timed delay. The mine incorporates a bomb style timer that detonates the device after a certain interval of time has passed. After that, remote detonation. If the mine receives a proper radio signal, most often on a certain frequency in a certain encryption, it detonates the device. Then you can get fancy. Nearly any manner of sensor can be used with a mine package. Thermographic sensors that will trigger detonation if heat form(s) matching set parameters (vehicular, humanoid, etc..) are detected inside a certain range. Motion sensors that detonate if movement is detected inside a certain range, if the motion meets those lovely parameters (how large is the object moving, how fast, etc..). Basically, any type of sensor may be adapted. Of course, any number of different triggers may be used, and most often are. Remote detonation is probably the number one secondary trigger, and with some more exotic or elaborate mines it might be required; not activating the mine until the setting personnel are clear. You can even have one trigger set off another trigger, like a pressure release detonator that triggers a remote detonator after a certain time delay; possibly allowing your targets to fully enter the minefield before all hell starts breaking loose? Regardless, the configuration of the mine is up to the user; any competent armorer may change or add to the configuration. -----Device Types----- What the trigger triggers is the most important part of the whole device. There are a wide variety of types, each with strengths and weaknesses. All inflict damage, and can affect nearly any type of target to some degree or another; but some targets will be much more resistant to some devices than they will others. High Explosive is the most common, and simplest, type. It is simply an amount of explosive that generates a blast that relys on heat and the sudden air pressure wave to inflict damage. Generally, hardened targets such as armored vehicles and sturdy structures are mostly immune to direct damage from such devices. Secondary damage that might result from getting tossed around by the air disturbance is the most that can generally be hoped for, as well as damage or destruction of non-hardened items attached to it like weaker windows, sensors and so forth. Anti-Personnel is mostly an extension of HE. It adds fragmentary effect to the blast that will tear and rend soft targets such as people. Consider it similar to shotgun blasts; fragments travelling at high speed followed by heat and air pressure. Shaped Charge is the last type, though it too is mostly an extension of basic HE explosives. It is merely an application of detonations and physics knowledge to channel the force of the explosion in certain directions, generally all in one fairly small cone. This drastic increase in applied force allows damage to be inflicted to hardened targets. The weakness is in it's limited area of effect; the results to targets not in the cone is much weaker. -----Stats----- What follows are a number of mines that are available for use in the market, as well as costs for configuration of triggers. Any mine may be reconfigured in trigger, even those that come preconfigured. Any chemists or military enthusiasts out there can send me specific compound names and I will gladly use them; my knowledge is plastic explosives, TNT and that's about it. -----Trigger Stats----- Pressure: Equipping a mine with a standard pressure trigger costs 200, allowing it to be set to ignore (not detonate) any weight from zero (detonates on any pressure) to 100 kilos; to detonate a weight greater than the setting must be applied. For a device that ranges to 200 kilos, double the cost, and continue doubling the cost for every doubling of the top end range (to 400 kilos range, 800, etc..) up to a reasonable upper limit that the GM decides is applicable. This limit should be about at 20% over the weight of a standard scout vehicle (jeep, etc). Pressure Release: Any standard pressure trigger may be set to detonate only after the *release* of pressure; useful for anti-personnel mines (keeps the man atop it from limiting the blast area). Any application of pressure that passes the parameters, detonation occurs after 50% of that pressure has been removed (if the setting's for 10 kilos, 90 kilos of pressure applied, then more than 45 kilos removed, detonation). Add 20% to the cost of an equilivant pressure trigger (a standard trigger with the 0-100 kilo range costs 220). Tripwire: Equipping a mine to accept detonation orders from a tripwire unit is 300. Set up the tripwire, attach the sensors to the ends and run leads to the mine. Set parameters for the tripwire identically to those for a pressure trigger; a standard tripwire can be set for 0 to 50 centimeters. Double the cost for every additional doubling of the range. The only limiting factor is how much wire you include to be paid out as it is stretched. Tripwire release: Identical to the pressure release trigger; detonates only after the pressure on the tripwire has lessened. The pressure must first have passed the detonation parameters, then any reduction of more than 50% of that amount triggers the mine. This is intended mainly to catch people who realise that they're on a tripwire and attempt to back out without "pushing past the limit"; not realising that if they stay still they'll be ok. Add 20% to the cost. Laser: Equipping a mine to accept detonation orders from a laser "tripwire" is 1000. Set up your laser emitter(s) and receptor(s) and attach the leads back to the mine. If the beam is broken, it detonates. A standard laser trigger can be set to detonate on any break of the beam or to wait for a break of a certain length of time (no upper limit). This might be useful to detonate only on a larger vehicle, for example, rather than on the smaller screening vehicles. You can also set it to not detonate until it has been broken a certain number of times (no upper limit); allowing detonation to affect the middle of a marching order. Laser release: Similar to the pressure and tripwire release systems. Sets the standard laser system to not detonate until after it reestablishes itself after a beam breakage; that is, the beam is broken and then unbroken, like someone walking through it. The beam won't detonate until after the person has passed the beam. Add 20% to the cost. Timer: Standard time with a maximum time setting of ninety-nine hours. Set your time and when it reaches 0:00:00 it detonates. Simple and foolproof. 100. Remote: A single frequency radio that monitors for a transmission that meets it's detonation parameters; generally a code or a code encrypted in a specific way. If the signal is received, detonation. 250. Thermographic: A heat sensor that triggers detonation on detection of heat patterns that match it's parameters. The cheapest trigger of this type looks for any heat pattern that is a set number of degrees above the air temperature and within a set distance; if set for +10 degrees and 1 meter, and it's 21 degrees Celsius outside, anything 31 degrees Celsius or higher in range triggers detonation. This is 900. More expensive is one that is set to trigger if anything hotter than the set parameters enters the set range; this is 2000. Thermographic Release: again, this triggers detonation only *after* the set parameters have been met, then backed down from. For a thermo trigger, that would mean either a heat pattern entering the set distance then cooling to below a second set level (can be from one to any number of degrees lower) or leaves the set range. Add 20% to the cost. Ultrasonic: Uses ultrasound to aurally map the area, computing for size and speed of objects. Arming it causes it to map the area and tag as "non-targets" all "scenery" (trees, buildings, etc...); thereafter anything that matches the parameters triggers detonation. Parameters may be set for a certain size or larger, a certain speed or higher, or both, within a set range. Note that this is an active trigger, detectable and possibly avoidable as a result. Cost is 3000 Ultrasonic release: Same old release. If parameters are met, then backed away from, detonation. In this case, it would be any object that triggers the speed parameter then slows, that enters the range, then leaves, or (somehow) triggers the size parameter then shrinks. Add 20% to the cost. -----Mines----- M-502: (Standard HE). The "baseline" model for mines, simply a 1/2 kilo of explosives. Damage is 6D, -1 Power/6 meters. 750 apiece. ** Note that for all mines; every doubling of the amount of explosive equilivant of 1/2 kilo of "general" grade explosives doubles the damage and size, not to mention cost. Theoretically, there is no upper limit on how big of a mine you could create. Every doubling also doubles the cost of a "jumper" charge. Also note that all costs below are for just the device itself; does not include triggers. Those must be purchased and configured/installed separately. ** A jump charge equipped device leaps into the air via a small lifting charge underneath it before exploding. This has the effect of increasing the area of effect by raising the detonation point, and allowing shockwaves to travel along with the ground instead of having to force their way out of the ground. A jumper will go (1d6/2) meters in the air. Make all determinations for frag modifiers before calculating the jump modifiers. Increase the Power Level of any jump charge weapon by 2 and add 1 meter to the distance travelled to reduce the Power. Jump charges increase the cost by +100. M-502j: (HE jumper). A basic M-502 with a "jump charge" added. Damage is 8D and -1 Power/7 meters. 850 apiece. ** Adding Fragmentation effect to a device drastically increases the damage inflicted, and how that damage is done. Rather than relying solely on heat and blast effect, shrapnel and other sharp, small, hard objects moving with the blast will rip and tear into targets. Add 3 to the Power Level of any Frag device, and reduce the distance travelled before a Power Level reduction by 1 meter. Increase the cost of the device by 40%. M-503: (HE Frag). This is an M-502 with frag added to the blast. Damage is 9D, -1 Power/5 meters. 1050 apiece. M-503j: (HE Frag jumper). Base M-503 with a jump charge. Damage is 11D, -1 Power/6 meters. 1190 apiece. M-510: (Anti-personnel). More or less a flechette bomb, detonating with a weak charge that is there only to power a scathing wave of flechettes that blanket the area. Use flechette damage rules. Damage is 8S, -1 Power/3 meters. 600 apiece. M-510j: (Anti-personnel jumper). Base M-510 with a jump charge. Damage is 10S, -1 Power/4 meters. 700 apiece. ** For any shaped charge explosion (assuming a cone that is 70 degrees in arc), increase the base damage of the explosion by 50% (round down). Make all determinations for Frag or Jumpers before calculating the shaped charge modifiers. Add 1 meter to the distance traveled before a Power Level reduction for in-cone determinations, Add 2 meters to the distance traveled before a Power Level reduction and flip the numbers (-1/8m becomes -8/1m) for out-cone determinations. Double the cost. M-504: (HE Shaped Charge). Same explosive force of a M-502 channeled into a cone 35 degrees horizontal by -10 degrees to 60 degrees vertical. Damage is 9D. -1 Power/7 meters in the cone, -8 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 1500 apiece. M-504j: (HE Shaped Charge jumper). M-504 with a jump charge. Cone is altered to a true 35 degree by 35 degree cone. Damage is 12D. -1 Power/8 meters in the cone, -9 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 1600 apiece. M-505: (HE Frag, Shaped Charge). Base M-504 with frag added. Damage is 13D. -1 Power/6 meters in the cone, -9 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 2100 apiece. M-505j: (HE Frag, Shaped Charge jumper). M-505 with a jump charge. Cone is a true 35 degree by 35 degree cone. Damage is 16D. -1 Power/7 meters in the cone, -6 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 2300 apiece. M-511 (Anti-personnel, Shaped Charge). An M-510 channeled in a shaped blast. Standard ground cone. Damage is 12S. -1 Power/4 meters in the cone, -5 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 1200 apiece. M-511j (Anti-personnel, Shaped Charge jumper). An M-511 with a jump charge. Standard "true" jumper cone. Damage is 15S. -1 Power/5 meters in the cone, -6 Power/1 meter out of the cone. 1400 apiece. M-520: (Chemical). A small "spreader" charge is surrounded by an amount of chemical. Upon detonation, a radius of 3 meters plus 1d6 meters will be covered the chemical. Multiple "part" chemicals such as thermite may be used. Damage from the spreader charge is 3M, -3 Power/meter. 300 apiece plus chemical costs equal to 10 "doses". M-530: (Gaseous). Just a gas release system; an amount of gas in held inside that will fill a 12 cubic meter area. See "Neo Anarchists': Guide to Real Life", pages 87-88 for more on gas systems. 300 apiece plus gas costs equal to 3 "charges" (grenades' worth). Table for easy reference Triggers Cost Availability Street Index Pressure 200 5/24hrs 1.5 Release +20% 6/30hrs 2 Tripwire 300 4/24hrs 1.5 Release +20% 5/30hrs 2 Laser 1000 6/36hrs 1.5 Release +20% 7/42hrs 2 Thermographic, cheap 900 4/48hrs 1.2 Release +20% 5/54hrs 1.7 Thermographic, expn. 2000 6/48hrs 2 Release +20% 7/54hrs 2.5 Ultrasonic 3000 5/36hrs 1.5 Release +20% 6/54hrs 2 Timer 100 4/48hrs 2 Remote 250 4/48hrs 2 Item Damage Range Cost Availability Street Index M-502 6D -1/6m 750 6/14 days 1.5 M-502j 8D -1/7m 850 9/14 days 2 M-503 9D -1/5m 1050 7/14 days 2 M-503j 11D -1/6m 1190 10/14 days 2.5 M-504 9D(av) -1/7m in 1500 8/14 days 2.5 -8/1m out M-504j 12D(av) -1/8m in 1600 10/14 days 3 -9/1m out M-505 13D(av) -1/6m in 2100 10/14 days 3 -8/1m out M-505j 16D(av) -1/7m in 2300 12/14 days 3.5 -8/1m out M-510 8S(f) -1/3m 600 6/9 days 1.5 M-510j 10S(f) -1/4m 700 9/9 days 2 M-511 12S(f) -1/4m in 1200 9/14 days 2 M-511j 15S(f) -5/1m out 1400 12/14 days 2.5 M-520 3M* -3/1m 300 + * 9/14 days 1.5 M-530 * * 300 + * 9/14 days 1.5