Non-driveable vehicles?

[Constipated BladeRunner]

Just out of curiosity, how do people feel about the idea of vehicles in the game that cannot be driven? Like perhaps some sort of Plasma-Tank, that looks like a T-34, only shiny like PA and replaces a cannon with a giant plasma rifle?
Could be good for those times when you are tired of fighting humanoids.
ALSO THINK OF THE DEATH ANIMATIONS! WONT SOMEONE PLESE THINK OF THE HILARIOUS DEATH ANIMATIONS FOR A TANK EQUIPED-SIZED PLASMA RIFLE!
Also, plese note that I am very opposed to anyone but the main enemy in the game controlling them.
Or the BOS, maybe.

[Blarg]

It could work. An ancient tank, its crew dead or missing, its computer still carrying out guard duty or some other long-forgotten order, roams the wastes or patrols outside a long-forgotten installation. Perhaps it is near a military base, and is kept functional by maintenance robots. Its logic centers have deteriorated to the point that anything moving that is human-sized or bigger(except its repair bots) is seen as a threat(even if it only has a spear), especially if it ignores warning signs and orders to leave the area. The tank is unaware that many of the signs have rusted away, many people are illiterate anyway, and that its loudspeaker is damaged and no one can understand the tank's speech until it is fixed. Perhaps the preceding is irrelevant because its last order was to kill anyone without proper identification that got within 500 meters. You may need to destroy it or disable its power, weapons, or sensors. You may have to infiltrate the sections of the base you can reach (or the remains of off-base housing), salvage an officer's uniform, and hope you can bluff it into letting you pass...

Keith Laumer's Bolo stories, and Steve Jackson Games' OGRE game involve the premise of computerized tanks running amok and/or saving the day.

[OnTheBounce]

That's an interesting idea, CBR. I like the idea of a robotic tank patrolling the perimeter of some forgotten installation. Basically, as I see it, this thing should be what the TankBot of FoT should have been: a heavily armored opponent - probably well-insulated against EMP to keep players from killing it too easily - that lumbers around on tracks and spews death from an obscenely powerful main gun.

I like Blarg's idea about getting the uniform and bluffing your way past. That reminds me of the "Death Machines" of T$R's old Gamma World RPG. They were these almost ludicrously powerful, floating discs that bristled with weapons - some of which could kill multiple opponents in a single shot - and had energy shields that absorbed obscene amounts of damage only to regenerate the next turn. Death Machines wouldn't fuck with you if you had a high-level ID card with you, though.

Overall, I'd say the concept deserves some attention. As long as it isn't something that the PC can disable and then drive off in. Maybe it has a self-destruct mechanism that triggers if it is taken beyond the perimeter of the installation, or something of that nature.

OTB

[Megatron]

I like that idea.

There should be more things like that, instead of town->hassled by gang->kill gang->fed-ex->move onto next town. Mabye like every night flesh-eating ghouls come out of the sewers and eat any people still wandering around outside. Or a 15 foot super-mutant who wanders round a junk-yard and trys to eat the midgets who populate it. Mabye even a town fully populated with children or mabye a town with an apple tree in the middle where they lynch people.

Towns need stuff you can remember them by. Redding, den and klamath seem to blur into one, but I remember places like junk town and new reno.

[OnTheBounce]

Mabye like every night flesh-eating ghouls come out of the sewers and eat any people still wandering around outside.

That's one thing that FO was much better about than FO2: time-based occurences. There were a lot of things that happened only if you were in an area at night, for instance, or at a particular time.

Good point, Pyro.

OTB

[VasikkA]

The tank thing sounds like a puzzle. Maybe you would need to find out how to control it and use the plasma gun to destroy an obstacle blocking your way. There aren't much puzzles in RPGs, so I guess that would be interesting.
I'd also like to see more difference between day and night. At night, shops would be closed and people would be inside their houses sleeping(an appropriate time for killing someone). Also, gangs, whores and other criminal activity would flourish at nights. It knocks the atmosphere a little seeing people standing in the same spot 24/7, but on the other hand we're used to that since it's probably the oldest cliché in CRPGs.

[Dan]

I'd also like to see more difference between day and night. At night, shops would be closed and people would be inside their houses sleeping(an appropriate time for killing someone). Also, gangs, whores and other criminal activity would flourish at nights. It knocks the atmosphere a little seeing people standing in the same spot 24/7, but on the other hand we're used to that since it's probably the oldest cliché in CRPGs.

Once again, I'll use Arcanum as reference.

I think it handeled day/night pretty well. The stores were all closed during the night, and the shopkeepers were asleep.

I like the idea of criminal activity increasing during the night.

[Kashluk]

What does CRPG mean again?

[Dan]

What does CRPG mean again?

Computer Role Playing Game.

[VasikkA]

The second time you ask that Kashluk, if I recall correctly.

[Dan]

The second time you ask that Kashluk, if I recall correctly.

Well, he did say again.

[Saint_Proverbius]

Paranoia had a scenario where the Computer(Who is Perfect. It is Treason to doubt the Computer) assigns you and some troubleshooters to protect a killer megatank from harm. Allowing the killer megatank to be damaged would be Treason. At the same time, the killer megatank decides you are a threat, and it tries to kill you.

I miss Paranoia.

[Blarg]

So do I sometimes.
http://paranoia-rpg.com/

Happiness is Mandatory.
You are in error. 2+2=5.3817. Please recalibrate your equipment accordingly.

The RPG Paranoia is completely unrelated to this. Move along, citizen.

Back cover blurb:
"Imagine a world designed by Kafka, Stalin, Orwell, Huxley, Sartre and the Marx Brothers...
Paranoia is a roleplaying game set in a darkly humorous future. In Paranoia, a well-meaning but deranged computer desperately protects the citizens of an underground warren from all sorts of real and imagined enemies.

You play one of The Computer's elite agents. Your job is to search out and destroy the enemies of The Computer. Your worst fear is that The Computer will discover that you are one of these enemies.

Paranoia: A lighthearted game of terror, death, bureaucracies, mad scientists, mutants, dangerous weapons, and insane robots, which encourages players to lie, to cheat, and backstab each other at every turn.

Is that fun?

Trust us."

[Constipated BladeRunner]

THis game sounds exactly like Brazil.
WHY THED F**K WAS I NOT INFORMED?!?!?!?!?!?!
How do you play it/Where do you get it?!?!?!