Smartblades

by Geoffrey Brent (z2214076@student.unsw.edu.au)

This is a class of weapons that might be used by the fashionably rich in a TL 13 setting.

Description

The smartknife looks like a large fighting knife, with a somewhat oversized hilt. It weighs about five pounds, but this is not usually apparent (see below for the reason why.) It features a hyperdense edge to the blade, and can also function as a vibroblade, giving it very impressive cutting power.

The hilt contains a small reactionless drive, allowing it to fly on its own at speeds up to 600 mph, controlled by a small voice-activated computer. Alternately, the drive can be used in conjunction with the touch sensors to improve the knife's handling. The usual modes are:

Off (power-saving): at five pounds, it's rather heavy to use as a knife. Minimum ST 14. Damage as large knife, +2d+2, armour divisor 10.
Hover: Applies five lbs lift to allow the knife to float in midair. This doesn't make it much easier to fight with (since you still need five times as much force to change its direction) but it's more comfortable to carry around. Power consumption 0.25 kW, or 9.25 kW with vibroblade on. (Adds 1d+3 to damage.)
Compensate: Touch sensors measure all contact forces applied to the blade, and the drives apply quadruple those forces. This makes it handle exactly as a 1-lb knife. Power consumption about 1 kW, or 10 kW with vibroblade on. You can drop felt weight to zero, but it doesn't make much difference - the limit here is how fast you can move your hand.
Assist: The knife's touch sensors and drives are used to allow faster movements - rather than being moved around by the hand, the knife actually pulls the hand around with it, allowing the wielder to move his hand faster than if it were empty. This makes the knife very fast, but unless you have a neural interface it's very hard to control. This can be used to reduce an opponent's active defences by anything up to four points, or enhance your own Knife Parry by the same amount, but for every point of bonus your Knife skill drops by 2. Every two hundred hours of training will reduce your penalty with smartknives by one point. Because the knife also learns what _you_ want, your penalty with that particular knife (only) reduces by an additional one point. (So someone who's trained for 400 hours with his knife reduces penalties by 2, or 4 for that knife only; he can parry at +1 with any smartknife, or +2 with his own, without penalty.)
Independent: The knife flies around on its own, obeying your orders. It might hover beside you, or it might go out and attack your enemies; it makes quite an adequate scout. It can be "thrown" in this manner. It can also defend you (parry = half of its skill, +2 for its Combat Reflexes). Damage would be about 5d (10), or 6d+3 (10) in vibroblade mode; although it can move at up to 600 mph, crashing into someone at this speed will damage it. It can also be used as a watchdog, sitting around waiting for trouble; the solar panel allows it to recharge (very very slowly) of its own accord.

Although this is a rather flashy toy without the range or power of a TL 13 handgun, it has its uses. Firstly, it's concealable - very concealable. It can hover alongside you in chameleon mode, and become almost impossible to detect. In close quarters, it's much more controllable than a gun; it destroys only what it's supposed to, and it's pretty good at getting through armour. Endurance is pretty good, especially compared to a power-hungry beam weapon.

Design (using GURPS Robots, Vehicles & High-Tech II)

60-degree F slope. No streamlining.
Tiny compact hardened neural-net +3 Dx brain: Complexity 6, Dx 14, IQ 10.
Basic sensors with peripheral vision, night vision, thermograph, no sense of smell/taste.
Basic communicator, mute, no cable jack.
200-pound vectored TL 13 Mega Thruster. Requires 10 kW at full power, 0.25 kW to hover.
Weapon (body-mounted): Very fine hyperdense vibroblade large knife (uses 9 kW in vibroblade mode.)
Power cells: 2x TL 13 rC cell (12600 kWs.)
Volume: 0.058 cf. Surface area: 1 sf.
Extra-heavy robotic living metal advanced structure. Ht 13, HP 6.
Surface features: Intruder chameleon system, deflector field (PD 8, uses 1.8 kW), DR 100 variable force screen (1 kW), 0.5 square foot solar panel (generates 0.04 kW in Earth-normal sunlight.)
Sealed, touch sensors.
Armour: 48 pounts advanced composite : PD 4. (Front: 96 pts, DR 6.)
Robot skill program: Complexity 6 Knife (16 pts: Dx+4 = 18). Combat reflexes.
Computerized controls.

Cost: $64 000. Optionally, the skill program can be downgraded to Complexity 5 (8 pts: Dx+3 = 17), which cuts the total cost to just $32 000.

Size modifier -4, speed 300. Top airborne speed 600 mph, aAccel 800 mph/sec, aMR 9 (but vectored thrust can add 40 Gs to this), aSR 3. Total weight: 5 lbs.

Smartsword

Brain [same as smartknife] IQ 10, Dx 14.
Sensors [same as smartknife]
Communicator [same as smartknife]
Propulsion: 800-lb vectored Mega Thruster (uses 40 kW at full power, or 1 kW to hover.)
Very fine hyperdense vibroblade katana (uses 45 kW in vibroblade mode; does swing+2d+2(10) cutting damage or thrust+2d+1(10) impaling damage. Add 1d+3 extra damage in vibroblade mode.)
Power: rD cell, TL 13 (63 000 kWs; endurance 17 hours hovering, about 30 minutes at full power or with vibroblade, about 15 minutes with both.)
Volume: 0.185 cf. Area 2 sf. Size modifier -3.
Extra-heavy advanced robotic living metal structure (12 hp, HT 13), intruder chameleon system, deflector field (PD 8, 3.6 kW while running), DR 100 variable force screen (2 kW while running), 1 sf solar panel (generates 0.08 kW in Earth-normal sunlight), touch sensors.
160 points advanced composite armour.
Software: Skill program (Katana) complexity 6: 16 pts = Dx+3 = 17.

Total: 20 lbs, $101 000. Katana skill program can be dropped to complexity 5 (8 pts, lvl 16); this reduces cost to $67 000.

Aerial performance: Max. 600 mph, aAccel 800 mph/sec, aMR 8.5 (plus 40 G from vectored thrust), aSR 3.

Notes: The smartsword works the same way as the smartknife, except that weight and power usage are greater. When fighting on its own, the katana has ST 32 for damage purposes (minimum ST to life 800 lbs). This makes damage 8d+2(10) cutting or 5d+1(10) impaling; add 1d+3 damage in vibroblade mode.

Both the smartsword and smartknife can attack while using chameleon systems; unless their opponent can make his Vision roll, use the invisibility rules.