Technology
Taken directly from the book "Your First Steps" by Athlon M. Topia II

Technology Lists

--Incomplete

Please note, that I sometimes get confused when I'm trying to explain something. It's always straight in my head, but by the time it gets to my fingers things get a little crossed. If you would like to make grammar/flare/style/definition corrections feel free to do so.

Each race chose individual paths of technology and specialize/prefer that tech as well. You can find neutral variants of near all equipment but doesn't function as well as the orignal. Example- Bentrine are the masters of sonic weapons and prefer to use Sonic weapons when possible. You're a Terran that likes the scream of sonic weapons but you can't use them because they're made for Bentrine hands. You can find a weapons Engineer and he can attempt to make you a neutral sonic pistol. However this weapon even if made by a master will suck compared to the same type of pistol made by a Bentrine engineer. But hey, at least you get a gun that screams like a spoiled brat, instead of a banshee. The differences will most likely be small, maybe 10% less damage, slightly less accurate, nothing major that will make someone not want to use a "knockoff"

     Firstly, my loyal readers, please keep in mind that all the different races of folk that live in the PS are built different. MonZa have 2 thumbs, Saurians have no thumbs, Cerians only have two fingers and a thumb etc etc. Also, every folks anatomy is a little different, medical supplies meant for a Human won't work quite as well on a Saurian, and forget about having any effect at all on a Cerian. So generally, it's understood that a pistol crafted by a Saurian, isn't going to be used by a Cerian and vice versa. Now those folks could craft a pistol usable by another race, but they have to specify that during the crafting process. Same with armor, Saurians are midgets compared to a Machi'Na. Subject to change??? Need feedback

      10/26/12--Note to self, when feeling better define and explain how gravity gyros function. Explain why true anti-gravity doesn't exist.

Force Shields/Fields-- The difference between a Force Field and a Shield is simple. A Force Field covers an entire target with a single "Field" of energy. A Shield only covers 1 area. Now this can get confusing. You've probably heard the term "Shields up" and crap on various tv shows and they're not incorrect. If you pay attention they'll say things like more power to the fore or aft shields, which is basically an independant force shield facing fore or aft. Now, a ship that is being protected by an "Force Field" can't control power output/protection to the fore or aft. Basically it's on and protecting the whole ship, or it's off.

Some of the pros and cons

Shields
--Pro-- independantly controllable, if one goes down only one goes down, plus if you're skilled enough (starship engineer??), you can stack up to 40% of the next closest shield on top of each other. Example, aft shield is at 35% power and getting pounded. Your engineer reroutes power from the port shield, up to 40% each to the aft shield to reinforce it. Regenerates HP faster than a Field.
--Con-- Not as sturdy, an aimed shot isn't needed to take down a shield generator because the generator nodes are scattered on the hull of the ship, basically a random blast could take one down on a lucky shot. (An aimed shot CAN take on down, but it's possible to do so without it) takes up more space. Always takes damage, no AR means that even a lowly fighter can damage a ships shield. You need a Shield generator to cover the fore, aft, port and starboard sides.

Fields
--Pro-- harder to take down, the generator is usually contained in the ship, and uses the ship's hull itself as the node. Field only goes down if overloaded (all HP depleted). Cheaper, uses less space. Has an AR modifier, which means that a certain amount of damage is ablated before the shield takes damage. Example, AR 5 force field means that 5 points of damage just goes away before any damage is taken away from the shield. If the AR rating is higher than the incoming damage than the shield takes no damage.
--Con-- If you're getting blasted in the aft, and the Field is down 35%, it's down 35% all over the ship. Slower regeneration rate and lower HP total.

Another bit of information that can make a decision go one way or anther. Fields have an AR rating. Meaning they stop a certain amount of damage, whatever damage they don't stop takes away from the HP of the Field until it collapses.
Shields are straight ablative, meaning they take damage on a 1 to 1 basis (depending on tech, some expensive models only ablate 1 HP for every 2 or more incoming damage), once all the Hp of the shield is gone, it collapses.

"Shields" is/are a general descriptive term used for all types of energy defense systems.
Racial Tech-(sounds racist,,, oh well)

As mentioned before each race of the PS chose a particular path of technology and stuck to it for the most part.

     I should note that pretty much all items in the Patrolled Sectors have been standardised. With Humans being the newcomers they were quick to take advantage of more advanced equipment, like the rechargeable "P-Clip", or Power Clip which is used to power most items. They're used in personal force fiels/shields, Virtual Armor, weapons, camp stoves, flashlights, feminime electrical products, if it runs on electricity then it's been jury-rigged to run on P-Clips. I was on a Saurian ship once and his life support was being maintained by a dozen P-Clips! (Note, P-Clips are standardised, if it fits in a Human Pulse pistol, it's going to fit in a Cerian Particle rifle) There are different sizes of P-Clips which contain more or less energy. While a P-Clip being used in a pistol will work in a Rifle, it won't be able to deliver as many shots, and a P-Clip generally used in a Rifle will work in a pistol, it will allow for many more shots due to it's increased capacity, but the clip will be highly noticeable and will reduce the pistols concealability. Note to self, should I even worry about using P-Clips in the game at all? Should players have to worry about running out of ammo? Should there be different sizes of clips like mentioned above? Being able to run out of ammo would cause a need to eventually use melee weaponry,,,,, Something to think about. It would also add a much needed money sink, although it would only be a small sink.

     All weapons deal a "type" of damage, meaning that it might have secondary effects, examples would be Pulse weaponry has a knockback effect, and Ion weaponry has an emp effect. Sometimes having more damage isn't always the best way to go when choosing your boomstick.
Pulse
Pro = Knockback and extra damage to flesh
Con = No armor penetration

Ion
Pro = Emp effect does extra damage to electronics, more accurate
Con = Less overall damage compared to other weapons of equivalent TL

Plasma
Pro = Massive initial damage and damage over time (DOT) continues to burn away
Con = Less accurate, power hungry, low range

Particle
Pro = Impacts deal explosive damage which hits more areas of armor, can cause knockback, can cause secondary explosions
Con = Power hungry, knockback is not reliable, can hurt yourself in close quarters, can be dispersed in heavy smoke or flak

Laser
Pro = Highly accurate, deals pinpoint heat damage which causes punctures in ships hulls or body armor
Con = Does less damage than equivalent TL weaponry, can be disperssed in heavy smoke or flak

Magnetic
Pro = Naturally armor piercing, works in any environment, range is near unlimited in space (barring anything in a projectiles flight path)
Con = Requires energy and projectiles to function, recoil can be a problem, noise is definitely a problem

Sonic
Pro = Causes "stress" fractures in a target, each consecutive shot does more damage than the previous as the fractures worsen.
Con = Low range and must have some sort of an atmosphere to carry the sound waves, does NOT work in the vacuum of space.

Human- Developed a tech generically called "Pulse", which basically fires a stream of ionized particles which collect atmosphere along the path of the beam, compresses it to a fraction of it's original volume, and when it hits a solid object or near solid object, the atmosphere expands violently to its original volume. Against soft targets like a being's stomach, it resembles cooking a hotdog in a microwave to long. It leaves big gaping holes in soft targets. It's major flaw is, no armor penetration. However even armored being hit with a pulse weapon is akin to be slapped by a sledge hammer. It may not damage you, but it's most likely going to knock you on your ass. All Pulse weapons are designed for full auto-fire to take advantage of the knock-back effect of the weapon. So using a weak pulse pistol against someone wearing a suit of body armor is going to stagger them and possible knock them down after being slammed 20 times in 2 seconds with pulse blasts. Now imagine aimed shots to the head.
Humans next weapon preference is magnetic weapons, railguns, mass drivers, and gauss weapons.

Magnetic weaponry-
Is broken down into 3 categories.
Gauss = are generally hand held weapons, pistols and rifles, and even some anti vehicular weapons. Basically any type of magnetic weapon that can be maintained, carried, and fired by one person is considered a Guass class of weapon.
Railgun = is a weapon type that needs to be mounted on something in order to be fired. It must be transported by, and mounted on vehicle, or platform. Generally used as anti vehicle/ship. Can be used against personell, but it would be like using a 90mm tank gun on some dude running around in front of the tank. Over kill if you even hit the poor sod. Not like you would need a direct hit though. (Full converstion cyborgs have been known to carry this class of weaponry and use them effectively.) Combots tend to utilize this class of Magnetic weapon.
Mass driver = This class of weapons are strictly cannon anti-ship/building/surface weapons. Mainly mounted on warships and the largest land based vehicles. Requires enormous amounts of power, and generally fires rounds bigger than the people operating them. There are some extremely large Combots that employ this class of weapon as a "main cannon", generally mounted on the back, the Combot anchors it's feet into the ground, the weapon swings up over it's shoulder and the barrel unfolds to it's full length.

All magnetic weaponry is naturally armor piercing, however Magnetic Lattice Armor, or MLA negates the AP effect of magnetic weaponry, and halves all incoming damage from magnetic weaponry. (Unless otherwise specified, AP treats all armor and AR as being half it's regular value. If an armor is an AR 8, it's only 4 against AP ammo, if the armor has 10 HP, then it only has 5 HP against AP ammo. Against MLA magnetic weaponry has NO AP effects)

Another interesting invention from the Humans, Magnetic Lattice Armor, or MLA. It's a specially designed weave of polymers with iron molecules strung along the polymer strands that when energized line up side by side perfectly straight and rigid to form an incredibly hard surface for a fraction of an instant. Usually long enough to stop a ship killing mass driver blast. Like force Shields this process can be done on the fore, aft, port and stern sides of a ship and energized independantly. The energizing process also slows the incoming projectile down to soften the impact which causes less damage as well. To combat this,May remove the ability to change polarization of armor, it's either on and protecting you, or off. May also make it operate like a "field" instead of a "shield" some Humans have gotten smart and alternate whether they fire their shots with a positive charge, or a negative charge. If the incoming projectile was fired with a positive charge, and you were preparing for a negatively charged shot so you charge your MLA negatively, you're in for a surprise as the projectile gains speed as it's attracted to your armor now, it then slams into you with twice the velocity it would've hit for otherwise, and your ship is now gutted, you're boarded, and the evil Saurians are now kicking your wives and raping your dogs,,,,.

Terran tech - Terrans prefer Ion weapons. Ion weapons in and of themselves aren't very damaging, it's not the direct damage they're used for. The secondary effect of Ion weapons is akin to an EMP. They have a chance to disrupt electronics, and they've been known to fry the central nervous system of people as well... However for one to actually do that, you'd have to be unarmored, and if you get hit by an Ion weapon unarmored, you'll be dead before the emp effect takes apart your central nervous system. Ion weapons are also very accurate and have bonuses to called shots against systems. (weapons, shields, engines, etc)

Cerian tech - Cerians prefer particle weapons. It seems that the majority of space-borne creatures use particle weapons as defenses as well. Meaning that it's the easiest and most deadly evolution of naturally occuring defensive mechanisms. Since Cerians prefer the natural weapons their armor develops for them, that they would lean towards the most naturallly occuring defense as well. Particle weapons are easy in theory, basically you take a particle of whatever type of element currently available, charge it energy till it's almost to a self anhilation point, then aim it at something and watch it explode in a great big fireball. Particle weapons are very damaging, but have medium to low range. (Particle weapons deal explosive damage.)

Saurian tech - The many pirate clans lean towards plasma weaponry. Extremely high damaging and very intimidating with low range. You'd think they'd prefer some sort of EMP weapon like the Terrans have, but seems no. However most folks don't like getting pelted with plasma energy. A Saurian decloaks off your port bow and releases a plasma bolt that vaporizes a stabilizer, most folks tend to give up. So I guess in essence they prefer plasma because it's scary instant damage. High damage, high energy use requires longer recharge times, and low range. Saurian pirate hunters use a different type of plasma weapon, it has a medium range, does lower damage, but fires multiple shots in quick succession. (plasma deals DOT damage as well as impact damage)

Bentrine tech - The fish people love sonic weaponry. They tend to rely on missiles and torpedoes for space combat, but when they can use their sonic weapons, beware. The banshee scream and the sudden creaking and groaning sound of your hull buckling and vibrating violently is not something you soon forget. All sonic weaponry bypasses shields, the drawback however is that they require an atmosphere to use. High damage, low range and quick recharge time. It's generally not a good idea to go ship to ship with a Bentrine unless in space. Coupled with the Bentrines natural affinity for moving in a 3d environment, their piloting is second to none, and then getting pounded with a sonic cannon or two it's best just to leave well enough alone. (sonic weaponry deals stress damage, meaning each impact deals more damage than the previous shot)

Machie'Na tech - These fine folks never developed their own weapons technology, however they have used some tech they have developed as a weapon when the need was there. They like to use hollowed out projectiles that contain nano-bots. They've been dubbed "devourer" rounds, because if you get hit with one of these, you better strip out of your armor and run. They're programmed to eat till nothing is left to eat. Well technically they don't eat, they just dismantle stuff at the atomic level, even if that stuff happens to be flesh. Nasty and painful, ain't a pretty sight watching your flesh melt away as these nasty buggers go at it. They work in the cold vacuum of space just as well as anywhere else as. Machie'Na actually make these things out of their own "blood" since their blood is nothing but trillions of nano-bots anyway. A little creative reprogramming, and instant weapon... It would suck if someone figured out how to reprogram a Machie'Na to act as a "devourer".

Mon'Za tech - is so far more advanced than everyone elses that they rarely let anything outside their ship for fear that it will fall into the hands of another race and tip the balance of power since everyone else is nothing but worthless warmongers and should all bow to the High Mother,,, ehh,, where was I. Mon'Za outside of the Blackship use whatever is available to them. Rarely do you see any of their own technology being used. However, the Blackship's energy weapons are powerful enough to cut through an entire planet, and even detonate a sun. I've personally seen Monza use archaic human chemical weapons (they like cowboy movies and carry six-shooters as a fasion statement) and swords. Really big swords. MonZa "Souls" tend to carry weapons that are much to heavy or powerful for anyone but a full converstion 'borg to wield. They add new definition to the term "hand cannon". While MonZa "Bodys" use normal sized weapons. (the mon'za blackship, and rarely seen, mon'za hand weapons fire a beam of unknown energy types that can vaporize flesh on contact and cut through anything known. the beam itself seems to twist and fold in and around itself as it moves)

Armor      Armor is generally a piece of matter, whether it metal, ceramic, or chitin, that is designed to keep your body from being damaged. The better the material used, the more damage it stops. All armor uses an "AR" or "Armor Rating" system. Meaning that damage has to be higher than the AR in order for the being wearing the armor to take damage. The higher the tech level, the higher the AR, also some armors can be designed to absorb the damage outright. If the incoming damage is higher than the AR of the Armor, then the armor takes all the damage instead of the being inside until the armor is destroyed. This type of armor also has hitpoints.
     There are many shapes and sizes of armor, lite, medium, and heavy are the generic classifications. Medium and Heavy armor can be fully environmental meaning they could be used in the cold vaccuum of space. Light body armor is considered to just protect the core of a being (meaning the chest). If armor is fully environmental it will say so in it's description, if it doesn't, then you take a space walk at your own risk. It should be noted that Cerian bio armor IS fully environmental at all times.

The following armor descriptions are taken from my previous alternate time-line modern day game. But I figured the general descriptions would be good enough to give a good idea of what's what to anyone perusing this info.
Personal Body Armor (various kinds exist, 10 times as many knockoffs are publically produced as are produced for military use, considered a fashion statement to some)
     -"Lite" Body Armor is the most widely available and used. It is very comfortable and easily concealed. Comes in as wide a variety of looks as normal clothes and can stop most ballistic weapon slugs dead with only medium to heavy bruising.(can't stop AP slugs) Also not effective against military grade pulse weapons. Plastic composites are used mostly in civilian armors while ceramics are used in military applications. A type of "chain mail" has become very popular among the civilian populace.
     -"Medium" Body Armor is used mainly by police forces and organized crime. Made up of plastic polymers with ceramic or kevlar type 2 plates covering vital areas. Movement is slightly restricted depending on what you're doing. Most people can wear Medium armor effectively enough to not feel restricted. Most military infantry prefer medium armor. Can stop all non-AP ballistic rounds with minimum to no bruising. Can withstand a small pelting of pulse energy before the structural integrity is weakened to the point of being innefective in stopping the attack.
     -"Heavy" Body Armor is military grade ONLY. Although police swat teams and "Cyber-Psycho" Squads have access to it. The military comes down hard on any other civilian use of Heavy armors. Made up of an ultra dense ceramic polymer of plates that usualy forms a sealed environment for it's wearer. Can stop all non-military ballistic rounds including all KNOWN non-military AP ammunition. Extremely effective at stopping several dozen direct hits of pulse energy before giving way. Small servo assist motors in the joints help the wearer to move but the suit is still cumbersome to use for extended periods of time and although it is a military use only armor, it recieves very little use as such. The servos in the suit are small enough to help lighten the load not boost strength and reflexes, so the suit isn't considered "Powered Armor".

Cerian Bio-Armor-- Can be any of the 3 "weights" of armor depending on the PCs skills. If a player tends to take a lot of damage while up close and personal, the armor will adapt and eventually be classified as a "Heavy" suit of armor, but without the penalties of such. However, if the PC is a stealthy character, doesn't take much damage, the armor will be "Light", and also depending on skills may adapt to bend light around itself to increase stealth abilities. It should be noted that regardless of "weight" Bio-Armor is ALWAYS fully environmental. It also adapts to a PC's weapons preferences, have a knack for ducking it out, the knuckles will develop spikes on them and heavy plating on the hands to protect the hands, like blades, the armor will grow blades out of the forearms (I picture a player being able to choose between a single long sword like blade, or maybe something like wolverine claws).

     "Powered Armor" comes in several different variants as well. There is what's called "Open Air" armor which is just an exoskeleton designed to boost the wearers strength and endurance, used mostly for construction purposes. Then there is environmental Power Armor which is pretty much used exclusively for combat. All Power Armor shares the same basic traits, they're all under 11ft tall, and they all boost the wearers strength to the point the armor is all but weightless.add at least one more trait later on The armor of these machines works on the AR/HP method of damage calculation. Unless it's open air Power Armor, but what kind of a mook is gonna get into combat wearing nothing but an exoskeleton? (stupid humans) Power Armor is generally powered by a Cold Fusion power cell, but they can be rigged to run on P-Clips in an emergency. Cold Fusion cells are the energy source of choice because they won't explode in a great big blazing ball of death like Anti-matter, plasma, or fusion turbines will. The cells will have to be changed out more often, but it's a trade off.
     Some Power Armor suits are designed to allow flight, others allow deep see diving, and they're commonly used in space for repairs and boarding. Powered Armor generally doesn't mount any weaponry of it's own, weapons must be carried in the suits "hands", however, some of the heavier models to sport micro-missile launchers or specialized cannons. A skilled "Robotics Engineer" is needed to make repairs to P-Armor that is damaged more than 50%, while just a regular "Armor Engineer" can do patch work. To make a suit of PA, you need both Robotics, and Armor Engineer. ?????