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Cold damage attacks?

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Wed, 2013-09-25 23:43
#1
thebluespectre thebluespectre's picture
Cold damage attacks?
What exactly would a weapon designed to cause cold damage be capable of? One of my players wants to load his Sprayer with liquid nitrogen or something, ever since he found out a Freezer doesn't actually freeze things. I have a tough time thinking of how to stat out that chemical, how much it would cost, and all the applications it would have outside of being a crude weapon- this stuff should be very useful for preserving deceased biomorphs.
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"Still and transfixed, the el/ ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute
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Thu, 2013-09-26 12:59
thezombiekat thezombiekat's picture
That is a nasty, nasty weapon
That is a nasty, nasty weapon. The rapid freezing from liquid nitrogen will frees tissue on contact, and if defrosted the tissue will be dead. It will do a hell of a lot of damage if it contacts flesh but not very much is held away by armour. The exact amount of damage would depend on the volume of nitrogen used (and therefore the bulkiness of the device) but I would give it no armour penetration and have environmental armour (space suits) count double. Being a synthmorph, or biomorph with temperature tolerance cryonic, or waring an environment sute designed specifically for extreme cold environments (not space where there is no conduction or convection to cool you) would be immune to damage. There may also be social reactions to this weapon. It is very much not a live capture device and the wounds left will be especially nasty, the frozen flesh will be dead, over the next couple of days/weeks it will fall off leaving large weeping sores even somebody killed by this weapon will only be frozen on the outer layers (an inch or so) that will likely crack leading to blood loss comparable to very large slashing cuts. Just seeing this thing in action or the aftermath would cause stress (extreme violence, gruesome murder scene)
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Fri, 2013-09-27 01:55
nerdnumber1 nerdnumber1's picture
Students handle liquid
Students handle liquid nitrogen on a regular basis. It is mildly dangerous (especially if sprayed in large quantities), but not nearly as dangerous as most of the other weapons in Eclipse Phase. It would be little more than a gimmick, potentially useful against exotic foes (like certain aliens) or as an improvised weapon. Liquid N2 would cause only surface damage to exposed skin, while high velocity bits of metal, directed energy, and caustic/flaming materials are much more effective and easy to use.
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Fri, 2013-09-27 02:22
thebluespectre thebluespectre's picture
Both good options!
I'm more inclined to the "underwhelming" option rather than the "horrifying" option, since the player is a nice guy who... probably is thinking of ice running on videogame logic. How would this fare against a nano swarm, though? I bet it would work well.
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"Still and transfixed, the el/ ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute
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Fri, 2013-09-27 12:44
thezombiekat thezombiekat's picture
I suspect we are envisaging
I suspect we are envisaging different quantities. I was thinking 200ml to 2l effectively being poured over somebody. A more simple rules option occurs to me. Just use the rules for the torch in the main book, change the excellent success effect to targets clothing soaked with liquid nitrogen, 2d10 damage/turn until you take the clothing off, hard shell armour negates this. Volume of fuel is close enough you can use the same weights and volumes for ammunition. And the cold burns I mentioned before wouldn’t actually be worse than the heat burns from a flame thrower (witch I will mention, are pretty bad) As for dealing with nanite swarms, being a spray weapon it counts as an aria weapon doing 1d10 damage.
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Fri, 2013-09-27 14:17
King Shere King Shere's picture
IMHO as a layman
Short reply Regarding the topic of a effective frost weapon. if it were to exist, I would expect the rules for it as a slight modification of the rules regarding fire, except that its chilling cold would vanish quicker in the presence of air -opposite to fires behavior. Long reply Regarding weaponizing LN2, the problems are that it on its own doesn't stick (or soak) & stay around long enough to do damage and it evaporates quickly . As i understand it the current methods for the normal LN2 to cause the extreme cold effects -require the objects to submerged into sufficient quantities of it ;or other methods to ensure prolonged contact of it. Splashing even a stationary target will have most of it roll off without much effect. Its more likely to cause death by asphyxiation first than death by frost bite. Since Liquid nitrogen has a large expansion ratio on evaporation - one litre of liquid nitrogen can result in about 700 litres of gas. (For it to kill would still require a confined space, or perhaps forcefully "inhaling it"/"ingesting it"). Its more effective to use stuff that sticks and stays on e.g. napalm, hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid. But a cold burn weapon that fires a stream of "ice-deadly stickiness",it would likely do comparable damage to that of a flamethrower. With it less effective against sturdy material than "flesh-bags".
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