Electronics

Cars are much more than just toasters on wheels these days, but still a lot of people don't seem to understand that it's the small stuff that can save lives just as well as the larger things like weapons. And the beauty of electronics is that it's so much easier to install, upgrade and maintain, and no one need know you have it until it's too late.

The downside is that electronics are just so darn expensive that you might wish your car should be able to produce toast as well.

It seems like everyone is trying to develop additional means of hitting the target, with the end result being that weapon systems are getting more and more accurate. Which is obviously great for someone. However, not everyone wants to get hit, and for them, ECM is the way to go.

ECM is a collection of electronic devices that have the job of fooling scanning and targeting devices aimed at it. It can't hide a vehicle from sensors, but it will hinder any weapons fire against it. It does this by throwing up a lot of electronic noise and other static which confuses the targets position to opposing sensors, making a target lock that much more difficult.

In game terms, ECM gives a penalty to any weapons fire against the vehicle with the ECM. The actual penalty depends on the ECM unit installed and the range at which enemy fire is coming from. Note that ECM only gives a penalty against electronic systems only, not anything that is fired without such as aid. In the world of Dark Future about the only systems that aren't electronically aimed are hand held weapons.

			*Range*
Item	Cost	Weight	0-6 spaces	6+ spaces
ECM 1	$10,000	10	-1	-2
ECM 2	$15,000	10	-2	-3
ECM 3	$20,000	10	-3	-4

Lets face it, not everyone is the best gunner in the world, and sometimes even the most hardened Ops need help taking some shots. And when you need help, whom do you turn to? Your trusty targeting computer that has already analysed the situation and chosen the best firing solution for you! Now all you have to do is pull the trigger and watch your opponent fry.

Targeting computers are small electronic devices that upgrade the basic gunnery systems of standard cars and vehicles. They are expensive but give occupants of a vehicle a bonus to hit. They must be bought per occupant (thus for both a driver and a gunner to benefit, two computers must be bought), but it is possible for only one computer to be bought for one person, or different computers to be bought for occupants. They are not compatible with and never combine their bonuses with any sort of turret or missile computer. Nor do they affect passive weapons at all.

Item	Cost	Bonus to-hit
Targeting Computer	$10,000	+1
Advanced Targeting Computer	$15,000	+2

Sometimes you want another mode for the turret computer, one that allows the you to specify the target, and fire when you want to, not when the computer wants to, and one that allows you to change the target whenever you want. And here it is!

Target Mode (T):
In this mode, the turret is completely controlled by the driver or gunner of the vehicle. The turret will not shoot at any target, nor engage targets of opportunity, nor will it default to any other mode. Instead, the driver or gunner controls the turret and it will shoot at the target that the controller wants it to shoot at, and when.
Normal turret computer modifiers apply though (like shooting through smoke and the accuracy modifiers). Aiming and firing the turret in this mode costs a standard shoot action.

One person only, can control the turret at a single time though, defaulting to the gunner as standard (if one is installed). This means that no other person can use the turret until control of that turret is given up.

Control of the turret can be passed to another person. This costs a standard shoot action for either the current controller or for the person wishing controlling of the turret. On the phase of the control change, the turret may not be used by anyone.

To have the Target mode software costs $5,000, but it requires that the turret have a turret computer already installed.