Taking down the Made Of Iron Mooks

Okay, testing testing 123 textformattingrules I hope that works Thanks!

Okay, so the scenario goeth thusly: Since the end of WWII a group of Evilutionary Biologists have been conducting illegal and inhumane human testing. They kidnap people who will go mostly unnoticed—vagrants, runaways— or those that have unnatural "gifts", and experiment on them. Whenever a govt. starts to catch onto them, they take off and move to a different location. The evil organization and it's mooks are rarely encountered, and it's mostly trying to track down the missing persons, which is hard because it's nearly impossible to tell who's been kidnapped and who just ran away or disappeared for any other reason.

From the few encounters the different govts. have had with them over the years, they have learned that the mooks/foot soldiers are notoriously hard to kill and are ridiculously good at vanishing. The heroes don't know about the technopath. So while they've made a few leaps in weapons to harm/ kill the mooks, they aren't very experienced in open battles with them. The scene i'm trying to figure out with this thread involves a few of the agents/detectives/what-have-you encountering some for the first time. Communications are cut off before they can call for backup. They hold up reasonably well, until the technopath pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here, takes out the heroes vehicles, while the mooks escape in their working ones. It's the closest encounter in years, so the trail is finally fresh enough to have a starting point.

That was probably too much information...

btw, thanks for the link to the FLIR If i understand correctly, it doesn't use electricity like a normal camera and just absorbs heat? That would be a very good way to hunt them down.

edited 29th May '14 11:24:47 PM by whymia

Extremely incorrect. A FLIR is a thermal imaging camera. It is electronic, like all such modern devices. Think "video camera, except it sees in heat/cold instead of visible light."

At this point, I would heavily recommend researching the ins and outs of modern technology in general, as you appear to be severely under-researched on the topic. You don't need to be an engineer and understand the exact processes that govern an infrared camera or a heavy rifle; you do need to understand the basics behind their operation, if you intend to write anything involving them. I would recommend the Military Thread over in On-Topic Conversations for a starting point, as well as the Random Question Thread in this same forum.

Ah dang. Don't know why I thought it wasn't electronic. I think the page said something about it needing to be cooled before use, so i thought it was working like...i don't know, the heat leaving an image imprint. Hoo boy I need some sleep. In retrospect, i'm pretty sure i've seen those used on various science-y shows (and not so science-y shows). Silly me, been looking at too many theoretical weapons. Thanks for setting me straight on that

• sigh...* looks like i'm going to be youtube-ing a lot of military channel stuff. I'll be sure to check out the military thread. Any other research links? I have basic understandings of how tech and infrared function, but technical jargon goes right over my head, which is probably why i was way off base with the infrared camera. If you're interested, i've started a thread over in world building to hammer out the Technopath details so I can make it a bit more believable/ reasonable.

Well, Sabre's Edge, that research curve escalated quite quickly.

All the best for your project then, since you'll be spending some time researching.

Military Channel, the different games in the big Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises, Tom Clancy novels and video games—they'll tell you what technology exists. Given the usual level of sloppiness that pop culture displays, they might not actually tell you much about what they can or can't do, so use those as a starting point for your research. This wiki is a good place to start, too. Infrared Xray Camera is one common misconception about what thermal imaging can do. (Hint: it can't actually see through walls.)

That, of course, only covers the miltech side of things. If you intend to have your characters interact with local government officials, you'll have to figure out that side of things: how police departments and government agencies operate, what laws might be involved, all of that. (Posse comitatus in the US forbids the military from getting involved in most circumstances, for instance, but the National Guard and Coast Guard may still get in on the act.) You don't need to show all of it on-screen, you should know it anyway just to make sure you're not overlooking any options, or conversely to understand why certain options aren't available.

Going back to the original topic, and just throwing this out there, if the mooks' hides tend to function similarly to Kevlar... well, there's a rather lower-tech option available for the good guys to puncture them. Soft-body armour such as Kevlar doesn't do diddly to stop an arrow fired from a heavier-draw bow. Could be useful for delivering poisons or what have you, or just killing them outright >.>

edited 30th May '14 4:52:50 PM by TeChameleon

Also on low-tech solutions...get the mooks to step on/in something that smells, and will stick to the skin. Then get your contact with the bloodhounds to help you track the suckers. Or slightly higher-tech, get them to step in something that's detectable by IR or UV—the technopaths might not spot the gear you're using to track that if you aren't within range yet.

Similarly, consider the use of nets, bolas and other tangling gear if our protagonists have an idea that these mooks are about.

The bloodhound solution is a nice one, but I doubt how well it'll work when vehicles are involved, and it requires preparation (as opposed to being able to happen right after a meeting engagement). Nets are impractical, though.

Yep, a lot of the solutions would be, "now that we know". If you have no idea the mooks are there, there's no point in lugging around nets. But if you can lure them into an area, then nets will be very effective in cutting down their combat advantages, and won't be vulnerable to technopathy.

Impact-proof isn't the same as fireproof. Molotov cocktail time, I sez.

Apart from that, if your heroes are on the run and short on resources, remember that you don't have to kill these guys. You just have to slow them down. Punji pits, heavy-duty snares, rigging stairwells to collapse and so on should buy them sufficient time.

A question about using guns against them: Would point blank range to the head cause enough brain damage to kill them even if it can't penetrate?

^ Traumatic concussions are a cause of death in humans.

Looking back, that last Q was a silly one. Sounded better at the time Silly me

I'm pretty sure i'm right about this, but I want to put it out there to be certain and avoid fridge logic down the road, with them being impact resistant, would bullets ricochet off of them? When I started typing I was sure the answer was yes, but now i'm second guessing myself.

A belated thank you to everyone who has been commenting, especially in the last week or so, I haven't been responding...

You guys are awesome! Thank you thank you!!

No problem, dude.

I'm guessing ricochet would both depend on the angle of the bullet combined with the material on the surface? Just guesswork here. Metal ricochets, but stuff like flesh and bone are more likely to absorb the bullet. Not entirely sure about thicker, armour-esque bone, but since you're emphasising armour plating skin rather than bone, I'd say it may act like Kevlar and basically trap the bullets.

Are these mooks armed? If they aren't, then something that's incapacitating (spray glue? super flypaper? a really strong net) might be able to take them down for long enough for the heroes to get past them.

All rather impractical options.