Thus Spake Zarataylor/RechargingMortalWeapons

izzylobo - 01/29/2004 20:41:31

Recharging the various mortal-usable weapons *is* a problem - that's a feature (in terms of game balance, etc.) not a bug. :-). It's one of the reasons Lookshy uses that kind of equipment, and the Realm doesn't - though a relatively minor one (the more important reasons have to do with ideology, politics, and technology - the Realm doesn't seek to raise their soldiers up to the status of Dragon-Blooded (for the most part), sees it as politically unwise to do so, and lacks the ability to produce the very small Essence storage devices needed to produce these kinds of weapons in any numbers). But yeah, after a battle, recharging weapons becomes a primary importance - I'd imagine that's one of the primary duties of Terrestrials, during the post-battle recovery - start getting mortal Essence weapons recharged, on the basis of topping them all up to some bare level first, then getting them all recharged completely as possible.

In the Shogunate, no doubt there were a lot of different ways to power Essence weapons - although even then, I'd imagine that there were, by the end, a lot of units even in regular Legions comprised with a mix of Essence weapons and steel blades, as weapons - and the devices needed to recharge them - broke down. There might be some of these devices around today, but I'd tend to think not (or, at least, not many, and they are rarely/never deployed because they can't be rebuilt) - the Contagion war against the Fair Folk was pretty much an all-or-nothing affair, and I imagine a *lot* of weapon technology got lost in it, on a "use it or lose it" basis.

There were probably devices to make the recharge process more efficient - so an Essence channeler could use a single mote to recharge a mote in the device (or maybe 3 motes recharging 2, or 5:3, or something).

Part of it was doubtless First Age essence storage widgets that socketed into Hearthstone sockets, or something, akin to those found in Abyssals, but without the annoying tendency to dissipate into dust and coal when exposed to the sun's rays - we know (from Aspectbook:Air, among others) that the First Age had methods for storing hundreds of motes worth of Essence in devices that would fit on a (large) skyship.

I'm sure there were automatons with massive essence stores built into them to charge weapons and other devices, and warstriders with Essence Collectors built into their backs, and stuff.

There were probably skyships with built-in essence collectors (I assume Skywolf has a couple, subsumed into her power requirements - but they're in heavily armored housings, and hard to whack without getting inside the hull - Skywolf is a warship, not a commercial transport, and it would be pretty stupid if you could disable it by smacking its Essence Collectors) and broadcast Essence devices that could send power to automatons and other war machines on the battlefield - including weapons.

I suspect there were also reagent-based widgets that you could plug a weapon into, and it would charge the device - maybe some sort of backpack gadget, with a clamp-like socket (attached to the backpack with emerald cables) that locks around the base of the spear, providing extra motes of Essence each round, or something.

In extemis, devout prayers to the weapon would have the desired effect - what weapon wants to get a reputation for failing their user in times of dire need? Similarly, mortal sorcerers probably did have some way of recharging these kinds of weapons.

But!

This obviates one of those aforementioned blindspots of Exalted tactics. I think most Exalted battles started with exchanges of long-ranged fire with Powerbows, Lightning Ballistas, and other heavy, long-ranged weapons, followed up with a few exchanges with closer-range weapons as they closed - but in the end, it was spear and axe, shield and daiklave, once the motes were all but expended. Everyone probably kept a shot or two in reserve for an emergency, or a target of opportunity, but eventually it was hack-and-slash - there's a reason almost all of the weapons in Exalted have some kind of melee function, or don't get in the way of using a melee weapon (like the Elemental lens).

Whether this was because they had problems with storing large amounts of Essence for weapons, or they never bothered storing large amounts of Essence in weapons because within the first few minutes of combat it almost always devolved into a melee furball anyways, I dunno - I would tend to think the former, for the same reason that units without longbows or other long-ranged missile weapons get savaged by those who *do* have them - if someone could make, say, a force pike that could carry a hundred shots - even if it then had to be thrown away - they would have, and very soon after the first utter and total asskicking they delivered to a neighbor trying to fight the old way, everyone else would be doing it as well.

Scott Taylor