Reese wrote:i would rule that, as long as you have a coglayer handy to perform daily maintainence on your steam device, you can use it...
I'd agree with that. And I'd agree with requiring the fighter to take an exotic weapon proficiency feat slot to use the equipment without a penalty. I wouldn't go so far as a separate feat slot for every type of attack (touch, pump, billows, etc.), but maybe a slot for "flamethrower" that would allow him to fire weapons that are generally like flamethrowers. I think it would depend on the DM to adjudicate it, but that should generally work.
Reese wrote:1: does the hydraulic armor require a character with steam powers available to maintain it's function? (and, if so, how many steam powers are needed to maintain it?)
No, a character with steam powers is not required to maintain hydraulic armor. To put it in an analogy, I envision steam powers as sort of like cutting-edge technology. Mechs, hydraulic armor, steam guns, and the like are more mass-market technology, almost like watered-down steam powers that have become fairly common. The cutting-edge stuff needs special knowledge to maintain properly, but the mass-market stuff can be used by anyone. Or, at least, the general knowledge of how to maintain the mass-market stuff is fairly well known by now.
Reese wrote:2: can a cog layer have more devices built than he can maintain, but select which devices to maintain in any given day?
If he's willing to spend the money and time, yes. Though if it got abusive, the DM might have to step in...
Reese wrote:3: a coglayer needs one hour of each day to maintain his current steam powers, could a coglayer maintain a larger number of steam powers by spending extra hours (say, a cog layer who's job it is to maintain the light generator steam powers lighting the interior of the city mech he lives on)
No. The time required doesn't correlate to the number of steam powers maintained. It's like learning math... when you're in first grade, it takes you an hour to do your addition homework. In fifth grade, it takes you an hour to do your long division homework. In college, it takes you an hour to do your calculus homework. Spending an extra hour on your fifth grade homework won't let you learn calculus.
Reese wrote:4: a number of steam powers (wave makers and optical orbs/Image makers) have large ranges... would the cog layer need to maintain the devices that send (say one is left in a place to spy with) every day, or could the device be made to function "without maintainence" so long as the coglayer kept one steam power slot free (or by paying extra before deploying it)
In general, the devices need maintenance by someone each day. But that's "in general." It's up to the DM to deal with special circumstances (and it sounds like you found some). You could easily rule that certain devices are made to withstand long-term lack of maintenance, or that on certain devices, the maintenance really focuses on one part of it, not the others. For example, keeping a car in running order doesn't really require polishing your bumper very often. A spy device may need the receiving end maintained, but the transmitter could be built to go without maintenance for long periods.
Reese wrote:5: the book mentions mechs keeping touch with each otehr via wave maker and optical orb/imagemaker combinations... should it be assumed that such mechs have atleast one coglayer or steamborg onboard capable of maintaining the device (or that the mech recieves proper maintainence while docked with it's home mech so as to not require a coglayer present while on patrol)
Yes, assume that they need crew somewhere to help maintain the steam power equipment. That's also one of the reasons steam powers aren't more common... you need some pretty savvy crew to keep them working!
Reese wrote:6: could an amplifyer be used to increase the range of a wavemaker or optical orb
Yes, I think that would be OK.
Reese wrote:7: could a wave maker be used as a relay to catch and re-transmit the signal sent from another wave maker?
That's also a cool idea... yeah, I think that would be fine.
Reese wrote:8: could a noise maker be modified to record images sent from an optical orb instead of(or as well as) sound?
Yes, definitely. Part of the idea of steam powers is the "create your own!" aspect -- all of these questions seem within the range of balanced ideas, so the PC should be able to invent these on his own. Or, alternately, maybe he meets another crazy coglayer who already invented them, but the knowledge isn't widespread yet.
Reese wrote:9: is a metal ear nessesary to send sound with a wave maker?
the description of the metal ear implies that it is, but the description of the wave maker itself implies otherwise
likewise, voice command's description implies that it already has a sound gathering device built in
is the metal ear essentially worthless, since all devices that it would work with seem to already have such a component built in
I think you caught something. Yes, they do seem redundant. I probably had something in mind originally that either got lost through revisions to the manuscript... or maybe I just can't remember what I had it in there for. But rereading it now, I think you're right -- the metal ear is basically unnecessary given the description of the wavemaker.
Reese wrote:10: does a mech's hardness work against energy attacks, which normally ignore hardness? for instance, against most objects, acid and sonic do full damage, lightning and fire do half damage, and cold does 1/4 damage... should the same apply to mechs, or does the mech's hardness (from size, if nothing else) have an effect on the damage taken from energy attacks?
This gets tricky. If you have the patience to separate out the hardness that comes from size factors, then yes, that should still affect energy attacks. It still represents "empty space" -- the acid might eat through the mech's shell, but do no damage to anything important because of the gaps behind the mech's hull.
Reese wrote:11: does the 1 minute per device component for re-configuring a steam power device cover taking parts from multiple devices and re-combining them?
for instance, if i want to take two componets each from three four component devices and combine them all with the components from a fourth four component device, does it take 10 minutes(for the 10 components going into the new final device) or 16 minutes (for the 16 total components involved in the 4 original devices) or something in between? (say, 10 for the ten components minutes plus one minute extra for unhooking the ten components from the original devices, but no more extra time since the six other components aren't going to be re-attatched to the new device)
This is like one of those word problems from grade school.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
In your example, it would take 10 minutes. But the extra, leftover pieces would be "stranded" and useless until a minute per piece was spent doing something with them.
Reese wrote:also, if i had a flame thrower with 1 pilot light, four amplifyers, and a billows, would it take me 1 minute for adding 1 new component (a fifth amplifyer, say) or would it take 7 minutes to put one amplifyer into a now 7 component device?
In this case, I'd say 1 minute to add the new part, since it's not a substantial change from the original design.