Last Chance Troubleshooter's Guide
How to Kill a Glitter Boy
by Dennis Glover.
So, you want to kill a Glitterboy. That's fair enough, they're annoying. I hate them, and I think they couldn't be more overrated. Unfortunately you're all by yourself and all you have is one weapon. The boom gun is as practical as an acid spitting codpiece and you could never, EVER sneak up on someone wearing 1.5 tons of super shiny, laser resistant, tinfoil. Between it's crippling immobility in battle and the pilot's silent prayer that no one is carrying anything heavier than a Wilkes pistol. They aren't good for much else aside from standing very far away from something and shooting at it, drawing attention away from the real troops.
Aside from its nearly endless list of drawbacks, it does have a number of advantages. First would be the most devastating weapon carried by a single suit of armor. I mean, c'mon, 3D6x10 Mega-damage. What the hell, that's hardcore. Second would be a mixed blessing, the reputation. For some reason or another, everyone fears the golden gunner. It's probably why there isn't more Glitter Boy parts scattered across the landscape. Finally there is the…it would be it's…maybe the way it…or because of it's ability to…Damn. Sorry folks, I never liked them for a reason. I'm sure when Quebec comes out they'll rectify this oversight, but then again I thought that there would again be a reason to fear Tattooed men when Splynn came out. In the interest of this article, I'll try and stay objective.
There are a couple of things to look at when you have to kill the beast. Most importantly would be neutralizing the feared "Boom Gun". Since this entire scenario revolves around a single attacker (or 1-4) against one GB, I'll try to stay focused on just that. The massive power of the boom gun is also the reason for it's biggest flaw. To prevent the effects of recoil the GB must anchor itself to the ground during firing. That translates to one action to set the pylons, one action to fire, and one action to retract the pylons. That's 3 actions to fire a single round at a single target. It's not so bad when you're just duking it out against a bunker or partially disabled tank but when confronting anything with an iota of mobility, the GB pilot is in for a beating.
By their nature Glitter Boys want to stand in front of what they want dead and just shooting and accepting whatever damage comes their way. Which is fine when he's trying to kill a guy in crusader armor with a bolt action Remmington. This is when the attacker is at his strongest. The GB only has a 90-degree cone of fire and his feet are firmly stuck in the ground, so the big edge here is mobility. One man on foot has a huge advantage in mobility. The more people you add to this equation, even though it will make pot shots easier to take, the more likely one of them will get a flechette round upside their sorry ass. The attacker(s) should use whatever cover is available to stay out of sight while constantly repositioning and firing. These shots are huge because the key is taking 1 shot (Single/Burst/whatever) and running to another safe hiding spot. What you shoot at depends on how well armed you are. If it's one person with a single weapon, your best bet is to aim all of your shots at either the head or boom gun. As an added challenge, all of you aspiring Snipers should try and take out the Ammo Feed Tube. That's the rectangular tube that runs from the weapon into ammo drum in the back of the armor. Disabling this tube will neutralize the boom gun without destroying it, a key factor if you're going to try and salvage any of the armor and resell it.
As for your weapons, hide if you have a laser. If you have something that inflicts 1D6 to 4D6 you'll have to use the hit & run tactics for a while and wear the GB down. For 5D6 or 6D6 you can afford to be a little cavalier because you'll inflict some serious damage in no time. If you should be fighting this fight with anything larger than a mini-missile launcher…Shut Up! Go read something else because you don't need this advice. If you super killers out there still want advice let me give you some trade in all of your weapons for money, use your money to buy a place in the mountains, hire a guru, learn an obtuse Martial Arts form and go about trying to solve problems one at a time without your fists. Deal with that Kwai Chang Kane.
Should you be unfortunate to be fighting the GB without the aid of cover you have to get a little extreme. The Boom Gun is a powerful LONG-RANGE weapon. It's not effective when you're standing arms length from it. My suggestion would be to get VERY close to the GB and try and disable the boom gun up close and then deal with the secondary weapons in turn. This will be easier if you have supernatural strength or a rune weapon or even a fusion block (my personal favorite). Another thing you might want to try and do is compensating for the stun effects of the boom gun. You can do this by either disabling the gun before going close range or just purchase a handy, dandy Area Sound Suppressor from the lovely folks at Last Chance Arms. If you want to try and kill two birds with one stone, wedge that fusion block between the boom gun and the helmet of the shiny bastard. The 4D6x10 M.D. should be enough to take the head and gun off of the opposition.
If you want to take any preventive measures let me give you a few pointers. Pitfall traps filled with land mines are great, Glitter Boys don't have hover capabilities and they'll fall if you trip them. Spike traps won't work as well but deadfall traps will. Anything heavy you can drop on a GB will hurt something that is important. (I.e. head, boom gun). Naruni cartridge traps are great because of the ability to hurt the feet and more importantly the pylons needed to fire the gun.
If you want a sure-fire way to kill a Glitter Boy, trail him for a week until he gets out to bathe and put two behind his/her ear. Sure he'll still stink but he'll be dead and all you'll have to figure out is how to sell a fresh suit of Glitter Boy armor.
That should be more than enough to handle your Glitter Boy problems. With out too much inter-squad bickering it becomes as easy as it sounds. Now if you have any questions or if you just want to let us now how it turned out drop us a line anytime. Everyone gets responded to. Watch your back, good gaming, and enjoy.
This page has been visited 
times.