[dluxcru]

Which gear in Shadowrun is Aztech known to make? I have a charecter who hates the company and wouldn't buy something from them, so it makes sense to know and avoid.

[Medicineman]

Aztech is famous for it's Soy Food (IIRC they produce > 75 % of all Soyfood )! One famous subsidiary  is Stuffer Shack.
So if that Player/his Char lifes in Low Lifestyle or less He'll be using Aztech Products No matter what !
He'll need at least Medium Lifestyle to avoid Aztech Products

with a subsidiary Dance
Medicineman

[Kiirnodel]

Yeah, it is sort of like refusing to shop at Wal-mart, but after Wal-mart bought out Target, K-mart and most other major shopping centers. It isn't a huge secret or anything, but it is pretty common for people to not realize that Stuffer Shack is owned by Aztechnology.

[Reaver]

This is why I hate that negative Quality


Arguably, a MegaCorp makes just about every item under the sun. And some of them in multiple brands! Add in the spider's web of Controlling interests, Shell Corporations, Holding Subsidraries, and other asset management tricks, it's impossible to know unless they put a sticker on it!

And while the "Ares Predator" is obviously made by Ares, you can be that Aztech has a knockoff of it sold under a different name! And it is also unreasonable to think that the books list every possible item made by every possible production firm (love to flip through that Sear's catalogue! probably 30 feet tall!)


So it kinda falls on either side of the same fence:

Either you can't use the item at all unless its got the company name on the sticker (as in listed in the entry or as a SUBsid of said company) <rather harsh>

Or it becomes an RP stick/tool where the player/character goes through endless searches looking for the "right brand" of heavy pistol through his contacts/RP time. But looks up and buys Ares Predator(Evo dazzler) from the book.

Depending on the table, both are acceptable.

[dluxcru]

My biggest question is which guns/weapons are manufactured by Aztech. Are any explicitly known as being so? Besides the Aztechology Striker?

[Medicineman]

If You/ your Char hates the company and won't buy anything from them You/he won't stop at weapons !
You should refuse to buy ANYTHING from them !
Anything else might be considered bad roleplaying or at least Munchkinning....

JahtaHey
Medicineman

[Hobbes]

If You/ your Char hates the company and won't buy anything from them You/he won't stop at weapons !
You should refuse to buy ANYTHING from them !
Anything else might be considered bad roleplaying or at least Munchkinning....

JahtaHey
Medicineman

For a character with some Negative Quality or a particular hatred of a specific corp(s).  But I can certainly see a RP Quirk of "Won't buy X from Y corp."  Ares cars, or Evo Armor, or Aztech Commlinks... ect.   

Like in real life, you may hate GE Fuse Boxes, but have no particular opinion on their Jet Turbines or Financial products. 

[Medicineman]

sure
thats why I love the Quirks Concept from GURPS ;  tiny Disadvantages worth a mere Point(instead of 5 or 10) but they don't hinder a char as much as a full grown Disadvantags
Instead of a full grown Arachnophobia the Char has a less hampering version "Spiders are Yucky "
which leads to a lot of Roleplay but if its really urgent he can fight those giant yucky Spiders.
But if You choose a big Disadvantage which is worth some Points You're supposed to stick to that disadvantage
And if that disadvantage says : "Won't buy anything from Aztech" ! than its not only Weapons ,Ammo or Armor
its virtually ANYTHING !

HokaHey
Medicineman

[dluxcru]

I'm mentioning guns in particular because a lot of gear doesn't have specific brands attached to it, and could therefore be assumed to have alternative manufacturers available - weapons, comm-links, and decks being the biggest exceptions.


It's usually pretty easy to determine the point of origin on comm-links and decks. Weapons don't have that same luxury. I don't know for sure if Colt or Remington (for example, but I'm interested in all of them), have been bought out by Aztechnology, or are still independent AA corps. H&K and Steyr TMP are the most relevant here, thought, because they are the ones that I'm likely to stick with for the character build.
[size=78%] [/size]

[Reaver]

Not that it helps you but:

Steyr and HK ended up in SK hands.

And Temmingtion and Colt are part of the Ares trademark.

Both of these are covered in the Corp history as footnotes.

[dluxcru]

That helps quiet a bit, thank you! Means all of my character's primary weapons choices from SK, which is an acceptable place to be!
It's good to know some of the others as well merely out of curiosity. (What page is this footnote on?)

[Medicineman]

>>>> I'm mentioning guns in particular because a lot of gear doesn't have specific brands attached to it

I was always under the impression that each & every Megacorp produces a variant of all existing Weapons.
the Ares Predator from Ares is the most known but each Megacorp produces the Equivalent of the same Weapon ( Renraku Devil, Mitsuhama Marauder, etc) with the same Weapon Data (damage, Price,Avail etc)except they only look a bit different

With the same Dance
Medicineman

[Reaver]

>>>> I'm mentioning guns in particular because a lot of gear doesn't have specific brands attached to it

I was always under the impression that each & every Megacorp produces a variant of all existing Weapons.
the Ares Predator from Ares is the most known but each Megacorp produces the Equivalent of the same Weapon ( Renraku Devil, Mitsuhama Marauder, etc) with the same Weapon Data (damage, Price,Avail etc)except they only look a bit different

With the same Dance
Medicineman

Yea, that was what I was implying earlier.... They (the player) may be buying an Ares Predator, but the character is buying an Evo Meateater..


And the info of who owns what is spread through the Corp books of the editions.... so you have 3 to get and dig through.

From there, you may need to dig a little deeper. Corps own Corps, that own Corps and all that. For Steyr it was thst they were already owned by an other company SK aquired....

[Sendaz]

Not that it helps you but:

Steyr and HK ended up in SK hands.

And Temmingtion and Colt are part of the Ares trademark.

Both of these are covered in the Corp history as footnotes.

Reaver can you provide the source data showing Colt is actually under the Ares umbrella?

This has been argued in multiple threads over the years about who actually owns colt and even Nmath can't find a solid reference in the books showing it being owned by a AAA.
 http://nmath.free.fr/onyx/depot/Corporate%20Index%202065.xls

Now maybe one of the newer books in 5th have finally locked this down and I missed it, so if you can point me to a page I would be happy to finally put this one to rest.

[Reaver]

No.

I don't have the time to source trace company stock options and follow the money. But, I'll start the trace for you.

Colt Man. Is a Private Company with 85% ownership by Zilhka & Co. Zilhka is a finacial holding Company and owns Timberland, Zilhka Biomas and others. Zilhka has not released a portfolio of share ownership so my trailing ends there. (Not paying money for this info. You are free to do so however.)

So now you just have to find the controling shares of Zilhka & Co. and trace those back to its parent. The find the controling shares of that parent company to start the trace back on it to ITs parent company..... and on and on until the shares stop.


Should only take 2 to 3 months.


Nmath has done the easy work of just listing straight out of the books which companies are linked to what, but that doesn't really tell you anything as it doesn't show you who or what those subsidraries hold (because those Sub companies also own companies).

●●●

But what you DO have are sweeping statements in the Corp books that give you some insight. "Ares got it start buying up failing Space and Weapon companies in North America. " (or words to that effect) are littered throughout the histories of Big 8/10.

But its your time. Use it how you see fit.