Re: [SGII] Supression

At 12:52 PM 2/15/99 -0500, you wrote:
>> Take a look at Xaarg, cheerfully trotting his way across the
battlefield.
>
>Right.
>
>> Bullets are continually whipping their way past him, making (he
thinks to
>> himself) a rather pleasing sound as they do.  Does he let the bullets
slow
>> him down though?  No!  After all, if he gets shot he'll probably
die...and
>
>Here's the problem:  Private Snuffy watching Xaarg.  Now, Snuffy
doesn't
>want to die either, and he's watching this big scary Thing With Spikey
>Bits (herein: TWSB) coming towards him.  Xaarg isn't hiding behind
rocks
>or becoming one with Mother Rdsorspha or otherwise taking cover because
>the gamer has declared "TWSBs are immune to supression"--Xaarg isn't
>taking the time (burning an action) to do so.	So Snuffy is going to
put
>a 4mm gauss round between Xaarg's sensory organs (although this may be
a
>bad idea--TWSB are probably sexually aroused by this or something).

You are acting like there are only two ways to respond to incoming fire:
freeze or go into a beserk frenzy.  This is not the case.

>> if he doesn't get shot, he'll *certainly* die, eventually.  Why worry
about
>> it?	Of course, being  a sensible fellow, Xaarg is being cautious--he
keeps
>> low, and uses the available cover as he moves--because, when you
think
>> about it, he'll have an eternity to enjoy death, while life is a
strictly
>
>Then why isn't he taking cover when the bullets come downrange?  That's
>supression!

Because he doesn't feel threatened by them.  He hears a gunshot.  He
looks
down.  He sees that he has no holes in his body (none that weren't there
before, at least), he shrugs and moves on.  He doesn't drop to the
ground
and worry about being hit.  The human instict is to freeze when
threatened,
but some aliens are going to have different instincts.	Have you ever
walked by a bush and had a rabbit suddenly tear out, run right in front
of
you, and then zig-zag across the field until he reaches his hole?  The
smart thing to do would have been to stay hidden--you wouldn't have seen
him in the first place.  Instinct dictated otherwise, so he runs...in
such
a fashion as to minimize the chance of being caught.  He doesn't just
march
across the field, pausing frequently to allow you time to aim.	If that
rabbit had been aggresive and armed, and if you had a gun, are you
absolutely certain that you could have dropped him before he got into
position to kill you?  And believe me, those rabits can be nasty little
bastards....

According to the rules, (SGII, page 18) suppression is when a unit "is
fired upon effectively enough for it's members to FEEL IN DANGER of
being
hit (whether of not any of them actually are) and THUS ARE INHIBITED
FROM
ACTIONS THAT WOULD EXPOSE THEM TO FURTHER RISK."  Emphasis, obviously,
is
mine.  If something doesn't feel endangered, it's not going to be
suppressed.  But that doesn't mean that they are going to walk boldly
across the battlefield, waving a big sign that says "Alien season! 
Shoot
me!  Shoot me now!"  An alien under fire might stop...but perhaps he'd
just
slow down a bit, or go into overdrive (like Niven/Pournelle/Barnes'
Gendels), or take to the trees, or activate his holographic cammo suit,
or
instantly evaluate the threat (realizing that at THIS range, from THAT
angle, the enemy has only a .000234% chance of hitting him) and just
ignore
it.  There are many ways to react.

>> Why not?  Where is it written that all Aliens must be equivalent to
human
>
>Law of Nature.  No such thing as free lunch.  Physics is damned
>equitable.

Nonsense.  Are you saying that if Antarans are 20% faster than humans
they
must then be 20% weaker to balance it out?  An alien can't be faster,
stronger, smarter, and more technologically advanced all at once?  I
don't
see why not--especially when you take genegineering into account.  The
universe is not always (or even usually) fair.

>> I've found that the best way to represent the alien psyche is not
through
>> mechanics, but through simple roleplaying.  When I am running an
Imperial
>
>Roleplaying requires rules.  If you 'roleplay' your TWSB are going to
>ignore the bullets whipping around, then you should also 'roleplay'
your
>TWSB get shot more often.

Reasonable people already do this.  When it comes to the
Imperials...they
*do* get shot more often.  Q.E.D.  They welcome death, so they don't try
very hard to avoid it.	I've previously noted how I make the Imperials
easier targets because of the combination of their great size and their
suicidal tendencies.  However, I also make use of tactics that I
normally
would not (such as charging at every opportunity, pressing obviously
doomed
assaults, jumping on top of an enemy tanks) that are in no way mandated
by
the rules, house or otherwise.	And yes, they suffer for it.  That's
part
of the fun.

However, if I were running Aliens (of the movie of the same name) I
would
NOT make them easier to hit, and I would NOT have them suppressed by
enemy
fire.  Different situation, different instincts, different behavior.

John X Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com
  "...is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information.  Don't ever piss one off."
  --Spider Robinson, The Callahan Touch.