Re: FMA Suppression

On Sun, 29 Aug 1999 17:12:32 -0400, "Thomas Barclay"
<Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca> wrote:

>Area suppression weapons rarely allow "selective" targetting. You tend
>to spray an area and try to avoid doing it when your buddies are
>nearby - though gamers will often try to fire into or very near their
>buddies. 

Okay, using the auto fire rules I posted yesterday I'd probably make
some
changes with regard to this. If an automatic weapon is fired at a group
of
figures, the start and end point of the "line" across which the weapon
will
fire would be indicated. For instance, if it was spraying a 4" wide
area, the
ends of a 4" wide line would be indicated. At least one target figure
would
have to be on that line. The die modifier would be based on the length
of the
line (not the number of figures along that line). 

Now, after doing that, all figures within the arc of the weapon would be
attacked, friendly or enemy, within the same range band as the line. The
arc
is taken by holding a ruler from one end of the line back to the firing
figure, then from the firing figure to the other end of the line. I
tried this
on a table, using golf tees as indicators. Worked easily enough.

Basically it's a beaten zone. The width of the beaten zone is up to the
player, and the depth is based on the depth of a range band. 

>Here's a better question. Enemies hunkered down behind a berm 20m
>out.... my guy fires his SAW on FA to rake the position and keep their
>heads down. He doesn't try to kill them, just prevent them from
>moving. How do we do this in FMA? 

I suggest a variation on SG2's "spotting by fire" rules. Follow the
rules for
firing at the enemy as though they were out in the open, but a hit
results in
a suppression marker only. Shift the die down based on terrain, with
full
covering terrain (such is that berm, or a solid wall) giving hard cover
advantages. Tie this in with automatic fire rules, and you have a SAW
capable
of firing at a number of figures out of sight, with each one possibly
receiving a suppression marker but no actual damage.

I'm not sure what to do, though, if a major hit is scored as opposed to
a
minor hit. Require a morale roll on a major hit? Give two suppression
markers
on a major hit? Maybe there doesn't need to be a difference... 

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"