Re: [SGII] Nasty Cover

[agoodall@xxxxxxx]

Good topic, Mark!

> Thoughts? You're going to tell me somebody already came up with this in 1972
> aren't you...?

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, before.

First, think about this: you are in the middle of a street and someone opens fire on you. Are you better off lying in the open in the street, or are you better going behind a car?

You're probably better off behind a car.

Second, does the car make it harder to hit you with a projectile?

SG2 models cover in two ways: cover makes it harder to score casualties, and protects casualties when they are scored by increasing the armour die. The first part seems to handle the "hiding" effect of cover. If you're behind cover, it's harder to see your precise outline (aided by camouflage clothing). It's, therefore, harder to aim at you, as opposed to the cover area in general. The second seems to handle the protective ability of the cover and the "harder to aim at you" part. If you are behind trees, the tree will absorb energy from bullets, plasma fire, etc. Even if the shots hit you, their armour is decreased. Also, because the person couldn't aim at your outline very well, it's harder for the attacker to hit your vital centre of mass area (thorax and abdomen), and instead the shots are more random. 

Taking these into consideration, I'd be tempted _not_ to downgrade the armour the target may already have. Splintering may result in more fragments, which is nasty for unprotected troops, but -- especially in the case of a car -- it's tempered by the lowered energy in the round itself. Bear in mind that SG2 squads are science fiction: how would this splintering phenomenon affect plasma shots, or Phalon pulsers, or laser sniping rifles? 

I'd be tempted to make a car soft or hard cover for the purposes of adjusting the range band, and give them _no_ effect on the armour roll. I'd be tempted to call a car "soft cover" because bullets can go through it, but hard may be better because of the protective ability of the engine block. You could call part of it hard, part soft, but that's getting beyond the scale of SG2. 

This brings up ideas for other armour. Say there's a store front with a large window made of bullet proof glass. I would give it no cover die shift for the range band, but treat it as soft or hard cover (depending on the glass) for the purposes of the armour die.

--
Allan Goodall              agoodall@att.net
http://www.hyperbear.com   agoodall@hyperbear.com