Re: Out of Ammo in FMA

>
>I don't want to pop anyone's bubble but special ops troopers DO run out
of 
>ammo in prlonged firefights. That's because eventually you always shoot

>yourself dry, if you have to keep on shooting. So some kind of carrying

>capacity is going to come into question in some circumstances
>

Oh sure - I don't think we have the idea that somehow spec ops guys are
invincible, never run out of ammo, etc etc.  I think we were referring
to
the idea that troops might run out of ammo in their existing magazine in
the middle of an action by mistake, because they forgot to count their
shots or check the magazine before the fight started or whatever.  Not
that
they have run out of ammo all together, but that they have none in their
gun RIGHT NOW.	There isn't a mechanic built into the system for
reloading,
or for tracking ammo for basic weapons like an assault rifle.  What
we're
trying to do here is account for the situation where you run out of ammo
in
your rifle and suddenly have to change mags when you are stuck in the
middle of a fight and didn't plan on it.

If we are talking about weapons that use 4mm caseless rounds (with, I'm
sure, much higher energy explosive propellant than current ammo) or
binary
propellant, liquid propellant or whatever - all potential firearms
developments - then we are talking about the average trooper being able
to
carry a lot more ammo than they do now.  A Canadian Forces trooper now
will
get a combat load of 150 rounds for his C7 rifle.  Maybe more, depending
on
the circumstances - but rarely more than a couple of hundred (though the
Airborne guys who deployed into Somalia, who didn't know what their
resupply situation would be, were carrying closer to 700 rounds each). 
He
is expecting to be resupplied on a regular basis, but entering a fight,
he's not going to have ready more than that.  One of the GZGverse
troopers
could easily be entering a fight with a thousand rounds of rifle ammo or
more - at the same weight.  For simplicity sake, when talking about
basic
weapons I think we shouldn't incorporate an "out of ammo all together -
you
have NONE left" mechanic - except, perhaps, as a special scenario type
rule.  

But accounting for accidentally running out in the current magazine - or
perhaps jamming or other stoppages - adds a greater degree of realism
without seriously encumbering the system.

Adrian Johnson
ajohnson@idirect.com