FMA Skirmish Weapon Ranges and Area Fire

My Brain, she works.... and I have several ideas.... probably for the
detail conscious.... at least in getting it down pat and in figuring
out ranges and stuff... but most of it will go onto a card and you'll
won't have to do any gross math later...

Idea: Weapons range bands a product of troop quality (brilliant idea
of St. Jon). However some weapons get crappy faster than others.
(Obvious). Don't like the idea of restricting to just setting a max
range.... how about this?

Range bands:
All weapons have a basic range of X", where X is the quality of the
troop. For regular 8". Range bands are doubles
(8"/16"/32"/64"/128"). Aiming doubles that again. Then there is a
weapon modifier. Standard AR 1.0, SMG 0.6 (yes I precalculate these
bands before the game), Pistol 0.4. Sniper rifle might be 2.0 with a
decent scope.

So this would yield: (in the hands of a regular)
Standard Pistol (9mm): 3"/6"/13"/26"/51.2"  Burst: no	 Ammo: 15
FAuto: No
Standard SMG (9mm): 5"/10"/19"/38"/77"	  Burst: 5 rd. Ammo: 30 FAuto:
30 rd
Standard AR (7mm): 8"/16"/32"/64"/128"	  Burst: 3 rd. Ammo: 30 FAuto:
30 rd
Sniper Rifle (7mm): 16"/32"/64"/128"/256"	  Burst: no	   Ammo:
5
FAuto: No
SAW (7mm): 8"/16"/32"/64"/128"		  Burst: 5 rd. Ammo: 30 FAuto:
30 rd
		with a belt						
	       FAuto: 50 rounds (1/2 belt)
Standard Shotgun (18mm/12 ga.): 3"/6"/13"/26"/51.2"	Burst: no Ammo:
5 FA: No  DangSp: 0.25"(Wpn Mod 0.4)
Sawed Off Shotgun: 1"/3"/6"/13"/25"			Burst: no Ammo:
5 FA: No
DangSp: 0.5"(Wpn Mod 0.2)
AutoShotgun (18mm/12 ga.): 3"/6"/13"/26"/51.2"		Burst: 3 rd.
Ammo: 10
FA: 5 rd. DangSp: 0.25"(Wpn Mod 0.4)

FP is a function of firing mode (which is determined in part by
weapon):

Semi Auto:		1d8		ammo use: 1 round
Burst:		1d10		ammo use: burst
FA:			1d12		ammo use: some number of rounds
up to a max

The difference in the firing modes is their other effects:

Semi Auto all have the same character. Aimed fire at a target, but not
with long pauses to aim and track the target. (unless you spend an aim
action ahead of time)

Burst: Resolve fire as 1 RB further away. If used to spray, the
following procedure is used. Shooter may engage a maximum of burst
rounds/2 round up targets (2 for a 3 round burst, 3 for a 5 round
burst). Shooter chooses a RB (say RB2 - which is IYRC resolved for
attack purposes as RB3). Then the shooter picks a line of fire with a
string or tape. This is the axis of a cone for the 'beaten zone' of
the suppressive fire. To determine the extents of the cone, the firer
measures along the axis to the end of that RB, then at that point
places two counter to mark the width of the cone. These must be placed
around the axis, though one may sit on the axis. The counters may not
be farther apart than 0.5" in RB1, 1" in RB 2, 2" in RB 3, 4" in RB 4,
or 8" in RB 5. So this will define the edges of the cone. They can be
closer together if the firer so choses. The area (and hence the
figures) affected are then calculated by seeing who falls within the
extents of the cone defined by two lines - one from the firer to the
one cone corner marker, the other from the firer to the other cone
corner marker - and the start and endpoints of the RB in question.
So someone firing at RB 3 for instance with a standard AR would go out
to 32", place two markers no more than 2" apart, using string
(perhaps) denote the cone formed by those two markers and the firing
figure, then determine which figures are potential targets in that
cone (right RB). Those figures are then attacked (once each) in order
from closest-to-firer to furthest from firer. If an intervening object
or target blocks part of the cone, then obviously that part is not
attacked. However, the intervening figure or target should be attacked
instead. You can't fire through someone at short range to hit a target
at long range, unless they are lying down or in a trench or some such
thing.

FA: Resolve fire as 2 RB further away. If used to spray, perform a
similar determination of maximum number of targets (except use rounds
fired/4, and max rounds is indicated by the weapon definition). The
spray endpoints may be up to twice as far apart - 1" at RB1, 2" at
RB2, etc out to 8" at RB5. The same comments on intervening figures
applies as to bursts. The only additional matter for FA fire is that
all attacks must be allocated. If all targets have been engaged at
least once, the remaining attacks may be allotted by a second pass if
the firer wishes. They will be applied closest to firer first.

Shotguns and danger space:
Shotguns attack an area around their target. The area is RB x DS. So a
normal shotgun at RB 4 would attack an area 1" to either side of the
target. This is resolved after any autofire hits are allotted (so
someone using an autoshotgun is truly terrifying).

Shotguns also do abysmally versus armour: Any armoured target should
get a 2 dice positive shift for armour vs. shotgun, unless they have
PA (full armour d12 style) in which case the shotgun won't even bother
them. This assumes the shotgun has lead/steel buckshot. If firing
birdshot, make that 3 shifts (and 1 shift for unarmoured targets -
birdshot is crappy as a man killer). If firing military flechette
ammo, there is a 1 die shift, and even PA can be affected (a sliver
might penetrate a joint or face screen).

Note too that posture should affect ranges. I think the useful way to
represent this without much math (addition or subtraction only) is to
treat it as follows:
standing: normal
sitting/kneeling: +1"/+2"/+4"/+8"/+16"	(so a rifle would then be
9/18/36/72/144")
prone (resting) (also kneeling with a brace of some sort like a wall):
+2"/+4"/+8"/+16"/+32" (so a rifle would then be 10"/20"/40"/80"/160".

So, a few examples:

Red Ranger (Reg Rifleman) fires his assault rifle from a standing
position normally (semi-auto) at Joe Target at 75m (37.5"). That is
inside the 64" RB (RB 4) for the standard AR, so the defender will use
d10. The attacker rolls quality (d8) + FP (d8 for semi-auto). This
will consume 1 round. If Red wished to aim for an action, then fire,
he'd be firing in RB3, so the defender would have used d8 instead.

Sniper Susie (Vet Rifleman) fires from a prone/rest position with a
scoped sniper rifle. Did not have time for an aim action (just got
into position) at Joe Target at 120m (Joe likes standing around in the
open it seems). Her RB would normally be 16"/32"/64"/128"/256", but
with the prone modifiers that is 28"/36"/72"/144"/288". At 120m, Joe
is at 60". That is in RB3. She fires normal fire and Joe gets a d8 in
defence. Her fire is quality (d10) + semi-auto firing mode (d8) vs.
his defence of d8. If she'd had time to aim, his defence would be d6.

RockNRollRonnie (Reg SAW gunner) standing, decides Joe is just begging
to be killed and fires a 20 round FA burst into Joe's neighbourhood.
Joe is sadly by himself, so all 5 attacks are resolved against Joe.
Joe is 60m from Ronnie, which is normally in Ronnie's RB 3. Due to FA
fire, Ronnie is firing at RB 5. So Joe defends against all 5 attacks
at d12, but there are 5 attacks coming in at d12 for fire mode + d8
for Ronnie. More than likely Joe will get hit.

Sneaky Slim (a Reg ganger with a Sawed off shotgun) has snuck up to 6m
to the left of Joe behind some cover. He plans to give Joe Both
Barrells of his sawed off shotgun. He will roll d8 for FP (semi auto)
but he gets two of these (one for each barrell) and a d8 for his own
quality. The defender is in RB 2 (just barely) and defends on a d6.
Things look bad for our hero. If Joe had been standing within RB x 0.5
or 1" of another figure, that figure would get attacked with the
shotgun too.

As you can see, this system requires you to do some math ahead of time
to figure RB for the weapons, but after than, the application of the
other mods is surprisingly simple. It handles danger space attacks and
beaten zones. It relates the FP die to RoF (which does not drop off
with range) and defenders defend by range, not by quality - I don't
care how elite you are, if I shoot my rifle at you at 200m you are not
dodging! It gives weapons the ranges they might actually reach (though
with a defender rolling d12s at those ranges, your odds of a hit are
low).

Other than that it takes a bit to setup your weapons and your squad
cards, once that is done, it will run fairly quick and many mechanics
echo SG2. RB are quality based so quality is the big determiner, but
your surivability as a target is range and cover based (ie get some or
get shot).

Comments?

<Starts putting an extra layer of sandbags on the bunker....>

Thomas Barclay
Software UberMensch
xwave solutions
(613) 831-2018 x 3008