Re: FMA Skirmish Weapon Ranges and Area Fire

Subject: Re: FMA Skirmish Weapon Ranges and Area Fire

I reply to Los:

BTW how many seconds orminutes is one FMA turn supposed to represent?
(I ask this so we can figure ammo consumption)

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I figured fairly short. I don't recall. 15 s?
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Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Range bands:

Minor point. first I would cut confusion for the math impaired and
just make the burst either 4 and 6 rds respectively,
or better yet just say how many attacks on Burst and FA (i.e. SMG 3
attacks on burst, 8 on FA)

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Well that works, but we all know that
1) if you don't have a burst selector, you tend to fire (sometimes)
more or less rounds.
2) If you only have 2 rounds left, you should still be able to burst.
3) Not all weapons in RL have a set # of rounds evenly divisible.

But, OTOH, What you say makes some sense at least for defining
standardized weapons....
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Re: resolving burst and FA areas of attacks (short of a nifty plastic
sliderule compass gizmo that you overaly the
attacked area) A quick and dirty way (Without all the surveyor tool
requirements<g>), albeit less acurate might be to
just range step it, say at RB1=.5, RB2=1, RB3=2, RB4=3, RB5=4. This
way you only lay out one thread and measure. Might
be a tad quicker particular inside.

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Well, you really just need a string, a tape, and two pennies. But you
could just set a fixed width. I'm a fan of cones, but you could just
set a fixed width and it would work well and easily.
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Though it would be pretty easy to construct a little thread+stick
contraption to lay out a template for your MG fire.

>
> FP is a function of firing mode (which is determined in part by
> weapon):
>
> Semi Auto:		  1d8		  ammo use: 1 round

This should use at least 2-3 rounds even in semi unless you are doing
aimed fire.

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It is single shot because of the time scale.... and because I wanted
there to be ammo tracking.
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>
> Burst:	  1d10		  ammo use: burst
> FA:			  1d12		  ammo use: some number of
rounds up to a max
>

Wait shouldn't this be completely opposite since semi is more
accurate? Semi should get the higher FP than FA though
you get a chance to hit more guys with that lower attack in FA?
This way I think you can then dispense with teh range shifts below.

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I see your point. That could work, though calling it FP then makes
less sense.

The thing is, firing bursts at a target you can see seems to me likely
to give you (if you are at short ranges) better odds of a casualty
(more rounds in the target area) and better odds of suppression. This
occurs through
a larger die type, not necessarily being able to engage more targets.

Hmmm. Your idea has merit though. I'll think about a contrarian
scheme. Accuracy might be the new name... FP
just sounds wrong. More on this later on.

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> 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).
>

All these effects should be scenario specific. If you are doing Mars
Attacks vs Jim Bob (No offense to any rednecks out there) they come in
fine, but a GZG-universe toting soldier (say for CQC) will have
ensured that he's carrying Slugs, flechettes etc or even a multiple
round type cassette for his weapon. BTW these Shotguns could also have
otherr neat effects such as blowing off hinges and locks (But that'll
be specified in the CQC suppliment I'm working on)

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Agreed, but some comment on ammo types should be present as shotgun
ammo is different in a profound way. I agree most military shotguns
will either be multi-ammo type or flechette. Shok-Lok(tm) and other
ammo types may well be feasible as well for breach operations.
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> 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".
>

Did I miss something in the rules? Is there a differnce between
standing, kneeling and Prone (BTW Jon make some damn
porne SG2 figs!!!!) I've been using In position in my FMA tests.

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I didn't see it, but in a Skirmish game, there probably should be. We
all know laying on the range, not having
to support the weapon, your accuracy increases. We also know using a
rest when kneeling or sitting makes you pretty accurate too. And as
you've pointed out, posture should affect how grenades affect you. And
it occurs to me your target profile is a big function of this too - a
prone figure being fired on is MUCH harder to hit than a standing
figure in the open.
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You need to get  one of the rocket scientists on this list to come up
with a little applet to figure all that math out
for ya! <grin> Sort of like the FT ship designer etc.

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I'd do up a bunch of standard weapon tables so people could just plonk
stuff onto their squad cards with little or no math req'd. Though in
general, your idea has merit too - a little applet or a small VB style
program to do all the calcs for you. Hmmm.

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Well it's a bit more in depth than I had in mind but as per our
offline discussions we were both seeing a need for area
fire in this game.

I also wish there was a way to bring this a tad closer to stargrunt.
What I'm beating around the bush about is the
ability to move multiple figures in one activation. Something like if
you are within two inches of your squad leader
and everyone passes a task check, then they can move/fire together.
Makes leaders a tad more important in FMA, allows
for some coordinated moves and fire groups. Would be especially
important in CQB and room clearing. The downside is
people that close would fall under the effect of your area fire so you
can weigh the benifits vs hazards..

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How bout this:
Joint activation for units under a commander:
Commander gives an order. If it is comms, he must make a comms roll.
(can be jammed a la EW). If it gets
through, he rolls his quality versus the combination of his and his
targets motivation. If he can yell at the target in person (say target
is closer than commander quality meters (5" for veteran, 6" for elite,
etc)), give him a +1 on this roll.
For each guy he succeeds, he may activate them simultaneously to
follow the order he just gave (which must be succinct). If he says
"Squad, up and rush the bunker", then that is what his figures must
do.
Obviously, the # of figures affected should be a consequence of
quality level - limit it to quality level # figs - 10 for a vet, 8 for
a regular. If you activate subordiante sergeants and stuff, they too
may attempt to activate their subordinates in cascade.

Note: This is powerful, but if the other side has used OW and uses
interrupt/snap fire options, it isn't really that gross. If they
haven't they almost deserve what they get.
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> <Starts putting an extra layer of sandbags on the bunker....>

Oh yeah what about lasers and gauss rifles and disruptor beams and...

Los

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