Re: SG2 vehicle targeting not good enough?

On Wed, 1 Nov 2000 16:45:42 -0600, "shogakusha" <shogakusha@geotec.net>
wrote:

>wouldn't it make more sense to take a vehicle crew, give them a
>quality, and then let them use that quality to roll with, modified by
the
>type of firecon they are using? I just think that an elite trooper
>controlling a turret with open sights would do better than a green
trooper
>on the same gun, and I think the rules should show this. 

Okay, I think I see some confusion. Not to worry, this is an area that
isn't
too specific in the rules. 

I hope the following answers your question, as I'm not exactly sure of
the
scenario you're talking about. Are you talking about a vehicle firing a
heavy
weapon, or a vehicle firing squad support weapons mounted on it?

For firing a heavy weapon, the vehicle rolls quality die and fire
control die,
versus the target's range die. If the target is a vehicle, the range
bands are
12" x the size class of a vehicle. This makes, for instance, your
average APC
at close range even 24" to 36" out. This is in the SG2 rulebook, page
38.

Okay, but what about a vehicle firing a squad support weapon? For
instance,
you have a grav tank with a gatling SAW mounted on the turret. How does
this
work against infantry?

Well... uh... the rules do not SPECIFICALLY state how it is handled.
However,
the implication is that it works exactly the same way as infantry.
Vehicles DO
have quality markers. So, you would roll the vehicle's quality die and
the
weapon's firepower die versus the range die of the target. This is the
same
procedure as listed under "Individual Fire of Support Weapons" on page
37,

So, to answer your question, a vehicle DOES have a quality marker, and
squad
support type weapons mounted on a vehicle DO work just like squad
weapons
operated by an infantry squad.

I have some Kryomek grav vehicles that I use as APCs. They have twin
gatling
SAWs mounted in a small turret. I have these fire rolling the vehicle's
quality die, the firepower die (for the first barrel) and a second
firepower
die. This makes these APCs pretty potent anti-squad weapons (or would if
they
didn't go "pop" whenever a missile hits them! *S*).

>It also seemed that
>some of the vehicle weapons were woefully underpowered vs infantry, any
>particular reason2?

If the target of a heavy weapon is infantry, the impact die is reduced
to a
D8. This is because it's hard to kill dispersed infantry with a heavy
weapon.
It's hard to take out an entire squad with an anti-vehicle weapon.

That having been said, yes, the vehicles in the rulebook are WOEFULLY
inadequate against infantry. This is pretty much the same problem
vehicles
like the Elephant in World War II had. The Elephant had poor
anti-infantry
protection. Most World War II tanks had multiple machine guns to deal
with
infantry. Modern tanks are better protected. The solution? Design your
own.
Give them multi launcher packs and SAWs. 

Also, vehicles get one SAW for free in the design. The vehicles in the
book
don't have SAWs listed. I suspect that the single, free SAW isn't listed
but
should be. 

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~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"