Re: [SG] Another pass through heavy weapons

On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 15:51:09 -0400, "Thomas Barclay" <kaladorn@magma.ca>
wrote:

>We have the HEL. Now, how does it gain its 
>effect? One big powerful blast? 

According to the rulebook, yes, for point targets.

> Can the weapon be 
>switched to a low-power-per-pulse, rapid-pulse 
>mode for engagement of infantry? Or is this just 
>a distinction between the HEL/1 and HEL/2-5? 

According to the rulebook, yes it can switch to a rapid pulse mode for
engaging infantry. No, it's not a distinction between HEL classes.

>Then we have HVC. You've got everything from 
>the 57mm AT gun, the 76mm LPG, to the 130 
>mm Smoothbore, etc. covered here. Some of 
>these have good HE rounds. Some have (gasp) 
>Cannister. Cannister from a HVC/4 ought to be 
>a real bad day (or Flechette) for infantry. As 
>might various submunition carrying rounds or 
>something like a huge ass Dragonsbreath 
>round. 

For cannister rules in _Hardtack_, I had it treated as regular infantry
fire:
QD + a couple of support weapon dice representing the shrapnel. The same
thing
could apply here, with perhaps the class indicating the type of die. For
instance, cannister for class 1 would be QD + D4 + D4. Cannister for an
HVC/5
would be QD + D12 + D12.

>Then we have the DFFG. The "sun gun". 
>Assuming that when this thing hits, there is a 
>fusion reaction, probably that means that it 
>vaporizes stuff. Land one in the middle of an 
>infantry squad and its crispy critter city. The 
>small DFFG/1 would be deployed (as on the 
>NAC Phalanx) in a tribarrell rapid-fire version 
>and would make up for smaller radius effects by 
>rapid fire. Again, a very deadly weapon against 
>infantry. 

Or is a DFFG closer to the powerguns of Slammer fame, where they lose
energy
as they zip through foliage and the like (the Slammers powerguns seemed
to me
to be a particularly bad idea as powergun shots could get "used up"
hitting
leaves; seemed like a great counter to them was some sort of chaffe
projector
like you see sending up confetti at concerts).

>GMS? People always want to use these against 
>infantry and I don't see why it isn't possible. 
>Just give the infantry D4 ECM. And treat the 
>weapon as having D12 impact (for GMS/P). Not 
>terribly effective, but it might kill someone and it 
>will probably place a suppression. Waste of 
>missiles if armour shows up later, though. 

D12 impact seems a bit harsh. It would, to me, depend on the warhead.
Probably
kill the one guy it hit, but what about the rest in the squad? I'd keep
it at
D8 as per the usual "heavy weapon firing at dispersed target" rules.

>(I can supply some guesses: Appropriately 
>strong anti-vehicle weapons, spotting (infantry 
>often live by being below the radar of more 
>obnoxious unit types), and a bias to be more 
>concerned about other vehicular threats). 

Vehicles only have two actions, same as a squad. It would seem to me
that a
vehicle all by its lonesome is still going to be in trouble, even with
realistic defensive weapons. I suspect that Jon was more worried about
vehicles dominating the game than he really needed to be.

>I think this is an interesting discussion. I'm not 
>suggesting "official" changes to things, I'm just 
>trying to create an IMU solution that will make a 
>vehicle feel a little more like a threat to the 
>"insects" (infantry). ;) 

Agree, though I'm also thinking in terms of a vehicle-only game. As it
stands,
vehicles (particularly tanks) are really wimpy.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
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