[SG] More HW/Vehicles discussion

I'm thinking that your range band idea is 
simple, but doesn't capture (to my mind) the 
relative capabilities of the weapons as captured 
in DS2. 

(PS - our table in the weekends game was 
10x6)

The HEL, for example, should probably have 
only 1 or at most 2 range bands on a stargrunt 
board. In DS2 (yes, it doesn't have to duplicate 
DS2, but I don't mind the idea...), anything up 
to 60" (6000m) (that may be max of HEL/5, 
but IIRC all HELs may have this range) is the 
same (close) range for a HEL. That seems to 
conjure up the accuracy of a HEL to my mind 
(and makes the high FP for laser sniper 
weapons sensible too). Weak, affected by 
ablative armour, but long ranged and accurate.

I'll take a look through DS2 and do some 
thinking about longer (yet still not super 
weapon) capabilities for SG2. I believe the trick 
is to make vehicles more capable, but to ensure 
that the handicaps they suffer in the "real" 
world are also adequately represented. 
Ubiquitous anti-armour assets are one part of 
that. Spotting is another. They will still be 
vulnerable to non-penetrating hits. Vehicle on 
vehicle remains balanced because what is good 
for one vehicle is good for another. Increased 
efficacy of GMS (Oerjan and I had a discussion 
once and I believe he suggested GMS/P (more 
or less) shouldn't exist as GMS/L was about the 
right level of potence for infantry carried 
weaponry - GMS/P just wasn't menacing enough 
to armour). 

I'm going to bash up some alternative rules for 
these things with more potent vehicles (and the 
threats to them) and see if the game still works. 
That'll be the true acid test. 

---------------------------------------------
Thomas Barclay
Co-Creator of http://www.stargrunt.ca 
Stargrunt II and Dirtside II game site

No Battle Plan Survives Contact With Dice.
-- Mark 'Indy' Kochte