[SG2] Problem With Quick and Dirty Option (was Re: [SG] Luring players)

After telling Chris yesterday that there was something that bugged me
about
the Quick and Dirty option in the SG2 rules, I got to thinking about
what it
is that really bugs me about it. 

Last night I figured it out.

In standard SG2 combat, you roll QD and fire power dice against a range
die.
If you have potential casualties, the total of the dice is divided by
the
range die. You then roll impact versus armour for each potential
casualty, and
any armour rolls that fail result in wounded or dead figures.

In the Quick and Dirty (Q&D) option, you roll QD and FP dice against a
range
die. However, if you have potential casualties the total of the dice is
divided by the armour die. These potential casualties are all given
wounded
markers.

In standard SG2 combat, it takes higher rolls to score at longer ranges,
on
average. Oh, sure, you can still have casualties from a total score of 4
(a 2
on your QD and a 2 on a FP die, for instance) at long range if the other
player rolls a 1 on his range die. But, on average, you have to roll
higher to
score at longer ranges as the range die is higher. This means that, on
average, when you do hit at longer ranges the total (used to determine
casualties) is generally higher than at shorter ranges. In standard SG2,
since
you divide the total by the range die, these higher numbers are "watered
down", which is what you'd expect. You would see fewer casualties at
longer
range.

Let's take an average squad rolling D8 quality, D10 firepower for
rifles, and
D10 firepower for a SAW. The average roll would be between 15 and 16.
We'll
say 16, to make the math easier. At short range, dividing the total by a
D4,
you get 4 potential casualties. For the other range bands, the totals
are
2.66, 2, 1.6, 1.33. If you rolled the maximum (28), you'd have 7, 4.66,
3.5,
2.8, and 2.33 potential casualties. Dividing by the range die serves to
dilute
the higher rolls for longer range, which is what you'd expect.

If we assume D8 armour versus D10 impact, the rate of actual casualties
will
be: 2.2, 1.463, 1.1, .88, and .7315 on average, and a maximum number of
casualties would be 3.85, 2.563, 1.925, 1.54, 1.2815.

In the Q&D system, some weirdnesses occur.

In Q&D you divide by the armour roll. This division is the same for all
range
bands. That means that while you typically need to roll higher numbers
for
hitting at longer ranges (because the range die is higher), the
potential
casualties when you _do_ hit at long range will be higher. 

Using our example of a total of 16, if a unit has D8 armour, the
potential
casualties will be the same for all ranges: 2. For the maximum roll of
28,
you'd have 3.5 casualties at all ranges. Since you don't roll impact
versus
armour, these potential casualties become real casualties. This is about
what
you'd expect for short range, but the casualties are quite a bit higher
than
you'd expect from longer ranges. 

Since you tend to have to roll higher to hit at longer range, you
suddenly
find in the Q&D system that when you hit, you will on average do more
casualties at longer range. Yes, it will be harder to hit at longer
range, but
the results will be nastier. 

The other weirdness is in the way that armour is modelled. You would
expect
armour to have its greatest effect at long range. The weapon's energy
has
lessened at long range, and so it should have less chance to penetrate.
In
standard SG2, the firepower is lessened at longer range by being divided
by
the range die. This results in fewer potential casualties. The impact,
though,
isn't lessened due to range for simplicity reasons. However, since there
are
fewer potential casualties at longer range there are fewer attempts to
try and
penetrate the armour.

In Q&D, the "realistic" performance of armour is actually inverted. The
dice
total is divided by the armour die. The total is divided by the same
number
regardless of range. However, due to the fact that you need to, in
general,
roll higher numbers to hit at longer range, you will actually get more
casualties at longer range than at close range each time you hit. Yes,
you
will hit less often, but when you do hit you will have more casualties.

The performance of the Q&D resolution system is close to the standard
system
at short ranges, but as the ranges go up the Q&D system becomes bloodier
than
the standard SG2 system. 

I'm not sure if there's an easy way to fix this. One way I speeded up
the
system is to roll one armour die and one impact die, and applying this
one
result to each potential casualty. It does speed things up a fair bit,
and is
a bit fairer than the Q&D system. It can be annoying to roll a 1 for
impact
with 5 potential casualties and know they all survive. On the other
hand, it's
also annoying on the opposite side to roll a 1 on the armour die and
your
opponent roll a 2 when you have 5 potential casualties.

Another option, which needs to be tested, is to use the Q&D approach,
but the
defender rolls a range die _and_ an armour die. The defender picks
whichever
die is higher and goes with that. For instance, if a defender was
defending at
short range with D8 armour, he'd roll a D4 and a D8. If he rolled a 3 on
the
D4 and a 1 on the D8, he would divide the dice total by 4 for potential
casualties. If the D8 was higher, he'd divide by 8. This shouldn't be
any
slower than the Q&D system, but keeps the potential casualties down at
longer
ranges. Note that the only draw back with this (as with the Q&D system)
is
that all members of the squad need to have the same armour value for it
to
work.

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

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
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