Re: [DS3] Dirtside Accelerator for Infantry

Brian Bilderback wrote:

>The only problem with the accelerator is it gives class 1 weapons of 
>certain types as much lethality as class 5 weapons of other types.

Er, no it doesn't! :-) (OK, with the possible exception of a DFFG/1 at 
point-blank range compared to a HEL/5 firing at Ablative Armour, but
that 
particular pairing is pretty similar in the chit system too...) I think 
that you're confusing the Accelerator with Brian Bell's DS-FMA system
here; 
Bell's (*) system uses separate die types to represent weapon Size and
chit 
validity so can get exactly the same die combinations for weapons of 
different die sizes and validities.

(*) Apologies for using the surname, but when discussing one Brian B.
with 
another Brian B. that's the only chance to avoid confusion... :-/

>I proposed a system to the test list a while back, I'm not sure if it's
OK 
>to present it to the main list yet.  If so, I believe OO has the
details.

It should be OK to post here since it didn't originate with Jon T., so
here 
goes (with the usual caveat about mangled tables):

DS-Bilderback:

When a weapon scores a hit, an opposed die roll is made between the 
weapon's Impact di(c)e and the target's Armour di(c)e. How many dice are

used and how they are interpreted depends on the weapon's Validity,
which 
is given on a "X/Y" format. "X" gives the number and interpretation of
the 
Impact dice, while "Y" refers to the Armour. "X" and "Y" can each have
the 
following values:

H: Roll two dice of the same size. Only the HIGHEST roll is used to 
determine if the target is completely destroyed; but both are used to 
determine damage less than compete destruction.

1: Roll 1 die only; the roll is used to determine both damage and
destruction.

L: Roll two dice of the same size. Only the LOWEST roll is used to 
determine if the target is completely destroyed; but both are used to 
determine damage less than compete destruction.

The weapon's Size Class determines the size of the Impact dice, while
the 
target's Armour Rating determines the size of the Armour dice:

Weapon Size:	Armour Rating:	Die Type:
1		1		D4
2		2		D6
3		3		D8
4		4		D10
5		5		D12

If either rating (Impact or Armour) is larger than 5, the OPPOSITE
rating 
is shifted DOWN one step for each increment above 5. (If both ratings
are 
larger than 5, they first cancel one level at a time until the smaller 
rating reaches 5 and then shifts it downwards until the other rating 
reaches 5.) No rating may be shifted to less than 1, however.

Results:
If the Impact dice's "complete destruction" score is LARGER THAN the
Armour 
dice's "complete desctruction" score, the target is DESTROYED.

If a vehicle target is not destroyed but ANY of the Impact die rolls is 
EQUAL to ANY of the Armour die rolls, the target is DAMAGED. Roll 1D8 to

determine the type of damage it suffers:

1-3: Mobility hit
4-5: Systems Down: Target
6-8: Damage (lose half movement, shift all fire 1 RB further away)

(In a further developed iteration of these rules, this damage table
could 
be made dependent on the target's Mobility Type - eg. Hi-Mob Wheeled 
vehicles are less likely to take a MOB hit and more likely to take a DAM

hit than Tracks are, since military wheeled vehicles are very often able
to 
keep moving even if one or more wheels are destroyed whereas a broken
track 
will immobilize a track-layer, while a Grav vehicle with very 
well-protected grav plates could be more likely to take a SD:T result 
instead of movement - and so on. For now however I'm content to inflict
the 
same distribution of damage results on all vehicles.)

These Die Validities don't correspond directly to the old Chit
Validities; 
instead the weapons get the following validities:

Heavy weapon Impact die types:
Weapon Impact depends on the weapon used as well as the range and target

(just like the chit validities do):

			 Range:
Weapon	Close	Med.	Long	Vs. Infantry:
HEL
  - vs ablative  L/1	 L/1	 L/1	 not applicable
  - vs other	 L/L	 L/L	 L/L	 D6, L/H validity
HVC		L/L	L/1	L/H	D6, L/H validity
RFAC		L/L	L/1	L/H	D6, L/H validity
MDC, HKP	1/L	1/1	L/1	D6, L/H validity (1)
DFFG		H/L	H/1	H/H	D8, 1/H validity
HEAT (2)
  - vs RA	 L/L	 L/L	 L/L	 not applicable
  - vs APFC (3)  L/1	 L/1	 L/1	 not applicable
  - vs other	 H/1	 H/1	 H/1	 Size die, L/H validity (4)

(1) HKP cannot damage infantry
(2) Includes GMS, IAVR, SLAM and (if used) LVC. Of course these types
may 
use other types of warheads instead, but they all use the same types and

their equivalents today use HEAT :-7 GMS/H = size 5, GMS/L and IAVR =
size 
3, SLAM and LVC = same size as the weapon.
(3) IAVRs only; they're considered to be Size 2 weapons. GMS, LVC and
SLAM 
are currently unaffected by APFC.
(4) SLAM and LVC only. IAVR and GMS are unable to harm infantry... not
that 
they should be, mind! (If your in-game supply of GMSs is limited, you're

not all that likely to shoot them at infantry anyway...)

Infantry fire validities:
Target is in... Firefight:	Close Assault:
Open		H/H		H/1
Soft Cover	1/H		H/H
Dug-In		L/H		1/H

Infantry "weapon size" dice:
Line, Militia, APFC	D6
PA, APSW, Assault	D8

Infantry "armour" dice:
Militia 	D6
Line		D8
PA, soft-skins	D10

Artillery validities:
		 Target:
Ammo type:	Vhcl:	Vhcl, dug-in:	Inf:	Inf, dug-in:
HEF		1/L	no effect	H/H	1/H
MAK		1/1	L/1		L/H	no effect

Artillery wpn sizes:
			 Target:
Artillery type: 	Vhcl:	Inf:
Light			1	2
Medium		2	3
Heavy			3	4

***
This system gets quite close to the chit results - so far the only
DS-FMA 
system I've seen that beats it is the updated DS Accelerator I mentioned
in 
the other post today, and this one is considerably more elegant 
mechanically (no multiplications!).

The only real objection I have against this system is that it is a bit 
cumbersome to use if either or both sides have armour or weapon size 
ratings outside the normal DS2 "1 - 5" range - while this is no problem
for 
DS2, it could hinder some nifty features I'd like to work into DS3 
eventually... but that's a later problem.

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry