MT Combat Skills
Replies:
- #1659 Message 1646, MT Weapons by Robert S. Dean
Today, students, we are going to discuss the merits (and demerits) of
the existing division of personal weapon and hand-to-hand combat skills
available to the PC in MegaTraveller. The current skill breakdowns are
as follows:
Table 1
_______________________________________________________________________________
ACR |Crossbow |Large Blade (includes)
Archaic Weapons (cascade) |Cudgel | Broadsword
Blowgun |Cutlass | Cutlass
Bola |Dagger | Sword
Boomerang |Early Firearms |Laser Pistol
Bow |Energy Weapons (includes) |Laser Rifle
Crossbow | Fusion Gun |Laser Weapons (includes)
Early Firearms | Plasma Gun | Laser Pistol
Sling |Foil | Laser Rifle
Assault Rifle |Fusion Gun |Light Assault Gun
Autorifle |Gauss Rifle |Machine Gun
Axe (includes) |Grenade Launcher |Neural Pistol
Battle Axe |Gun Cbt. (cascade) |Neural Rifle
Hand Axe | Energy Weapons |Neural Weapons (includes)
Battle Axe | Handgun | Neural Pistol
Bayonet | Laser Weapons | Neural Rifle
Blade | Neural Weapons |Pike
Blade Cbt. (cascade) | Rifleman |Pistol
Axe | Submachinegun |Plasma Gun
Cudgel |Halberd |Polearm (includes)
Foil |Hand Axe | Bayonet
Large Blade |Hand Cbt. (cascade) | Halberd
Polearm | Blade Cbt. | Pike
Small Blade | Brawling | Spear
Blowgun | +1 End |Revolver
Body Pistol | +1 Str |Rifleman (includes)
Bola |Handgun (includes) | Autorifle
Boomerang | Body Pistol | Carbine
Bow | Pistol | Rifle
Brawling | Revolver |Sling
Broadsword | Snub Pistol |Small Blade (includes)
Carbine |Heavy Weapons (includes) | Blade
Cbt. Rifleman (includes) | Autocannon | Dagger
ACR | Grenade Launcher |Snub Pistol
Assault Rifle | Light Assault Gun |Spear
Carbine | Machine Gun |Submachinegun
Gauss Rifle | VRF Gauss Gun |Sword
Rifle | |VRF Gauss Gun
__________________________|__________________________|_________________________
Let's approach this list in 3 parts: High Tech Weapons (firearms), Primitive
Weapons, and unarmed combat (Brawling).
I. HIGH TECH WEAPONS
This catagory includes all gunpowder, gauss, laser, and energy weapons, and
consists of the following skills:
Table 2
_______________________________________________________________________________
ACR | Grenade Launcher | Neural Rifle
Assault Rifle | Handgun | Neural Weapons
Autorifle | Heavy Weapons | Pistol
Body Pistol | Laser Pistol | Plasma Gun
Carbine | Laser Rifle | Revolver
Cbt. Rifleman | Laser Weapons | Rifleman
Energy Weapons | Light Assault Gun | Snub Pistol
Fusion Gun | Machine Gun | Submachinegun
Gauss Rifle | Neural Pistol | VRF Gauss Gun
_________________________|__________________________|_________________________
As a subset of table 1, table 2 omits the skill 'Gun Combat' since it cascades
to other explicit skills already listed. Now, let's look at some of the
deficiencies of these skills breakdowns (IMHO :-)).
a) The 'Combat Rifleman' skill includes {ACR, Assault Rifle, Carbine, Gauss
Rifle, Rifle}, while the 'Rifleman' skill includes {Autorifle, Carbine,
Rifle}. This makes no sense, since the assault rifle is defined (in the
Imp. Enc.) as "a lighter and less-expensive military version of the auto-
matic rifle". If the Autorifle is a better built version of an assault
rifle, why would a 'civilian' rifleman be trained to use it when a soldier
isn't? My reaction is 'add Autorifle to the Combat Rifleman skill and make
it a pure superset of the Rifleman skill'.
b) Based on their definitions, a number of weapons are sufficiently similiar
that they should probably not be treated as individual weapon skills.
The ACR, Assault Rifle, and Autorifle should be lumped into a single
'Automatic Combat Weapon' skill. Similiarly, Carbine and Rifle should
be collectively treated as a 'Semi-auto Rifle' skill. Also, Body Pistol,
Pistol, Revolver, and Snub Pistol skills should be eliminated and the
broader 'Handgun' skill (which includes all these types) should be all
that's neccessary.
Given these consolidations, we can reduce all the original mess to just 4
skills neccessary to provide the same capabilities within the game, but in
a more realistic fashion. I propose that the skills should be:
- Rifleman: Includes Carbine and Rifle.
- Combat Rifleman: Includes ACR, Assault Rifle, Autorifle, Carbine, Rifle,
and Gauss Rifle (more on gauss weapons later).
- Handgun: Includes Body Pistol, Revolver, Pistol, and Snub Pistol.
- Combat Handgun: Identical to Handgun, but includes Gauss Pistol.
Now, I know what you're asking yourself. You're asking yourself "Did
he fire six shots, or only five?" [Oops! Sorry. Wrong movie.] You're
saying,"Wait a minute. Where does he get off, lumping gauss weapons into
this mess?" Well, again IMHO, you can treat a gauss rifle as just another
extremely small caliber automatic rifle. I'd be willing to wager that the
handling characteristics of a gauss rifle wouldn't differ much from, say, a
full-auto .17 caliber assault rifle (recoil, weight, etc.) Hence, it's
inclusion. Besides, the current MT skills already include the gauss
rifle in Combat Rifleman, anyway (although, maybe not for the right
reasons :-)). As for the gauss pistol, well, the existing 'Pistol'
skill would conceivably allow a PC familiarity with an H&K VP70M or
VP70Z, which are existing 9mm pistols with full-auto burst capabilites.
So why not just throw in the gauss pistol? The difference just isn't
significant enough to require a separate skill.
OK, now that I've insisted that gauss rifle and pistol be included with
the other slug-throwers, I'm going to reverse my position, slightly.
These two weapons (which should really be combined into a single skill,
let's call it Guass Weapon) generate so little recoil, that they
feel very different from large caliber slug-throwers, when fired. Now,
firing a high recoil weapon should provide you with a reasonable amount
of familiarity with low recoil weapons, but the reverse in not true.
A person who's only rifle experience is with a .22 caliber rifle is in
for a serious shock the first time they fire a .30-06. By this token,
a person who's only projectile weapon experience is with a gauss weapon
is not going to be skilled at using heavier recoil weapons like an
assault rifle or an ACR. For this reason alone, I think that gauss
weapons should still be a separately available skill.
Next, let's discuss small energy weapons. Lasers and neural weapons
fall into this catagory. These are zero-recoil weapons (how much does
your flashlight kick :-)). Some assumptions have to be made about
neural weapons, since there are no entries about them in the Player's
Manual. Since it's an energy weapon, we can probably assume no recoil,
like lasers. However, unlike lasers, it probably has no visible beam.
The following sentence (from the Imperial Encyclopedia, pg. 73)...
"Neural weapon fire can be detected at a distance by individuals
with psionic life sense ability."
... suggests that neural weapon fire is invisible to non-psionics.
This means that aiming a neural weapon is probably done in a different
fashion than aiming a laser. This fact alone is sufficient to maintain
lasers and neural weapons as separate skills.
However, while lasers and neural weapons are different skills, the
rifle and pistol versions of each can probably be combined into simply
Laser Weapon and Neural Weapon skills. The primary reason for different-
iating pistol and rifle fire for slug-throwers is the effect the recoil
has on the weapons and the differences in bracing them. Since lasers
and neural weapons have no recoil, it's probably safe to assume that
skills in the rifle and pistol forms of each are similar enough to be
treated as a single skill.
The Light Assault Gun should remain a separate skill. In current TL
terms, you can probably think of it as a .50 caliber sniper rifle (those
of you who've seen the movie "Navy Seals" know what I'm talking about).
The same unique-ness applies to the submachinegun. It should also remain
a separate skill.
And what about the Plasma and Fusion Guns? Should they be combined into
a single weapon skill? Who knows? We'll save that topic for another
time.
The Machine Gun and VRF Gauss Gun are both crew-served weapons. Definitely
separate skills.
OK, rolling all of this back into a table, we now have a much smaller
skill set, which still provides adequate diversity at a much more realistic
level
Table 3
_______________________________________________________________________________
Cbt. Handgun | Handgun | Plasma Gun
Cbt. Rifleman | Heavy Weapons | Rifleman
Energy Weapons | Laser Weapons | Submachinegun
Fusion Gun | Light Assault Gun | VRF Gauss Gun
Gause Weapons | Machine Gun |
Grenade Launcher | Neural Weapons |
_________________________|__________________________|_________________________
I have deliberately left Early Firearms out of this discussion, since, in
all fairness, it should actually be multiple catagories (percussion firearms
differ sufficiently from flintlock and wheellock firearms, from a reloading
standpoint, to make them separate skills). Again, let's save this topic
for another time.
II. PRIMITIVE WEAPONS
Table 4
_______________________________________________________________________________
Axe (i) |Broadsword |Large Blade (i)
Battle Axe |Crossbow |Pike
Bayonet |Cudgel |Polearm (i)
Blade |Cutlass |Sling
Blowgun |Dagger |Small Blade (i)
Bola |Foil |Spear
Boomerang |Halberd |Sword
Bow |Hand Axe |
__________________________|__________________________|_________________________
As a subset of table 1, table 4 omits the skills 'Archaic Weapons' and
'Blade Combat' since they cascade to other explicit skills already listed.
There aren't nearly as many surprises here as there were in the HIGH TECH
weapons list. Primitive weapons tend to require skills radically different
enough that they are not easily transferrable. Samples of the fighting
styles used in the Coliseum in Rome tend to bear this out. However, some
of the weapons are similar enough that, in a number of cases, a "serves
as weapon [mumble] -1" is probably advised. Groups for this type of treatment
are as follows: Polearms, Large Blades, and Small Blades. Each of these
is an 'includes' skill. Due to the similarity of the individual weapon
types grouped in these skills, if a PC has proficiency in one of the
weapons in a given group, then that PC should be able to use any other
weapon in the same group at a '-1' skill level. For example, if Bob the
Barbarian has Broadsword-3 skill, but no formal skill in cutlass, he
would be able to use one anyway as if he had a Cutlass-2 skill.
The only other quibble I have with these primitive weapons is that, in the
Player's Manual, on pg. 74 (COMBAT CHARTS) they list the following data
for Spear and Bayonet:
Pen Block Damage
______________|_______|_______|________
bayonet | 3 | 1 | 3
spear | 3 | 1 | 2
I just can't believe that a bayonet does more damage then a spear. One
look at an illustrations (under the entry 'spear') from G. C. Stone's "A
Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All
Countries and in All Times" is pretty convincing. the values should be
reversed.
III. UNARMED COMBAT
Now we come to my major beef with MT skills. The only official unarmed
combat skill provided is Brawling. Further, damage for a barehanded
attack is 1 damage point for 'hand', but nothing for a 'foot/kick' attack.
This means that without a critical success, it's virtually impossible to
kill (or even knock out) a person with a single strike. Not only is this
not very realistic for a trained combatant, but it greatly reduces the
chance for a player's PC to "steal up behind the security and quickly
render him unconscious with a lightning-swift chop to the neck". IMHO,
this type of oversight needs to be remedied.
First, I suggest adding a 'foot/kick' attack, as follows:
Pen Block Damage
______________|_______|_______|________
hand | 1 | 1 | 1
foot/kick | 1 | 1 | 2
Second, add another unarmed combat skill: Martial Arts. This skill
encompasses most FORMAL forms of unarmed combat, and includes (but is
not limited to) boxing, Judo, Karate, Savate, Tai Kwan Do, and Kung Fu.
This skill is run exactly the same way as Brawling, with 2 exceptions:
all attacks have an automatic DM of +2, and penetration for hand and
foot attacks is 2, not 1.
There. Now I'm happy with the system. :-)
"NO!! Put down that pickle!"
- Melanie Haber? Audrey Farber? Susan Underhill?
...how about.... BETTY JO BEOLOSKI!!!
(Nick Danger - Third Eye)
Mark F. "Gee, Dad. When I grow up, I
want to be a vicious psychopath!" Cook
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