Re: MT Combat
In reply to #1659 Message 1646, MT Weapons by Robert S. Dean
>Date: Mon, 29 Oct 90 16:29:13 EST >From: "Robert S. Dean" [email removed] >Subject: (1659) Message 1646, MT Weapons > > >> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 90 12:28:56 PDT >> From: "Mark F. Cook" [email removed] >> Subject: (1649) MT Combat Skills >> >> I. HIGH TECH WEAPONS >> >> 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. >I'd like to disagree with this slightly, and add one comment. First the >disagreement: I think that combat handgun could be eliminated as well, >leaving you with only three skills to worry about. Agreed. Also note that in the MT errata, Shotgun is also part of the Rifleman skill. >Now the comment: As it stands now, combat rifleman is only available under >the cascade skill of "Special Combat", and I think it should be made >available under "Gun Combat" for military characters. Sounds reasonable. Has anyone noticed the apparent absence of Combat Rifleman skill in the basic character generation system (at least it is difficult to get). I would have thought that military personell would have more Combat Rifleman training than any other sort of weapons. Certainly the US and Australian armies do. > UNARMED COMBAT > I think I would wing it if this was necessary...Disabling a not very >alert sentry would be a Difficult task, an alert sentry Formidable, two >alert sentries standing back to back with radar, IR, and NAS--Impossible. >(-: (Ok, so that might be going a little too far, but you get the idea.) I think a defiency of most combat systems that I have seen is their inability to handled situations like this. I would propose the following tasks for disabling (read knocking unconscious) an opponent. To render a target unconscious: Routine, Brawling, Str, Absolute (fateful) Referee: This supposes the target is totally unaware of the attacker. For semi-alert targets, the task becomes Difficult. For alert targets it is Formidable. If the target is aware of the attacker's presence (e.g., in combat), the task is Impossible. Decrease the severity of the task if the attacker is using a weapon approriate for the task, a club, for example. >> First, I suggest adding a 'foot/kick' attack, as follows: >> >> Pen Block Damage >> ______________|_______|_______|________ >> hand | 1 | 1 | 1 >> foot/kick | 1 | 1 | 2 > >Needed and noted. I don't agree. Except for trained martial artists most people do not know how to use their feet effectively in combat; even if they did hit it probably wouldn't be as effective as many imagine. By the same token, during a combat round you could strike you opponent many more time with your hands than with you feet (you have to stand on something :-) I suggest that the damage for foot/kick attacks be reduced to only 1. As for martial artists (and I think that Mark's suggestions are excellent) the extra +2 they receive for each attack, plus the additional point of penetration make them very effective. I think that game balance is threatened if you opt to use a damage of 2 for feet - it's getting too close to the damage inflicted by most of the small and medium sized firearms, and besides, your feet never run out of ammo! Finally, does anyone have a gripe with grenade rules. The lower tech level hand grenades have a danger space of only 1.5m, which means that only the target square is effected. That sounds pretty dumb. It means that if you don't hit the target square you can't hurt the target. Also, how do you handle throws that miss. The rules say to use the indirect fire scattering rules, but they seem have been omitted from the rulebook. This is a real downer `cause I LOVE grenades. More later, Iain.