I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date Sent:04-Nov-1993 05:17pm
From: Alistair Langsford
LANGSFORD ALISTAIR
Dept: Information Services
Tel No: 289 7870
TO: Remote Addressee ( _traveller@engrg.uwo.ca )
Subject: tne combat notes
TNE COMBAT RULES NOTES
======================
Regarding the recent inquiries about TNE combat - these are excerpts from
several relevant TML postings that should help.
Loren Wiseman & Dave Nilsen, in response to Bruce, write:
<> Bruce ([email removed]):
<
< A few answers to your post "a few questions to GDW" (Note:
< these answers represent a rare posting by David Nilsen.
< LKW's comments (if any) are set off _Thusly_):
< ...bits deleted...
< > 9. The fact that TNE combat does very little damage
< > can mean that combats run on for long periods. In the
< > case of the head and chest rule of saving throws
< > for death by NPCs it goes to the other extreme with
< > one shot kills for NPCs but players dragging on until
< > all their blood has drained away. There must be
< > some middle ground where realism can at least share
< > the lime light with playability. What combat mods
< > are people implementing along these lines?
<
< If you feel that characters have too many hit points,
< we suggest rolling 1D10 for damage instead of 1D6. This
< is the simplest system for speeding up killing, and we
< suggest it for those groups who want that change. This
< is not, however, a system change or errata. Its just a
< recommended variant for people who don't like heroic-style
< combat and don't mind creating new PCs all the time.
<
< > 10. We converted our characters to TNE and found
< > the 'feel' of the game to have been totally changed.
< > Preferred weapons now don't penetrate and don't have
< > anywhere near the knock down ability they had before.
< > To fix the laser weapon fall from grace our GM simply
< > added "1-" to them and the universe has shifted part
< > way back again. There seems to be a number of misprints
< > in the weapons tables .... do you have an errata for
< > them yet?
<
< Yes, there are some errata on the weapons table, and
< these have been posted, and we will post additions if
< and when they are necessary. However, the laser issue is
< not a misprint. The rules as written are the way we intend
< for lasers to work against metallic/ceramic armor. We suggest
< the following fix for laser damage: All non-metallic,
< non-ceramic armor, in other words, kevlar, ballistic cloth,
< ballistic weave, animal armor consisting of shells, scales,
< or thick hide, etc., is treated as no armor when hit by a
< laser. Armor consisting of metallic or ceramic plates
< uses the rules as they now read. This is an official
< fix, and will be published as such.
From the TNE Errata posted recently (courtesy of Matt whose last name I
missed - sorry):
<Bundle: 514
<Archive-Message-Number: 6265
<From: [email removed]
<Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 13:39:01 EST
<Subject: TNE Errata from GDW
<
<
<Traveller: The New Era - Errata
<
<Errata and Clarifications to Traveller: The New Era, effective June 30,
<1993, organized by page number.
<
[...stuff deleted...]
<
<Page 288
<Upon further testing, we have decided that the following wound effects
<provide more entertaining and dynamic play, and suggest that all players
<use these instead.
<
<Serious Wounds: the roll to avoid losing consciousness every turn in
<which the character attempts an activity becomes a Difficult roll against
<Constitution. Characters who have lost consciousness make a Formidable
<roll against their Constitution each turn to attempt to regain
<consciousness.
<
<Critical Wounds: The roll to regain consciousness is made each combat
<turn, and a D100 (percentile) roll against the Constitution attribute.
<
[...stuff deleted...]
<
<Page 351
<Slug Rifles and Carbines
<The double-barrel rifle mentioned in the note is 12mm, not 13, and its
<magazine listing in the table should be 2i.
<
<Page 354
<Small Arms
<Several people have asked if the recoil figures for the 4mm Gauss
<Pistol-13 are in error. They are not. Because Traveller: The New Era
<uses a more realistic system (developed for Twilight:2000) for rating
<firearms based on weapon weight, round weight, and muzzle velocity, than
<Traveller did, weapons that were created for Traveller do not always work
<well when using their original Traveller specifications. The recoil is
<high because it is specified as being such a light weapon for its high
<muzzle velocity. We have theorized that this is a light, easily
<concealable, hold-out weapon that is hard to control. Another gauss
<pistol design, intended to be more controllable in combat, is shown at the
<bottom of the page. {I reproduced it below--matt}
<
< ----Weight-------
<- ---Price----
<Caliber TL Ammo Empty Lded Ammo Mag Wpn Ammo
<4mm Gauss Cbt Auto 13 4mm Gs 0.8 1.02 .0145 15 600 1.3/20
<
<
<
<- --Recoil--
<Weapon ROF Dam Pen Blk Mag SS Brst Rng
<4mm Gauss Cbt Auto 3 1 1-Nil 1 15 3 5 30
<
<Page 355
<Lasers
<The Laser Rifle-9 (8cm) should have a Pen of Nil/3-Nil.
<The Laser Rifle-13 (4cm) should have a Pen of 3. This Penetration does
<not attenuate with distance.
<
<High Energy Weapon
<The numbers listed under "Pen" are the weapons' Penetration Values for
<use against vehicles, see page 297. The penetration ratings for use
<against personnel according to the rules on page 285 were inadvertently
<omitted. These ratings are 1-2-10 for all plasma guns and 1/2-1-4 for
<all fusion guns.
<
<Correct ranges for Fusion Rifle-14 is 50, and Fusion Rifle-15 is 70.
Comments
- --------
Our group has converted to TNE and is using the above errata, plus the d10
damage suggestion. We have found that they work well, and the extra damage
makes things just that little bit more fearful for players, though so far
no serious harm has been taken.
We also changed the 2-2-2 for the auto snub pistol HEAP-8 to the 1C rating
for snub revolver's HEAP-8, as we couldn't see why the ammo would perform
differently, and the change made the auto snub pistol useful. So we're
treating this as a misprint. Please let me know if this -isn't- a misprint.
BTW, the 1C penetration on the small arms table is I believe interpreted as
1-1-1, and is merely a shorthand form. There is a comment in the small arms
rules about this difference in meaning from anti vehicle penetration
notation.
OUR GROUP'S VARIANTS
====================
Other variations we are using are:
Double Damage Dice for Outstanding Success:
- -------------------------------------------
When we first read the rules regarding doubling damage if an outstanding
success was achieved it was unclear whether this was double damage which
penetrated, or double the damage dice. We are currently going with the
latter as a way of giving some weapons a chance to do damage in skilled
hands at short range.
I'd appreciate knowing what the -correct- interpretation is though, if
anyone would like to comment.
Autofire Variant:
- -----------------
None of us liked the idea of rolling quite so many d20s, or using rules
which were a different form from the rest of the combat section. The
following variant is under test. Comments welcome.
Roll to hit as though a normal direct fire shot. However, use the recoil
value listed for bursts rather than single shots.
If you hit, the number of hits depends on burst size and range, as given by
the table below:
Burst
Size Short Medium Long Extreme
- -----------------------------------------------
3 d3 hits d2 hits 1 hit 1 hit
5 d5 hits d3 hits d2 hits 1 hit
10 d10 hits d5 hits d3 hits d2 hits
50 - treat as 10 round burst above, but each rolled hit represents 3
actual hits.
It is assumed that for 3,5, and 10 round burst weapons the rate of fire is
so great that all of the burst leaves the weapon before the recoil starts
to take much effect, and so the grouping is reasonably close. For this
reason all the hits scored are against a single target. [This is inspired
by the 3 round burst rule in Cyberpunk 2020. If people think this is
reasonable/unreasonable, please comment].
The 50 round 'long burst' is assumed to hit targets in the danger zone as
described in the rules, with the hits being as evenly distributed as
possible between the available targets.
For spraying an area with autofire:
- -----------------------------------
At least 2 bursts may be fired - at this stage recoil penalties are likely
to build dramatically (remember to calculate as though it was a direct fire
single shot)
The danger zone used is as described in the rules.
Roll for each burst to see if it hits the area.
For each burst that hits roll to see how many hits are scored.
The hits are distributed as evenly as possible between the available
targets.
Burst Modification:
- ------------------
A 10 round burst weapon may instead fire only 5 or 3 rounds in a burst. In
such a case reduce the recoil number by 1 or 2 respectively.
Likewise a 5 round burst weapon could be reduced to 3 rounds for a recoil
reduction of 1.
- --
I hope the repeat errata helps those who were confused.
Alistair,
[email removed]