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Cover & Random Fire
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 2:15 pm    Post subject: Cover & Random Fire Reply with quote

Suppose a character or group of characters is moving under the cover of very thick smoke or complete darkness (+4D Difficulty to Perception or Hit). However, the enemy strongly suspects they are moving through the area, even if they aren't exactly sure where, and decides to hose the area with repeating blaster fire, in the hopes of hitting with a random shot.

How would you handle this?
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Bren
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First I'd do a comparison of number of shooters versus the size of the space they are trying to interdict. Then figure out how many (if any) shooters are likely to affect the area a character moves through. Depending on how that seems I'd do one of three things

1. Treat the interdiction fire similarly to a movement hazard. Set a difficulty. (Is avoiding getting hit Easy, Difficult, Very Difficult, etc.?) Roll an appropriate skill like running, driving, piloting, or dodge vs. the hazard.

2a. Group the shots to get one or more combined actions vs. the difficulty based on target movement/dodge and modifier to the difficulty for the smoke. If there are enough shooters, roll vs. each target character.

2b. As above, but if there are not enough shooters to target each character then randomly determine which character(s) get targeted. (Sometimes you are just plain lucky or unlucky.)

A roll that is close may mean the character is pinned down behind cover and cannot advance rather than being hit.
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the option of treating their shots as settig the 'terrain difficulty' to move through. BUT would that still be penalized by the darkness/fog/smoke cloud?

IE regular stormtroopers (5d blaster), with a squad leader (4d command, so technically can only command 4 of them), groups the 10 guys he is bossing around up into pairs, each spraying a separate area..
So that would give them all 6d shooting for 5 rolls.. Would the 4d smoke/fog penalty reduce that to 2d, for 'setting the movement diff?
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know how much you guys take Rules of Engagement as law in your games... But, on page 98, it infers that Stormtroopers can ignore 2D in penalties from smoke, because of MFTAS. So, a Stormtrooper set up on a Repeating blaster gets to ignore 2D of accuracy penalties from low visibility situations, as well as +2D to hit targets moving faster than 10m a round, so unless the targets are creeping or crawling slowly through smoke, the STs can ignore the 4D penalty against them.
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I don't know how much you guys take Rules of Engagement as law in your games... But, on page 98, it infers that Stormtroopers can ignore 2D in penalties from smoke, because of MFTAS. So, a Stormtrooper set up on a Repeating blaster gets to ignore 2D of accuracy penalties from low visibility situations, as well as +2D to hit targets moving faster than 10m a round, so unless the targets are creeping or crawling slowly through smoke, the STs can ignore the 4D penalty against them.


Like it. Thumbs up. Very Happy

I'm thinking of Finn in TFA telling Ren how the Trooper helmets filter out smoke but not toxins.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I don't know how much you guys take Rules of Engagement as law in your games... But, on page 98, it infers that Stormtroopers can ignore 2D in penalties from smoke, because of MFTAS. So, a Stormtrooper set up on a Repeating blaster gets to ignore 2D of accuracy penalties from low visibility situations, as well as +2D to hit targets moving faster than 10m a round, so unless the targets are creeping or crawling slowly through smoke, the STs can ignore the 4D penalty against them.

That doesn't answer my original question. Stormtroopers aren't the only baddies characters can face, so there needs to be some sort of ground rules to cover characters who don't have a MFTAS and are just firing blindly through the smoke or darkness.
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
That doesn't answer my original question. Stormtroopers aren't the only baddies characters can face, so there needs to be some sort of ground rules to cover characters who don't have a MFTAS and are just firing blindly through the smoke or darkness.


Use your autofire or combined action rules to set terrain difficulty: whatever the bonus is, you roll that and add that to terrain difficulty or use it to set the terrain difficulty. Then, those moving through roll Dodge, Running, or Survival to navigate through. Failure means you take damage based on collision. -2D up to +2D weapon damage.
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Bren
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I don't know how much you guys take Rules of Engagement as law in your games... But, on page 98, it infers that Stormtroopers can ignore 2D in penalties from smoke, because of MFTAS.
When I first wrote a response, I specified Army Troopers because Stormtroopers have MTFAS. Then I left the troop type out of my response, but yeah. Smoke or other effects vary based on whether the troops have gear that negates or mitigates against smoke and such.

Crawling through smoke probably makes the most sense from an individual safety standpoint, though it may not accomplish the mission.
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I noticed that. garkhal mentioned Stormtroopers, which is why I figured I'd double-check the entry I'd read.

I could see troops laying down smoke and then crawling up to a heavy repeater position to take it out with grenades. Even with only -2D it is still a heavy penalty to Stormtroopers, who only roll 4D after armor penalties to shoot.
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jmanski
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:07 am    Post subject: Re: Cover & Random Fire Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Suppose a character or group of characters is moving under the cover of very thick smoke or complete darkness (+4D Difficulty to Perception or Hit). However, the enemy strongly suspects they are moving through the area, even if they aren't exactly sure where, and decides to hose the area with repeating blaster fire, in the hopes of hitting with a random shot.

How would you handle this?


The difficulty will be high. Range difficulty + 4d smoke modifier + movement modifier. (Characters using one or more move are +1d to hit in my game). This gives an average to hit of 17.5 plus range difficulty. Even without the movement bonus it's an average of 14 plus range. Assuming a range modifier of 10 means 24 or 27.5 to hit depending on which method you use.

Let the enemy shoot away. Hits will be rare, just like they should be in this situation.

If the enemy has an idea of which way they are going then give them a bonus to blaster, either static or dice.

YMMV.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I don't know how much you guys take Rules of Engagement as law in your games... But, on page 98, it infers that Stormtroopers can ignore 2D in penalties from smoke, because of MFTAS. So, a Stormtrooper set up on a Repeating blaster gets to ignore 2D of accuracy penalties from low visibility situations, as well as +2D to hit targets moving faster than 10m a round, so unless the targets are creeping or crawling slowly through smoke, the STs can ignore the 4D penalty against them.


IIRC the base book had the same MTFAS info.. So yes stormies would be getting only a -2d in that smoke situation.
BUT flip it around. THEY are the ones who set it up, and its your PC's wanting to random fire into it to try and hit some troopers.. How would you rule?

Raven Redstar wrote:
I noticed that. garkhal mentioned Stormtroopers, which is why I figured I'd double-check the entry I'd read.

I could see troops laying down smoke and then crawling up to a heavy repeater position to take it out with grenades. Even with only -2D it is still a heavy penalty to Stormtroopers, who only roll 4D after armor penalties to shoot.


I mentioned troopers cause they are generally going to be the most often encountered mook fight the pcs get..

As to that latter senario.. YES they still would be only rolling 2d.. BUT since the smoke's there, it would be a good assumption to say the people manning that gun turret won't be expecting the grenades to come flying out of the smoke, thus wouldn't get a dodge roll.. So that 2d is only needing to beat the base difficulty (6-10 for short range).
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
IIRC the base book had the same MTFAS info.. So yes stormies would be getting only a -2d in that smoke situation.
BUT flip it around. THEY are the ones who set it up, and its your PC's wanting to random fire into it to try and hit some troopers.. How would you rule?


I'd run it the same as I did for Stormies trying to fire into smoke. Stormies need to roll Running to navigate through the travel hazard, significant failure means they get hit by a blaster bolt. Although, I suppose if my PC had a high enough blaster skill, I'd let them roll at -4D to try bullseye Snowmen in the smoke.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:12 pm    Post subject: Re: Cover & Random Fire Reply with quote

jmanski wrote:
The difficulty will be high. Range difficulty + 4d smoke modifier + movement modifier. (Characters using one or more move are +1d to hit in my game). This gives an average to hit of 17.5 plus range difficulty. Even without the movement bonus it's an average of 14 plus range. Assuming a range modifier of 10 means 24 or 27.5 to hit depending on which method you use.

Let the enemy shoot away. Hits will be rare, just like they should be in this situation.

If the enemy has an idea of which way they are going then give them a bonus to blaster, either static or dice.

Of all the suggestions, I find myself gravitating toward this one, by dint of simplicity (as in, it uses the RAW, plus a single additional rule).
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I'd lean towards simply increasing the difficulty of the shot by that 4D... Short range and so normally an Easy task? It's now +4D, so it's a Difficult task. Get further away, there's more space for your blaster bolts to fill, so it's a harder task. Using D6 Space's rules for Sweeping (p. 80), that will go down by -2D (so, they'll be net +2D on difficulty; +4D for smoke, -2D for sweeping), but -3D on damage (because it's not targeted, so they're less likely to get a good hit).
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Dredwulf60
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's kind of a philosophical discussion on par with 'If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound.'

In this respect, are the attackers shooting at characters they can't see, or are the characters moving through a zone filled with indiscriminate weapon fire.

I think that how you approach that set up will influence how you resolve the situation.

Also, philosophically speaking; if a Stormtrooper fires down a corridor and there is no rebel there to hit does he still miss?

Deep; I know.
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