Re: (TFT) Article on Gun Damage

[dwtulloh@zianet.com]

Ty Beard writes:

> >snip Mr Chadwick's report<
> 
> My comments:
> 
> 3. A Frank notes, this evidence tends to indicate that multiple 
> gunshot are survivable so long as nothing critical is hit. Out 
> of 32 hits, only 2 were critical (and one was a point blank head
> shot) -- which may indicate that TFT is not so far off in its 
> critical rules as one might think. Also, a wound was often 
> cripping for the duration of the combat. Assuming that this
> data is representative, how about a modern gun combat system 
> along these lines:
>     a. Light pistols do 1-2 damage, heavy pistols do 1 damage 
>        and rifles do 1+2 damage. Light rifles (.22 LR for 
>        instance) fire as rifles but do damage and affect armor
>        as pistols. Shotguns do 2+1 damage and are treated as
>        pistol ammo for armor effects.
>     b. All modern guns ignore ancient armor. Modern body armor 
>        provides 3 points protection from weapons firing pistol 
>        ammo (pistols, SMGs and some carbines) and light rifle 
>        ammo (.22) but none from weapons firing normal rifle 
>        ammo (.223 cal. and up). Very heavy rifles (30-.06 and 
>        bigger) do 1+4 damage, which means a critical from them 
>        will be fatal. A figure that takes 3+ points of gun 
>        damage must make a 3/ST roll or be incapacitated (i.e.,
>        unable to do anything but crawl around). A figure in 
>        armor must make a 3/ST roll if he takes 3+ points of 
>        gun damage *before* the armor. If he misses, he is 
>        knocked down.

What about using the concept of a tech level here?  A gun would
do a basic amount of damage for its type (ie, pistol), but then
you would compare its tech level to the armor to see if it can
defeat the armor or not.

>     c. Use normal TFT missile weapon range modifiers for 
>        rifles, -1 DX per megahex of distance for pistols and 
>        shotguns, but a shotgun is +4 DX to hit.

uh, I think you'd have to factor in the spread of the ammunition
here.  Damage would decrease at long ranges and would not be a
constant (-1 dmg per 4 megahexes, just to toss out some numbers).
At extremely close ranges, shotguns are no more accurate than 
rifles and so should not get that much of a bonus.

>     d. On a roll of 3-5, damage is tripled (something critical 
>        was hit).
>     e. You can fire multiple shots from a modern gun, but each 
>        shot is -1 DX for each additional shot. So if you fire 4 
>        shots, each one is -3 DX. Maximum adjustment is -4 DX, 
>        so there is some benefit to emptying the magazine.

You might want to consider burst fire from automatic weapons
differently.  You press the trigger from an Uzi, all the rounds
are considered as 1 attack, with some plus to DX from the sheer
amount of ammunition fired.  You could vary the number of rounds
per trigger pull as 10+1d4 or something when the weapon is in
automatic mode.

>     f. Higher tech armor will protect against higher tech 
> pistols and lower tech rifles, but will not protect against 
> rifles of its tech level+ or pistols of a higher tech level. 
> So a TL 9 flak jacket will stop 3 hits from TL 9- pistols and
> TL 8- rifles, but none from TL 9+ rifles or TL 10+ pistols.

Change rifles to missile weapons and you can compare the tech
level of the weapon to the tech level of the armor, no matter
what the tech levels of the two are.

>     g. For a more deadly system, treat rolls of 6- as doing 
>        triple damage.
> 
> 4. This system makes gun combat extremely uncertain. You can 
> come through with a few scratches or you might get your head 
> blown off. I leave it to you to judge whether this is good or
> bad. I think it is bad for cinematic games (which is mostly 
> what I run), but very good for more "realistic" games. For
> cinematic games, I prefer a more traditional hit points system.
> 

Agreed.

Dan
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