RCS:Targetting and Firing
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Entering Combat
By default, most people enter combat in a state that is relatively unready for that combat. Pistols will be in their holsters, and rifles will be either slung over the shoulder or, if carried, left with their safeties on and their ammunition unchambered.
Readying a Weapon
The first round of personal combat generally involves readying weapons for battle. Pistols are handled with the Draw a Small Weapon Short Action, while rifles are handled with the Unsling Rifle and Ready Rifle Short Actions.
A pistol is inherently simpler to arm than a rifle. A pistol can be armed successfully within 3 seconds (guaranteed) and aimed at a target. A skillful wielder can alternatively attempt to make a Fast Draw Short Action which combines the drawing and aiming process with an attempt at firing, for a -2 DM. Note that this penalty seems small, but can be crippling if the firer also attempts rapid fire.
A rifle is difficult to arm. If the troops do not expect combat, the majority will enter the area with their rifles slung. The first Short Action of their first round involves unslinging the rifle with the Unsling Rifle Action, while the second Short Action of the round involves arming the rifle and choosing a target with the Ready Rifle Action. If expecting combat, most troops will enter the field carrying their weapons unslung.
A pistol can thus be ready to fire on the first turn for two Short Actions for a small penalty, or for one Short Action with no penalty. A rifle can be ready to fire only on the second turn, if slung, or for one Short Action at the end of the turn if unslung.
Mode Selection
This is a replacement for the MegaTraveller rule that states changing a weapon's firing mode takes a full combat round (p.73 Player's Manual).
Weapons may have up to three firing modes (providing up to five possibilities for firing rate), but usually have only one or two. Changing the firing mode is handled as an action as follows:
- By imposing a one-level difficulty increase, firing mode can be switched at the instant of firing.
- By spending a Select Fire Mode Short Action, the firing mode can be switched before firing.
- During a Ready Rifle or Draw Pistol action, a desired mode may be selected for free. Note that it is not possible to select a mode during a Fast Draw action!
Targetting and Firing
After the weapon is ready, a target must be designated. All personnel have only a single target at a time.
As part of a Fast Draw, Draw a Small Weapon, or Ready Rifle Action, a target can be designated for free. Thereafter, a person is assumed to be "locked on" to the specific target they chose, and cannot fire at any other target without either taking a penalty or taking time to choose a new target.
The Retarget and Fire Short Action is the fastest way to fire at a new target. It allows the new target to be attacked immediately. However, this causes a so-called bring-to-bear penalty to the to-hit task depending on the type of weapon used:
- Pistol: DM -1
- Rifle: DM -2
- Heavy Weapon: DM -4
The Retarget Short Action allows a person to aim at a new target without firing at them during the same action; no bring-to-bear penalty is incurred as a result. In practice, it may prove wiser to attempt a Retarget and Fire instead of a simple Retarget, but beware of the rapidly-growing DM penalties for attempting more extreme attacks.
To-Hit
These rules supersede the various to-hit and autofire rules in the existing system.
There are five possible ways to fire in MegaTraveller under the RCS:
- Single fire
- Rapid fire
- Burst fire
- Automatic fire
- Controlled fire
Single fire refers to firing a single bullet from the weapon within the 3 second span. Rapid fire refers to firing the weapon in semi-automatic mode, rapidly squeezing the trigger to fire several shots in a row during a 3 second span. Burst fire refers to firing the weapon in its regulated burst-fire mode, firing a specific number of shots (always) in a row. Automatic fire refers to firing the weapon in full automatic mode, "hosing" down the target(s) with the remaining ammunition in the clip. Controlled fire refers to using the weapon in automatic mode, but only squeezing the trigger for a short blast.
A weapon is assumed to be capable of single fire only unless otherwise described in its rules. A weapon with a "/R" in its recoil statistic is capable of both single fire and rapid fire. A weapon is only capable of burst fire or automatic fire if its rules explicitly mention this.
The selective fire mode of a weapon determines which firing options are available:
Selected Mode Available Firing Rates ------------------ --------------------------------- Single Fire Single Fire, Rapid Fire Burst Fire Burst Fire Automatic Fire Automatic Fire, Controlled Fire
Single-fire
When discharging a weapon in single-fire mode, the firer designates a single target (having been selected previously by the Retarget Short Action or immediately by the Fast Draw or Retarget and Fire Short Actions) and fires a single bullet at that target. This takes a single Short Action.
Roll to-hit as per the standard rules presented in the Player's Manual. Certain rules in the RCS will add or subtract DMs or increase the difficulty of the to-hit task by one rank, but the task is otherwise exactly as written, using Difficulty Profiles from p.72.
Single fire mode is only available when the weapon's mode is engaged in Single Fire.
Rapid-fire
When fired in rapid-fire mode, the firer designates from one to three targets and rolls 1d6+(Dex DM) to determine the number of bullets successfully fired, then divides the pool of bullets amongst the three targets at will. One of the targets must be the target the firer was originally aiming at, and must receive a number of bullets equal to or greater than the number fired at any other single target. Note that it is perfectly legal to fire all of the bullets at a single target.
Firing in rapid-fire mode incurs a difficulty increase of one level; a Difficult to-hit task will become Impossible, for example. Each target beyond the first also incurs a cumulative -1 DM to the to-hit task. In short:
- Rapid firing at 1 target: +1 Difficulty shift, no DM
- Rapid firing at 2 targets: +1 Difficulty shift, -1 DM
- Rapid firing at 3 targets: +1 Difficulty shift, -3 DM
The number of bullets fired at any given target will increase the likelihood that at least one bullet hits. To reflect this, apply a +1 DM to-hit for every bullet beyond the first fired at that target; each subsequent roll (as applicable) divides this DM in half and rounds down.
Once the number of bullets has been divided and the firer is ready to lay the hurt down, the firer then rolls the standard to-hit function from p.69 Player's Manual for each target, with the appropriate modifiers as given above.
Success means one bullet from the volley fired at that target will hit. When a successful hit is scored from a volley, roll again against the same task to determine if another bullet successfully hits (remembering to divide the bullet DM in half and round down), and continue rolling as long as successes are scored. Stop rolling upon the first failure—that bullet and all subsequent bullets automatically miss that target. Rolling a 2 on any to-hit roll also causes that bullet and all subsequent bullets to miss—however, the bullets that miss are now resolved against any closer targets in the line of fire, regardless of affiliation, as a normal attack.
After the number of successful hits has been found, resolve the impacts according to the remaining rules in the RCS.
Important: Exceptional success (p.71, Player's Manual) is not possible with anything other than single fire!
Ignore the rule stated on p.73 Player's Manual that rapid fire empties the clip. It doesn't. It only discharges the number of bullets rolled.
Rapid fire can only be done by a weapon if two critera are met:
- The weapon's mode selector must be engaged in "Single Fire" mode.
- The weapon's Recoil must be denoted with a trailing "/R".
Example
Jong Wu, a highly-skillful pistolier (Pistol-5, Dex 13) is found in a room by three armed guards. He performs a Fast Draw, incurring a -2 DM, and chooses the central guard as his target. He squeezes the trigger as fast as he can at the guard, and tries to catch the other two guards in the deadly hail. All of the guards are at Close range. Jong Wu rolls 1d6+2 to determine the number of bullets fired, achieving an unfortunately low roll of 4. As Jong Wu wants to hit all three guards, there is only one way the bullets can be allocated: two to the central guard, and one each to the other two.
Jong Wu would ordinarily roll against a Routine to-hit task at Close range, according to the Close-Range Fire Combat rule, but receives a difficulty shift to Difficult because of the rapid fire, a -3 DM because of the number of targets he has selected, and a -2 DM because of the Fast Draw. His Pistol-5 is a +5 DM and Dex 13 is a +2 DM, giving him a net target roll of 9+. Against the first guard, he gains a +1 DM because two bullets were fired at him, requiring a target roll of 8+.
Rolling to-hit against that guard against 8+, Jong Wu rolls an 8 -- a hit! He rolls a second time to see if the other bullet hit, this time against 9+ (the bullet DM disappears), and achieves a lucky 12. Both bullets hit the first guard. Against the other two guards, Jong Wu rolls a 3 and a 9 respectively. The guard on the left is missed, but the guard on the right is also hit by one bullet. Jong Wu is clearly a very talented marksman, with only a single miss to his name in less than 3 seconds!
Burst-fire
Burst fire is similar to rapid fire, but the number of bullets is fixed at either 2, 3, or 4 depending on the weapon. As with rapid fire, the firer chooses from one to three targets, incurring a -1 DM for selecting two targets and a -3 DM for selecting three. However, no difficulty increase is suffered as the firer only needs to squeeze the trigger once.
Once the bullets have been divided between targets, resolution proceeds as for rapid fire. The first bullet that misses a given target indicates that all other bullets in the volley will miss that target, as usual.
Burst fire is only possible in weapons whose mode selectors are set to Burst Fire. Note that this mode precludes any other firing mode, but can often be an efficient compromise.
Automatic-fire
Automatic fire is a full-automatic discharge of bullets. It is similar to rapid-fire in that the firer chooses a single target, and incurs a difficulty increase. It is distinctive in that there is no penalty for firing at more than one target: the firer can select any number of enemy targets up to the weapon's Auto Tgts rating and fire at all of them without penalty. At least one of the targets must be the target the firer was originally aiming at.
Automatic fire will automatically empty 3d6+20 rounds within 3 seconds, which is usually the entire clip. At the firer's option, if the rolled number of rounds is within 10 rounds of emptying the magazine, the firer may simply opt to empty the whole magazine.
Once the number of bullets is found, roll against the following chart:
Fired Lost Avg --------- ------- ------ <12 1d6-3 0.5 12 - 16 1d6-2 1.5 16 - 20 1d6-1 2.5 21 - 23 1d6+1 4.5 24 - 26 1d6+3 6.5 27 - 30 2d6+2 9.0 31 - 33 2d6+4 11.0 34+ 3d6+3 14.5
This is the number of bullets that are lost entirely and will impact harmlessly within the firing zone (although they may inadvertently hit sensitive equipment if fired indoors).
The remaining bullets are divided into clusters of 1d6, producing a "bullet pool". All potential targets, including those selected and those caught in the danger space, must receive at least one cluster of bullets as long as there are any clusters left. The primary target must receive at least as many clusters than any other single target. Other than this, division of the clusters is at the player's discretion.
Once the clusters have been divided, resolve them as per a rapid-fire attack: roll to-hit for each target, with a bonus for the number of bullets fired at that target, and continue rerolling until a miss is achieved. Rolling a 2 on the to-hit roll means the remainder of that volley missed the given target, but the other targets must still be resolved. Mishaps are ignored during rapid fire.
Automatic fire may only be attempted if the weapon's firing mode is engaged for Automatic Fire.
Example
Honjo Boram (Autorifle-3, Dex 9) and his squadmates are being chased down by a rather angry nest of predatory birds. Stopping suddenly, Boram wheels around and lets loose a fully-automatic blast from his autorifle at 2 of the giant birds (Short Range) via a Retarget and Fire action. All 20 rounds of the autorifle are fired in a short instant. Sadly, one of his squadmates is inadvertently caught in the danger space of the weapon and is also subject to being hit.
Rolling 1d6-1 to determine the number of bullets wasted, Boram comes up with 4, leaving 16 bullets left to be resolved. He rolls 1d6 a number of times to divide the bullets into clusters: 3, 6, 6, and 1.
Boram obviously only wants 1 bullet to have a chance of hitting his ally, so he allocates that cluster to him. The other three clusters are allocated between the two birds -- the clusters of 3 and 6 allocated against the first bird, and the cluster of 6 allocated against the second.
Boram now rolls to-hit for each of the targets.
- Against the main bird: -2 DM for retarget and fire, +8 DM for number of bullets (9), Routine shifted to Difficult, +3 DM for skill, +1 DM for Dex -- a total of +10 DM. Boram rolls a 5+10, which is well above the 11+ needed (Boram automatically succeeded, but still needed to roll to avoid an exceptional failure). The next bullet brings the +8 DM down to +4, so the total DM is +6—Boram still easily meets the 11+ by rolling 11+6. The new DM is now +4 (the +4 DM is down to +2), which Boram misses with a 6+4 versus the 11+. Out of 9 bullets directed against the first bird, only two hit.
- Against the second bird: -2 DM for retarget and fire, +5 DM for number of bullets (6), Routine shifted to Difficult, +3 DM for skill, +1 DM for Dex -- a total of +7 DM. Boram rolls 7+7 for the first bullet, 7+4 for the second, and finally 4+3 for the third. Two bullets hit the second bird as well, with 4 missing.
- Against his ally: -2 DM for retarget and fire, Routine shifted to Difficult, +3 DM for skill, +1 DM for Dex (sadly, even friendly targets suffer these DMs) -- a total of +2 DM. Boram rolls 8+2 and luckily misses his ally.
Both birds take 2 bullets apiece, and at 3 Damage Value per bullet they're probably not long for this world.
Controlled fire
Controlled fire is an automatic firing mode where the firer "pulses" the weapon to fire between five and ten bullets at once. The firer will discharge 1d6+4 bullets. It is otherwise treated as being exactly similar to automatic fire.
Controlled fire is only possible when the weapon is engaged in Automatic Fire mode.
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