Just something I was pondering as I was driving around for lunch. SG2 has a
very cool combat mechanic, but does anyone feel that it artificially limits
the number of casualties available? I mean, even elities with d12 firepower
firing at targets in the open at close range can only ever kill 6 people (in
five minutes, the activation time scale, correct?)
I understand the morale effect this would have and am ignoring it--
I'm just curious if anyone has given any thought to this. I'm in no hurry to
change it myself, just an idle thought. Would SG2 benefit
> On Wed, 11 April 2001, Andy Cowell wrote:
> Just something I was pondering as I was driving around for lunch. SG2
It does artificially limit casualties. I'm not sure, though, that this is a
problem.
If you have an elite unit with D12 firepower (4 troopers with FP3 weapons) and
a single D12 Firepower support weapon, the maximum casualties would be 9 if
you fired all the weapons at once (12, 12, and 12 rolled on three dice versus
a target in the open at close range, would give 36 divided by 4, for 9
casualties).
If you assume a squad of 6 elites with two D10 SAWs, though, and you fire half
the squad with one action and the other half with the other
action, things are different. You could get D12 + D12 + D10 for one
action, and D12 + D10 for the other, assuming one SAW supports the
regular troopers. Or, you could have both SAWs firing together, for D12
+ D12 in one attack and D12 + D10 + D10 for the other.
In the first case, the total would be 34 divided by 4 for maximum casualties
in the first attack and 22 divided by 4 for the second attack. This gives 8
casualties with a 50:50 chance of a 9th, and 5 casualties with a 50:50 chance
of a 6th. Assuming all the "fractional" rolls go your way, you've got a
maximum of 15 potential casualties. In
the second example the numbers are: 24 / 4 plus 32 / 4, giving 6 + 8 =
14 total casualties.
If you take an average squad, say a Regular squad of 8 troopers and two D10
SAWs, the best you could roll against a squad at close range in the
open is: D8 + D12 + D10 for the first half of the squad firing and D8 +
D10 for the second half. The maximum would be 30 / 4 and 18 / 4. That's
7.5 casualties plus 4.5. Assuming the fractional rolls go your way,
that's 8 + 5 = 13 casualties, maximum.
Average rolls, though, should get you about 6 casualties. So just rolling
average will decimate a squad at close range in the open!
Okay, that seems like an atypical squad (with 2 SAWs) but a lot of
conventional modern forces put two SAWs in a squad.
> I mean, even
True, if you have them all fire at once (and they have no SAW). That would be
a squad of 3 or 4 elites, using FP3 as the standard assault rifle firepower.
Looking at it another way, the maximum these elites could kill is two for
every one of them.
If you split fire, the maximum is 10. D12 + D6 for half the squad
firing; which is 18 / 4 at close range in the open, which equals 4
casualties and a 50:50 chance of a fifth casualty. Do that twice in a row
(*snicker*) and you can do a potential 10 casualties, which isn't bad for 4
guys with assault rifles in 5 minutes!
> Would SG2 benefit from a "critical hit" mechanism?
I'm not sure it needs it...