Today I ran FMA for the first time and we came up with a couple of questions
and comments:
-There seems to be some discrepancies in the way that area effect
weapons (grenades, missiles) are costed. Why do grenades
and DRL's have an 8+6+4 Accuracy total when missiles have
12+12+12? What is the Close range band for an area-effect
weapon? I thought all area-effect weapons had a fixed number
for their range bands?
-What effect does "Spread fire" have? Shotguns can do
this, but the effect isn't listed.
-Leaders can only transfer actions to troops w/in their command
radius and LOS. What if they had radios? Could they transfer actions to any of
their troops with radios? How much should radios cost?
-The higher your Quality, the farther your deviation will be!
Deviation distance is the amount your roll when you test to see if you're on
target. Lower quality = smaller die = less deviation. Higher quality = larger
die = more deviation.
-What is the vision distance into woods? In SG2 you must
be w/in 1" of the edge to shoot out? What's the feeling
for FMA? How about the effects of woods on LOS to other troops in your unit
for purposes of unit cohension?
Thanks,
I can answer a few of these. Mostly it's a case of come up with your own
ideas, test them and let everyone on the list know. Your ideas could be better
than everyone elses!
***
Area weapon costings are very tentative. One thing is that DRLs are dumbfire
weapons (requiring firer skill) whereas missiles have an internal guidance
system (fire and forget). Close range would probably be within the weapons
blast radius (dropping the grenade at your own feet, oops!)
Spread effect: make up a suitable template or rules. There's nothing concrete
yet, but a 1" increase in area of effect for every 3" of range is about right.
(ie: at 9", any figure within 1.5" of the primary target is also attacked).
Radios: the scale of the game doesn't really lend itself to radios. Because
effective jamming and ECM is available, think WW2 comm ranges. One guy in the
squad would have the high powered radio with all the bells and whistles to cut
through the jamming, while the rest of the squad uses short range
radio/laser communicators that need LOS for effective use. Also keep
in mind that the leader needs to know what he's ordering the poor grunt to do.
"advance forward 10m." "but sir, that's strait over a cliff!".
Deviation: higher quality might equal higher deviation, but if you look, it
only deviates if you miss. At band 5, it only deviates on 1-4, but the
higher quality means more chance of *not* deviating.
You've probably got the right idea regarding woods. If you come up with
something different, let us know.
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[mkw] Admiral Peter Rollins; Task Force Zulu
[DitD] Captain Puppilier
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