More RFACs

I said:

< Well, an RFAC/1 is an autocannon in the 20mm cal range.  I don't like
that
> these have impact d8 vs. infantry either. If it is a 30mm firing

Mike said:

> From a DS2 perspective, I agree that RFACs seem like they could use

punch against infantry. I have also wanted to see this with air defense

weapons. At the Origins War College last year, an Army officer discussed the
effectiveness of AA against infantry, especially in urban conflict. His
discussions focussed I believe on the Russians experience in Grosney. This was
part of an urban warfare class. Very interesting class and very informative.
He made a lot of interesting notes of how most armies are not equipped to
fight in urban conflicts.

I add: ** The interesting thing is this has ALWAYs been true. WW2 Ostwinds
(German) were deadly against infantry (mind you, the.88 was deadly against
tanks and it started life as AA gun, but thats another story). The American M3
with the quad 50 was obnoxious. In Nam, at Hue and other places, they used
little vehicles to move quad.50s into place and they literally ripped apart
the target area... they just had to keep feeding them ammo at a huge rate. Any
rapid fire cannon is going to make a nasty weapon against infantry. Not to
mention the possibility of exploding rounds or that even a graze can cause
enough hydrostatic shock to kill (cause a heart attack like effect).

Well, it looks like I'm taking the plunge feet-first into the
discussion. I heartily agree that the rules make RFAC's doo damn weak against
infantry. Along the same lines, I also think that, given their deadliness
against aircraft, ZADS' firing direct against ground targets should be
considered something beefier than an RFAC2. And if you're going to come up
with new or house rules to increase the power of RFAC's vs infantry, you
should probably apply the same rules to MDC 1's and 2's, since it's my
understanding that
they also use small shell mass/high fire volume to do their damage.
Here's a suggestion: when firing in ranged combat, keep the rules as they are,
since vehicle weapons don't have to aim at infantry (for the RFAC's and MDC's
in question, this would represent the tactic of hosing down the target area).
However, treat all color chits as valid, and at short range double the damage.
When in close assault, things should get a little nastier. Allow

RFAC's and MDC 1's and 2's to fire along with the APSW's, essentially treating
them as larger APSW's. Draw 4 chits for a RFAC or MDC 1, and 5

chits for a RFAC or MDC 2. Use close assault damage validities.

As for the ADS', I suggest The following: When firing direct with it's radar
off, treat a Basic ADS as either a dual mount RFAC 1 or a single RFAC 2. Treat
an Enhanced ADS as a triple mount RFAC 1 or a dual mount RFAC
2,
and treat a Superior ADS as a quad RFAC 1 or a triple mount RFAC 2.

By the way, is there anyone out there who lives in the San Diego CA area

who'd like to play some DS II with me?