Some new questions related to combat and gear

[Tupteq]

Hi all. It's me again with bunch of new questions

1. What is TL of slug gun ammo?

There's a note in slug gun tables that: "All <put weapon type here> using TL4+ bullets gain the Hard property", but there's no information about TL of ordinary ammo (at least tables on p.325 don't have this information).
I assumed that bullets are of TL3 by default (with some exceptions like caseless or firelock ball) even for TL4 weapons like autofeeds and to gain Hard property one need to obtain upgraded TL4 ammo (price x2, according to table from p.276). What is official statement in this matter? Are my guesses accurate?

2. Does Strength damage bonus (p.97 and p.255) apply to artifact melee weapons like wireblades or flux swords?

3. What is the meaning of column "VP" in Device Quality table (p. 273)?

4. Do you use optional burst recoil rule (p.252)? What you think about it?

I found it VERY unbalanced, 3-round burst raises STR requirements by 2 and Empty Clip by 7! Every lacking point of STR causes -1 penalty, moreover longer bursts have their own penalties (-4 for Empty Clip), so to effectively use Empty Clip maneuver with any weapon (maybe except of caseless rifle) you need a vorox on steroids! This was making my players very unhappy (no possibility of Rambo-like actions). On the other hand I didn't want resign from (a bit of) realism.
For now I changed STR requirement to +1/+2/+4 (short, long, empty clip), but to keep the balance I raised slightly base STR requirement of many weapons (e.g. I changed caseless rifle STR requirement to 2, but 2+4 is still less than 1+7). What are your solutions?

[Angelman]

Hi Tupteq, and thanks for more great questions

1) You got that right. Bullets are TL3 by default. However, and this might not be communicated in the text, _I_, upon writing this, assumed that bullets would be TL4 if the local industry could achieve it. (Why make lead bullets if you can make steel ones?). So, the ruling is a complicated way of saying: “Slug-gun bullets are ‘Hard’ unless made with below TL4 technology”. I therefore assumed that TL4 bullets would cost the normal price if produced in a TL4+ industry. Again, this might not have been properly communicated.

2) Um… that’s a good question. I assume it does? Damage Bonus based on strength is a very RPG concept of course, but since katanas and chainsaws get db, then I assume energy melee weapons does as well.

3) The “VP” column is supposed to show additional VP gained on successful use of the device. Instead of a flat DMG bonus to a weapon for instance, you get VP bonus which translates to ½ a point of damage.

4) Naturally, since I wrote it, _I_ tend to use the recoil rules (when I can remember to), but you certainly do not have to. Optional rules are there to help you customize the game to fit your group’s vision, and a valid argument can certainly be made for Rambo over realism! My intention was to have the recoil rules force players to rely on successions of single shots and quick short bursts, like most professionals would do. Empty Clip, and even Long Bursts, aren’t used as much to hit things as to scare things. (In RL, a laughably small percentage of bullets fired in battle are aimed at anything, let alone hits anything). By changing the rules, however, you have absolutely done the right thing. Make it your own and do tell us fans about your changes And that goes to all of you of course!

[Tupteq]

Thanks for your reply Angelman!

My players will love your answers, especially cheaper ammo and better damage of flux sword

The only thing that doesn't appeal to me is this VP bonus. Looks like very inconvenient in use (e.g. calculating +30% VPs of 5 VPs). Fortunately it's not something crucial, so I'll just ignore this column.

Once again, thanks for clarification. For sure I'll be back with new questions soon.

[Angelman]

The columns are intended for you to chose one, or at most two, upgrades to the device, so ignoring the VP column is no problem at all. You may even come up with some totally different way of displaying device upgreads

[Holz]

I didn't find the restrictions he said in the book!

[Angelman]

The optional recoil rule is given in a textbox called "Burst Recoil" on FSR PG p.252. This references the STR requirement rules for using weapons, given in the "Reading Weaponry Charts" textbox on p.304

Basically, the STR requirements says that you suffer -1 to the goal number for every point the weapon's STR requirement is above your own strength. The recoil rule elaborates on this by increasing the STR requirement of a weapon by an amount equal to the burst action's DMG bonus.

[Holz]

Ah... o found them... had to use the .pdf version and use "Find"... =P

[Bogie]

Yeah. I have noticed in play that emptying the clip, or even long-burst are very rarely the best solution to a combat. Although, if you have a couple of guys working together switching off between reload and empty clip you can effectively lock out an area. At least until they run out of ammo.

[Bogie]

IRT Adding strength to artifact weapons (wireblades / flux swords). Sure!

In my own house rules I might go the other way though and remove all the damage modifiers for strength and add instead add in a modifier based on skill rank. With weapons (and even hand-to-hand) it isn't always blunt force trauma that makes the hit more effective, but the skill of the combatant.

Any strong person can throw a fairly effective punch, but a smaller person who has practiced and knows where to hit can throw a much more effective punch with less force. But that... is for another game.

Edit: Beware the trained Vorox on steroids.