Rules Q: Fragmentation attacks
 

Hi all,

I just noticed in the BYB that the pg 258 Fragmentation Attack chart and the pg 207 rules/chart are different.

The pg 207 rules are more lethal (1-2 / 3-4 for chance getting hit by multiple / single fragments, vs. 1 / 2 on pg 258)...

... but this makes the secondary burst radius (1-2 / 3-4) not lot different from the primary burst radius (1-3 / 4-6).

I'm not a military man, but pg 258 feels more 'right' to me... Which do you guys use?

Andrew

Edit: falling back on my physics degree for a second - surface area of the sphere = pi x r x r. So if 'r' doubles, the area goes up by factor of 4. So the fragment density would be 1/4 at the edge of the secondary radius, compared to at the edge of the primary radius. This explains my feeling, at least :)

Andrew,

I never knew about the table in back of the BYB so I've never used it. The tables I think usually tend to be more accurate than the ones in the text.

That said, I think you're right: there should be a reduced chance of receiving fragmentation based on the range simply due to physics. One common complaint is that T2K is non-lethal to PCs (built-in as a stated part of the game design) so the "higher lethality" model might be the more desirable one.

Tony

Looking back to v1 rules, the chance of getting hit by fragments are:
primary 30/60% and secondary 10/20%, so I guess the 1, 2, 3-10 rules are the way it's meant to be.

This isn't what I've been using - looks like I'm going to change and see how it goes.

One big issue with the rules is that they don't model explosions realistically -- fragmentation rules are okay to an extent but blast over pressure just is poorly done. And can and will kill you worse than fragmentation all day long.

From my readings talking to other people and watching some tests on Mythbusters, blast overpressure is considerably less lethal than most people think, mainly because it drops off so rapidly with distance.

Having had a block (1.25 lbs) of Comp B go off less than ten feet away from me and do little more than stun, I feel I can safely say that yes, the pressure wave, while nasty and headache causing, isn't all that bad. Sure I wouldn't want to be shot at in the next 30 seconds or so while lying on the ground with a ringing head unable to string two thoughts together, but I can think of worse things to happen.

I agree that overpressure is overstated in most games, unless you are right next to the source of the explosion, it is a really big explosion, or both. It helps if you have your ears covered/plugged and your mouth open too. And you're not underwater. Underwater overpressure is nasty.