I think Atiff's post is accurate all the way until the end. Pistol does go to 3. Once I laid it out linear-fashion, it made more sense. It works like this...
1. Small Arms is a Cascade.
2. You have to choose a specialization (or have it chosen for you) when you buy the skill. All the other skills in that cascade are 1/2 this level. This Specialization is his Small Arms score.
3. BUT... if you raise a skill that is not the Specialization, it is separated for the extra levels, it does not raise the Small Arms score but the specific specialty score.
Quote:
A character who receives a cascade skill
must decide on an area of special interest from
among the subskills covered. From then on
his skill level in the chosen specialty skill is the
same as his level in the overall skill. His level
in all of the other subskills is half his level in
the overall skill, with fractions rounded down.
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Quote:
Sometimes it is possible to receive a skill
in a cascade other than the one the character
has already chosen as his specialty. For example,
consider the character above with
Small Arms: 3, specializing in Pistols. If hethen
goes through basic training he will receive
Rifle skill. The Rifle skill received adds to
his Rifle skill only, not his overall Small Arms skill,
thus giving him Small Arms (Pistol): 3 and Small
Arms (Rifle): 2 (1.5+1 = 2, rounded down).
However, if this extra skill would cause his
Rifle skill to exceed his overall Small Arms skill,
then his overall skill will go up, and Rifle will
become his new specialty.
In either case he will have to keep separate
track of his Rifle and Pistol skills from then on.
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