Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
I can see somebody like an artilleryman having a decent autogun skill (AA guns), armour crewman (25mm bushmaster), even naval gunner (various deck guns), but can't see how those experiences and training can be directly translated to infantry weapons.
Likewise, an infantryman who's hauled around an MG-3 for the past ten years shouldn't automatically be able to operate a 40mm Bofors at the same level of skill.
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Leg, have you ever played a system called Rolemaster or its Sci-Fi equivalent Spacemaster? If you want to get into a detailed skill system where weapon categories like those you mentioned above each have their own skill then you need to look at something like RM, or rather SM with some adaptions for weapons relevant to the genre and with the cross skill familiarity rules from RM added (something similar to the cascade between Small Arms Rifle and Small Arms Pistol but on a much larger scale).
You'll still find holes in the system however and it's questionable whether more detail vs. simplicity (as Tegyrius highlighted) is actually worth it for enjoyment of the game. That's the key thing - it's a game and though the rules do their best to reflect reality they will never do a perfect job.
Lastly if you do ever play RM or SM make sure each player has a calculator of their own - it speeds up game play enormously unless everyone is a maths wiz! <G>