Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Re the Autogun issue, I've come to believe that if it's tripod or vehicle mounted, it's Autogun. Bipod or less support and it's Rifle, regardless of calibre, rate of fire, etc. So the M249/Minimi can be either skill, depending on how it's currently employed.
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That makes sense, but operating a weapon with belted ammo and a feed tray instead of a magazine is quite a switch. I've fired/stripped M16 type rifles a few times, so I am confident that I could pick up just about any assault or battle rifle and make it work without any additional training. If, however, I found an M60 or a PKM, I'm not so confident that I could operate it effectively without a modicum of instruction/training.
[QUOTE=Legbreaker;81706]In T2K at least (less so in Merc) most characters have been at war for a number of years and have certainly had opportunity to be exposed to enemy equipment. An Infantryman formally trained in the M72 has probably picked up and used an RPG-7 at some point in the past.[QUOTE]
Agreed. Where the principles of operation are more or less the same, I don't see a need for employing a different skill.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
A tanker or artilleryman on the other hand is less likely to have had that same hands on exposure, but MAY have had the chance to familiarise themselves with some of the oppositions AFVs (tankers aren't likely to know much about even their own APCs, let alone the enemies, at least not more than how to kill them).
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I respectfully disagree. In WW2, both the Germans and the Russians were pretty quick to use captured enemy tanks and artillery. From my reading, it didn't take long for a German tanker to figure out how to operate a T-34, or a Soviet tanker to master a Panzer IV. The same holds true for artillery systems, both tube and rocket (to say nothing of mortars).
More recently, in Afghanistan, it didn't take long for CIA contractors raised on Hueys and Blackhawks to figure out how to fly Mi-8s and 17s. Choppers are arguably more complex machines than AFVs, but again, where the the principles of operation are the same (such as flying a rotary wing aircraft), no separate skill is required.