Quote:
Originally Posted by kcdusk
To make vehicle combat more interesting, it needs something to simulate vehicles manoeuvring around in order to get a good clean shot away at another vehicle or static position. It needs to be PC reliant on the crew (commander, driver, gunner, radio man) and reward situational awareness (tactics).
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This is a good and short resume of how a vehicular combat system should be.
Thanks for the old post. Interesting, though the system depicted there does not convince me.
I suppose it’s just that I tend to rule out from the “abstract” combat systems, although I’ve used in the past. This type of systems tends to resolve the encounter in a few rolls based in the skills of the characters implied but without the players taking many decisions in the action. An example would be the naval combat in Star Wars D6. The referee could make the combat exciting one time if it was short and the situation does not repeat. The pilot rolled to avoid dire, the gunners fired when they had a target and the shield-operator activate the shields when their ship was hit. But all this actions were their only logical option.
I think the goal is to make a vehicular combat system as exciting and fun as the infantry combat under the Twilight: 2000 rules. The hard work is done. The vehicles are there, with all their statistics. The same could be said about the guns, the ammo, the armor and the damage effects. Even the rules regarding tactical visibility and encounters could give you a solution about who have spotted the enemy first and gains the upper hand in a tactical situation.
But certain aspects for a good vehicular combat system are not there. Movement ratio in different types of terrain, modifiers to spotting enemy concealed vehicles, the effect of obstacles against vehicles, the time to turn a turret, the speed while going in reverse or the time needed time to make a full turn. Can my Bradley cross this trench or go through this wall? Can a tank tow another tank? Does the crew use to have the needed tools to do it in the vehicle? You know all of the equivalencies in the Twilight:2000 rules when talking about infantry combat. Our characters kneel, run, trot, take cover, jump over obstacles, give first aid to a wounded, move silently, change the location of their equipment…and the rules are fluent and we use them easily. I think that the goal must be the same for vehicular combat if one wants to run a game based on vehicles.
Mmmmm... I wish I had more time this week. I have some ideas but I've not worked on them. Meanwhile, the adjustments suggested by Leonpoi about the FC's and the spotting modifiers seem good to me.
Bona nit!