Potential Combat Rules rewrite

[Heffe3737]

Hi everyone,

Long time no post. So...I've decided to start running a campaign at home with some friends, and have been re-reading my old 1.0 and 2.2 books, and came to a decision - that I kind of don't like the combat rules in either book.

Don't get me wrong, both have some really good features, but either one on their own just seem to be missing something. For instance, the 2.2 combat rules are so heavy-handed to the point of making efficient gameplay difficult and the damage done by some weapons seems far too weak, whereas I don't think the 1.0 combat rules do enough to explain proper penetration and the v.1 rules don't seem to offer the same variety of weapons.

In sum, I've decided to write my own combat rules using a combination of the best features of both (IMHO), and wanted to post them here to see if any of you had any thoughts to share. Please note that these are in no way comprehensive, and are only direct fire rules for simple combat. These rules are an attempt to make combat more deadly for all parties, while hopefully maintaining some semblance of the originals' flavor.

To Hit: Use v1 rules for to hit, so .6 for short, .3 for medium, .1 for long, and .1 for extreme (only usable in specific circumstances). Aiming takes one combat round and doubles your chance to hit. Range uses the ranges listed in the 2.2 weapon cards.

Location of hit: Uses 2.2 rules. Including armor hit locations and armor damage process.

Damage:
Burst is handled normally as per v1. Concussion from v2.2 becomes knockdown from v.1 for simplicity's sake. Also dropping the recoil element from 2.2 entirely to speed up calculation.

Small arms –
Base damage times 4 + 4d6 for short range
Base damage times 3 + 3d6 for medium range
Base damage times 2 + 2d6 for long range
Base damage times 1 +1d6 for extreme range
Example:
• G3A3 battle rifle has base dmg of 4. At short range, 4x4 +4d6 dmg. At medium, 4 x 3 +3d6. At long 4 x 2 + 2d6. At extreme, 4 x 1 +1d6.

Automatic fire:
The first shot from a burst is calculated at base range. All subsequent shots from a burst are calculated at one range difficulty further. Bursts at long range and beyond – First shot is calculated normally. Subsequent shots from the burst are calculated at your skill x .05. In order to fire a burst at long range, must meet extreme range requirements found in v1 combat rules.

Penetration for small arms –
As long as base damage of firing weapon is equal to or greater than armor rating and weapon has penetration values at all, then shot *can* penetrate. For every point of armor, damage is reduced by one range level per point of penetration. This makes infantry firing small arms at armored infantry and light vehicles more lethal.
Examples:
• Penetration value of an M16 is 1-Nil and base damage of 3, then a shot at short range against a jeep (armor value of 1) does (base of 3 x 3[instead of 4]) + 3d6[instead of 4d6], 3 x 2 +2d6 at medium range [instead of the typical 3 x 3 +3d6 at medium], and wouldn't penetrate at long range [nil penetration beyond medium].
• Penetration value of a .357 Magnum is 1-Nil and base damage of 2, then a shot against the same jeep (armor value of 1), penetrates and does 2 x 3 +3d6 at short range, 2x4 +2d6 at medium range, and would not penetrate at all beyond medium.
• .50 cal does 8 base dmg and 2-2-3 penetration. This equates to 8 x 4 +4d6 dmg against infantry with no armor at short range, or 8 damage at long range against armor value 2 (normally 8 x 2 +2d6 at long, but the armor value of 2 negates 2 range bands). 8 x 1 +1d6 at long range against infantry with armor level 1. Or 8 x 2+2d6 at long range against infantry with no armor.

Penetration for heavier weapons –
Following 2.2 rules for heavier weapons, minus concussion dmg. Concussion becomes knockdown radius.
Large caliber rounds don’t take normal penetration value penalties or range penalties when firing against infantry (A 120mm round hitting squarely is still going to kill a man at long range). Thus, if a tank shell hits armor value 2 infantry at extreme range, the shell is still going to do 28x4 + 4d6 dmg. All penetrators in the heavy weapon categories still do normal dmg +2d6 penetration against vehicles. This makes heavy weapons hitting infantry far more lethal.
Examples:
• Explosion - SMAW (HEAT round) - Base dmg of 55C with concussion of 4 and Burst of 5. Penetration is 55 +2d6 regardless of range. If target is infantry, upon direct hit the target takes 55d6 +2d6 dmg spread evenly between all hit locations (for purposes of direct explosive hit). 53d6 +2d6 if shot hits against armor value 2.
• Penetrator - 120mm APDSFSDU – Base dmg of 28, penetration of 150 +2d6 at short range, with no concussion or burst (penetrator round). Against infantry, dmg of 28x4 + 4d6 to hit location at any range (as large caliber rounds do not take range/penetration value penalties against infantry). Against vehicles/armored targets at short range, damage is 150 +2d6.

Explosions:
If within burst range, but not hit directly, roll percentage dice. If 30% or lower, target hit by 1d6 fragments. Between 30% and 60%, hit by 1 fragments. At 2X burst range, roll percentage dice. If roll is lower than 10%, hit by 1d6 fragments. Between 10% an 20%, target is hit by 1 fragment. Each fragment does 4d6 dmg.

Anti-tank missiles
To hit is equal to twice the firer’s HW skill. Firer must aim before and during the shot (for guided missiles). Firer must aim before the shot for unguided missiles/rockets. All anti-tank missiles travel at 1000m per 6 seconds.

Thoughts?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Nothing much to add really except that, like a lot of people I also think the game rules aren't dangerous enough to the PCs (GDW did acknowledge that they felt it would be a pain in the arse to have to make new characters lots of times so they deliberately made the PCs harder to kill).

One way to increase the danger to PCs that doesn't require a substantial rewrite of the weapon damages/rules is to reduce the hitpoints the PCs have so that it's closer to NPCs levels.

[Heffe3737]

Good call. I'm actually good with the PC's needing to reroll periodically as their characters pass away. We'll be using 1st edition character creation rules due to that fact, since IMO it's a bit quicker to roll a character when you don't need to constantly flip around the book looking at potential career choices.