A Little Help with Signaling Devices

[pmulcahy11b]

While working on a special request from Legbreaker for signaling devices (specifically flare guns), I bumped against a problem -- the brightness of a star cluster (you're not going to illuminate a large area with one), vs. the distance at which you can spot one (which can be tens of kilometers).

Flares are simple -- the burst radius is the radius of illumination. A Star cluster, however, could have two such radii -- the small size of the actual illumination provided, and the distance at which they could be spotted. I'm not sure how to stat that out. Maybe something like "C0 B5/10000," but it seems cumbersome.

Just for now, I've put a space on my charts that lists the candlepower of the star cluster, but that's not going to hold up for long.

If someone has a clever idea, let me know.

[pmulcahy11b]

OK, I have an idea, and it's based on the double "burst" radius idea. The star cluster's second burst radius would be the range at which a person could see the star cluster given an Average roll. OK, so an Average: What roll? OK, Agility is a natural for this, but having poor agility doesn't mean you're not see a bright light in your face. Observation is also a natural, but the same argument applies.

My guess would be Average: (Highest of Agility, Intelligence, or Observation). Inside half this radius, it becomes an Easy roll. At twice that radius, it becomes a Difficult roll. Etc. Ambient light conditions, intervening terrain, etc, would be modifiers.

What do you think?

[Legbreaker]

I think you might be on the right track, but it's not going to just apply to star clusters.
I believe the mechanism needs to stand up with other light sources such as the usual ILLUM rounds, spotlights (white and IR) as well as the basic, run of the mill, burning stick.
Get the formula right now and it's likely to save some serious headaches in the future!

Have you refered to the "Tactical Visibilty" section on page 204 of 2.0 (223 of 2.2)?

[weswood]

I like the idea of the double listing under burst, but I would use Intelligence as a base for rolling, Observation if the character has that skill. And Like Legbreaker says, if you got an actual formula, write it down.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by weswood

I like the idea of the double listing under burst, but I would use Intelligence as a base for rolling, Observation if the character has that skill. And Like Legbreaker says, if you got an actual formula, write it down.

That is a bad habit I have -- coming up with ideas and formulas and just letting them roll around in my head without writing them down. I've probably lost some priceless stuff that way.

[Slappy]

Unfortunately I have no clever formulas, but I think the visible radius has a lot more to do with altitude and LOS than candle power at least at practical distances. I would suggest that if looking the right way on a clear night one would be able to spot just about any illumination round out to several km. The key would be whether the character was in fact looking in the right direction (matter of lookout SOP and luck) and whether the ILLUM was over the visible horizon (which could be dramatically shortened in woods or urban areas).
I would further suggest that detcetion would be automatic to at least 5x the effective illumination range as the light shed would be in obvious v. the background light at that range but not enough for effective illumination of targets.

[Legbreaker]

Note that you don't actually have to see the flare itself to know it's there. A prime example is sunrise and sunset - light remains for quite a while even after the direct rays of light are gone. Same principle applies to all light sources.

Hmm, wonder if we can make this any more complex....

Just a thought, rules for sound detection might be similar too - at least both have a "burst radius" and are effected in similar ways by obstacles between the source and detection point.

We got any mathmeticians here to help out?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Couldn't you just have the illumination radius and then a maximum distance the flare can be seen at?

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Couldn't you just have the illumination radius and then a maximum distance the flare can be seen at?

That's actually what I settled on. But now (after watching a slasher movie), I have another question: what kind of damage would flares, star signals, smoke rounds etc do if fired directly at an enemy soldier? I imagine accuracy would suck (especially with the standard tubular hand-held signals), but would it all be blunt trauma, or would it penetrate the body? Any chance of setting the victim on fire? If the flare or star does penetrate the body, what if it ignites inside the body? Could you really pull a trick like the one they used to destroy an Iraqi tank in the movie Courage Under Fire?

[Legbreaker]

Treat it like a melee attack I think with regards to body armour.

Penetration would be virtually nil in my mind even against unprotected flesh - they're designed as safety equipment in the first place, wouldn't be all that safe if they could kill...

Perhaps 1D6 impact damage, the same in burn damage (provided the flare has had sufficient range to ignite before impact), and a chance of igniting clothing and equipment. If the flare was somehow lodged in say webbing, the chance of ignitiation might go up to say 99%? (always a chance the flames don't catch).

Then there's the starshell types that don't "burst" until several seconds after firing. For them I'd say 1D6 impact only unless they somehow lodged in the target at which time explosive damage would result, perhaps with an additional incendiary effect.

Handheld flares are another matter all together. For them I'd think they'd have no effect unless they were jammed into (or at least pointed at somebody at VERY close range). It'd have to be treated as a melee attack with all damage being incendiary (except for maybe a point or two from the flare being poked into you).