Statting 4e Weapons & Vehicles

[Raellus]

Thanks, Heffe. IIRC, all of the comparable GPMGs in the rulebook have ROF 4. I think it would be reasonable to raise the MG3's ROF to 5, based on its higher cyclic rate IRL. However, I worry that raising it to 6 would make it OP, compared to other GPMGs in the rulebook. I'm looking at this from more of a game balancing POV, I suppose.

-

[Tegyrius]

The cyclic rate to ROF conversion table is on p.110 of the referee's manual. It is oddly silent on the topic of weapons with burst but no full auto modes (possibly because this is not a widespread phenomenon). Based on its values, I would agree that ROF 6 makes sense for the MG3, and I would look at the cyclic rates of the MG with printed ROF 4 to see if they need to be tweaked to align with the table.

- C.

[Heffe]

I think 5 probably works as well from a balancing perspective. Since we already know that it's not only the cyclic rate that is taken into account when determining the ROF (as per the aforementioned M16A2), then we can find other reasons why the MG3 should only be 5 instead of the full six in order to justify the balance. Maybe PCs firing the MG3 have to worry about additional heat build up on it due to the higher firing rate, and therefore are trained to fire it in shorter bursts?

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Heffe

Maybe PCs firing the MG3 have to worry about additional heat build up on it due to the higher firing rate, and therefore are trained to fire it in shorter bursts?

We trained to do exactly that, 3-6 shots is no problem. With a bit of training, you can even pull of "single shot bursts", but you have to yank the trigger in a certain way to make it just fire once, it reduces accuracy somewhat. All in all, it's not practical for combat and more of a "range trick shot" (and a poor one at that).

But effectively firing only 1 Ammo Die can be done with a MG3, no problem.

[Tegyrius]

The 4-person crew is composed of commander, driver, mechanic, and rigger. The latter two have no combat roles, effectively being passengers, but each position has its own roof hatch, so they can stand up to fire small arms from partial cover. I’ve been unable to substantiate GDW’s claim that the cabin includes four passenger seats for the crew of a disabled AFV under tow.

Speeds given are for normal movement. The vehicle can tow up to 45 tons at half speed. Two M88A1s in tandem are required to safely tow a vehicle above that weight, such as an M1 Abrams-series MBT.

Beyond the numbers, the M88A1 has four interesting pieces of equipment worth noting for game purposes.

Winch: Front-mounted, 60-meter cable, 41-ton capacity. Treat the winch as a component in the penetrating/cargo hit location with Reliability 5.

Crane: A-frame boom, stowed on top of the vehicle but forward-facing when elevated for work. Can reach up to 2.5 meters in front of the vehicle, with a maximum lift of 7 meters. It’s intended for lighter vehicle recovery (think truck or APC as opposed to MBT) or changing major components (like engines), but can be used for other construction tasks in a pinch. 60-meter cable, 23-ton capacity (drops to 5 tons if the dozer blade is not in use to stabilize the vehicle). Treat the crane as a component in the non-penetrating/external stores hit location with Reliability 4.

Dozer blade: Front-mounted, full width of the hull. Primary designed function is to stabilize the vehicle when winching but can also be used for light earthmoving, including carving out hull-down fighting positions for vehicles. Treat the blade as a component in the non-penetrating/external stores hit location with Reliability 5.

Auxiliary power unit (APU): Can provide limited electrical power without use of the main engine. This enables battery charging (both for the vehicle’s own batteries or other devices), as well as use of the hydraulics that drive the three items described above. Consider this a 5-kilowatt generator (“large” for fourth edition purposes) that consumes 15 liters of fuel per shift (doubled for alcohol, of course). For damage purposes, treat the APU as a component in the penetrating/cargo hit location with Reliability 3.

At the referee’s discretion, appropriate use of appropriate equipment may provide bonuses or reduce the construction time for base facilities. I’d say a fully-functional M88/M88A1 reduces the time for building defensive works from a day per hex to a shift per hex. Most of the other base facilities in the 4e Player’s Manual won’t benefit as much from earthmoving and winching capabilities, but I’d still call it a +1 bonus for anything requiring heavy construction work.

-----

Notes on the conversion are on my gaming blog at https://libellus.de-fenestra.com/.

- C.

[Raellus]

Given is proven ubiquity and amazing adaptability IRL (see https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=6101&page=3 for the many MT-LB mods appearing in the current Ukraine war.), an MT-LB stat block is an absolute must for T2k.

Vehicle: MT-LB Type: APC Rel: 5 Combat Speed: 3/2 Travel Speed: 6/4 Front Armor: 3 Side Armor: 2 Rear Armor: 2 Fuel Type: D Fuel Cap: 400 Fuel Cons: 8 Crew: 2 + 11 Cargo: 500 Main Weapon: PKT (T) Secondary Weapon: N/A Price: 65000

How do those stats look?

For those who use the 4e timeline, IRL, Sweden acquired approx. 400 former East German MT-LBs in 1993 and held on to them until 2011 when they were handed over to Finland. They were locally designated Pbv 401).

-

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Thanks, Heffe. IIRC, all of the comparable GPMGs in the rulebook have ROF 4. I think it would be reasonable to raise the MG3's ROF to 5, based on its higher cyclic rate IRL. However, I worry that raising it to 6 would make it OP, compared to other GPMGs in the rulebook. I'm looking at this from more of a game balancing POV, I suppose.

-

One could always hold it's cyclic rate against it. First, those bullets are actually very close together. I sometimes released a short burst of 5-6 bullets, but found only 3 or 4 holes to cover up on the paper target. It took me some while to figure out that 3-4 very closely grouped holes could actually mean more bullets had hit the target with 2 bullets hitting the same spot. If you're burst is short enough, you might not get the chance to hit multiple targets with an MG3.

Second, firing longer bursts is a problem and 4E doesn't talk about the particular issue of the MG3 for obvious reasons. After 150 shots fired, you absolutely need to change the barrel. Shooting more than that in a short time, will overheat the barrel and can damage it. And no, you don't want to wait until the barrel changes color from bluish black to blue to orange. Those asbestos gloves won't protect you from everything!

Changing the barrel or keeping an eye out for its temperature will reduce the effective ROF of a weapon though. So, I could live with ROF 5 or even 4 maybe.