Rate of Fire

[Dread Pirate Al]

Inspired by a question in the official rules section.

For semi-automatic weapons (i.e. Blasters and Slugthrowers) I use RAW.
1 shot per round at full skill. Each additional imposes a cumulative -1d penalty
i.e. shooting 5 times in a round brings a -4d penalty

For automatic weapons (i.e. Riot Guns, Repeating blasters, SMGs, MGs) inspired by a rule for burst fire which may or may not be official the GM was a bit cagey
3 shots per round at full skill. Each additional imposes a cumulative -1d penalty
i.e. shooting 5 times in a round brings a -2d penalty

For single shot weapons (i.e. Bowcasters* and Bows)
1 shot and then 1 action to reload
i.e. shooting 5 times in a round brings a -9d penalty




Yarrr


* Although I am very unsure about the RAW when it comes to Bowcasters!

[cheshire]

Interesting. You should play test that and let us know how it works out.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Dread Pirate Al]

[ZzaphodD]

If a weapon has a RoF of 3 in the official rules, what exactly does that mean? Can the weapon be fire a maximum of 3 times per round, with each attack being a separate action?

[Raven Redstar]

Yes. RoF is the maximum number of shots that can be taken in a single round.

Which is ridiculous when you look at the E-11 blaster rifle, which has fire-rate one. But you take a look at rifles in the movies, and they're firing like no one's business.

[garhkal]

The ruling we use for auto fire slug thrower weapons in the Sparks campaign is that for every 3 bullets u put downrange, you roll your NORMAL skill (minus any multi action penalties), but the target gets +5 to their dodge. IF you still hit, you do an additional 1D damage.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Grimace]

Why does the target's Dodge get better the more rounds there are coming at them?

3 rounds incoming = +5 to Dodge
6 rounds incoming = +10 to Dodge?

Or did I miss something?

[Raven Redstar]

I think he means Dodge difficulty.

[garhkal]

No, grimace was right. IT was done from what i remember of the discussion i and the head council had, to reflect the recoil you get from firing more than one shot...

While i felt it was a good idea, i also felt that shooting more rounds down range should also have made it easier to hit... but they instead put that to more damage IF you hit...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Grimace]

Man, that's just so wrong. So you gain more damage, but it becomes so much easier for the target to dodge out of the way of more incoming shots. That would just drive me bonkers in a game.

[garhkal]

I have gotten use to it..
When i run things at home sessions i use the following.
Recoil
Every slug thrower, from a pistol to a barret .50 cal sniper rifle, has recoil. This is rated for game terms by a recoil value. This value is split into several levels; single shot, burst, twin barrels (shot guns) with tripods without bipods, etc. In combat, this recoil value is added to the opponents DODGE roll, to see if the gunner hits.

Small and medium pistols have a 0 recoil. Heavy pistols have +5.
Hunting rifles (.306 etc) have a +3 when not using a bipod, 0 if using one.
Shot guns are Pump- +4, Double barreled +3 single/+5 both.
SUb machine guns, such as the Tek-9, Uzi and H&K MP5 have 0 for single shot, +5 for burst fire and +10 for full auto.
Assault rifles (AK-47, M-4) have +5 ss/+10 burst/+15 FA. -5 from that if they use a bipod.
Light machine guns like the saw, have +7 for burst, +17 for full, (-5 with bipod).
Medium machine guns such as the M60 have +10 for burst, +20 for full. Bipods take off 5, tripods take off 10.
Heavy machine guns such as the browning 50 cal have +15 for burst (+10 on bipod, +5 if on hard mount or tripod), 25 for full auto (+20/+15 for bi and tri).

.50 cal sniper rifle has a +10 without support, +5 with, while the Weatherby 5k has a +8/+3

Many weapons, such as the SMGs, LMGs, assault rifles etc, have the ability to fire more than one bullet in rapid succession. This is represented by either a burst fire rate, or by full auto listing. Submachine guns and assault rifles are only capable of limited 3 round bursts, while For assault rifles and SMGs, choosing to go burst mode, adds 1D to the weapons single shot damage. For LMGs MMGs and HMGs add 1d+2 to the weapons base damage.

Full automatic fire, is just spraying a lot of ammo, in the hope of hitting the target(s) and causing more damage than the weapons single shot or burst fire could do. Depending on the weapon, you get a number of dice to add when going full auto, to the damage pool and the to hit pool (firearms skill). There are 2 ways to use full auto fire.
Full auto-single target and Spray.
When going FAST, the weapons gain an additional bonus to both damage and to hit. For the non belt fed weapons (smg, assault rifle) they must have a minimum of 24 rounds left for a 30 round magazine (30 shells if having the 36 round clip for some assault rifles)
SMG - +1 to hit,3d+1 damage
Assault - +2D to hit, +3d+2 damage
Belt fed weapons need to have a minimum of 38 slugs left on a 50 round belt to attempt this.
LMGs Add 2d+2 to hit and 4d to damage
MMGs add 3d+1 to hit and 4d+1 damage while the HMGs add 4d to hit and 4d+2 damage.

With this, the user is both penalized on shooting such a rate of ammo (recoil is upped) but gains a to hit pool which may or may not help them land a blow.

Spray fire.
This is the act of moving the guns barrel to the left and right rapidly, while holding down the trigger. It is also a full round action (half move can be allowed), and so can not be used with reaction skills. Unlike FAST, this must have a FULL clip or 50 round belt. It can be used in 2 fashions. Cover fire, or to damage:

Damage sprays.
The gunner makes ONE roll, adding in the bonus dice he gets for the weapon. Each target within the area above 1 (for SMGs and assault rifles) or 5 (for LMG to HMG) subtracts one from this die pool. Then each of those targets gets to add in the recoil value to their individual dodge rolls. If any are hit, the damage is rolled individually.
SMG - +3d/+1d
Assault - +3d/+2d
Light and Medium MG - +4d/+3d
Heavy MG - +5d/+4d

Cover sprays.
Unlike the former, this is not used to cause damage, but to stop the enemy from returning fire. The user still gets the addition of the FA dice (listed above), but does NOT subtract any dice for targets in the spray field. BUT he does subtract dice based on the AREA of the spray field. The gunner THEN rolls, against a difficulty assigned by the GM (based on range to the area for the cover spray, cover/concealment in the cover spray area and any other factors he deems necessary). If it hits, anyone in the area of cover spray suffers a penalty to their to hit pools of –3 per 5 points of difference between the gunners to hit pool and the diff set.
Cover spraying a 5x5 areas incurs no penalty to the 'to hit' chance.
A 10x10 has a -1d, -1d+2 for a 15x15. 20x20 has -2d+1, 25x25 has -3d. Each additional 5x5 added from here on upps the penalt by a further -2. So a 40x40 area would have a -5d.


Examples of each area
F.A.S.T:
John has an assault rifle. He just got done reloading it, when through the airlock comes a quartet of Zero G troopers. 3 of them head towards engineering, but the fourth sees john and starts for him. During the next rounds initiave john rolls and wins. He declares a full auto on the trooper. As the Assault rifle has a recoil value of 15 for going full auto, he rolls the dodge roll and adds 15 to it. John adds in 2D for a F.A.S.T. to his 6d+1 firearms skill. The dodge roll comes up 18. +15 for using full automatic, and john sees he needs 33 to hit that generator. Luckily he rolls 39 and smacks it dead center. He then rolls damage (5d+1 base for the assault rifle and adds in 3d+2 for 9d total damage. Even adding in the Zero g troopers armor, this is enough to drop him dead.

Damage Spray:
Later on, john’s buddy, Borrial, has added a HMG to his ships defensive weapons complement. It is mounted on a hard point (which is counted as a tripod). John, has to sit this raid out due to leg injuries, so he volunteers to stay behind and man it. As the rest of the team is returning, they are being tracked/followed by 30 storm troopers. John notices the troopers following his team mates, just as they are clearing the tree-line (the troopers that is). He opts for a quick belt burst to lessen their numbers. The troopers do not yet know of john’s presence and so have no dodge, but the range is currently medium range (moderate, which the gm sets at 13). They are still in the edge of the woods, so the gm gives them 2d worth of cover/concealment, and rolls a 9 (bringing the diff up to 22), plus the HMGs full auto rating of 15 for being on a hard point (tripod), for a grand total of 37. His firearms of 7d gets a bonus of 5d for going full auto, but john is trying to take out 9 of the enemy for this round, lessening his firearms skill by 4d (5 for free –1d per opponent beyond 5). His roll is poor, only a 18, and so he completely misses everyone. Next round, now that the stormies are alerted to his presence they start to fire on his comrades and dodge. John tries again, to take out the same 9 troopers. They will add 20 to their dodge roll this round (15 for full auto recoil value and 5 for the cover this round). The 9 troopers roll 13, 16, 19, 10, 8, 18, 28, 16, and 12. Making their dodges from worst to best (inc the modifications) 28, 30, 32, 33, 36, 36, 38, 39, 48. Johns roll is a lot better, at a whopping 37. He hits all but the last 3 troopers in his spray. Killing the other 6 with ease.

Cover Spray:
The next round, john sees his buddies coming under heavy imperial fire, and so opts for his last 50-round belt (from this ammo box) to be for a cover spray. As he is not technically targeting the imperials, they get no dodge. He decides to target a 30x30 meter area (most of the storm troopers are within that), which minuses 3d+2 from his to hit pool. His difficulty is 13 for the range, 11 (for the cover for this round), 15 for going full auto and the gm adds in a further 5 due to situational modifiers (stress) for a total of 44. John’s roll is a whapping 67 (due to the wild dice), a difference of 23, and so applies a penalty to all the imperials firing of 12 to their roll. They all miss. The next round, john’s luck has finally ran out when the imperials tag his position with a shoulder launched missile.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[garhkal]

It may look complicated, but i have used it for over 5 years and had no complaints. Heck i have had several dozen compliments from my players (and a few others who have asked to use it for their own games)...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[ZzaphodD]

[Raven Redstar]

The only complaint that I would have with your recoil rules, are that M4 and AK rifles actually have less recoil than a .308 or a .3006, At least on single fire. I'm sure burst fire and fully auto they would be worse, I would switch those. +5 for hunting rifle without bipod or stand, +3 for SS AR.

[garhkal]

Thanks for the comment Raven.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!