Suppressive Fire

[shootingwomprats]

Last game my group wanted to set down some suppressive fire. After the game I did some research and found official rules in Rules of Engagement, p.58:

"Suppression fire is fire intended more to scare the enemy into ducking than actually hit - to suppress the enemy's ability to return fire. If a gamemaster wishes, suppression fire can be used to increase an opponent's Difficulty to hit by +1 for every shot fired. Repeating blasters (or firearms) are much better suited to this then single-fire weapons. Characters using repeating blasters for suppression fire add a full level to the opponent's Difficulty for every burst fired."

1. the Difficulty modifier only applies to the action in the round it was used, not the entire round.
2. Multiple suppressive fire from different people down range at the same target area are cumulative. In the case of repeater weapons add an additional level of difficulty (Moderate to Difficult, Difficult to V. Difficult, etc).
3. Ammunition expenditure for a single-shot weapon is 5+1 per Modifier.
4. Ammunition expenditure for a repeater weapon is 20 per burst.

No allowance has been made for a person braving suppressive fire to 1. return fire, or 2. perform an action (throw a grenade, move, etc). I am open to suggestions on how to manage that?
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Don Diestler
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The D6 Podcast
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[TyCaine]

Isn't the person braving suppressive fire to return fire subject to a +1 Difficulty (or +1 level of Difficulty for Repeating Blasters) for each suppressive shot fired at them?

In which case, wouldn't any opposing action be subject to the same increased difficulty?

Or am I missing something, if I missed the point of the question entirely I apologize, trying to multi-task which I, apparently, suck at...


T.C.
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[shootingwomprats]

[TyCaine] Perhaps I did not explain it very effectively. You are correct there is the +1/+1 level difficulty modifier to all skills rolls. I was curious if people thought that other than just failing the roll that there should be a mechanic that allowed for the character possibly taking a "bullet" while performing an action.

Example: Fred the SpEd is running for cover while being suppressed. He is trying to make it to cover. Weather he fails or succeeds with his running roll, shouldn't there be some change he takes a hit from a stray suppressive round?
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Don Diestler
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[TyCaine]

This is the rule I have, and I don't recall where I got it from but it was mostly the same as what we have posted, other than there is a sentence for dealing with those who fail and get hit by the suppressive fire (highlighted below):

==========
Suppressive Fire
Suppression fire is intended to keep your opponent's heads down whilst you're on the move or you're providing covering fire for an ally. This makes it difficult and somewhat dangerous for your opponents to return fire.

A character may opt to provide suppression fire whilst declaring his/her actions for the turn if your side is going first. The player must decide how many suppressive shots he/she will fire on top of any other actions for that round. Suppression fire shots have a difficulty value of difficult and are worked out in the normal manner. For each successful suppressive fire shot for the action phase add +1 to the difficulty for the opponents returning fire in that phase. (Repeating blasters (or firearms) are much better suited to this then single-fire weapons. Characters using repeating blasters for suppression fire add a full level to the opponent's Difficulty for every burst fired as opposed to +1 difficulty.) In addition, any opponent who fumbles their returning fire shot has mistimed getting up and has been hit by the blaze of fire.

To work out the damage, select the highest to hit roll made by the suppressing side in that action phase and work out damage as normal (using full auto fire damage due to the spray of shots). If multiple people fumble then descend through the to hit rolls. In the situation where the number of fumbles out weighs the number of weapons being used by the suppressive side, work out fumbles as normal.
==========



Might be something usable?



T.C.
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[jmanski]

What if I choose suppressive fire and blow away (pun intended) the difficulty number? Say I pop a few sixes on the wild die or something.
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[shootingwomprats]

I was am thinking of making an addition something like this:

Suppressive Fire: If someone tries to leave an area under suppressive fire they have a chance of being hit. Shooter's skill -2D. Shooter may not use a Character Point to augment this roll.

Example: Fred the SpEd declares one action, he will run to an area offering cover. The terrain is Moderate [15] and at cruising speed. He is in an area of suppressive fire covered by a repeater (+1 difficulty) so his running roll now becomes [25]. As he gets ready to charge from cover, the GM announces Ed might get hit by the suppressive fire, does he want to dodge? Ed says, "hell no!" The shooter is at medium range and has blaster 5D, -2D, total of 3D vs difficulty [15], he rolls 13 and misses Ed. If he had rolled 15 or higher he would have hit and Ed would have had to make a "soak" roll.
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[garhkal]

For my HR's with suppression fire (Firearms specific) i have 2 types of "Sprays". Damaging spray, where you shoot lots of bullets at the same target, or covering spray, to penalize the enemy.

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.

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.

The size of the area to be sprayed into gives a penalty.
5mtr by 5mtr No pen
10mtr by 10mtr -1d
15mtr by 15mtr -1d+2
20mtr by 20mtr -2d+1
25mtr by 25mtr -3d
30mtr by 30mtr -3d+2
35mtr by 35mtr -4d+1
40mtr by 40mtr -5d
45mtr by 45mtr -5d+2
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[DougRed4]

The only part I'm not 'getting' is this:

1. the Difficulty modifier only applies to the action in the round it was used, not the entire round.

What exactly is the "action in the round it was used"?
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[shootingwomprats]

You can have as many actions in a round as you like. If using suppressive fire it will suppress for one action.

So if your enemy has declared 2 actions, you declare one, they are supressed on action 1 and not on action 2.
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Don Diestler
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[garhkal]

I disagree with that. Being suppressed should last the entire round.

An alternate form of suppression is to deny enemy the chance of combining fire. This is the form of suppression that Sparks uses.

Suppression Fire: This action is used to break up or make more difficult the opponent’s ability to utilize combined fire. The player will spray the enemy position with fire from any type of ranged weapon causing them to lose focus and disrupt their ability to work together. To accomplish this feat the player must be using a ranged weapon with a rate of fire (ROF) at least equal to the number of opponent’s to be disrupted. This action takes an entire action to utilize. This means that it can be the only declared action or reaction for the entire round – no reactive dodges, etc. Also the weapon fire is considered rapid and frantic and as such will not connect with the enemy. It just causes them to duck or evade. The group of opponent’s must all be in the same 180-degree arc of the player (cannot disrupt a group in front and behind at the same time).

The player will make a ranged weapon attack roll using whatever weapon skill applies. The player then subtracts from this value the number of opponents to be disrupted. The Command difficulty is this new value or the base Command difficulty whichever is higher. If the group was already commanded successfully, the enemy leader must roll another Command roll as a reaction to maintain the combined fire (normal multi-action penalties apply). If the Command roll is failed, the group can still function as individuals on that round of combat. The Suppression Fire only affects the Command difficulty roll for the one action.

Further rolls will need to be made on future rounds to continually disrupt the opponents. Suppression Fire works in space combat the same as ground combat, just remember that the weapon must have a ROF equal to the number of opponents (Turbolasers would not work).


{Jax wants to disrupt the 4 stormtroopers who are combining fire against him. He rolls a 24. So the Suppression Fire roll is 20 (24 – 4 stormtroopers). Since the base Command difficulty is Moderate (15), the new Command difficulty becomes the Suppression Fire roll of 20.}.
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[shootingwomprats]

Well I suppose one could just make suppressive fire a full action and be done with it. It lasts the whole round. I had entertained this idea before, but I really need to digest the ideas and then re-evaluate.
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Don Diestler
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The D6 Podcast
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[Naaman]

Suppressive fire is hard to express in an RPG. Ive tried my hand at it, too.

I guess what it boils down to is how likely you want a hit to result from supressivefir in the event that the target chooses to leave his cover.

Certain formations make avoiding a hit nearly impossible, given just three or four guns supressing.


I might grant the target a tactics and/or perception roll in order to "time" his movement to reduce the chance of getting hit by movin while one or more shooters is reloading, etc....