Is there to be no reward for aiming at an especially vulnerable location? How many times do players ask the GM to let them aim for the head, expecting that to do extra damage? As far as I can tell, the only rules for this will be limited to making the hit easier or having to argue different armour values. Perhaps I've not read far enough.
Aiming for the kill is gone?
- Thread starter Stainless
- Start date
Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
It seems to come out in the mechanic. If you spend Minor Actions Aiming (Several of them) you get a cumulative DM+1 to hit. Since the EFFECT of the hit roll is added to damage, you are essentially adding 1 point of damage per Minor Action spent Aiming.
Not saying that is good enough, but it is how the system addresses it now.
I agree with you though, there should be a better mechanic for an "Aimed" shot. Didn't it up the difficulty before?
Not saying that is good enough, but it is how the system addresses it now.
I agree with you though, there should be a better mechanic for an "Aimed" shot. Didn't it up the difficulty before?
One minor item - even with aiming for the kill you are shooting through cover.
Yup, aim as long as you want, if I am standing out of that armoured trench, you're still adding 20 armour from the cover. I think we need rules to account for aiming to hit part of the target that is not in cover (as before in MGT1, a -2 to -6 from cover, success means you hit the target not the large rock infront)
Yup, aim as long as you want, if I am standing out of that armoured trench, you're still adding 20 armour from the cover. I think we need rules to account for aiming to hit part of the target that is not in cover (as before in MGT1, a -2 to -6 from cover, success means you hit the target not the large rock infront)
I would be of the opinion that Traveller does not really need this level of granularity.
What does everyone else think?
What does everyone else think?
Rule One is your friend. If the specific combat situation as described by the GM affords the possibility of aiming for a vulnerable area I'd do something like say, "Yep, you can aim specifically at their heart. You'll have a Bane to that roll, but if successful, you can add X to the damage".
grauenwolf
Banded Mongoose
msprange said:
Aiming gives you a DM bonus, which increases your effect, which increases your damage, which is likely to kill someone.
So every round spent aiming is already "aiming for the kill" in my book.
FallingPhoenix
Mongoose
grauenwolf said:
This also points out that any kind of hit penalty (whether a minus or a bane) is actually subtracting from the damage you do by reducing the effect.
Nerhesi said:
I agree - and it's sort of in the rules already. I think it needs a review and then integration into one place for the sake of consistency.
p81 on animal encounters give modifiers to hit based on animal size. So, if instead of thinking about trying to shoot your head - I instead shoot at a cat-size animal that is sitting on your helmet - I'd get a DM of -3.
If instead of shooting the weapon in your hand, I shot at a mouse/rat sized animal sitting by your hand - I'd be at a DM of -4.
Now - try to reality test the system:
p87 gives sample NPCs. An average combatant is on a total DM of +2. [A general issue here BTW are the rules built to generate and model life for the general population or for Travellers]
So needing 6+ to hit, average combatant hits with 72% probability
Now - if you assume that probability is the chance of his spread of fire overlapping with the man-sized target, then I suggest the following is pretty logical.
Target - half the area of a man-sized target (i.e. upper half/lower half of man) probability 36% - corresponds (closest) to needing 8+. So, DM-2
Target - quarter the area of a man (a what) - probability of overlap - 18% - closest to needing 10+ - a DM of -4
(It now gets a bit messier)
Target - one eighth area of person - probability 9% - closest roll 11+ - DM -5
Target - one sixteenth area of person - probability 4% - closest roll - 12+ DM -6
I will repeat this again for starting number of 5+ later - which might be more like the average shooter Traveller.
If someone more mathematical wants to play with this then a 2D Gaussian probability distribution with an initial variance to give the 72% would be better - and then reduce the target area compared to the probability distribution.
Is that helpful? If nothing else we need consistency across all the chapters here.
And after a while to recover, some integration and fiddling about. If you assume that the probability to hit is a 2D Gaussian distribution with a probability P0 to hit a circular area A0, the the probability P to hit a circular area A is, P = 1- (1-Po)^(A/A0).Stainless said:
This works as you'd expect.
- If the initial chance to hit is very low - it's a very large area that shots are sprayed into compared to the target - then the probability to hit falls pretty linearly with the change in area, c.f. my first guess above.
if the initial chance to hit is very high - it's a narrow spread of fire well centred on the target - then the chance to hit falls off less quickly.
Code:
Area Ratio
P0 1 0.5 0.25 0.125
0.99 0.990 0.900 0.684 0.438
0.90 0.900 0.684 0.438 0.250
0.80 0.800 0.553 0.331 0.182
0.70 0.700 0.452 0.260 0.140
0.60 0.600 0.368 0.205 0.108
0.50 0.500 0.293 0.159 0.083
0.40 0.400 0.225 0.120 0.062
0.30 0.300 0.163 0.085 0.044
0.20 0.200 0.106 0.054 0.028
0.10 0.100 0.051 0.026 0.013Well, to a first approximation; yes.Stainless said:
And my answer is - for shooters at the skilled end of the table (Total DM 1 or more)
50%/(1/2) Human-sized target: DM -2 (or one difficulty level harder)
25%/(1/4) Human-sized target: DM -4 (or two difficulty level harder)
12% (1/8) Human-sized target: DM -5 (Hmmm..)
grauenwolf
Banded Mongoose
FallingPhoenix said:
I'm ok with that, as it just means you are more likely to graze the arm rather than striking the head or chest when the opponent is moving around.
FallingPhoenix
Mongoose
grauenwolf said:
It seems to me then, that aiming for a specific location would only by useful by these rules if you were trying to have a specific effect (miss the armor, knock something from a hand, blind with a laser...) and not too useful as a way of doing more damage.
