Turret House rule idea: autofire?

[apoc527]

Hey all,

I've been thinking about how there doesn't appear to be an official answer on the question of how many to-hit rolls to make with a single turret with 2 or 3 weapons in it. Therefore, I propose the following house rules:

Single Turret: Roll and resolve normally.

Double Turret (homogenous): Treat as Autofire 4 attack (2 attacks). Roll to hit with a +1 DM. Effect and damage calculated per hit.

Triple Turret (homogenous): Roll to hit with a +2 DM and Autofire 6 attack (3 attacks). Effect and damage calculated per hit.

Turret (heterogenous): Roll to hit individually as weapons are fired.

This basically speeds things up but gives you the option of pairing dice optimally to get one good solid hit as opposed to 2 or 3 Effect 0 hits.

This would only be in effect in TMB combat--HG capital ship combat basically already does this with the Barrage rules.

This may tend to create more and better quality hits. The +1 and +2 DM are for firing multiple beams at the same target. I think what we need here is something like the old autofire rules--pick the lowest die and then pair up the rest, otherwise it's broken.

Hmmmm...thoughts? There's just something odd about making 3 separate to hit rolls with the same turret. My other idea was to have Effect determine how many hits you get, but that screws with the Effect adds to damage rule that actually fixes combat. I suppose the power of a triple beam laser turret that hits with an Effect 6+ hit is that you get three such hits?

 

[The Chef]

that sounds good to me,

 

[apoc527]

Now that I think about it, I realized the current Autofire mechanic is a bonus to hit, in a manner of speaking. Therefore, I'd remove the +1 and +2 DMs from double and triple turrets.

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, there's no cap on skill or DM for this type of autofire, as is the case with small arms combat.

 

[Infojunky]

Now that I think about it, I realized the current Autofire mechanic is a bonus to hit, in a manner of speaking. Therefore, I'd remove the +1 and +2 DMs from double and triple turrets.

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, there's no cap on skill or DM for this type of autofire, as is the case with small arms combat.

See what I was saying.....

It is a neat idea made from the cloth presented.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

This assumes that the gunner is firing all turret weapons at the same target. There is no requirement that they do so.

It is possible to have a triple laser turret and fire at three different ships, all in the same round.

I do like the autofire rule as a shortcut for weapons though.

Assuming you had multiple turrets firing at the same target (slave turrets or the HG barrages), you could even allow all of the weapons to combine into a much larger Autofire rating and save yourself a LOT of rolling.

The Barrage rule is fine when you are dealing with Capital ships, but if you have a Broadsword with 8 Triple Laser Turrets, it would be nice to consider that an Autofire attack (24 shots). Not sure the autofire rules will go that high and remain reasonable, but it might be worth trying out...

 

[Infojunky]

This assumes that the gunner is firing all turret weapons at the same target. There is no requirement that they do so.

Ok Historically, in CT A turrets weapons could only fire at the same target in a turn.

In MgT, each turret only can fire once a round. It doesn't directly preclude multiple targets.

The Barrage rule is fine when you are dealing with Capital ships, but if you have a Broadsword with 8 Triple Laser Turrets, it would be nice to consider that an Autofire attack (24 shots). Not sure the autofire rules will go that high and remain reasonable, but it might be worth trying out...

Heh.... The joys of battery fire. At the distances involved I would let them try at least.

 

[dreamingbadger]

Hi Guys,
Autofire also expends 3 x the ROF in Ammunition, and will produce many "misses" for the "hits" it generates. Regardless of that I am not sure this make the game-play any quicker, as the players still will roll either the same/similiar number of dice and then play with them as they pair them. A similiar effect could be achieved by roll 6xd6 of 3 different colours, without the need , without the advantage of sorting.

Burstfire might provide a better mechanic, with the add the ROF to the Damage, a pulse laser would do:

Turret = 2 dice (to hit) ROF 1, 1d6 damage
Double Turret = 2 dice (to hit) ROF 2, 1d6+2 damage
Tripple Turret = 2 dice (to hit) ROF 3, 1d6+3 damage

and expends the ROF in ammunition, and already enables you to use your maximum skill, which provides some balance?

 

[alex_greene]

I always got the impression that this was what pulse lasers did. Put three pulse lasers together in a triple turret and they'd fire in staggered discharges throughout the turn: the single hit result sustained by that attack would be the aggregate damage to the target, which would manifest as a row of laser scars stitching across the armour.

It wouldn't be the same for the classic mixed triple turret arrangement of a beam laser, pulse laser for point defence and sandcaster: they'd all be separate weapons, and perhaps even capable of firing separately. But I could see a pulse laser triple turret being set up either with the three weapons spaced at 120 degree intervals around the turret, capable of independent movement, or even as a rotating - barrel Gatling arrangement.

Beam lasers are different: those are the continuous beams, long thin cutting beams lancing out into the night. It's the pulse lasers that are the traditional SF version of "ack - ack" guns, firing off streams of "tracer rounds."

 

[captainjack23]

My take on this from long ago, which I ported to MGT, was that standard civilian turrets, which are supposed to be for "self defense" could take one shot per weapon, at different targets. This maximized the result in situations where getting any hit, on lightly armored targets, was the goal: as with intercepting missiles, or just scaring off pirates in armed civilian ships.

Alternately shooting a single target would get a plus per extra weapon (+2,+3 IIRC) but still only roll single weapon damage -the idea was essentially that they were firing in a proximity pattern designed to maximize the chance of any one weapon hitting.

For military/paramilitary turrets, It's a simple roll to hit once, no extra modifiers, but combine all weapons into one damage roll. Thus, penetration is maximized in situations where one or two "plinks" are a waste of time and energy. Plus, the assumption is that the ship has much better sensors to make up for the lack of bonus for the extra weapons.

All ships can use modes 1 and 2, switching at the beginning of each round, or instantly if a gunnery roll is made. The third setup is more expensive and borderline legal at best. Ships with mode three can use all three as above.

It's another reason to fear official and military ships - a 3d shot can do way more damage than 3 1d shots given any armor at all.

 

[Infojunky]

Burstfire might provide a better mechanic, with the add the ROF to the Damage, a pulse laser would do:

The reason I rewrote the Auto-fire rule I found the "burst-fire" rule awkward in T4 and in ACQ and my feelings weren't changed when it was trotted out in MGT.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Maybe Autofire or whatever variation of it you want to use, could be a Tech Level Upgrade, ala Accurate and High Yield...???