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Old 01-29-2010, 12:23 AM   #36
Ubiquitous
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Default Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Really, Ubik (can I call you Ubik?)
Go nuts, I'm touched you've been spelling the whole thing as long as you have.


[QUOTE=sir_pudding;924049]"Soldier cannot replace weapon skills, either; you must buy all such skills separately." Besides even people who aren't combat arms, can have Soldier.
Like what? That soldier ought to help you make ice tea in a desert?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I think you are confusing what Talents are. You can't have Fireman talent. See Basic page 89.
What I meant was that if it covered a broad range of (admittedly very specialized and not broadly useful) skills, why not treat it like Business Acumen, which covers all those business and finance skills? Bunching it all under ONE skill was what struck me as odd.


Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
It may be boring to you, I rather like the job myself. 90% of the Infantry profession is "boring" stuff, like basic patrolling and fieldcraft. The sort of things that Soldier covers, IMO.
Hey, I don't mean to rag on your job or anything, it's just that when you call something Soldier and have it represent being a broad-cover for soldier skills, an uninformed observer like myself pictures the more emphasized soldier skills like shooting and things; I did re-read the skill, my mistake was speed-reading assuming 'combat skills must be bought separately' said 'increasing combat skills must be bought separately' (which I didn't bother questioning, assuming it meant 'If you want a better Guns (Rifle) level, buy that, not this').

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
See Basic 215. You roll versus Soldier to build a terrain model, to "stack" for room clearing, to cross a danger area, or set up a vehicle check point. You roll versus Savoir-Faire to know how to mount ribbons on your dress uniform or to remember to salute the general's car. Totally different skills.
At the time I thought the distinction was weird, but I don't know what my argument was then, this makes sense now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Don't think of it as a whole bunch of skills. It's the skill of being a Soldier. The important stuff is all the things that aren't covered by other skills. What skill would you use to do 5 Paragraph Order?
...Writing? Typing?

Whew. These quote-posts are haaard.

As for Kromm's post, I didn't expect a Wild-Card skill; I just looked over the example roll-for-these notes under Soldier, noticed a pattern that they were all realistic soldier skills. I suppose I missed the part about 'no gun skills included' but when it says 'a TL8 Soldier may learn to strip his rifle without learning Armoury (Small Arms)' I had kinda made the logical leap that if it let you do THAT, than letting you fire your rifle without a Guns skill might fly too (in the express parameters that this applies only with a gun conceivably practiced and employed by armed forces and plentiful penalties are applied to not-so-related guns).

And you have to admit, for something that isn't a Wild Card skill it seems to cover a lot. I didn't even know there were Professional Skills in the game until it was mentioned some posts ago; the only other things in the book covering this many skills (although those skills are more universally useful) are those Wildcard ones; I thought Soldier before now was a more realistic Wild-Card skill, just without the '!' at the end.

EDIT: Also, I do apologize for misreading the rule, especially taking this long to go back and read it after 3 pages.
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