07-15-2014, 10:45 AM | #31 | ||||
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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07-15-2014, 10:51 AM | #32 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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What would stop them from having a stake if they need one?
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07-15-2014, 10:59 AM | #33 | ||
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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I can tell you that the average mortarman (required ASVAB in the US is like 56 or something, IIRC) couldn't do the math that's required here. That's not Artillery skill, that's FO (FDC) or whatever we want to call the skill that the FDC uses, which if somebody has and is using on the gun, they effectively do have an FDC in this scenario. Although, I'd think that if he has to do it in his head, he ought to get -5 for improvised equipment. Of course GURPS doesn't appear to care if makes his roll anyway, so maybe it's moot. Last edited by sir_pudding; 07-15-2014 at 11:02 AM. |
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07-15-2014, 12:00 PM | #34 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
To make sure I'm on the right page here, the reason for the stake - or some other reference for pointing the mortar - is that it doesn't stay on target when you fire it? It jumps enough that you have to put it back on the right direction and distance after each shot?
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07-15-2014, 12:06 PM | #35 | |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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The weapon does shift a lot after you fire (especially after you fire the first round which "settles" the baseplate by driving it into the ground). |
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07-15-2014, 01:29 PM | #36 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
All I'm saying is that if you're using a very light (60mm or smaller) mortar – the sort that often has a strap instead of a bipod and no sights better than a line of paint on the tube – for what amounts to direct lay but you're relying on somebody else to observe the rounds falling and speak the very same corrections he would make by hand if he were the gunner, I'd treat that as a Forward Observer-Artillery task, not as a Gunner task. The downside would be having two rolls to fail; the upside would be the possibility of keeping your head down.
As for "What are you aiming at?", I find it hard to believe that an experienced mortarman couldn't dead-reckon a guess at the first shot and correct from there, alone or with a friend. The whole point here is to emulate irregulars (not artillerymen with grids and computers and fancy sights) conducting unplanned fire as a hasty ambush or assassination attempt. The mortarman blasts something in the general area of a target he peeked at earlier, his pal tells him what the results were, and they improvise from there. It probably isn't the Proper Military Way, but it seems a lot closer to what guerrillas or assassins would do.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
07-15-2014, 01:42 PM | #37 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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That's not how I want it to be either, but it seems to be how it is.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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07-15-2014, 02:06 PM | #38 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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Given that artillery use already gets two skills (Artillery, Forward Observer), it's doing pretty good. When one person is exposed and taking care of the daring job of observing the enemy, and another gets to fire a big freakin' gun that blows things up, I can't really see it being a fun adventuring task to be the third guy who . . . consults tables. The game is about what's dramatic and fun, remember; simulation always comes second. The general guideline is "one skill per interesting task for adventurers."
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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07-15-2014, 02:11 PM | #39 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
Why can't we handle the FDC's skill roll as a cap for both the Mortarman and the FO?
"Grid Ad7685, 500 up, 300 right. Fire. Positive identification, drop 150, left 20. Fire. On target, fire for effect" This is my FO roll, and it determines if the aiming point will be accurate or not, correct? Then the FDC takes this, looks at his charts/etc and converts the map co-ordinates to something the gunner can use, he rolls his skill, which caps the skill of the mortar's gunner. The mortar's gunner then aims the weapon in the correct direction and fires. He can't be more accurate than the information the FDC supplies, right? If the FDC makes an error on his conversion, then the salvo will miss, right? So I guess the FO roll caps the FDCs roll, which in turn caps the mortar gunner's skill roll. Edit: Also, could I replace the FDC person with an AI at higher TLs where AIs exist?
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07-15-2014, 02:20 PM | #40 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)
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artillery, basic, forward observer, skill, skill of the week |
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