How does cover work?

[Jack Sawyer]

Or it might depend on other factors (the kinds of weapons being used and how they work, other environmental conditions, etc. For example: the weapon you has high penetration but doesn't make very large wounds, and thus need to strike vital areas. Exposed areas may not be 'vital' per se, and thus trying to get through the cover may make more sense than shooting an exposed area.) I mean even the idea of 'cover' vs 'concealment' isn't always going to be clear cut (what may be cover for one weapon might just be concealment for another.) At least by the way I understand such things. I tend to assume most specifics get abstracted anyways though.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Usually, it would be because any exposed locations have a worse to hit penalty than shooting the torso through cover, and your weapon is powerful enough that any hit is sufficient.

...See the post directly above yours for the superior solution in that case.

[mummy_lord]

What do you think i need to do in order to lean out from a cover and attack? ( in terms of Maneuvers of course =)

Let’s say I am behind a concrete pillar (light cover, -2 if not exposed).

1. Step portion of an Attack Maneuver to lean out then the Attack itself. In the next round decide wheter to Attack and then Step to go back to cover OR stand out and possibly take an Aim Maneuvre OR simply go back to cover (e.g. To reload my pistol )

2. As 1 but with a -2 to Attack because i couldn’t see the target at the beginning of the round

3. As 1 but all in one second... as in a PopUp-Attack (B390).

4. Other options?

The problem with #3 is that no one would do otherwise... and it wouldn’t be necessary to say “any hit location necessary to operate the weapon can be targeted at no extra penalty on any turn in which you attack” because at -2 price i will never be there to be hit.

I think less problems arise when the cover is horizontal because getting in/out of a cover and use my weapon would be easly a matter of Change Posture Maneuver... or at least a Crouching Free Action.

Thanks!

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by mummy_lord

at -2 price i will never be there to be hit.

Pop-up attacks can still be hit by opportunity fire. (That is, the opponent took a Wait maneuver. See B390, on the same page as the Pop-Up Attack box). Exposed areas will matter when resolving this attack.

The alternative is Move and Attack, in which case the shooter suffers the worse of -2 or -Bulk to their attack.

You can Step before or after an attack, and you can split your Step if you have a multi-hex step. So if you somehow have Move 11+, you could Step out, Attack without the Move and Attack penalty, and Step back. I'd still apply the -2 for not being able to see the target at the beginning of your turn, and anyone lying in wait with Opportunity Fire will still get to shoot at you (and before you attack). So this case isn't really much different from the Pop-up Attack, which is sort of a special-case rule to permit this behavior for people of ordinary Speed. You would be completely exposed if you Stepped fully out into the open, though. The advantage compared to a pop-up would be in winding up somewhere else, not in returning to your initial position.

Tactical Shooting may well go into more details, but I don't have that one.