[UT, HT, Basic] Explosive rounds & damage "blow-through"

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by lexington

Does the first line apply explosive damage to people in the area and does it count as an internal explosion given that it penetrates the target?

I think this should clear up the first. The way they're actually written up seems to communicate the exact opposite, but there it is. My understanding of that post is that the line with the armor divisor applies only to the vehicle and its occupants, and the other line is the effect on everyone else.

The second seems perfectly clear to me. The explosive is at no point inside the vehicle, so how could it possibly constitute an internal explosion?

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I think this should clear up the first. The way they're actually written up seems to communicate the exact opposite, but there it is.

The second seems perfectly clear to me. The explosive is at no point inside the vehicle, so how could it possibly constitute an internal explosion?

"The reason is that the damage doesn't just poke a hole in the vehicle. It blows up everybody inside." That says to me that as far as the machine is concerned it was just hit with an internal explosion.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by lexington

"The reason is that the damage doesn't just poke a hole in the vehicle. It blows up everybody inside." That says to me that as far as the machine is concerned it was just hit with an internal explosion.

Can't see why. The explosive is not inside the vehicle. The explosion extends to inside the vehicle.

Addendum on the linked attacks: this word of Kromm makes the separation of effects of the two attacks definite. (I would be tempted to allow the vehicle to be hit by fragmentation, though. Won't usually matter, since the HEAT jet under GURPS rules will tend to disintegrate any soft targets rather than leaving a hole in them.)

[The_Ryujin]

@Both of the Kromm links: Ok, that makes sense though maybe HEAT should be it's own damage type to avoid confusion. I would also still throw on an incendiary modifier to the primary effect since these things are known to ignite ammo and fuel.

@lexington: Basically the penetrating part of the explosive is a contact explosion for the vehicle and a normal explosion for whatever is inside it. While the linked explosion is for whatever is around the stuck vehicle. It's confusing given the terminology but that is how it works in RAW.

[lexington]

That makes a reasonable amount of sense. Thanks, both.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by lexington

Does the first line apply explosive damage to people in the area and does it count as an internal explosion given that it penetrates the target?

Why would it? Even if you treat it the same as a normal explosion it would only do maximum damage for being in contact (box, B415), but that rule is clearly for people lying over an explosion, absorbing almost all its force, so we stick with the normal rule (B414).

The first part is an oversight, to be sure - when HT moved to a separate AoE and primary damage roll there was no explanation added. However, the application of some common sense provides a clear answer - you don't, because then you'd be rolling two set of damage against bystanders, and doing more damage to them than an equivalently sized HE charge.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by The_Ryujin

@Both of the Kromm links: Ok, that makes sense though maybe HEAT should be it's own damage type to avoid confusion. I would also still throw on an incendiary modifier to the primary effect since these things are known to ignite ammo and fuel.

Explosions are assumed to be incendiary (B414).

[The_Ryujin]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Explosions are assumed to be incendiary (B414).

Derp, oh yeah. Had a brain fart there heh