Firearms combat?
 

Can some people walk me through some examples?

How does cover work?

What happens if you miss a called shot but still make the number for a generic hit?

Any tips for helping speed up gun combat?

Re: Firearms combat?
 

In general, it limits your targets. For example, if a subject is hiding behind cover with only his head and one hand sticking out, you have to attack either the face (-5) or hand (-4). Or you can just attack at no penalty and roll random hit location -- but unless you happen to roll face or that hand, you hit the cover.

There's a little more to it than that, but if you just understand and remember the above, you'll do fine. Tactical Shooting has far more details on using cover, but that may be overwhelming for you at first.

By "called shot" do you mean you're aiming for a particular hit location? If that happens, you miss. Guess you should've gone for a torso hit.

Note that a few hit locations in Martial Arts have a note like "missing by 1 hits the torso," which changes this slightly, but the principle remains the same -- if you miss by 1, you hit the torso, if you miss by 2+, you just miss.

Feel free to estimate penalties and bonuses. I know what an American football field looks like in person, so I know how far 10 yards (-4) is and about how far 100 yards is (-10). I use those as my benchmarks when visualizing distances. "He's already half a block away running, so that's . . . let's say -7 to hit." The target is running behind a metal-bar fence? Let's say that's an extra -2 to hit to represent the need to avoid hitting a bar. Maybe those numbers match the RAW ones exactly, or maybe they don't, but in the middle of a fight, I'm not going to flip through pages.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Seek out the mook you must. Examples he will provide.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I believe Vicky is directing you here
The examples, links at left of screen, are really good

Re: Firearms combat?
 

As a player, I find it useful to make a table with the ranges from the Speed/Range table, and my adjusted chance to hit before Aiming (no Acc bonus) and after Aiming (inc Acc bonus). For a skill-16 character with an Acc 2 weapon, this would look like:

2yds 16 18
3yds 15 17
5yds 14 16
etc.

For a GM, with sufficient prep time, you could extend the table for multiple NPCs, something like

range Alice(SMG) Bob(Pistol) Charlene(Rifle)
2yds 16/19 18/20 15/21
3yds 15/18 17/19 14/20
5yds 14/17 16/18 13/19
etc.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

If you mouse over the Example Number in the left navigation bar, the pop up will tell you what the example covers ... the three that have firearms at the moment are:

Ranged Two: Sniper Rifle, .338/Normal Clothing VS. Unarmed/Tactical Vest w/ Trauma Plates
Ranged Three: Revolver, .44M/Ballistic Vest VS. PDW, 4.6mm/Normal Clothing
Ranged Four: Sniper Rifle, .338 (APHC)/Normal Clothing VS. Unarmed/Tactical Vest w/ Trauma Plates

Hope they help a bit!

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I've got a question about your Sniper example. You state that the Acc bonus for the scope only applies after equal seconds of Aim. I thought that a scope provided +1 per second of Aim, up to its rating. So if you have Acc 6+3, you get (1s) +6 for Acc, +1 for scope, (2s) +1 for Aim, +1 for scope, (3s) +1 for Aim, +1 for scope (the maximum). Am I wrong on that? Am I remembering a house rule instead of the RAW?

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Variable power scopes offer +1 per round of aim, up to the maximum.

Fixed power scopes offer their full bonus after an equal number of aiming rounds, but no bonus for anything less.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

We discussed scopes a bit when I was writing up that example, the consensus seemed to be that they work the way it's currently written.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

It's also mentioned in the basic book's hit location table: miss the groin, vitals, or any part above the torso by 1, and torso is hit instead. Nice rule imo; weird thing is, I only found this info on that one small table in 552, not in the longer explanation (?)

One day I tried to figure out a houserule to condense the different options for called shots (or lack thereof) into a normal roll, having the called body part occupy the highest chunks of that big ol' fat bell curve (e.g. 10-11) and the rest of hit locations shift appropriately. Needless to say I stopped trying pretty fast :'<

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I so would like to see something like that.... Chameleon Ecclectic has a cool system for that for Millenniums end

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I made the point in the thread themook linked that most (all, that I know of) variable power scopes have to be adjusted manually, and if High Tech says that you need to take a ready action to flip a fire selector lever, it's probably reasonable that variable power scopes can be set to a certain bonus/magnification level but don't automatically give you +1 per turn.

It's definitely open to interpretation, but it makes a lot more sense that way than the idea that they zoom in on your target with no action required on your part.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

That works for me. I must admit, I wasn't quite sure exactly what the rules for variable power scopes were meant to be emulating -- your adjusted rule makes much more sense.

That said, it does read to me like an adjustment to the RAW, which quite clearly indicates you get a bonus equal to the scope's bonus, less the rounds not spent aiming. There is no mention of pre-setting the scope to a specific "fixed" value.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Meh, it says "With a fixed-power scope, you must aim for at least as many seconds as the scope's bonus. With a variable-power scope, you may Aim for fewer seconds, but this reduces your bonus by a like amount." That's not explicitly "+1 per round aiming, up to the max scope bonus", but I agree that is the most reasonable interpretation of the text. Of course, knowing anything about variable power scopes and how they work in real life (at least up to TL 8), a different interpretation could be argued that technically falls within the letter of the text while making more sense compared to actual variable-power scopes.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

You may be right with regard to RAW/RAI. Either way, the important point to me is that your interpretation definitely makes a lot more sense than the one I took from the text, and is how I will be implementing the rule going forwards.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Dandy!

I thought it was a pretty tortured rationale to keep in within RAW myself, but it does make more sense.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Well I know if you are smart you set the variable scope to its lowest setting as it is faster to acquire your target then you can up the power if the target is far away and you need more magnification

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Not sure if I understood; any examples of how this would work during combat time? It's true that even Tactical Shooting doesn't seem to talk about scopes that much (e.g. I thought it'd add some sort of penalty when targetting through high-powered scopes in short-ranged... ranges)

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I take my Remington 700 (acc 5) with a Bushnell x3-9 scope hunting in the Oregon coastal range. I set up on a hillside above a clearcut, and dial the scope down to x3 (+1). If anything pops up, I can Aim for a second and get +6 (acc + 1 for scope) to hit. Later, I see a buck at about 150 yards out. Since he's stationary and I have plenty of time to set up my shot, I take a Ready action to dial my scope out to x9 (+3). Then I can get +10 after three seconds of aiming (acc + scope + 2 for 3 seconds of aiming).

Basically, all it means is that any variable power scope is essentially equivalent to a fixed power scope of whatever it is currently set at, and you can change in between magnification levels with a Ready action. Thus you can dial it down in order to claim a lower scope bonus after less time aiming, or dial it up for longer range shots when you have time to aim as long as you like.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

And why does it have to be a separate Ready action? and not Par if the Aim maneuver when using variable Scope?, during the dial slowly as you home in.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

The twist action on a scope is TIGHT. It's done that way deliberately so it doesn't move in and out during semi-rough handling. Even on a bipod, the motions you make while twisting the scope will likely throw your aim completely off. At VERY high mag (and there are some variable scopes that go up to pretty darn high magnification, you may lose the target completely, especially at long range.

Crakkerjakk has it exactly right. You set the power of the scope, then you Aim.

Now, a higher TL scope could have a digitally controlled zoom that doesn't fox your aim so badly. That would be part of the longer term precision aiming, and with some computer help, might even happen without contact from the shooter. But current manual stuff is definitely set first.

Why have the lower magnification at all? Field of view. High mag means if you're not right on the target, you may wind up waving your barrel around (or at least, it'll feel that way). At low mag, you aren't as precise, but you can see what's around you . . . and this might include other animals or even people.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I'd allow you to take a Ready mid-aim to increase the scope magnification. It'd be harder on higher power settings, true, but I've had my crosshairs on a buck before and dialed the scope up to a higher mag without taking them off him.

Also because it helps with rapid target engagement. You still get some bonus at the lower levels, as opposed to none if you had a fixed power scope above the lower level you currently have it set at.

But yeah, basically I decided that if switching firing selector switches was a Ready action, then changing the current magnification level on a scope was definitely also a Ready action. I mean, usually you can flip your weapon from safe to fire without having to take your finger off the trigger. You have to reach up to the scope to adjust that. It doesn't make sense any other way.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

That just means modern 'variable' scopes are just fixed scopes with variable settings, not need to change the rules on how GURPS handled real variable scopes though as you said they could in theory exist.

Especial given the technology is currently available in cameras, were instead of a stiff dial you have a zoom in and zoom out button.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

You can say "Variable scopes haven't been invented at least at TL 8", but I think that'd get you some funny looks. Better to have what GURPS calls variable scopes be what people in the real world mean when they talk about "variable power scopes" and just implement rules to make them function like they do in reality if you care about that level of detail.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

I'd allow a skill roll with appropriate TDM. Good, steady shooters who aren't rushed can probably pull this off, as you note.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Not sure it's more than tangential, but with Lightning Fingers you can handle safeties and selectors without needing a Ready. For that matter, any familiar user can handle safeties as a free action.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

The problem with "any familiar user can handle safeties as a free action" is that typically on weapons with a fire selector lever "safe" is just one of the positions it can be set on.

And yeah, I'd let Lightning Fingers remove the requirement to take a Ready to adjust the scope in a game using Gun-Fu or with Gunslinger.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Well, you'd have to ask the authors of High Tech about that, because that discrepancy is right there on pages 80 and 82-83.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Yah, I know.

Re: Firearms combat?
 

Yup. Folks that anticipate using the adjustment of a variable scope regularly in a time sensitive context often fit throw levers to the adjustment to manipulate it with greater alacrity.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=2...E_THROW_LEVERS


...don't forget that a 1x telescopic sight should have all of the advantages of a Red Dot/Reflex sight.

http://imageshack.us/f/405/rakurzreticule.jpg/