[SS] Reigning in Projectile Damage

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Makes no sense in terms of any sort of realism. Even "low" speed attacks (the 1 or 2 MPS of minimum velocity) equal the highest velcoity of TL8 anti-tank munitions. That any purposely designed projectile travelling as fast as the penetrator of an M1A1's 120mm main gun (thought the actual penetrator is only 40mm) would get a multiplier rather than a divisor is a real head-scratcher.

I'm not talking about a direct hit from a kinetic warhead, but a proximity burst, striking only with sub-calibre fragments. By RAW, that only drops it from AD (2) to AD (1), which strikes me as far too generous. It's the equivalent of going from a single armor-piercing shotgun slug [5d(2)] to 25 pieces of buckshot [1d, +4 to-hit] yet still penetrating as though it's a normal slug [5d]. So unless all those fragments are APEP rounds (but for some reason the primary warhead is not) the fragment penetration makes no sense.

EDIT: Hmm. Now I'm tempted to scrap the RAW proximity attack rules, and replace it with the Multiple-Projectile Load rules from High Tech. Projectiles could have different warheads with varying numbers of submunitions, increasing effective RoF while decreasing damage per hit.