Melding Beam Weapons and Guns

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anders

you can use your gun's laser sight on someone with full skill,
but move the laser downstairs and amp it up and you are suddenly at -4 to skill.

I don't think you even make skill rolls for aiming unless you're using Cole's On Target system from pyramid 3/77

Laser sights (ie did I get a bead on the guy or not) are an interesting consideration since unlike pure-vision aiming there is an observable indication that someone's being aimed at.

There's clearly incentive though: if attacker observes the laser dot then they know their aim is good and can remain stable and attack.

Cole has DX-based gun roles for aiming because I believe that reflects actually lifting the arm and leveling the weapon at the target in preparation.

Aiming clearly has a vision component (hand-eye coordination) but then so does a lot of DX stuff, we have vision penalties apply to DX as well as Per.

Would be kinda cool if there was some way to have good perception benefit this (or bad perception detract), like being a setup skill, similar to how in "Dodge This" Cole had a Vision check before making active defenses.

Actually seems strange when I look at defaults how guns all seem to be DX-4 while Throwing is DX-3. I get that throwing is a much more instinctive skill but pointing something in a direction still seems like an easier skill...

It's not an issue close-up as guns alone can take the +4/+4 for AOA:Determined / Telegraphic Attack at melee ranges while throwing weapons can't, while at long ranges, throwing weapons incur range penalties sooner... but you still have the weirdness at long range that I can somehow aim better whipping a baseball than with a gun.

Actually maybe that's what Acc does because throwing weapons lack Acc? Not aiming means not enjoying the Acc so you're just snap-shotting in which case I could see how guns could fall behind snap-throws.

As for how people aim so well with a laser pointer... given that it's a continuous beam I'm wondering if maybe we should treat that as having some kind of insanely high ROF (like 300+) so that there's just a huge bonus from that?

That could also explain how you could swipe a laser pointer across a room and in theory blind a dozen guys... although there should probably be something in regard to "exposure time" to light needed to do damage to retina.