Artillery

Xplo · 08-08-2009, 11:32 AM

Seems to me that giving everyone involved a significant skill (meaning that at some point they need to roll against it) would bloat the number of rolls needed - no one, or almost no one, wants to make half a dozen rolls to see if they can put a mortar on target - and artificially inflate the chance of failure.

I would want to look at how many of these people perform tasks that both require and benefit from training, experience, and/or natural talent. Is FDC a difficult role, or is it just punching some numbers into a computer? Under what circumstances would the task be intrinsically easier or harder? If you blew a skill roll, what would happen? Why does mortar fire require two different types of gunners? Do they both benefit from high skill, or does one of them just perform routine tasks? Etc.

If I couldn't eliminate most of the skill rolls, I'd probably want to average them somehow so that the crew makes one FO roll and one Artillery roll.

Do all the mortars in a section fire on the same target simultaneously? If so, are they easy to aim, so that they put the shell where you tell them to, or is there a lot of individual variation or inherent inaccuracy? Firing a bunch of shells inaccurately at the same target ought to be treated as automatic fire. Firing a bunch of shells very accurately at the same target ought to be treated as automatic fire with fractional recoil to increase the number of shots on target for a successful hit roll, something GURPS doesn't normally do as Rcl 1 theoretically represents no recoil. Firing at multiple targets should be treated as multiple attacks, or multiple instances of automatic fire if there are more mortars than targets. Firing over multiple seconds ought to be treated as multiple attacks in any case.

08-08-2009, 11:32 AM	#10
Xplo Join Date: Apr 2006	Re: Artillery Seems to me that giving everyone involved a significant skill (meaning that at some point they need to roll against it) would bloat the number of rolls needed - no one, or almost no one, wants to make half a dozen rolls to see if they can put a mortar on target - and artificially inflate the chance of failure. I would want to look at how many of these people perform tasks that both require and benefit from training, experience, and/or natural talent. Is FDC a difficult role, or is it just punching some numbers into a computer? Under what circumstances would the task be intrinsically easier or harder? If you blew a skill roll, what would happen? Why does mortar fire require two different types of gunners? Do they both benefit from high skill, or does one of them just perform routine tasks? Etc. If I couldn't eliminate most of the skill rolls, I'd probably want to average them somehow so that the crew makes one FO roll and one Artillery roll. Do all the mortars in a section fire on the same target simultaneously? If so, are they easy to aim, so that they put the shell where you tell them to, or is there a lot of individual variation or inherent inaccuracy? Firing a bunch of shells inaccurately at the same target ought to be treated as automatic fire. Firing a bunch of shells very accurately at the same target ought to be treated as automatic fire with fractional recoil to increase the number of shots on target for a successful hit roll, something GURPS doesn't normally do as Rcl 1 theoretically represents no recoil. Firing at multiple targets should be treated as multiple attacks, or multiple instances of automatic fire if there are more mortars than targets. Firing over multiple seconds ought to be treated as multiple attacks in any case.