Using Recoil

[Refplace]

I have been using the recoil stat only when firing multiple shots at the same target. I am wondering if this is correct and if not what the right way is.
Rcl (Recoil) p. B271
When firing at RoF 2+, every full multiple of Rcl by which you make
your attack roll means you score one extra hit, to a maximum number of
hits equal to total shots fired; see Rapid Fire (p. 373)

Ranged Attack Modifiers, p. B548
A roll of this number, or less, is a hit. If using rapid fire, you score one
extra hit for every full multiple of Recoil by which you make your attack
roll.

Spraying Fire p. B409
He resolves this as three separate rapid-fire attacks: one at RoF 5
with the PDW’s normal Recoil of 2, one at RoF 4 and Recoil 3, and one at
RoF 2 and Recoil 4.

That is all simple enough, you make an Attack and shoot 1 or more times and your margin determines how many shots hit.
This reference might be important. Rate of Fire (GURPS Gun Fu, p. 10)
Penalties for RoF-boosting tricks affect all shots taken with a gun being fired this way.
This says tricks to improve RoF so definitely includes Fanning, Fast-Firing, and Thumbing type tricks. Ranged Rapid Strike is not increasing RoF, only how the shots are divvied up.

If you want to hit two or more targets in a turn with a single firearm you have the options of Altered Time Rate, Extra Attack, and Ranged Rapid Strike.
Altered Time Rate counts as a separate turn so no need to discuss it here.
Extra Attack allows dividing up the number of shots between two or more targets. This is limited by the levels of Extra Attack and the weapons RoF.
Ranged Rapid Strike works similarly but takes a -6 skill per target after the first applied to each attack (halved with Gunslinger) and is limited to a narrow arc (30 degree) of fire.

So does RRS apply the recoil penalty to each shot cumulatively or start over with each target? What about Extra Attack?
I have always played and ran it as the recoil penalty starts over on each attack roll. So you can fire a RoF 3 Rcl 2 gun in one attack and hit one target on success, twice if success by 3, and three times if succeed by 5+.
Or with Extra Attack or Ranged Rapid Strike you could make an extra attack roll and only apply the recoil penalty and margin based on number of shots fired with each separate attack.
Your absorbing a big penalty (-6 per attack) or paying for a hefty advantage in Extra Attack with multistrike to pull this trick off.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Refplace

So does RRS apply the recoil penalty to each shot cumulatively or start over with each target? What about Extra Attack?

This is no recoil penalty, at least not in 4e. Let's say you have a weapon with Rcl 3 and RoF 10 and you want to split that up into an RoF 5 attack against one target and an RoF 5 attack against another target. Using Ranged Rapid Strike, this means you take a -6 to each attack, and they are simply resolved as two separate Rcl 3 RoF 5 attacks. So if you've got effective Guns 18 after accounting for range, you make two attacks at 13 (18, -6 for RRS, +1 for RoF 5) each. If you roll a 10 on the first and a 7 on the second, the first hits with 2 shots (1 for a success, +1 for MoS/Rcl=1), the second hits with 3 shots (1 for success, +2 for MoS/Rcl=2). Extra Attack (probably with Multistrike - default Extra Attack requires different limbs to be used for each attack, but I could see some GM's letting you attack twice with a two handed weapon, like a rifle) is the same, but without the -6 to hit for each (if you have the same rolls of 10 and 7, that means 4 and 5 hits, respectively).

[GnomesofZurich]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Altered Time Rate counts as a separate turn so no need to discuss it here.

I'm not sure that's true. It does grant you, effectively, a separate turn, but you having Altered Time Rate doesn't change the weapon you're wielding. The more shots you fire from a weapon in a given period of time, the harder it's going to be control.

[Mr_Sandman]

To be clear, I believe the OP is asking if the penalty to recoil for each additional target in the spraying fire rules should also apply to Ranged Rapid Strike. I don't think so. The Ranged Rapid Strike rule specifically says that the target restrictions from the first paragraph of the spraying fire rules apply. It would be odd to call them out that specifically if any of the other rules from spraying fire were intended to apply.

I think the cumulative loss of control that increases with each target, and the loss of rounds between targets are there to simulate an attack that uses a single trigger pull during a swing of the weapon across an arc. Ranged Rapid Strike seems to be about making distinct trigger pulls at separate targets. The -6 per target is enough of a penalty for that.

Originally Posted by GnomesofZurich

I'm not sure that's true. It does grant you, effectively, a separate turn, but you having Altered Time Rate doesn't change the weapon you're wielding. The more shots you fire from a weapon in a given period of time, the harder it's going to be control.

There's a thread about this.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

To be clear, I believe the OP is asking if the penalty to recoil for each additional target in the spraying fire rules should also apply to Ranged Rapid Strike. I don't think so. The Ranged Rapid Strike rule specifically says that the target restrictions from the first paragraph of the spraying fire rules apply. It would be odd to call them out that specifically if any of the other rules from spraying fire were intended to apply.

I think the cumulative loss of control that increases with each target, and the loss of rounds between targets are there to simulate an attack that uses a single trigger pull during a swing of the weapon across an arc. Ranged Rapid Strike seems to be about making distinct trigger pulls at separate targets. The -6 per target is enough of a penalty for that.

Yeah that is pretty much how I have always run/played it but recently was wondering if I did it wrong.
I know RR calls out the first paragraph specifically but the rules for recoil are elsewhere and quoted in my original note for reference. I was wondering if those applied but it seems you and Varyon both feel my original interpretation was correct.
I think if recoil was applied ot the extra shots in all circumstances even noncinematic examples (say at the range) would be rather difficult to pull off. It would also make walking your fire impossible as you would have to fire one bullet each turn and when firing at a target the first hit would usually be the best hit and each additional shot farther from the bullseye due to recoil penalties with an occasional exception for a big difference in attack rolls.