Shooting a LOT of Bullets Through a LOT of Folks

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Treating the crowd as one target instead of many makes your problem much much worse, not better! Sure, you get a totally justifiable size bonus to hit, but getting only one roll to hit means you would need a completely ridiculous bonus to hit with anywhere near all the shots. Like, +200.

Treating them as individual targets may mean too many bullets leak through, but a lot fewer than treating the formation as a whole.

As I said, there's no reason to think any bullets leak through. Bear in mind that shots that miss still go somewhere.

I don't think applying a general task difficulty modifier on top of a pre-specified modifier that already accounts for the same fact is reasonable. What factor justifies the bonus?[

I am unaware of any such prespecified modifier.

[gilbertocarlos]

The problem is that you roll against 9 to hit always.

[Phoenix_Dragon]

RoF 100 is +7. If he's firing at only an effective skill of 9 despite that huge RoF bonus, it seems a little off to assume that every round is actually passing through the target hex (Instead of beside, above, or below).

If it's an effective skill of 9 without RoF bonus, it should certainly be added in. You still won't drop the whole 100 men, but only because all the bullets were stopped by the mass of now-dead soldiers that were the first few tens of rows.

[Otaku]

Forgive me if this was already factored in... but how fast will a slain soldier drop?

I mean, how much of the burst has a chance of striking the first soldier in the column before he's "out of the way"?

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Forgive me if this was already factored in... but how fast will a slain soldier drop?

I mean, how much of the burst has a chance of striking the first soldier in the column before he's "out of the way"?

It takes about 0.45 seconds to drop one meter (say we're shooting at center of mass) at RoF 100 that means 45 of the rounds will hit the body.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

As I said, there's no reason to think any bullets leak through. Bear in mind that shots that miss still go somewhere.

Shots that miss X do not hit X. If X is defined as the entire formation, all (probably 90+) shots that fail to hit it must pass without hitting it.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I am unaware of any such prespecified modifier.

Okay, exactly what factor are you purporting to account for with the +10?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Shots that miss X do not hit X. If X is defined as the entire formation,

I got mixed up. The relevant rule is B408, shooting at close stationary objects.

[Icelander]

I thought Hitting the Wrong Target was meant to be rolled for each individual missile which misses. Which means that you'll hit the first target with X number of missiles depending on margin of success and the RoF rules and then further targets will be hit by each individual missile which misses on the lower of 9 or what you'd have had to deliberately aim at them (I'd ignore concealment from intervening targets, though).

Basically, it means that the first few men of the file you're shooting at will absorb the vast majority of the attacks, with the rest being hit only with fire that blows-through them. Which seems realistic enough.

Now, the fact that you don't actually want to roll that many times is a different issue. I resolve that by rolling a few dice and adjusting the average outcome upward or downwards according to whether I rolled well or not.

I use combat skill rolls to position the beaten zone accurately and generally a combination of Tactics and Observation to select a good enfilading firing position, choosing the right moment to open fire, catching as many enemy as possible within the beaten zone and trying to include as many enemy commanders or other high-value targets within as possible.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I got mixed up. The relevant rule is B408, shooting at close stationary objects.

That rule is a perfect example of the discontinuity problem. Cross a magic line by a centimeter and everything behaves totally differently.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

That rule is a perfect example of the discontinuity problem. Cross a magic line by a centimeter and everything behaves totally differently.

<shrug> Unless you have a better more continuous alternative...