Shotgun and range

FeiLin · 04-07-2019, 01:41 AM

I'm a bit confused about shotgun. I don't have any experience from real life, but the rules on B409 seem kind of counterintuitive to me.

Being close to the target multiplies the damage and DR by the number of projectiles, whereas being farther away multiplies the shots instead. Afaik shotguns use rapid fire with Rcl 1 (at least those in the weapons tables), and the effective RoF (multiplied or not, depending on range). The example (B409) says the shotgun is RoF 3x9, so effective RoF 27/3 at medium/short* range. The target DR is 3/12, and damage is 1d+1/4d+4 at long/short range.

Intuitively multiplying damage and DR is worse than the prospect of higher skill since each extra margin of success means an extra hit (Rcl 1). Assuming a skill of 12, I calculate 12.5 HP of damage at long range, and about 17 HP for short range. But bumping the DR up to 4 makes long range more effective at 7.5 vs ~7.3 HP. Continuing upping DR only makes it worse at short range, even though higher skill compensates for one or two more points. Did I miss something, or is a shotgun better at longer range irl as well because the shots spreading out is better? Increasingly better against heavier armor, that is.

Also, a sidenote: if I have skill 17+, I still miss at 17-18, but do I get rapid fire multipliers if I roll anything else for my actual skill value or is that also capped at 16? I would guess it's not capped, since I couldn't find it explicit either way.

* Medium as in less than 1/2D, short as in less than 10% of 1/2D

04-07-2019, 01:41 AM	#1
FeiLin Join Date: Aug 2018	Shotgun and range I'm a bit confused about shotgun. I don't have any experience from real life, but the rules on B409 seem kind of counterintuitive to me. Being close to the target multiplies the damage and DR by the number of projectiles, whereas being farther away multiplies the shots instead. Afaik shotguns use rapid fire with Rcl 1 (at least those in the weapons tables), and the effective RoF (multiplied or not, depending on range). The example (B409) says the shotgun is RoF 3x9, so effective RoF 27/3 at medium/short* range. The target DR is 3/12, and damage is 1d+1/4d+4 at long/short range. Intuitively multiplying damage and DR is worse than the prospect of higher skill since each extra margin of success means an extra hit (Rcl 1). Assuming a skill of 12, I calculate 12.5 HP of damage at long range, and about 17 HP for short range. But bumping the DR up to 4 makes long range more effective at 7.5 vs ~7.3 HP. Continuing upping DR only makes it worse at short range, even though higher skill compensates for one or two more points. Did I miss something, or is a shotgun better at longer range irl as well because the shots spreading out is better? Increasingly better against heavier armor, that is. Also, a sidenote: if I have skill 17+, I still miss at 17-18, but do I get rapid fire multipliers if I roll anything else for my actual skill value or is that also capped at 16? I would guess it's not capped, since I couldn't find it explicit either way. * Medium as in less than 1/2D, short as in less than 10% of 1/2D