Re: [HoE] Vehicle Combat

["Paul Zichichi" <rook_7@hotmail.com>]

>How have others gone with vehicle combat?

Yes, my group has, and your'e right, it is VERY lethal.

>Has anyone else found this with vehicle combat?  Granted the M2 is >very 
>good at chewing through vehicles, but with the way things went >a pair of 
>assult rifles would have ripped it up pretty good anyway.  >And I guess a 
>real-life pickup being shot by a real-life machine gun >wouldn't last long 
>either.

Nope, it wouldn't.  Assault rifles and HMG's are disturbingly good at 
turning ANY vehicle into an arm of swiss cheese in short order.  Lighter 
weapons, not so much; heavy weapons (re: Bushmaster Cannons) only need one 
hit to level the opposition.  Vehicle combat in any RPG should be, and 
usually is, the fastest way to lose your incredibly cool characters in 
incredibly cool ways.

>Another thought is on fixed guns.  I see a problem with aiming them,
>namly if the ground isn't perfectly flat your bullets may very well >go 
>over/under them, and there isn't anything you can do about it. (Anyone 
>remember playing Interstate '76?)

Yes, I do, and once again, you are correct.  On a flat, two-dimensional 
plane, fixed-mount weapons are a great idea.  In the real, 3-D world we live 
in however, not so much.  I won't get into a diatribe about the actual 
physics of shooting a weapon right now, but leave it be said that the 
combination of weapon recoil/climb combined with the bouncing of a vehicle's 
suspension on rough terrain make eveything OTHER than fixed-mounts far 
preferrable to the discriminating Road Warrior.

>Using shooting with your nimbleness die type seems a bit much to easy...is 
>there a penelty somewhere I'm missing?


I haven't found any penalties in the books, Road Warriors included, but I 
tend to use Cognition/Artillery for the driver attempting to fire any 
mounted weapon that has a Fire Control System, and Shootin': (insert 
appropriate weapon here) for gunners, keeping their Deftness die type, as 
it's still all about hand eye coordination.  And if you don't have an 
appropriate skill, then the penalties DO stack up.  How many non-soldiers do 
you see in the Wasted West who can accurately fire an M2HB or NA SAW.  Most 
characters should probably never even have SEEN a fully-automatic heavy 
weapon (money and ammo preclude such things), much less have actually fired 
one.  And if a character is familiar with such things, it can be assumed 
they would be experienced enough to compensate for the motion of the 
vehicle.

In Omnia Paratus

Paul Zichichi, the most dangerous GM in the universe

"He makes a big, mean killer character; I drop an elephant on him.  He makes 
a bigger, meaner killer character; I drop a bigger, meaner elephant on that 
one too.  I have lots of elephants, metaphorically speaking."
          -Personal Motto-


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