CT Only: Auto Hits = Suppressive Fire

[Supplement Four]

-- AUTOMATIC HITS IN CLASSIC TRAVELLER --



I've seen people balk at the automatic hits that sometimes occur in Traveller, especially when you start using Book 4.

Here's my take on it.



AUTOMATIC HIT

Take a situation where a DEX 7, SMG-1 character fires at a foe, where the foe is at Short Range and wearing no armor (and is not using cover or evasion). It's an automatic hit.

+1 for skill. +3 for range. +5 for a target with no armor. That's a +9 modifier, and a minimum total of 11 for an attack throw.

In addition, this weapon is allowed two attack throws for full automatic fire (that's two automatic hits), and the Group Hits rule is invoked.

The weapon does 3D damage, so, in this situation, that's two hits of 3D each, and if the target has not been damaged, the first blood (first wound) rule applies, making one of these 3D hits taken in its whole and applied to a single foe characteristic randomly.

There is no doubt that these weapons are quite deadly.

But...are they?

Let's investigate.





FIRST WOUND

First off, you've got a target, standing out in the open, not evading and not using cover--and not wearing armor. Yeah. Combat is deadly. Try to protect yourself by using Evasion, Cover and Concealment, and Armor.

And, if you are forced the use the First Wound rule, things could be grim.

Let's say that the foe could get lucky with low damaged being rolled on the first 3D hit. Let's say a 5 total is rolled (1, 3, 1). And, the foe has physical stats of 786. This character will easily survive the 5 points of damage (and now he's got to worry about the second hit--which is also survivable, especially since the defending character can allocate wound dice as he sees fit).

But, the most likely case is that this character is either wounded or killed.



SUPPRESSION FIRE

What I'm interesting in exploring here is the situation where the foe, whether by high physical stats or low damage rolls, easily survived the attack.

What happened?

The foe has physicals 786, and damage from the first attack is 5 (1, 3, 1). We roll randomly and get DEX. Now, the foe's physicals are 736. And, the next hit totals to 6 (3, 1, 2). It's not a stretch that these numbers are rolled.

The foe takes the damage like this: 3 to STR, 1 to STR, 2 to END. This leaves the foe at 334.

If the character takes no more damage, then this character is completely, 100% healed in 30 minutes, provided he gets medical care by a qualified individual. Or, his stats will return to normal after three days of rest.



PSYCHOLOGICAL WOUNDS?

Damage in this game is abstract. That means that we can make up anything we like to account for the "facts". And, the facts are, the character was somehow damaged due to the SMG burst, and he is healed after seeing a paramedic or resting up for three days.

We can guess that the character was grazed by a bullet. That would fit within the facts, especially after the adrenaline has worn off and the grazed area is sore (this would account for reduced stats for three days).

We can say that the character pulled a muscle getting out of the way--or suffered some other slight injury having to do with the character dodging the SMG blast but not suffering actual contact with one of the bullets fired from the SMG. For another example, the blast could have torn into the brick wall next to the character, showering the foe with bits of impacted brick. The foe's wounds would be, basically, brick shrapnel from the near miss of the SMG.

Note, we are saying that the "automatic hit" doesn't necessarily mean the target suffered from a gunshot. We're saying, rather, that the target is suffering from some abstract ailment directly related to the automatic SMG burst.

Which brings me to this, the point of the post. This damage can also be considered psychological damage. "Damn! I nearly got shot! I'm lucky to be alive!" That type of effect. The Medical help could be a shot that calms the nerves. And, thus, all stats go back up to full in half an hour as the drug kicks in.

Or, the foe now has shaky hands and spotty attention. This accounts for his reduced stats. And, in three days, when he's away from it all, he's mentally ready to go back into the fray.

When are automatic hits not actually bullet hits? When the Ref rationalizes what happened to the character, based on the attack and the result. As I've shown here, Traveller combat damage is abstract--it can be a lot of things. The rules don't concern themselves with the cause. The output is just the result.

We can make up the cause of that result in anyway we want.

And, good Refs will use this as a tool to create fantastic experiences in the minds of the players.

(In other words, consider something more interesting than, "You're grazed!" every time a character easily absorbs a successful hit from a firearm.)

 

[aramis]

Zeroing Int with a near-miss can be a "Fainted dead away"...

Note that this also explicitly works in MT, per the TD article on hit locations...

 

[kilemall]

I take it to an extreme with hit location correlated to potential damage.

A laser rifle hit to a hand takes the hand off and probably induces shock of some sort, but likely doesn't kill.

A dagger to the head stands a good chance of killing.

Then further correlation of character stat damage to vital systems like nervous, immune, circulatory, muscles, etc.

The intended output is to describe the damage taken, and further any ensuing medical drama.

As for suppression, that's the sort of mechanic one needs with NPC/Striker situations, most players will self-suppress against auto weapons to avoid getting hit.

 

[Supplement Four]

As for suppression, that's the sort of mechanic one needs with NPC/Striker situations, most players will self-suppress against auto weapons to avoid getting hit.

Which is exactly my point--or the point wanted to get across--in the OP.

I'm sometimes long winded about these things.

 

[Willie Dewitt]

Which brings me to this, the point of the post. This damage can also be considered psychological damage. "Damn! I nearly got shot! I'm lucky to be alive!" That type of effect. The Medical help could be a shot that calms the nerves. And, thus, all stats go back up to full in half an hour as the drug kicks in.

Hmm...maybe call it "The A-Team Effect." If you ever saw that show I think you know what I mean

In this case actually kind of like the D&D abstract "Luck of the gods" thing for hit points, where each tiny hit is not necessarily a bleeding flesh wound, but a close call that depletes...some aspect of hit points, which are made up of pure flesh and blood, favor of ye gods, rare weirdo physics, and blind dumb simple stinking doo dah luck.

I like anything that adds flavor to fairly routine things in games. But outside of a game like Call of Cthulhu I usually leave a characters psychology and mental reactions to the player to role play. But since as a new CT GM I am casting about for alternatives in combat, so I think I need to take a good look at these concepts, especially as the death rate of a game like CT doesn't generally favor long PC life (sort of like 00's on her Majesty's service).