Range Bands

[ovka]

I'm not a big fan of range bands. They are great for some things. They make a lot of sense with electronic sensors, biological senses (vision, hearing, smell), and weapon ranges.

They work OK for straight line movement, though expressing speed as range bands seems a bit wonky. Non-linear movement causes a problem with range bands.

Moving between orbits using range bands feels wrong to me. I studied it, and understand why it works, but every time I want to use it, I have to study it again to make sure I understand it. Then I have to explain it to my players. I could just dispense with mentioning the range bands to them and tell them it takes a standard x minutes to get from point A to point B. Unfortunately, at some point they want to know which side of the star the two planets are on, and why the travel time doesn't change the way they think it should.

I think that could be resolved using hex movement. The number of hexes from point A to point B becomes the number of range bands for sensors (biological and electronic) and weapon ranges. Then, non-linear movement makes a bit more sense (to me, YMMV).

Traveller already has hex movement for jumps, and it uses hexagons for world mapping. Expanding this to combat movement, and deck plans seems (to me) like a logical step. The next step would be to expand this to in-system travel and space combat.

Thoughts? Am I the only one that has trouble using range bands? (Full disclosure, I liked the vector movement used by CT-B2 space combat, though hex or square grid movement always made more sense to my players. I didn't like the range bands, even back when CT was shiny and new).

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[JFGarber]

Range bands for space combat don't work for me either. OK, it makes sense for a single craft approaching a planet, or for a two-craft pursuit.

But in those cases where, say, a patrol cutter is inbound, and the free trader who really doesn't want to be boarded departs immediately at right angles, range bands don't work for me.

 

[Supplement Four]

I'm not a big fan of range bands. They are great for some things. They make a lot of sense with electronic sensors, biological senses (vision, hearing, smell), and weapon ranges.

Note that T5 uses Range Bands differently than they are used in CT. In T5, different Range Bands are different widths. In CT, each Range Band is the same size.

Moving between orbits using range bands feels wrong to me. I studied it, and understand why it works, but every time I want to use it, I have to study it again to make sure I understand it. Then I have to explain it to my players.

Agreed, with the T5 Range Bands. Not with the CT Range Bands, though. In CT, since each range band is a specified length, it's just like counting hexes or squares. Very simple and easy to understand.

When looking at the Personal Combat movement Range Bands in T5, like you, I've got relearn it each time I look at it.

I don't find them intuitive, either.

 

[ovka]

Note that T5 uses Range Bands differently than they are used in CT. In T5, different Range Bands are different widths. In CT, each Range Band is the same size.

True, and that worked for linear movement. For some reason, my players always wanted to dodge behind something to hide from bullets. Or they would want to circle around behind the people shooting at them. I'm not sure why.

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[Supplement Four]

True, and that worked for linear movement. For some reason, my players always wanted to dodge behind something to hide from bullets. Or they would want to circle around behind the people shooting at them. I'm not sure why.

Sounds like you want to use a shorter Range Band. In Traveller, the Range Bands are so big that entire gun fights happen within just one or two bands.

In CT, I find it easy. Check out THIS post I wrote on using Range Bands in personal combat for a CT game.

From that perspective, Range Bands are not only useful, but easy to use and intuitive.

 

[Supplement Four]

Oh, and THIS other post I wrote on Range Bands may be helpful as well.

 

[ovka]

Everything seems to be linear in your examples. How do you handle non-linear movement?

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[Supplement Four]

Everything seems to be linear in your examples. How do you handle non-linear movement?

You don't need to be exact to the millimeter. Just allow your players and NPCs to move anywhere within reason. Many times, the battle will take place within one range band. I'm coming from a CT perspective, as with the examples (not T5, which doesn't use constant range bands).

Remember, the CT rounds are 15 seconds long (as are the new T5 rounds--where as the old T5 rounds were a minute long, thereabouts). That's a lot of time to move, squat, and whatever.

In CT, a character can move and do one action in a combat round. The Typical Actions Chart gives us a list of what is used most often.

TYPICAL ACTIONS:

Run, Walk, Close Range, Open Range, Stand, Evade.

Shoot, Switch (semi or full auto), Reload, Throw, Draw, Swing, Hit.

Reading the CT rules, if you Run, then you can't do another action. So, if your player says that he wants to run across the street, kneel behind some trash, and fire his weapon at the bad guys, allow him to do so if that set of actions seems reasonable to you, given the rules.

The rules say a character can't run and do another action, so it's not reasonable. It will take two rounds.

Round 1: Run (and drop to knees, which is not counted as an action).

Round 2: Stand (his movement actions) and fire (Shoot action).



If you need exact distances, then CT provides that too--how far a character can Walk in a round, and double that for Running.

You can count 5 meter squares, or you can just eyeball it, as I suggest above.

What sounds reasonable, and what fits with the rules? That's pretty much all you need to do. It's pretty easy. And, you're usually in the same range band.

You can focus more on the range bands if a chase breaks out, or, for some reason, the characters are concerned with more than just what is around them in the firefight (like a car coming or an enemy coming from a long distance--maybe a sniper).

Check out THIS THREAD on some stuff I wrote on the CT combat round.