TA1, TA6, Burst fire?

[archhealer]

I've noticed a LOT of weapons, both personal and vehicle scale, that have RoFs that don't mesh with the tables in the THB or elsewhere. What, for example, is the effect of a 70-round burst? Less than 100 I'd assume, but more than 20 or 40.. (I think that's how the table goes). There are many personal arms that have burst rates of 6 or more, and MANY of the vehicle weapons in TA6 have RoFs of 70, as well as a handful of other oddball numbers that have no place in the charts.

Is there a new or updated errata sheet for this? It's not in the errata download so far as I can tell...

 

[archhealer]

Couple more things from TA1 I'm trying to work out:

Size/Cost/Capacity for Gauss pistol magazines?

What, exactly, does a stealth rating do in T20? It's very vague...

 

[tjoneslo]

The weapons in TA6 were built from the Striker weapon design system, then scaled to approximatly fit the existing weapons in the T20 book. No effort was made to re-work them to fit the log scale burst fire rules.

You are correct, there is no meta-game reason why a gun should fire a number of rounds other than what is exactly on the chart. Except there is no in-game reason why all guns should fire exactly number of rounds. Count this as color text.

 

[RickA]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
No effort was made to re-work them to fit the log scale burst fire rules.

Why not? It is a T20 supplement, right?

 

[tjoneslo]

It wasn't entirely deliberate. I had mostly forgotten that rule was there. Given the scale of the burst fire rules, it may be possible to fill in the values:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Burst Size Bonus
3 rounds +1
4 rounds +2
10 rounds +3
15 rounds +4
20 rounds +5
35 rounds +6
50 rounds +7
65 rounds +8
80 rounds +9
100 rounds +10</pre>[/QUOTE]This gives a better reason for some of the ROFs given (or selected) for the autocannon, mass driver and pulse lasers. If I'd remembered the rule, I'd have added this table to TA6.

 

[archhealer]

Great! That helps a lot. Even for those given that aren't exact, (70, for example) you can just put it at 65 (close enough!) That's very helpful.

On to the second part of the original question: Size & Capacity & Cost for Gauss Pistol magazines?

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by Archhealer:
What, exactly, does a stealth rating do in T20? It's very vague.

I'm at work right now, so my books are at home. But IIRC, a stealth rating gives a weapon a DC number which any scanner must beat in order to detect it. The higher the tech level of the scanner, the higher the bonus it gets on the roll to detect the weapon.

This is an example with DCs made up off the top of my head -- they may not reflect actual DCs in the game, but they will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Say two characters, Eneri and Kiirran, were attempting to pass through a security scanner at a starport. Eneri is carrying a standard knife while Kiirran is carrying a stealth knife.

So the DC to detect Eneri's knife might be 10, while the DC to detect Kiirran's is 15.

A tech level 10 scanner might receive no bonus to detect either weapon, so a roll of 10+ would be needed to detect Eneri's knife, and a roll of 15+ would be needed to detect Kiirran's weapon.

A tech level 14 scanner might receive a +2 to detect the weapons. So Eneri's would be detected on a roll of 8+, and Kiirran's on a roll of 13+.

I'll look up the exact rules and post again when I get a chance to consult my books, unless someone else beats me to it.

 

[archhealer]

Ok, that explains the effect. Now, several weapons in TA1 say that they're available with a stealth option. Was there meant to be a table stating how much that option costs, as an upgrade? That'd be great to have....

 

[Shadowdancer]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to posting on the subject of stealth weapons. I had some trouble finding the proper supplement -- it wasn't where I thought I left it.

A good basic description of the mechanics involved is in TA1, Personal Weapons of Charted Space, pp. 36-37. Basically, it's as I said above, although the DCs are different. Also, it is an opposed check using Bluff.

To avoid being searched, its a base DC of 5 plus the local law level. DC 10 plus the local law level for secure areas or during an alert, and DC 15 plus local law level for highly secure areas or during a high alert.

To beat this, roll Bluff (or other appropriate skill depending on the situation and tactics used: Intimidation, Diplomacy, Liaison, etc.) Small weapons made to be hidden, such as a body pistol or knife, receive a +5 bonus; large, bulky weapons receive a -5.

This is for physical searches only -- a guard is patting down or otherwise searching the PCs.

For weapon scanners, the DC is twice the Tech level of the scanner. They start appearing at TL5. So at TL5, the DC would be 10. At TL9, it would be 18. Again, this is an apposed Bluff check (or whatever skill is applicaple to the situation). Stealth weapons have a factor rating which acts as a modifier to this roll. So if weapon has a stealth rating of 5, it would give a +5 to the check; a rating of 7 would give a +7.

As for cost of stealth rating, there is no table or mention of how much it costs. Judging by the cost of stealth melee weapons compared to standard versions, I would say each stealth factor doubles the base cost. So a knife with a stealth rating of 5 would cost 5 times as much as a normal knife. This is in keeping with the rules for masterwork weapons.

For handguns, the only stealth pistols listed are roughly twice the cost of a normal weapon of that type. But it doesn't say what the stealth rating is for the stealth handgun, so you could still use the same pricing concept for handguns -- for each stealth factor, double the base cost of the weapon.

Hope that helps.

 

[archhealer]

It does! And might I say, The folks here have been a goldmine of information, ideas, and solutions. It's great! Every RPG should have this resource. (Well, not THIS resource, cause it's Traveler, but applicable similiar ones.)