Exact Ranges

[slade the sniper]

How often does exact ranges of the weapons ever become an issue in combat in games you have run?

-STS

[Orin J.]

never, but that's because my group loves to play their campaigns 1:in urban areas and 2: with the paranoida of a pedophile next door to the pentagon.

[Killer Cyborg]

Usually doesn't come up.
Sometimes it does... and that's when it's handy to know that you can fire a weapon up to 30% (IIRC) past its normal range, if you take a penalty.

[The Beast]

Groups I've played with used the rules from the CoMW book when this issue came up. Only really ever came up in my first group though.

[slade2501]

Your asking about "effective range", the range at which a human can fire the weapon and reliably hit a target. A laser rifle with 2000ft range, means that the beam will reach 2000ft before it looses its effectiveness, not that a human can hit a target 2000ft away. Effective range would rather be up to 500ft, depending on the skill of the shooter.

Contrary to movies and popular belief, it is rather hard to shoot long range. It requires skill, patience and very controlled circumstances. An Olympic shooting range for Biathlon is only 50 meters or 160ft, with rifles. 50 meters with a pistol, held at arms length is ordinarily a moderately difficult shot.

Here is a great article about police training and ranged accuracy: https://www.policeone.com/police-traine ... EaCyIUu2o/

[Warshield73]

For me range is usually only comes in in Rifts with flying power armors. It is always a factor in Phase World but that is very different.

Your asking about "effective range", the range at which a human can fire the weapon and reliably hit a target. A laser rifle with 2000ft range, means that the beam will reach 2000ft before it looses its effectiveness, not that a human can hit a target 2000ft away. Effective range would rather be up to 500ft, depending on the skill of the shooter.

Contrary to movies and popular belief, it is rather hard to shoot long range. It requires skill, patience and very controlled circumstances. An Olympic shooting range for Biathlon is only 50 meters or 160ft, with rifles. 50 meters with a pistol, held at arms length is ordinarily a moderately difficult shot.

Here is a great article about police training and ranged accuracy: https://www.policeone.com/police-traine ... EaCyIUu2o/

I agree with most of this but remember a lot of these principals would not apply to a speed of light weapon with no drop that is unaffected by wind. Even a rail gun at close range would be moving with such speed that it would function differently than a modern firearm.

[Killer Cyborg]

Your asking about "effective range", the range at which a human can fire the weapon and reliably hit a target. A laser rifle with 2000ft range, means that the beam will reach 2000ft before it looses its effectiveness, not that a human can hit a target 2000ft away.

Not in Palladium.

I always thought they should address that, like with a "-1 to strike per 100'" rule or something.
Then again, Palladium doesn't differentiate in target size either, except for VERY small targets. That thing you're shooting at that's 2000' away might be the size of an angry skyscraper.
So some rules addressing that might be good as well.

[Axelmania]

I always thought they should address that, like with a "-1 to strike per 100'" rule or something.

I think it was somewhere around -1 per additional 30 or 40 ft in RMB before they changed it to the 30% extra rule in RUE?

[Killer Cyborg]

I always thought they should address that, like with a "-1 to strike per 100'" rule or something.

I think it was somewhere around -1 per additional 30 or 40 ft in RMB before they changed it to the 30% extra rule in RUE?

Let me know if you have a page number for the RMB rule you remember.

[Axelmania]

I always thought they should address that, like with a "-1 to strike per 100'" rule or something.

I think it was somewhere around -1 per additional 30 or 40 ft in RMB before they changed it to the 30% extra rule in RUE?

Let me know if you have a page number for the RMB rule you remember.

243, was -4 per 25 ft extra and no WP skill bonus

I think this and other rules (like reloading, "almost all modern weapons") were intended for all conventional weapons but the REVOLVERS heading somehow snuck atop it.

[Killer Cyborg]

I always thought they should address that, like with a "-1 to strike per 100'" rule or something.

I think it was somewhere around -1 per additional 30 or 40 ft in RMB before they changed it to the 30% extra rule in RUE?

Let me know if you have a page number for the RMB rule you remember.

243, was -4 per 25 ft extra and no WP skill bonus

I think this and other rules (like reloading, "almost all modern weapons") were intended for all conventional weapons but the REVOLVERS heading somehow snuck atop it.

I agree; they stuck that stuff in the wrong place.

Anyway, that's a decent rule for firing beyond effective range, but I was thinking of something like that that would include effective range.
Because whether or not your weapon fires 2000', it's still harder to hit a target that's 300' away than 30' away.

I wonder how a flat -1 to strike per 50' would work?
-2 to strike at 100' away, but that'd be compensated by Aiming at lower ranges.
At farther ranges... maybe remove the penalties for somebody using the Sniper skill or a scope?