Delay vs. suppression, Fire plans Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Thane36425]

I had bee thinking about the problem mentioned in other posts about suppressing fire and all that, so I looked at the SR4 rules and some rules from other systems.

Suppressing fire in SR4 needs a full auto weapon and uses up 20 rounds, with no staging to the damage. That's a lot of ammo, is loud but is good at keeping the enemy down.

By delaying actions, on the other hand, one could wait for the enemy to pop up and shoot at them directly. Any weapons could be used for this, not just automatics.

Opportunity fire would be a combination of the two. Do use this, the shooter would declare a target area, just like in suppressing fire. It can be up to 10 meters wide in 2 meter intervals. The first 2 meter wide area is "free," but each after the first adds a -1 penalty (-1 for a 4 meter wide path, -2 for 6 up to -4 for the full 10 meters). That penalty isn't for the given range band, but applies to the whole band and represents the division of the shooter's attention.

Any target that presents itself in the covered area is subject to attack immediately. The shooter makes their attack with all appropriate modifiers. The shooter treats this as a complex action for determining how many shots may be fired.

The intention here is to provide an alternative to suppressing fire and add a little more realism to delayed action cover fire.