The gangers are heading towards the second stairwell on the opposite end of the house. Strangely enough, there only appears to be three of them, and eventually you lose sight of them all together as they move too far away for your radar to pick up.

Yeah, after a few walls, the radar wont' work indoors - but its good to know there is another way down here.

However, looking for gangers outside, there is probably only one or two walls we need to see through. So, with 100m range, can I track the positions of the gangers outside (took out 6 gangers, and just trapped 4 upstairs, so that leaves 10 in groups of 3 (probably two groups of 3 and a group of 4) outside. If there is a direction they're not covering well, that might be the best direction for us to start heading in.

There is one group of three gangers heading straight towards the house from outside. You don't see any of the other ones, they might've gone too far to notice the explosion.

Can I make out the bikes from here? (Easier to spot vehicles than people - and 100m is far enough to see across the street. I'm mostly trying to get a sense of if there are gangers between us and our bikes. It looks like there are 3.

Yup your bikes are still there.

Switchign out gymnastics for longarms (assuming I have a round before they get to the door)

Going to aim at the front door, until I can get a shot with the rifle at the gangers who are running up to it.
Pretty much no way they can be expecting that one, so I'll just assume Zee gets a surprise round blasting two rounds through the front door at whoever is standing there - then those gangers can decide if they want to continue in or not.

She's taking cover, shooting around a corner, in case they respond with more automatic fire, and, if possible, doing something similar to what the leader did to her (limiting her damage to 10P, by shooting them in the arms, or something). I would prefer to drop them, than to kill them, in case one of them is the red-head.

Response (9) + Handling (1) + Longarms (4) + Cover (-1) + Wounds (-2) = 11 dice
#D=11 : 35161165216 n1=4 n6=3 nHit=5

Second shot to finish dropping the first, if that failed otherwise (more likely) switching target to a second ganger
Response (9) + Handling (1) + Longarms (4) + Cover (-1) + Wounds (-2) + Second Target (-2) = 9 dice
#D=9 : 422323624 n1=0 n6=1 nHit=1

If surprise is had, that should be enough to at least hit two of the three guys.
The door adds its armor to that of the character, but the base DV is 8P with -1 AP.
Also note that rifle is silenced, currently loaded with subsonic ammo.

Additional modifiers: -1 for partial lighting, -2 for sniping without proper positioning, -2 for blindfire minus rating of your radar.

First ganger takes 3P, second shot misses.

Fair enough. For future reference, what kind of action would it take to position for sniping? Or is it just because we're in short-range?
Also, lighting might not matter if I'm taking blind-fire penalties. I'm effectively seeing by radar. Seems like you're either blind, or seeing by partial light.

After that, is it the regular round?

Sniper rifles are long and unwieldy, so if you don't set it up with a bipod or something like that, there's gonna be a penalty. I dunno if there are rules in place for what kind of action that would entail, but if not, I would just say a complex action.

Re: lighting - I'm using the same partial lighting modifier for ultrasound. If you can present a case for why radar would not suffer the same penalty, lemme know. I suck at science, so I could easily be wrong.

Yup, it's the regular round now.

Dunno if I can make a better case for it than that. If I'm seeing the guy purely by radar, through a wall, the lighting shouldn't really matter. The UWB radar description says it has visibility modifiers as ultrasound, though, so I agree with your reasoning there - but it just seems like taking a blindfire penalty and a lighting penalty is a double whammy for not being able to see.

Then again, I'm shooting at a vaguely humanoid blip on a radar through a wall - so penalties are to be expected.

So, my Dice pools were reduced to 6, if they've made it to cover behind the cars, that reduces it to 2 - so I am guessing I shouldn't bother rolling at that point.

Instead, is there a window or something I could move up to, where I could spend a complex action deploying the rifle's bipod? I would still have cover from the wall, and if I don't stand too openly in the window might remain unseen by the gangers. (Buying 3 successes on stealth, but with reduced camo benefit).

I'll keep an "eye" on how far the guys upstairs have made it (providing radar coverage for Tasha). I wouldn't want them sneaking up on us while we're dealing with the three grunts in the front yard.

Also, if that action make sense (moving into position and deploying the bipod) consider that Zee's round.
Dunno what everyone else's initiative is, but Zee will buy successes (still 4 hits, even with wound penalties), should still be a 22 unless the wound penalties apply to the base initiative score, and not just to the dicepool.

I re-read the rules, and the end verdict: the lighting modifier still stands, but the blindfire penalty does not apply. That means Ganger 1 is up to 5P damage.

There are windows on the second floor, but there's no way to get up there now without taking the staircase at the back of the house. Is radar 360 degrees? If not, you won't be able to pay attention to the guys behind you and in front of you at the same time.

As far as I know its 360-degrees. Most radars are - but I suppose it could also be directional. The item description doesn't say.
If there has to be a choice, the priority is/was the gangers.

Okay, I don't have that clear of a mental picture. What window? How far away is it? We have gangers in the house and gangers wandering around outside. We may not have time for the usual hiding behind cover.

Oh yeah, that's right. KR had said there wasn't a window on this floor. Moving up to the door, instead. No worse of a position anyway. Feel free to suggest something else (like jumping out pistols blazing)

IC edited, to reflect it.

So, this turn, I'll be moving up next to the door, and using a simple action to open it up - still standing to the side for cover. Don't have a good second action - maybe taking a shot. ROlls coming shortly (assuming Zee is acting first)

Actually - Zee will use the take-aim action, to shoot through the scope, so she can gain the benefit of smartlink (since her dice pool is looking like a 4 right now). Stealth rolls to stay out of sight will be the bought 3 successes, but I'm guessing the door being opened is signal enough that someone is coming.

Initiative:

9d6.hits(5) → [2,1,2,1,3,3,4,3,6] = (1)
So her initiative is 10.
Even with wound modifiers, Zee will probably go first. Hopefully I'll go before the gangers...

Quick question about the Commanding Voice power. I thought it was a straight-up test between Leadership + Charisma vs. Willpower + Leadership, while others point out that you use the same base dice pools for a normal leadership test, and treat commanding voice as such (a normal leadership test). How do you run it?

I'm just gonna go with the RAW exactly and say it's an opposed test between Leadership + Charisma vs Willpower + Leadership.

Initiative order:

Zee
Ganger 1
Ganger 2
Tasha
Ganger 3

Gogogogo.

Zee's action will be to move to the door, as stealthily as possible (3 hits), to open the door. I thought about taking aim, but since I'll probably use IP 3 to deploy the bipod (a complex action) it would also be a waste of time.

Instead, she'll "observe in detail" which she should also be able to buy 3 hits, with.

Zee: The gangers appear to be hyped up on some kind of street drug. They're wearing armored jackets, two of them have a machine pistol, and the other is toting a submachine gun. The redhead kid doesn't appear to be amongst them.

Incoming attack for each of you. Defend against 6P (-2 AP) (-5 Dodge) with 2 hits.

Just checking to make sure that includes a -4 penalty for the cover we're receiving? (plus lighting, etc)

Dodge: Response (9) + Handling (1) =10 - 5 = 5 dice
#D=5 : 52362 n1=0 n6=1 nHit=2

Also, out of curiosity, which ganger was the one who was wounded? Ganger 3?

Oops, forgot my wound penalties. so it looks liek a hit. Soak roll incoming.

Okay, earlier you said that how you ran negative modifiers was that people rolled their normal pool, and you rolled dice for the negative modifiers against it. So is that how you're doing the -5 modifier? Does the 2 hits include those 5 dice? I need to know so I know how many dice I'm rolling, and whether to spend Edge or not.

*Edit* That also might affect whether Zee actually got hit or not, too.

So, 1 net hit = 7P (-2 AP)
Body (3) + Armor (8) + AP (-2) = 9 dice
#D=9 : 455626423 n1=0 n6=2 nHit=4

So, reduces it to 3P, bringing Zee to 9 boxes of damage (-3 wound penalties).

A strong cough, and the gangers will kill her. Hope Tasha's magical leadership thing works.

My impression was that was how he would handle penalties that weren't known to us (or which we didn't take into account when we preemptively post rolls).
Correct me if I am wrong, though KR - cause I've been applying the penalties to my own rolls when I know them.

Another question, since it looks like it might come up soon. Do vehicles/drones have overflow boxes on their condition monitor?
Its not mentioned in the rules (leading me to believe they do not), but I could see it being the difference between a car that's so damaged it can't run, and a car that is irreparably blown to pieces. Basically "disabled" verses "destroyed".

Here's the snippet I got the house rule from:



So in other words, you roll without the -5, then he rolls 5 dice to subtract from your successes. So you could roll the 5 dice, get 2 successes, he could roll and get 1 success, and you'll have the net success you need to completely dodge it. Or he could get 4 successes and make it even worse... except I'm not sure whether the 2 hits already includes the 5 dice or not.

Yup. -4 cover, -1 for their cover, -1 lighting. Ganger 1 was the one who's wounded.


Haha I totally forgot all about that. Anyway I haven't been doing that up till now so forget about it for the rest of this game.

I don't think they do according to the RAW, but I would say yes, with the same rules as overflow for metahumans.

Okay, just needed to check if there would be anything to salvage of Zee if she takes that last box of physical damage, on the way out.

And, damn, at least Ganger 1 goes down fighting.

Hope Tasha really has something up her sleeve. (Other than taking 6 bullets to the chest)

Also... and I only mention this because there is a good chance that Ganger 3 is going to kill one of us at the end of this IP... is Peyton going to roll initiative?

Oh! (Desperate and shameless attempt to save Tasha). If ganger 1 took 5P damage last round - shouldn't that have knocked him prone (if his body is 5 or less). Meaning, on his turn, it would take a simple action to stand up - meaning he couldn't full-auto when he got to the cars.

So, either he would still be sitting in the doorway, blasting in at us (lacking cover) or he would be behind a vehicle, but have a much shittier attack. ?

Or am I misreading things, and they actually have 2 IPs each (or more), and used one on their round to get to cover (and stand up, and whatnot), and are now using a second IP?

Not this pass, he's watching your backs like Tasha told him to. He'll probably jump in next pass when he sees that you're in trouble.

Yup. They did all their maneuvering during the surprise round.

*grumble grumble*

Wish I knew a good street-doc. There is a fortune in used wired-reflex augs laying around this place.

Dunno about that, second-hand wired reflexes are pretty cheap in SR4 and 30% of 50% of 11k doesn't amount to much. Plus not all of them are wired, some are just speedy from the drugs. But if you wanna come back later to harvest their implants, feel free.

Ah, I forgot about drugs that speed you up. 30% of 11K, times 20 gangers (if all grunts have 2 IPs), is still 66K - which is more than the job.

If they're just hopped up on cybersmack, that makes more sense (and makes it less economically feasible). I don't think Zee would be skinning people anyway - but it was an amusing thought for a while.

Course, we haven't even taken out half of them... there's no way we'd be able to finish the job.

Okay, first adding Edge to my pitiful 1 dice for dodging:

3d6.hitsopen(5,6) ? [3,5,1] = (1)

Now resisting 7P. Body: 4, ballistic armor of 10-2AP=8, so 12 dice. With a decent dice pool like that, my Edge is better saved to re-roll failures than to add to the dice pool, so I'll do that.

12d6.hitsopen(5,6) ? [2,1,2,1,[6, 1],1,5,4,5,5,3,3] = (4)
(note: I accidentally still had it set for exploding 6's, but I'll leave it since it didn't make a difference, and it would have been easy to take it out if it had).

Okay, this is near the end game, so I'd better use that last point of Edge to see if I can get it down any more. 8 dice re-rolled:

8d6.hits(5) ? [4,2,6,3,3,2,4,3] = (1)

So Tasha takes 2 damage. It was actually worth spending her last point of Edge to get rid of one piddly point of damage - that one point of damgage is the difference between having a wound modifier or not.

For commanding voice on her turn:

11d6.hits(5) → [4,4,5,3,2,3,1,1,1,3,6] = (2)
Bah, pitiful.
It might be enough, though, even with their +2 bonus for more than 1 target - I can't imagine most gangers have super-high Charisma, and they might even be defaulting on the leadership.

Yeah, the guy upstairs probably has leadership, but random grunts are pretty much defined by a lack of leadership skill.

GL, anyway. Way to go on the defense, too. I figured you were probably automatically hit, and expected Tasha to be pretty crippled. Forgot you hadn't used any edge yet.

Well, you'll be selling third-hand cyberware, so it'll be half of that. Plus a bunch of them are still at large, and you blew up another bunch of them.

I guess IP 3 will be spent un-readying the rifle, moving out into the yard (normal movement, since I wasn't running all round), and picking up one of those discarded weapons (since picking up items doesn't really seem to slow you down - once you're not using athletics to speed up). Also, Zee lost her best pistol - and won't have time to set up for a proper snipe if those other three guys make it outside before they take off.

Willing to continue on to the bikes at full speed (running), next turn.

Which one do you want? You have your choice between an Ares Alpha and two Steyr TMPs.

Go with the alpha (machine gun, vs machine pistol). Assuming we do remakes after this run, I don't suspect it will matter (depending on how you have us do them), except that if those guys come busting out the front door while we're still getting on our bikes, I want a rifle I can shoot back at them with.

Also, Zee learned that grenades are fun - and while I doubt there will be any in this particular ares alpha, there is always that chance. Who knows, maybe the gangers just didn't want to blow up their house any worse.

No grenades, but there is explosive ammo.

So, were the bullets that had hit Zee just now Explosive? In which case, her newest wounds would probably look that much more gruesome.

Also, explosive or EX-explosive?

Do we need to move to the bikes in round-by-round, or can we post farther into the future, in terms of getting Peyton to the alley, and onto one of the bikes?

Ex-explosive. Lemme know what you guys decide to do (i.e. make a run for the bikes, engage the gangers behind you, etc)

FWIW, the same Errata that nerfed flechette ammo, nerfed explosive and EX-explosive too. At least, if that was the reason we were at -2 AP, it probably should have been -1 AP (and the DV is +1 not +2, now)

I'd be willing to blaze some cover-fire - or Tasha could try her shouty trick again.
I think if we just run for the bikes without doing anything, they'll chase us, and get at least one shot off before we can ride away - and that one shot could kill either of us.

If Glyph disagrees, I could be persuaded to just run for it, though.

Also, since movement is separate from our actions, we can always try both!

Looking at suppressive fire in the BBB, will post if it looks any good.

So, since my IP3 action was to pick up the item, do those other guys show up at the latter part of IP3 (when Peyton goes) or is this the start of a new round?

I would say run for it - the guys behind us don't seem to eager, and might not brave the door after we shut it behind us. Plus, Tasha can still use commanding voice again if she needs to.

Whoops, didn't know that. I really should've read the errata. Ordinarily I would just run with the rule in question until the end of the game, but since you guys are at serious risk of a full party wipe out right now, I'm gonna say that effective immediately, ex-explosive works as errata'ed and you both refresh one point of Edge each.

Okay, I need an IP to switch "longarms" for "automatics", anyway (I thought that all rifles used the same skill, at first). So, suppressing fire before Zee does that would be a waste of $2000 worth of bullets, anyway - assumign there are that many in left in the gun, which she won't have a chance to find out anyway.

So, sure, for at least one IP, Zee's down for just running towards the alley (while switching programs).

If the bad guys act during that IP, we'll know if we need to return fire, or commanding voice, or whatever.

All in all, I was aiming to kill as few people as possible. Other than those unlucky bastards on the stairs, we got in and out rather non-lethally. I'm impressed.