When you have a 'bow' that requires/can support up to 15 strength, isn't that more along the line of a ballista?

I mean it's a weapon that requires strength of two of the strongest human. At that point, it's closer than a siege weapon and would justify its higher DV than a sniper rifle. The only problem being the rules doesn't recognize it as anything different from a regular bow and there aren't any penalty to hiding, carrying, or using the gigantic bow.

Also, TheOneRonin, no comment on how at 1 DP, you have 1/3 chance of success but also 1/6 chance of critical botch and only critical botch?

While the sniper's advantages would go away in short order, it's important to remember there needs to be more than just the sniper. Supporting teams are needed up close to flush the enemy out of cover. Additionally, a properly prepared sniper will have several positions prepared, including an escape route. But, that's more of a discussion of tactics.

Back to figuring out a way to make sniping a bit more difficult for the skill level 1 characters.

***

I like the idea of increasing the modifier for aiming.

***

Let's do some math using the rules as written.

MOA the Street Samurai has an Ares-Accuracy International sniper rifle. It's customized heavily with computer in the scope, vision mag 3, vision enhance 3 (see into those shadow at 1,000 meters...yeah baby!!), smartlink with ballistic compensator, angle adjustment, image link, photographic storage, thermo, low light, flare comp and anti-glare filtering. It's a bolt action rifle, 10 round capacity, custom stock and grip, stabilizer and beer can holder.

The shooter is highly skilled with a 5 (7) in longarms. He's cybered up with a high Agility of 10. Here are his adds:

Base pool =17
Smartlink +2
Enhanced Articulation +1
Vision Mag +3 makes makes it Short Range

Total Base Dice Pool = 20

Range:

+0 0-150
-1 151-350
-2 351-800
-3 801-1500

Spotter adds his successes to the pool of the shooter. Let's say he's also highly skilled with longarms of 5(7). Since it doesn't make sense to use Agility, let's substitute Intuition for perception based tests. Total pool is 10. Let's just say he buys two successes.

MOA's dice pool = 22

Target wanders into view and is standing in an open lot. He's smoking a cigarette. Range is 800 meters (long range).

RAW 4th Edition says that with vision mag, neither the target nor the shooter can move to gain the Short Range bonus. MOA zeroes in and aims for three simple actions (+2 total since the first round is for "locking on").

Scenarios:

1) MOA's pool now contains 24 dice. He just buys six successes. Target doesn't get a dodge since it's a surprise attack. Damage is 14P.

2) Let's add some modifiers.

Target prone: -3

Called Shot options:

A) Bypass armor: Modifier equals the ballistic armor of the target. An armor jacket yields a penalty of EIGHT.
B) Vital Attack: Increase DMG by 1-4, but suffer a 1-4 DP modifier.
C) Other options not really needed

Target partial cover: -2

Visibility: Light fog -1

Target moves, so the -2 range modifer is applied.

MOA's DP is now down by at least 8. Called shot options:

A) +4 DMG: -12 = 10 dice
B) Bypass armor jacket (8/6): -16 = 6 dice

If he skips the called shot, then MOA has 14 dice.

If he manages to aim for a simple action or two, he gets +2 or so (12/8/16 dice).

Suddenly, that's not too bad (in terms of rules)!!! I think that the rules are actually fairly well written.

It's a scope of the future that uses bulshitium and unobtanium weaves in its gyroscopic stabilizer and distance confangler. And when you confangle distance 600 meters is just like 50 meters.



I do want the team's former Marine Sniper to be able to easily bullseye the 2-foot diameter roto-drone at 1200 meters while shooting off-hand and hanging out the back of a speeding GMC Bulldog. I want those shots to be challenging but enough within the realms of possibility that the player says heck yeah I'm going for it.

The rules aren't perfect and 4A makes them a bit better for non scope shots, but its a fairly good system
On a side note your original example doesn't bother me. The capability to shoot a random object that is just sitting there doing nothing one time in three isn't something I care if the system models well. At 1 die that shooter will have a hard time hitting anything aware of his shooting and that works for me.

Suggestion:

Range Modifier is representative of complications over the distance the bullet must travel, based on caliber, weapon design, etc. Thus, Range Modifiers cannot be reduced with the use of a scope.

Distance Modifier is a visual modifier (applying to Perception & Combat tests as normal), representative of the greater difficulty associated with spotting targets at long ranges. Distance Modifiers can be reduced with the use of a scope.



Now, we just need to set up appropriate Distance Modifiers to use. What should the Perception penalty at 50m be? 500m? 5,000m?

I keep thinking that if I am firing at 600-1000m range, I am most likely set up in a bunkered observation post, with a centrally located free swiveling tripod with a 3-12 x56 SSG scope on a WA-2000. I have personally scouted out the area and I know every turn and hiding place. My spotter is on binoculars keeping me appriased of anyone else wanting to come close. First shot is a warning shot, second shot hits.

If there is an enemy at 5000 meters and they are a threat, they must be manning a howitzer. In which case it is not about the lone sniper, but now my mad radio skillz in calling for artillery or an aerial strike, if I can see him at 5000 meters, he certainly can see me.

Wait... a troll... hmm.. uh... uh oh.... just checked my height, weight, and looked in the mirror. Uh, got the weight, close on the height (definitely elf/ork height), and while my wife says otherwise, I think my looks might be close too.

Sorry - didn't meant to seem like a troll - I was just bored and found some humor in the real-life comment, especially considering I've actually been having trouble with my new deer rifle's stock bedding & lightweight barrel, and had been thinking 'wouldn't it be cool if there really were smartlinks for these things'.

Besides, I was looking for a good excuse to make a first post.

"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."

Ummmm...sure, if you say so.




Ummmmmm.....

Here's my previous house rule proposal about making long range shooting more difficult.

Holy double posting, Batman!

Excellent first post by the way, and welcome to the forums

Try not shaving for a few months, I am sure your wife will think you are a troll.

Sounds like an issue of poor quality in the rifle. Do you have trouble with off-mark shots in your groupings?

I prefer a heavyweight groove bored barrel. But then again a smart link would be great, more time forum posting ^_^

I tried the full beard, no beard, and have settled back in for a goatee.

Well, it was a used one, and the first shot goes 3" right at 100. Second and third shots are dead on. Barrel is touching the stock when cold, but can't check it hot - lightweight barrels and WSM's get really freaking hot after 3 shots. Will probably just have bedding re-done and see what happens - still have 3 months til deer season.

Using a scope is a take aim action, to shoulder and steady the rifle.
As long as the target and the shooter don't move the shooter gets the bonus.

Thus it looks like the shooter is in the range.

All of the take aim qualifiers do apply.

Agreed, I think the system is fine to make those WTFBBQSAUCE type of shots that are just plain cool. One of the things I would want my snipers to be able to do is at least be able to accurately put a bullet through the major engine block of vehicles while in chase combat, if not even possibly putting a bullet through a driver's head. Add Awesome Points if the sniper is firing from a stationary position as the rest of the team is speeding past him. If we have modern supercomputers in a commlink sized package, there's no reason why smart systems would be able to account for the varying wind speed and other environmental differences.

I think the issue is more one of that the GMs may be afraid of having characters that literally sit way out of danger yet are engaged in the combat and dropping people left and right without the enemy knowing where the PC sniper is located. What I'm seeing is solutions to nerf the hell out of sniping to make it an unattractive choice rather than tailor the situations to make sniping an unattractive choice. I generally only favor nerfing as an option of last resort, rather than the first instinct.

EDIT: Just to make a clarification, I find nerfing to be an acceptable solution in an uncontrolled environment. An uncontrolled environment is one in which the people making and/or running the game are incapable of directly influencing the player's behavior by presentation of the environment. MMO games, for example, have a static environment that doesn't change. It's far simpler and more effective to nerf rather than adjust the environment to make the undesirable occurrence undesirable to the players.

If players are are drawn to sniping because the environment the GM gives them is conducive to sniping, bring the action indoors where the usage of sniper rifles is highly ineffective, or make the outdoor action over so large an area that sniping isn't as desirable. Shadowrun isn't an MMO where you can just respec your skills to something else if the rules suddenly change.

another topic im breaking into way too late.
anywho, if you wanna get real specific if you are a seattelite shadowrunner and you decide to go pack off to libya for whatever reason, remember to re-zero that rifle when you get there and record it in yer dope book. other atmospheric conditions affect the path of the bullet's travel like elevation above sea level, humidity, temperature at time of day, etc. there are so many factors to consider when shooting at range that in order to plot a correct path of bullet drop you need to have a baseline, hence the re-zero. the round will travel differently in libya than it will on beacon hill.

Bravo Four all up in here

of course, if i would take the time to read an entire thread before butting my nose in, id realize that this area of the discussion has been hit on already

but sniperism is a thing i can go on and on for hours about. seriously. i went there and got the t-shirt

You should start a "stories" thread.

yeah, so there i was in this OP doing flank security on this block party outer cordon when some gimpy hadji limps across the street dressed like mickey mouse but with a rusted-out PKM... um... in band camp

Did he play with his flute?

So... what's your opinion on the SAKO TRG-42 firing the Lapua .338 magnum?

personally I see no problems how it is handled, first of like any PnP the pool you get from stats and skills are based on a sunny, cloudless day with no wind and a target as still as a statue.

Second Shadowrun is clearly what I like to call "Hollywood rpgs" aka rpg whos rules are designed around event being handle with Hollywood glamour and the characters are the main movie actors so trying to apply deep analyse on breath and snipering is like trying to apply logic to a 1980 action movie, you can but then your brain starts hurting and you just make a mess...a boring mess.

my 2 cents on the whole sniper deal.

you know, your second point there, remmus, is actually what i go for too. i dont want to burden the flow of the game just to see every nuance of something im so drilled in. i dont need to describe to the table that my character fires at the bottom of his breath to maintain a steady sight picture for those precious 3 seconds- its implied. if you really want to spend another minute and a half from this combat scenario rolling dice and want to apply the modifiers for crosswinds down an urban course, go right ahead but the flavor is what really counts.
missing the forest for the trees, as it were.

and the TRG-42 is a superb, fine weapon capable of filling some of the most challenging roles. you can make that thing go any wich way you please. however i feel that the push to .338 on that platform is simply masturbation. you sacrifice weight and magazine capacity for an operationally neglible benefit. 338 is still a fine caliber, in and of itself, i might add.

It would be one thing if people were looking for ways to make sniping more engaging, but that's not what's happening here. It's just a culmination of penalties or thresholds designed purely to make it more difficult rather than engaging. Like I said, I prefer to not see things nerfed, but rather make the said action less appealing.

agreed, I personaly find it better to shape the world around the rules, rather then thr rules around the world.

That makes tons of sense...especially since, you know, by the rules, the best weapon to use when clearing a house is is a sniper rifle.

I think I'm working towards a little bit of both. I don't want long-range shooting to be difficult because I want to discourage my players from doing it. I want it to be difficult because it SHOULD to be difficult. I also feel like my players should feel an intense sense of accomplishment when hitting that bad-guy who is 1000 meters away and standing on the deck of a moving boat. Instead, it feels like "ho-hum, just another day at the office".

Like I said, presenting situations that don't allow for long distance shooting is preferable to nerfing. Those situations should be rare, right now it looks like my character is going to be in a situation where he's going to be 300-400m from a building shooting through windows. Honestly, much longer than that in an urban environment will be rare.

To make something have a sense of accomplishment there has to be a penalty for failure. Here's an example. 75 foot distance, 3 sharpshooters, total darkness, targets on on a moving boat, shooters are on a moving boat, and there's a hostage with the targets that must not be harmed. Sound intense?

A target at 1000m on a moving boat isn't really intense, the worst case is that you feel rushed, that's about it.

that idea a GM can easily slap out of your head by letting a enemy walk up next to you and blast you in the side with a shotgun since your character is to busy looking down the scope in a bloody CQC situations, remember not all aspect of a rp is raw stats and rules, common sense plays a long way too

If you choose to limit your PC by staring down the scope all the time, maybe. Certainly the "distracted" modifier should come into play because you were so focused on what you are looking thorugh the scope. Tunnel vision was one of the things my instructors warned us about when using the scope - Do Not Tunnel, do not rely on the scope to look for things, open both your eyes, find something interesting then look through the scope for a better view (sounded really kinky at the time, but hey, we were all hot blooded 18-20 year olds, he had to get our attention somehow).

Besides, if your PC really has a high Perception (like 20+ dice), it is unlikely that looking through a scope will hamper your PC much. Afterall, staring down the scope does not preclude you hearing the mofo sneaking up on you, that is both common sense and RAW.

IRL, ABSOLUTELY. In SR? Nope. Especially since I said nothing about a scope. Just a sniper rifle with iron sights. By RAW, PERFECTLY legal, but no less absurd.

I'm sure it was intense. Just ask these guys:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/world/af.../13pirates.html




It is if the boat in question is moving away from you and you only have time for one shot.

While I certainly agree that Role Playing Games are more than stats, and raw numbers-a smart group can compensate for nearly anything. If I were going to operate as a killer for hire, or perform wetwork in the world of Shadowrun long distance weapons like Sniper Rifles and Mortars are insanely difficult to effectively counter.

Even assuming that your target is smart, paranoid and has the resources to expend on a variety of defensive measures, and various counter measures-in Shadowrun you still have better than real life odds at getting away with it. Now to me, that's where Suspension of Reality comes in, and internal consistency is the key. But that's all meta-game stuff.

Keeping games on track with clever players can be a challenge. As a Game Master you'll need to be creative-make use of terrain, cover, concealment, make them work to get a shoot site-but in the end if they earn it why not let them get what they have coming? Not every run has to be a mind f**k double cross.

then if no scope is involved it´s just a rifle, no ifs or buts and i see no issue in bringing it to a CQC enviroment (especially if you equip a bayonet), Unless there is a small row of text somewhere I misst the fact it´s a sniper rifle doesnt give you a bonus to hit over other firearms

I'm glad you got the reference. However a single target on a boat moving away isn't intense. If you only can take one shot, then you're rushed. At a 1000m out, the only reason for only having 1 shot is because of the movement. The bullet would have dropped to subsonic speeds by then so unless you potshot into the boat or hit another person the target isn't going to notice the shot. It's a rushed situation, though some people may feel it to be intense, I would not. What's the consequence of failure? The guy gets away. You can almost always track him down again. Besides, in that kind of situation, I would get a 2nd, less experienced, shooter to tag the boat with a tracer road in case the shooter targeting the mark missed or shot him in a non-immediately lethal location.

No, not really.

IRL™, if I remove the Scope from an HK PSG-1, it's no less a Sniper Rifle than it was when the scope was mounted on it. Likewise with an M110, M40, Barrett M98, or .408 CheyTac.

In Shadowrun, "Sniper Rifle" is actually a specific category of firearms that uses the Sniper Rifle entry on the Range Table.

Short Range: 0 - 150m
Medium Range: 151 - 350m
Long Range: 351 - 800m
Extreme Range: 801 - 1500m

Oh, and of the two sniper rifles listed in the BBB, only one (Ranger Arms SM-4) actually comes with a scope. The Walther MA-2100 does not.

And in Arsenal, one of the three Sniper Rifles listed doesn't come with a scope either (Barrett 121).

What makes that Barrett an almost IDEAL CQC weapon (strictly according to RAW) is it's stats:
DMG: 9P
AP: -4
RC: (2)
Integral Suppressor

That's 3P more damage and 3 better AP than most Assault Rifles, plus you don't start taking range penalties until your target is out pas 150m. Oh, and it's internally smartlinked and suppressed.

Now, IRL, it's about the worst possible weapon to bring into a CQC environment. It's going to be heavy...(~10kg since it is based on this), impossible to negotiate tight corners with, and is so long (OAL of prob almost 60") that you just won't be able to maneuver with it shouldered.

Unfortunately, none of those issues are represented by the mechanics in SR. Yes, you and deal with them by GM fiat, you should need something like that to fix such a glaring hole in the rules.

Well you've already said you don't want to see posts articulating GM Fiat, and I don't think there's a lot of serious opposition here, so I guess what is it you want TOR? You've certainly convinced me, but is that all you were looking for?

then slap on a few minus to the hit pool to represent this? I see reason of making a big fuzz of all this, the reasons the rules are so basic is because that way the GM can just add or subtract around it, again the scenario you started the whole thread with is for a windless, sunny day shooting a statue. It´s then up to ther GM to subtract or add depending on stuff.

in the end just build a brick wall between RL and SR and leave the two seperate.

I really liked the way you put that.

Isn't there at least one rule based penalty in the description of one of the sniper rifles in the BBB, iirc? Something about jostling the one that can be taken apart and put in a briefcase giving it a -1 in CQC or something.

Other than that, there is a need for at least a few slight house rule stuff, eh? Maybe like make the shooting from cover penalty larger for the sniper rifle to represent the difficulty of trying to be agile with it in a CQB situation?

But what do I know, I am just a SR newbie, but a lot of what I am reading in this thread does make sense about the quirkiness seen in Sniper Rifle use extreme short and extreme long ranges.

I suppose I have gotten a bit off track. The whole reason for my initial post was to see if anyone out there has the same problem I do with how easy it is, per SR RAW, to hit a stationary target out at very long ranges. I wanted to see what house rules people have come up with to overcome the issue with the mechanics as they are currently. I honestly wasn't trying to convince people that the range modifiers are screwed up...especially since most of the Dumpshock community is fine with the rules as they are.

I know I sorta came off hostile about what sort of content I considered to be inappropriate for this thread, but I didn't want to see a dozen posts saying "nuh-uh the rulez are fine learn how to game". To me, stuff like that doesn't really encourage discussion, nor does it make the thread worth reading for the whole community.

Further, I wanted to see how my current "in development" house rules stack up to the other ones in use out there, and maybe find out from some GMs experienced with said house rules what sort of other problems their rules have generated in their games.

As you can see, stuff like "no one makes shots that far in Seattle" and "ZOMG you can stack -35 in dice penalties and really make that shot impossible!" don't really address my initial post at all.

So tell me Paul, if this was a issue in your games that you wanted to develop house rules to fix, what would those rules look like? See, I like that approach better already...I suppose I should have started out with that.

Lesson learned.

Tailor the situation to make sniping unfavorable compared to other options without requiring game mechanic numbers to show it unfavorable.

Well, this is my deal. I know SR needs a good bit of GM fiat, but what I want to present to my players is a ruleset that is as consistent as possible. I'd much rather have a written out house rules that says "Using a sniper rifle indoors inflicts a -3 penalty to hit and reduces the shooter's defense pool by 2 dice" than for me as a GM to just fiat it in the middle of the game when the player has his character bust out his PSG-1 while in CQC. It's not fair to the players if they don't know that sort of stuff ahead of time, so if they can read over the rules and think "Hey, we are going to be in close quarters, so maybe my SMG or Shotgun would be a better choice than my Sniper Rifle," then that makes for a better game than hitting them over the head with penalties when they make a decision like I mentioned above.

And you are correct, my initial post was about how hard it is, IRL, to hit a statue at long range on a windless, sunny day, and how I want to know if 1.) other posters agree that SR poorly represents this and 2.) what house rules they have developed/tested to overcome this particular issue. If the penalties as they are written in RAW (only -3 dice for a 600 meter shot while standing, unsupported, and using iron sights) don't bother you and you think they are fine, then you really have nothing meaningful to contribute to this thread.

On the other hand, if you DO use house rules to make this sort of shooting more difficult/challenging, PLEASE share them, as I would love to hear them, and I'm very interested in how they have impacted your game.

Unfortunately, I cannot build a brick wall between RL and SR. I relate to the SR game world through my RL experiences, and so do my players. And in fact, I happen to think that a hallmark of great game mechanics design is one where the expected RL outcome of action is generally the expected outcome of an action in the game world. To me, that sort of symmetry makes the game more immersive and puts less strain on one's "suspension of disbelief".

In a time long ago (40+ years) in a land far away (an old firing range on an older Canadian military base) a bunch of us kids (army cadets) got together and shot long rifles and assault rifles at the typical metal man-shapes, as well as circular targets. Both at distances out to 1000 yards (the range was built during the 2nd World War). Prone, sitting and standing. Iron sights. With long rifles and assault rifles, not sniper rifles.

I was pretty good out to about 500 yards, then my accuracy tailed off dramatically, especially standing. Some of the kids were consistent right out to the farthest targets. Some of them went on to Bisley and the Olympics.

Me, I went home early for my big brother's wedding.

Now, the fact that we were doing this for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks, maybe put us at skill higher than TheOneRonin's example of 1. And maybe we were selected to go because our AGI was higher than average. But hitting a man-sized target one time out of three at 600 metres with a weapon designed to do it doesn't seem all that house-rule-worthy to me.

Sorry if I just went into territory you didn't want, TheOneRonin.

I can understand the frustration you're having Ronin, and honestly, the best solution is "common sense". From little things like "you want to put that WHERE?" to "So, you're telling me you're an explosives expert and you want to throw a grenade down the hallway you're in..." as GM rather than imposing penalties off the cuff without having a concrete rule beforehand, its more reasonable to confront them with logic.

I do agree with the shooting penalties, and even the new, updated, rules do not really address certain parts very well, especially with sharpshooting rifles. (Also, taking the scope off that PSG-1 just makes it a more bulky and less useful SR-9). There should be more penalties, not simply larger ones, based on circumstance. And again with logic and common sense overruling RAW, even someone with minus 35 dice can make an impossible shot by edging it, sometimes even blind luck doesn't cut it.

But adding certain house rules needs to take into account all firearms, not simply rifles. Shotguns are still longarms but, along with SMGs and to a lesser extent, machine pistols, are considered the defacto house sweeper. Think you could dodge buckshot inside a narrow hallway with barely noticable threholds for the doors? Not bloody likey, but RAW allows it.

In closing, best house rule ever - common sense. Practice it.

There's the truth of it.

This seems like common sense to me. If your players are trying to bring a sniper rifle into a CQC environment because of the numbers, that's some twinkery, at least to me, and they're asking to be house ruled for laughing in the face of game realism. Of course, it would be better if there was a solid rule here. I accept your premise that long distance shooting should be harder as well.

How about the sniper rifle requires a complex action to aim before you can shoot without penalty, and the character must be stationary for that combat turn (no movement?) Otherwise, -6 penalty for snap shots. Plus an additional minus to agility when manuvering inside a building. Seem fair?

I dunno.

well I have no real experience with SR (tho i am a 10 year PnP vet), depending upon what you want there is a few ways.

Simply say that when the GM judge it to be a combat stressful situation and/or indoors use assault rifle range instead of sniper rifle range, if you feel thats not effecting enought you could also add a -1 to all range catergory.


short -1
medium -2
long -3
extreme -4



thats how I would solve it as a GM.

No worries, it's been an entertaining read-and that's always good.



I absolutely do. I however temper this with the knowledge of several things:

• It's just a game. No game will perfectly emulate reality, no matter how hard they try. (At least not in a fun way.)
• I can change the rules.

After that it's all pretty simple to me: Meet the demands of my players.




We've played since 89, and as far as I'm concerned there is no hard fix. At least none that leaves everyone satisfied. I make heavy use of situational modifiers (Terrain, random incidents, weather, cover and concealment, trained opposition, effective counter sniper measures, etc...), but to be honest the best fix is that my players have found this sort of scenario not to be fun. It lacks the cinematic (melo)drama of taking a risk, so they rarely use this option.

Quite often they use left effective solutions because it's In Character, or just more Fun.

But yeah if I were a Professional Criminal hired to kill someone in the world of Shadowrun, damn straight I'd find me a high powered rifle, and a damned good scope and a great ambush spot. One shot, one kill. I'd have overwatch, and multiple E&E routes and plans. And if I did it right you wouldn't even know where to look, let alone expect it.

Here's a nice crunchy rule for CQC involving rifles that doesn't involve clubbing them with the butt.

(Skill + AGI) / 2)) +/- modifiers. (imaging systems and targetting modifiers such as smartgun, scopes, laser sights, do not apply the usual bonuses)

So half skill and no help from smartlinks laser sights or scopes?

I like it except that no other rule in SR just halves your skill right off the bat like that. Doesn't seem symmetrical with the other systems.

Well, in my mind at least, it works better than flat penalties which could make an outright shot impossible without edge. But firing at that range isn't impossible, just unlikely, and the more trained you are, the more likely to hit you are. It's also not just halving skill, which I don't feel is effective enough, it's halving your entire dicepool before modifiers. Certain things that affect your DP have to still be included based on common sense. Your AGI increasers fall into the math scheme before mods, but others like Enhanced Articulation and even the reflex recorder, which normally adds directly to the skill in question, should fall outside the math and end up as a final mod, maybe even specialization, if you feel this rule is overly harsh.

Maybe I'm just retarded. Yes, I can do stuff like the following:

Target at Extreme Range: -3
Target has good cover: -3
Attacker firing from cover: -2
Partial Light: -2
Light Smoke: -2
Attacker on floating platform: -3

Total penalty: -15 (-12 if using Rating 3 scope).

Yes, that's a tough shot, even if you have a shitload of dice. But it doesn't fix the fact that even without all of those conditions, the shot should NOT be easy.