
I've always been a little unsatisfied with having to choose between Narrow and Wide Bursts. It's all-or-nothing, it can be overkill (either too much Dodge penalty, or too much +DV), and neither directly helps you make extreme shots (i.e., spraying at a distant target).
The proto-'solution' I've been considering is to simply add the Burst bonus straight to the attacker's DP. This addresses the problem of 'wasted' bonus and the hit-them-or-hurt-them dilemma. It also means that you can make difficult shots by virtue of throwing more lead. I had originally considered just allowing the player to split their Burst bonus between -Dodge and +DV, but that seemed like it would bog down the game more, and encourage metagaming.
I know this is a very old, obvious idea, and you're all smart enough to recognize the obvious implications of this. I ran some simulations with DP/3 for expected hits, and this performs *very* similarly to Wide bursts. You would expect this, because it's basically Wide bursts without the 'cap' at 0 defense. (I can toss up the spreadsheets, if anyone cares, for which I used some of the Sample Grunts). This isn't necessarily a success, though, because it's not intended to nerf Narrow bursts. See Variants and Tweaks, below.
Some Problems:
1. Huge problems with Edge use
2. Never glitch again
3. Beating armor with autofire
4. Much harder to get a clean miss from dodging. I'm not sure what to do about that one.

5. (Please suggest, that's why I'm posting the thread.

6. [Heath Robinson] pointed out that, with *zero* RC, the basic version of this rule doesn't do anything.

7. [rumanchu] mentioned that Edge/Long Shot rules already exist for 'million-to-one' shots.
8. It occurred to me that this also makes Dodge glitches much less likely; is that a problem for anyone?
I think problems 1, 2, and 3 can simply be negated by rolling the BF bonus dice separately; does that complicate things more than removing Narrow/Wide bursts simplifies them?
Variants and Tweaks:
1. Increase the BF bonus to (N) instead of (N-1); short bursts would be +3, long bursts +6, etc. (This doesn't seem necessary, just a passing thought.)
2. Increase DV by 1 per 3 rounds fired (short +1, long +2, full +3).
** [The numbers for this variant (#2) look pretty good, falling nicely between Wide and Narrow bursts in the RAW simulation. This is the version I'm most liking.]
3. (Combine 1 and 2: Burst bonus is N, and DV bonus is N/3; almost certainly too deadly, for no good reason.)
4. [Flaconer] suggests DP+N/2, DV+N/2, as a weaker solution for burst fire. (I'm concerned that it's much weaker than Wide, but it limits Narrow well.)
In conclusion, I'm going to give it a little playtesting. I like the simplicity of it, and I don't think it obviously unbalances combat. I'm asking you guys for your expert skills at telling me why I'm wrong and it *does* obviously unbalance everything. Thanks.