Suppression Fire clarification

Started by Spinflight, December 16, 2024, 03:59:59 PM

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Spinflight

Quote"Every person in the area covered by suppression fire
has two options. They can either take cover (if cover is
available), or take a bigger chance of being hit. After each
character has determined whether or not to take cover,
the attacker can make a +0 OB attack (plus the OB
modifier from the suppression fire maneuver roll) against
everyone in the area."

Could we clarify with @Defendi a few things about this skill? To my reading a +0 or +30 attack would be additive with the weapon's natural OB. Otherwise it would be a 0 or 30 OB attack rather than +30. However it doesn't state which critical table this uses, though seems to be an area attack version of Tracking Shot or Continuous Fire.

If using the blaster, laser or plasma critical tables then which bonuses apply or were playtested? For instance on Core p200 it is stated that support weapons have 4x range and do 2x damage. This doesn't appear to be contradicted by BL.  Though Blasters also do 3x hit damage in continuous fire and lasers 2x, also plasma 2x in burst. Are these supposed to stack or be ignored for this skill? Should a support laser be doing 6x hits in continuous fire?

For instance if acting last in a round a PC with 70OB in heavy support blaster ( 20 of which is Heavy Support +10 and weapon quality +10) sprays a cone containing 3 critters with a successful Suppression Fire manoeuvre what would the correct boni be? How would the NPCs, who have already acted, get the 'dive for cover' mechanic? What DB modifiers would apply to them, as Qu based DB isn't obviously relevant if a constant laser, blaster or stream of lead is targetting their area, rather than them individually.

It's an interesting and, arguably, vital mechanic to have. As an ex infantryman I know that firefights in the real world revolve almost entirely around the ability to suppress. Though given the ambiguity in the rules this skill could either be worthless ( seen the previous thread on the topic which appeared to ignore the hits multipliers) or so powerful that it negates the other weapon types and attacks.

Maybe a worked example could be added to the errata to aid GMs in this regard?