Topic: Handling attacks with higher MK then 5

[TerryTee]

As far as I know there are no rules for handling attacks against people, where the attacking weapon has MK 6 or higher.
I find this to be a problem, since several situations can arise where a weapon?s MK is raised by 1 or even more.
-Some ammunition can raise the MK
-Some weapons get a raised MK at point blank range
-There exists various house rules for customizing a weapon and raising the MK (the of FELIX rules for one).

I think it?s unfortunate that an MK 5 weapon can not benefit from any of these circumstances, or that an MK 4 weapon can only benefit from one of them. In this regard, the MK 5 limit is very artificial.

I?m coming into this from SM2, but I think this also applies for SM:P. The armor rules are somewhat different between the systems, but I think a solution in one system can be used in the other.

Some thoughts on rules options:
-Work out a system where each MK above 5 gives a hits and critical bonus above the MK 5 limit.
-Use RoleMaster ATs for higher MK
-Use the step from MK4 to MK5 to extend the table to MK6 or MK7.

Does anyone have any house rules or (other) ideas for handling this?

-Terry

[markc]

Terry,
 Thanks for mentioning the version, I was going to guess what system you were using but now I do not have to.


 a)The first is that even though the weapon is much more powerful the weapons effect just cannot focus all of its energy into such a small target. So no extra damage. [I remember this in SMP main book but could not find it in the SMP:VM or SMP:BL about high power weapons firing at starships.]
 b) The second option, ....  ..... as I find the rule in my PDF. The rule is in SM:P Vehicle Manuel pg 49 Personal Arms vs. Construction Armor Types and gives you the option to multiply the aperature energy by a factor to give you the mark #.
 c) The last option tells you to divide the aperature energy by a number to get the mark number to attack a vehicle.

 IMO you could do any of the three options but note all of the rules above talk about either powerful weapons firing at a vehicle or small arms firing at vehicles. I am fairly sure there is another reference to firing high power weapons at personel but it is late and I just could not see it on my first pass through the rules.
 I also think that any of the above rules would work fine in a game.

MDC
 

[TerryTee]

Thanks for your input marc.
I?m not very familiar with the SM:P rules, so I have not searched through them yet.

On the other hand I?ve had a closer look at the attack tables and decided to extend them.
In this situation I?m lucky to use SM2, since it does not have as many attack tables. The ones I?ve extended are Small Proj, Blaster, Laser, Stunner/Distruptor and Flamer.

I?ve done two things:
1)   Use the Max MK against RM AT as simply the next MK for SM AT. That way all tables are extended to MK 6 and the Small Proj is extended to MK 7. Looking at the numbers in the tales, this seems quite reasonable.
2)   Actually extend the tales to allow for higher dice rolls up to 225. I already have all the tables in Excel format, so it was just a matter of creating a formula that mimicked the steps in tables.

This way I?ve ended up with tables for MK 10 weapons against personnel. This is probably too high, since I guess a ?proper? MK 10 laser cannon should pretty much kill a poor human on any hit. My tables are intended for hand held weapons that for one reason or another has a increased MK, as stated in my first post (special ammo, point blank, modified weapon.

-Terry