| From: | One Ronin <ronin@*******.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | APDS....Ronin's Combat Corner....Part 3 |
| Date: | Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:58:03 PST |
getting a lot of attention (positive & negative). That's good. Believe
it or not, I like it when people point out that I am wrong about
something......it keeps me from making an ass out of myself more than
once. Anyway, on to the subject of the day......
PCs love them, GMs hate them, and the badguys always seem to be able to
get them a lot easier than the PCs. You know what I'm talking
about.....APDS rounds.
Well....we all know about how good this type of ammo is at punching
through armor and walls, but has anyone thought of what drawbacks it
has? For starters, many rounds tend to warp somewhat upon entering the
human body. They also tend to deflect off of bone and move through the
body in a different direction. Also, the size of the round is a pretty
good indication of the wound channel it will create.
APDS rounds consist of projectiles that are smaller than the standard
round (that's the reason for the DS [discarding sabot] in APDS). They
also tend to be manufactured from materials much more resiliant than
lead. So here you have a projectile that is much smaller than normal,
but with the same amount of force behind it (same amount of chemical
propellant for caseless rounds). Plus, the round is made from a tough
material that doesn't deform like lead. No, I'm certainly no physics
guru, but I'm pretty sure that if you apply an equal amount of force to
two objects, the one will less mass will have a higher velocity.
Anyway, if that is the case, one can conclude that APDS rounds leave
smaller wound channels and tend to go clean through the target as
opposed to bouncing around inside of it (a la JFK). If this is true,
then APDS rounds should actually do less damage than normal rounds.
Now, I think dropping an assault rifle from 8M to 8L is just plain
wrong. However, lessening the damage by one block or so tends to work
really well in my game. This way, there is a considerable drawback to
using APDS.
Keep in mind that these suggestions are based mostly on the existing
game rules. IMNSHO, giving an assault rifle one point of power less
than a heavy pistol is insanely wrong. If you don't believe me, compare
ballistics tests of 5.56mm to .45 cal. Wound channel size is much
larger with the .45, and so is hydrostatic shock. But, penetration is
far better with 5.56mm. Anyway, I digress.
All in all, I say that APDS rounds should do a little less damage than
normal rounds of the same caliber. At the very least, this rule assists
game balance.
Oh, BTW.....if you follow the logic above on APDS rounds....firing them
through a weapon equipped with a silencer practically nullifies the
armor piercing quality of the round. Just my opinon.
Ronin
-"Who dares, wins."
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