From:	ROBERSON@***.EDU
Subject:	Dikoted ammo, Combat Pool
Date:	Fri, 9 Apr 93 19:20:52 CET

I really don't know where my brain was yesterday. I mean, I must have missed
a payment or something because I simply was not thinking straight. Here are
answers to two of the hottest topics on the board, Dikoted Weaponry and the
use of Combat Pool.

Dikoted Weaponry
As I recall, the listed stats for this are -2 power and ignoring armor.
Now, that effectively strips the target of armor and gives him two
points back. I'm just wondering how effective this is supposed to be
relative to APDS. Example: A Predator 2 (9M) is fired at a target
wearing a secure jacket (B-5) twice, once with APDS and once with
Dikoted ammo.
APDS halves the ballistic rating at no loss to power. I believe you
round down, meaning that the target now resists at 7M (5/2-2.5, round
down to 2, subtract 2 from power level of gun)
The Dikoted round ignores the armor entirely but subtracts 2 from
the power. Once again, the target is resisting a 7M attack.

I only point this out because in most cases, dikoted ammo, as the
"rough draft" stats define it, is at best going to be only equal to APDS
in effect. Even if you round up when halving armor, the target above would
resist a 6M attack, effectively the same in SR2 damage resistance tests. The
only time Dikoted ammo would be more effective would be when used against
heavily armed targets wearing partial or full heavy, where the Dikote
effectively strips more points of armor off the target.
Which is pretty much the way it ought to be, if the stuff exists in a
campaign. Dikoted bullets are definitely going to be exotic, expensive toys
that the party shouldn't need for most missions. They should only pull it out
when it's there only defense against impregnable foes.



Combat Pool
As promised, I took a gander at the rules and found this: Officially,
Combat Pool dice used to avoid an attack are rolled against the same target
as Body Resistance: Armor DOES indeed affect the TN. This makes sense because
a dodge would take into account the fact that you're wearing armor; maybe the
bullet hits but at an angle that your armor easily deflects. Those of you
familiar with GURPS will recognize this as the efect of Passive Defense in
your armor: Your dodge roll alone may not have let you avoid the roll, but the
blow barely struck and was easily absorbed by your armor.
Now, the only time we get to haggle about this is when someone decides
to introduce a variant rule like using a different TN to dodge the attack.
An unneccessary complication that makes SR more realistic (although I myself
have never been able to see Shadowrun as realistic at all) but nonetheless a
valid rules mod, this is where people get hung up on TNs. As I said before,
if you are rolling against a different TN to dodge, then, and only then, should
you allocate Combat Pool dice separately. Otherwise, it's irrelevant
unless there's some rule in effect that doesn't let you Body dice work
normally.
BTW, I was just skimming but I missed the passage that says you should
use different colors for CP dice and Body Dice. If I missed something, please
give page and paragraph number so I can look it up.


J Roberson
There was a Checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
-Elvis Costello, Oliver's Army