| From: | Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Barrier ratings |
| Date: | Fri, 16 Jun 1995 19:24:10 GMT |
> It would punch through much easier. This is a house rule, of sorts, but I
> think it makes sense: Ammo that is designed to penetrate armor (such as
> APDS rounds, AVMs, Assaultcannon rounds...) use half the barrier rating when
> determining if the shot passed through the barrier, but the full rating when
> checking if the barrier was damaged by the attack. A shaped-charge missile
> only makes a minor hole in the shell of a tank - then trashes the inside
> real good! The top hatch usually goes 'pop'! (Any gun nuts that can comment
> on this?)
Actually, shaped charges can be quite marginal on tanks. There are many cases
from World War 2 and the Middle East where tanks were hit by HEAT rounds and
didn't notice! The crew didn't notice until they saw the hole in the turret:
thought it was just something ricocheting off the hull. The way to make them
more effective is to use a wider "jet" of plasma, but this pierces less
armour. You trade off drilling a hole in the armour against inflicting damage
when you get to the other side.
Russian tanks and APCs, by the way, have very exposed fuel and ammo storage
compared to Western vehicles: it reduces bulk and makes the tank smaller
and faster, so less likely to be hit. The downside is that hits which would
barely register on a Challenger, Abrams or Merkava blow the turret off a
T-72 when the ammo cooks off in the racks.
> >Is there a difference between punching through (small holes) and
> > making holes big enough to walk through
> Depends on what you want to do, really. If somebody is hiding behind a
> barrier and a player shoots at him and the shot doesn't penetrate, the
> player will most likely start whining about wether his attack weakened the
> barrier or not. Then, if it's relevant, consult the table in SRII.
One point from my Army training: anti-tank weapons are not much use on
buildings, especially houses: they make a small hole in the brick and
anything directly behind it, but that's all. Against bunkers they are
very useful provided you can hit the firing slit.
The Russians have two warheads for their newest missile, the Kornet, for
just this reason: a HEAT warhead for vehicles, and a "thermobaric" (probably
fuel-air explosive) warhead for use on structures, trenches et cetera.
--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
