From:	Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Always running...
Date:	Wed, 20 Sep 1995 13:22:33 -0400

On Tue, 19 Sep 1995, Eve Forward wrote:

> >>need to either a)fire blind over the shoulder

> Actually, doesn't a smartgun link allow you to "see" where your
> gun is pointed (I remember the example being you could stick
> just the gun around the corner and aim perfectly well, without
> having to put your head around the corner) so couldn't you just
> aim the gun over your shoulder as you ran?

No. A smartgunlink just projects a cross-hair and vital weapon
stats (fire mode, remaining ammo, etc.) on you retina. It does not show
you what the gun "sees." If it did, you'd have the same problem that
people operating cameras get, only worse. As your gun whipped around to
spot a new target, it would be like spinning yourself, inducing
heavy-duty vertigo. In addition to this, a smartgun link as you describe
it would make it difficult to move and fire at the same time because your
gun wouldn't necessarily be pointing in the direction you were looking,
thus making it easier to trip over things (like people with cameras
do...). And if it overlayed the two images...wow! That would be
confusing as hell.
It is for these reasons that (in my campaign) blindfire such as
firing around corners does not confer the -2 smartlink modifier because
the cross-hair is not sitting over your target, it's sitting over some
arbitrary point on the wall betweeen the target and you. A smartgunlink
shouldn't help you with targets you can't see.

Marc