From:	David Hinkley dhinkley@***.org
Subject:	Two firearms at once.
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 03:25:06 -0800

Date sent: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 18:50:11 -0500
From: Devotely Apathetic <Apathy@******.com>
To: "shadowrn@*********.org" <shadowrn@*********.org>
Subject: Two firearms at once.
Send reply to: shadowrn@*********.org

> So it says in SR3 that with a simple action you can fire two firearms in
> burst fire or semi-automatic mode if you have one in each hand. No
> smartlinks or laser sights and such. A friend had an idea around this
> and an encephalon. It's suppose to allow multi-tasking right?
>
> I'm just curious what modifers people would place on this and just
> normal two handed use. +2 for second firearm use but how about multiple
> targets? I think I'd disallow mag's out of hand unless it's a single
> target.

As I understand and play it, a smartlink causes an indicator (dot or cross
hairs) to appear in the users field of view that shows where the weapon in
that hand is pointed. This assumes that the impact point of the weapon is in
the field of view. If it was not then no impact indicator would appear and
some sort of out of field of view indicator would.

So, if each of the smartlinks had a different colored or shaped indicator, then
the user should be able to identify which weapon is pointed where and could
fire either one. I would assess a +2 TM for the "weak" hand weapon, and
addtional +2 to each weapon if the user attempted to fire the two weapons at
different targets (Because of the difficulty in keeping each weapon lined up
with a seperate target, most people have difficulty doing two differnt things at
once).

While I would permit it, I do not think it would be worth the money or
essence. Granted you might be able to engage two targets, which might be
an advantage in a "mexican stand off" but other wise you would be better off
engaging mulitiple targets in sucession. And then there is the problem of jams
and reloading, with a gun in each hand how do you replace an expended
magazine or clear a jam. It can be done but not nearly as fast as when you
have the weapon in one hand and the other free for the magazine.

There is one logical reason for two smart links, but only if you have lots of
extra money and essance. That is to permit "weak" hand firing, when ever
you are not able to use the "strong" hand.




David Hinkley
dhinkley@***.org