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-Mud
ex-Jade Falcon
Bounty Hunter
Joined: 04-Nov-2003 00:00
Posts: 1082
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 Posted: 23-Jan-2004 15:20 Post subject: smoke in battle |
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| Has anybody come up with any rules for dealing with incidental fire and smoke on the battlefield. The official rules make no allowance for the accidental fires which battles usually produce. Smoke is also generated by prolonged weapons fire. Many military historians have commented on the huge effect smoke has on battlefield visibility, and I think it would be interesting to add this to battletech. The discharge of energy weapons would be smokeless, but missiles and ballistic weapons create lots of smoke.
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Pinhead
The Bloody Clans
Joined: 25-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1258
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23-Jan-2004 21:17 Post subject: RE: smoke in battle |
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Actually a Laser hitting vegetation will produce a decent amount of smoke also.
Pin
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"My Blood is not mine to give, it belongs to my Brothers"
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Vampire
Free Worlds League
Lieutenant Colonel
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 912
Location: Spain
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| Posted: 24-Jan-2004 14:15 Post subject: RE: smoke in battle |
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Quote:
| Has anybody come up with any rules for dealing with incidental fire and smoke on the battlefield. |
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It's in the boxed set rulebook, any shot that strikes a woods hex accidentally (you fire at a target in the hex and misses) has the chance of clearing the hex or setting it on fire.
Same goes for accidental fires on buildings, in Citytech.
You can apply the same rules to other types of terrain, for example a dry high grass plain could mean all clear terrain hexes are subject to catching fire.
Conversely, you can rule out that in a tropical rainforest vegetation is too wet to catch fire.
It all depends of how much importance do you want to give to smoke and fires in your game.
For the most part we tend to ignore the accidental fire rules, as fires don't usually spread that fast and because it's a drag and litters the board with markers.
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Smoke is also generated by prolonged weapons fire. Many military historians have commented on the huge effect smoke has on battlefield visibility The discharge of energy weapons would be smokeless, but missiles and ballistic weapons create lots of smoke.
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That was in the days of black powder, you know 
Modern gun propellant doesn''t create too much smoke, though considering the rate of fire of autocannons they are going to contribute. Missiles would be the chief contributors, as their propellants leave trails of smoke, compounded by the sheer volume that are fired, the smoke created by the explosion of the warheads, and the dust kicked up by the missiles that fail their target.
Energy weapons will create smoke when hitting the ground, and steam, too.
So yes, a 'Mech battle is going to create a good haze , not as bad as a battle in the days of black powder, but significant enough.
However, I don't think smoke has that much of an impact. If originated by a focus of fire, it will go straight up in a plume. If there's wind to make it drift, and hug to the ground, it will soon be dispersed.
Most smoke is either tall plumes of smoke in one hex, (a smoke marker) or a low laying haze. In game terms this means that most rolling smoke would be just one level tall, it would obscure vehicles, but Battlemechs will stand out of it.
Also, even if a 'Mech sensor suite is quite limited by 21st century standards, (Magscan, and Active /Passive IR, plus ground radar wich is actually an improvement of what's avialable now) considering the heat signature of most 'Mechs you don't need sophisticated thermal imaging sights to see through smoke. 'Mechs are such a visible target on account of their size, IR and magnetic signatures that smoke doesn't conceal them much.
Maximum Tech rules differentiate between light smoke (most fires) and heavy smoke that is either produced by smoke munitions or stuff like burning oil, dense stuff that likely it's produced by a heat source that also messes with IR scan.
So even if smoke is present in all battlefields, in most circumstances is not going to make a difference. If it plays a role because of flammable ground, large numbers of weapons fire , or dust kicked up by 'Mechs and vehicles in motion, then I suggest using the rules from Maximum Tech for sandstorms or fog.
As smoke builds up gradually, you could say that after 10 turns of combat, ambient smoke imposes a +1 penalty to weapons fire. That's a good representation if you don't want to keep track of hexes on fire.
If the battle is fought in a terrain with lots of potential fire sources, like a forest or buildings then use the rules for accidental fires, and light smoke counters, but don't bother with the spreading rules as most battles will be over before fires spread out of their hex.
If you are fighting on terrain that is a fire hazard, like dry woods, dry high grass plain, timber houses with thatch roofs, an oil refinery, then use the spreading rules too and heavy smoke counters (both from increased smoke and from the raging flames effect on IR scan)
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-Mud
ex-Jade Falcon
Bounty Hunter
Joined: 04-Nov-2003 00:00
Posts: 1082
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| Posted: 26-Jan-2004 21:29 Post subject: RE: smoke in battle |
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| Burning vehicles will be another major source of smoke on any mechanized battlefield. A burning 'mech or tank would probably generate as much smoke as an inferno round.
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AWAD
Draconis Combine
Chu-sa
Joined: 06-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 766
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| Posted: 28-Jan-2004 22:03 Post subject: RE: smoke in battle |
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I think only missiles as a weapon would produce smoke. But it could be said it is light a wispy trails so no effect.
As for accident fires, yes it can happen but it takes time for it to really get going and cause a hazard or sight impediment. So do not worry about as it would only bog the game down. But if it is something important like an ammo dump then maybe you roll each round.
So this is why intentional fires are an action. Notice they do not automatically, so I think they work.
AWAD- I have used smoke to good effect against the clanners
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-Mud
ex-Jade Falcon
Bounty Hunter
Joined: 04-Nov-2003 00:00
Posts: 1082
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| Posted: 28-Jan-2004 22:06 Post subject: RE: smoke in battle |
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On 2004-01-28 22:03, AWAD wrote:
AWAD- I have used smoke to good effect against the clanners
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Intentional fires are handy for smoking out a Clan unit sitting at long range in a woods hex, sniping away across a wide clear space. I flushed out a Masakari C with a couple of Panthers that way once; I still lost one Panther and most of the other one against that Masakari though, but I brought some LRM hurtin' from an Archer on a nearby hill to finish the job.
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