Krox's Visibility Suggestion

Krox had a suggestion in the comments to my last post that we vary the short range based on visibility, but that we simply make each range band after that 12" further. Well, I've lined up some models and taken pictures. Let's see how the two methods compare.

As before, the green models are the shooters, while the red models represent targets at various range bands. The target models in the 'Clear' are on the right. The ones laying down are obscured, and the ones behind the obstacles are concealed.

The firers are all BS6, and the targets are all Evasion 6. So a shot at short range in the clear would hit on a 4+.

To recap the two systems...

SandWyrm's System (Green Die):

• 'Short Range; is 24", halved for each level of concealment.
• Each range band is a doubling of the one before it.

Krox's System (Red Die):

• 'Short Range; is 24", halved for each level of concealment (identical to SandWyrm's).
• Each range band is 12" further than the one before it.

In these examples, what you need to hit in Krox's suggested 12" bracket system is marked with a red die. While the green dice show what you would need to hit if each bracket was simply double the range of the one before.

For both systems, the 'short' range starts at 24" and is halved for each level of concealment. So a concealed target at 6" is hit on the same 4+ as a clear target at 24".

Then, under my system, the next range bracket is 12" (6" doubled). However, under Krox's system, the next range bracket is 18" (6" + 12"). So it's actually easier to hit a model at 18" under his system than mine.

At 12", concealed models are harder to hit under my system. While both systems are identical for obscured targets.

At 18", shots at concealed targets under Krox's system finally get harder. But we're also into my third (12-24") bracket. So it's still harder to hit under my system. We don't even out again until we get to 24".

At 30", my system tops-out into 6+6 land for concealed targets.

For clear shots though, Krox's system starts getting harder to hit at 36".

By the time we reach 48", shots are now clearly harder under Krox's system.

At 60", Krox's system tops out for all targets, while in my system, you can still hit a target in the clear on a 6+.

Conclusions

This generates all sorts of ideas in me. :)

First off, I don't mind the lower odds of Krox's system at longer ranges. Long-Range shots shouldn't be too easy. But I do mind, close-up, how easy shots get under his system. Typical engagement ranges mid-game are going to be around 12-24", so we need more granularity close-up, not less.

I'm also not fond of players having to figure out what the brackets are when the short range isn't a step of 12". So you'll have a concealed target, and players trying to figure out what 6" + 12" + 12" is for the 3rd bracket. Which, I know from experience, guys will be pulling out calculators for.

So I see two viable options here.

1) We keep my idea as-is, but raise everyone's Ev by one point across the board. Which would make Guard on Guard shots a 5+ at 24" in the clear, and for concealed targets at 6". That would give guard a 6+ for clear shots at 48", and they would only be able to hit anything beyond that (barring 6+6) if the target exposed itself by running or firing. Which, I think, represents well the ability of an assault rifle to shoot that far. But only if the target is cooperating. :)

2) We adopt standard range bands, such as 6", 12", 24", 36", 48", 60", 72", 84", 96". Your standard short range becomes 24", and you move up or down that table depending on the target's visibility. That gets a little wonky at the short end of the scale. But at least it could be memorized.

But Wait, There's More...

There's also a third option that I've just thought of. I'll do a separate post on it. :)

Thoughts?