Firefight ranges...

[jester]

Nope, ya lay in your gun before hand and wait for the data and order to fire. Then a small deflection change and there ya go.

[copeab]

I've always wanted to run an encounter combining a mortar, a minefield and a sniper.

[Adm.Lee]

I've always wanted to run an encounter combining a mortar, a minefield and a sniper.

I've not done all 3, but I have done mortar+sniper and sniper + minefield, I think. I recall the players not being worried about the mortar when the first two shots missed, but when I started rolling lots of dice for fragments, they started to take cover!

[jester]

Minefield is awesome! It channels....the sniper needs a direct line of sight though.

How about a mortar team who are sniping. A spotter locates and plots targets by day. The mortar crew comes in after dark and fires a salvo at select targets, taking time to aim in and make sure the bubbles are really level and centered and they are doing it from behind a hill or some other obstacle.

[.45cultist]

Thanks.... that was my general concensus.... about 200 max unless they are stupid and walking in an open field.

At 450M a man sized target is obscured by the front sight post of the M16 series rifles. My uncle told me this since he used more than a 25M range. My time was spent on 25M ranges at all my bases with reduced size targets simulating 100-250M.

[rcaf_777]

How about a mortar team who are sniping. A spotter locates and plots targets by day. The mortar crew comes in after dark and fires a salvo at select targets, taking time to aim in and make sure the bubbles are really level and centered and they are doing it from behind a hill or some other obstacle.

A spotter dresed is civilans clothes might be able to do a good spoting job and might be able to get some a good distance by pacing if he not detected.

[swaghauler]

My players must make a DIFFICULT Observation check (AVERAGE with Binoculars, EASY with a Rangefinder) if they want to know the range. This has led to some interesting ranged battles in game.

[Askold]

How commonly do your players fight enemies with artillery and/or air support

Considering that artillery is much less common (and air power almost non-existent) in TW unless the PCs are fighting against remnants of military having rifles with some long range accuracy becomes more valuable. Getting close to the enemies has advantages, like throwing a few grenades (IF you don't need to save them up for later...) or making those sniper rifles useless as the assault rifles and SMGs are much more efficient in short range firefights.

Then again if you start the firefight from long range the opponents are likely to fall back and regroup (which might be good if you simply want to avoid battles and plan to be somewhere else before they dare show up again or bad if you had plans to loot their equipment or need to worry about further attacks since they might be back.)

[swaghauler]

How commonly do your players fight enemies with artillery and/or air support

Considering that artillery is much less common (and air power almost non-existent) in TW unless the PCs are fighting against remnants of military having rifles with some long range accuracy becomes more valuable. Getting close to the enemies has advantages, like throwing a few grenades (IF you don't need to save them up for later...) or making those sniper rifles useless as the assault rifles and SMGs are much more efficient in short range firefights.

Then again if you start the firefight from long range the opponents are likely to fall back and regroup (which might be good if you simply want to avoid battles and plan to be somewhere else before they dare show up again or bad if you had plans to loot their equipment or need to worry about further attacks since they might be back.)

In my current game, this does happen. I am running a Merc style campaign in Africa. When they call for support I roll 2D10. My support options look like this.

2. Ground Attack turboprop with rockets and guns available.
3. Helo with rockets and guns available.
4. 155mm Howitzer.
5-6. 105mm Howitzer or 122mm Rockets.
7-8. 120mm Mortars.
9-10. 81mm or 60mm Mortars.
11+ No Support available.

I roll 1D5 +5 for the number of rounds available on the call for support.

[jester]

In a past game, I lost more players to militia armed with Mosin/Nagants than AK fire from regular troops. Using its longer range and of course the higher hit dice to devastating effect.

[kcdusk]

Rough figures are OK ...

how many times has a "sniper" been eliminated/captured by a PC group

[swaghauler]

Rough figures are OK ...

how many times has a "sniper" been eliminated/captured by a PC group

Twice in my game. Once in my new Merc campaign and once in my old Twilight campaign in Poland. There have only been three times that they encountered a sniper who attacked. The third one escaped into the African jungle. There were others (in Poland) who could have attacked the players; But I had them slip away to warn the rest of their group instead. Knowledge is power, and advanced warning of danger trumps all other actions in my world.

[stormlion1]

Mid 90's we trained at 300 meters, and 100 meters. Then we were told we would rarely get lucky with those 300 meters because those were the lucky shots due to terrain, movement, and cover and concealment. Focus on the ones between 300 and 100. At 100 meters we were expected to have center of mass all the time. We practiced that heavily. At less than 100 meters we were told to prepare for hand to hand unless we were sure they would break. Those instructors worked us to the bone on that.

[Cdnwolf]

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=4167

This post gives you a visual look at what 100 metres looks like.

[Webstral]

The Soviets in Afghanistan preferred to engage at ranges longer than 300m specifically to avoid exposing themselves to small arms fire from the Mujahedeen. The Soviets would use crew served weapons to keep the enemy at arms length whenever possible. Obviously, this was not always possible.

A study was done after WW2 to discover the ranges at which American riflemen were actually engaging the enemy. To that point, the US Army was enamored with the idea of the universal Sgt York knocking down targets out to the maximum effective range of the rifle. The study revealed that American troops were holding their fire until the enemy was within 100m. Among other factors, this had a significant role in the adoption of the M16.

The points about how firefights start in Twilight are very interesting. I havent played in years and years, but the observations about firefights starting when negotiations break down rings true to me. Also, the ambush start rings true. My players, back in the day, learned the value of the close ambush early on. So it seems to me that others have uncovered the truth already. The majority of firefights would occur at point blank to short ranges, I think.