how do you handle ranged combat rules

[Killer Cyborg]

ok so i have been reading and there is way to many ranged combat ruleings. i am decideing which book to use for are ranged combat...i kinda like the orignal rules and the way they handle bursts and sprays...but then agian i dont mind the UE ruleings... which one do you guys use? and or how do you handle ranged combat?

If you're going with RUE rules, use them for combat.

The original burst/spray rules were good, but they had some problems.

[Proseksword]

Definitely the RIFTs Ultimate Edition ones, unless you want your PCs to get whacked rather easily by CS Troopers spraying them down with their hyper-Über-C-12s.

Some modifications I'm adding in is that the penalty for hitting moving targets caps at -10, and that there is no -10/-5 to dodge for beams/bullets, but that it is still unmodified by Attributes and skill bonuses.

[Myrrhibis]

The RUE rules look good.

But I have found in the 19 yrs I've been playing PB (and mostly RIFTS), that having the -10 D vs ranged attacks (energy & such), but allowing D bonuses, seems to work. HOWEVER, the PC has to have reasonable knowledge that the attack is coming (like looking at the soliders lined up to shoot at them). It generally means a nasty -D for most characters, but also allows them to have a chance w/ a good roll vs the NPC crappy-barely-hit-em strike roll.

It's helped keep PCs (and NPCs that aren't fodder) alive, but it's not a given unless a nifty RCC/OCC.

[Grell]

I agree. It makes firearms just a bit more deadly.

[Proseksword]

My main problem with it originally was that under the old Palladium rules, there was basically no way to avoid being hit with a gun. My Great Grandmother could hit a Jet Fighter with a 22 if it was within the effective range. Thanks to RUE, there are modifiers to hit for all that nonsense, so characters can actually miss. This makes -10 to dodge not as important, because characters can do other things to make themselves less hittable. Honestly, being able to dodge bullet fire has never bothered me in RIFTs. It's never been a particularly realistic setting.

[Killer Cyborg]

Personally I have always loved the -10 since it was introduced.



Ranged weapons should make you keep your head down and encourage you to out think the enemy.

They did that before the -10 rule too, if you used them right.