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Scatterbrain76 wrote:Ive been looking but, I dont see anything in ANY of the Palladium Books about a LASER SIGHT for pistols and rifles. You know, the red beam. I would imagine that it would add +1 to strike aimed or NOT. I know of the cybernetics targeting eye but this is different. Does anyone have any input on this for me??? Thanks

almost every single gun in Rifts that has a +1 to strike is listed as having a laser sight. Even in the first Rifts Main book a couple of the Coalition weapons and Juicer guns have laser sights.

i'm letting a friend borrow both my N&SS and Mystic China books, so i can't look anything up in those. i'm absolutely sure that MC does not have anything about sights or targeting with firearms, and N&SS probably doesn't either since it hasn't been updated since 1988 or so.

so, i would just go with a +1 to strike like you said. also, keep in mind that the laser is visible, so it would probably take away from any kind of surprise attack at range.

Scatterbrain76 wrote: I would imagine that it would add +1 to strike aimed or NOT.

From a realistic standpoint, Laser sights have their advantages, but they are limited.

1) Laser sights are a red dot placed upon a target. It still requires the shooter to perform all the appropriate fundamentals needed to acquire and hit the target. What a laser sight is NOT is a Laser designator, meaning bullets do not automatically fly to the red dot. You must aim. When a got my first laser sights for a pistol, I was shooting all over the place. I had to reign myself back in and apply the basic fundamentals of pistol marksmanship and soon found that I was ignoring the red dot on the target.

2) Always account for range. Just how far can you see the red dot on the target with the naked eye? Realistically, no more then 15 meters. Speaking of range, what is the 'zero' of the laser sight. Lasers travel in a straight line unaffected by gravity. Yet when a bullet departs the barrel it immediately begins to drop. A zero at 25 meters means there will be a different Point of Aim/Point of Impact at 10 meters. The greater the range, the greater the deviation between Point of Aim/Point of Impact.

I would always require that the player take an aimed shot in order to gain any bonus (+1 for me) from a laser sight. For pistols, the target must be under 20 meters for a naked eye shot. For rifles with optics, the player must 'zero' his laser and then the player gets a +/-50 meters from that zero in order to gain the bonus.

The gun customization section in Aliens Unlimited is the place to look for relevant bonuses.
For optics, laser aim points, balance, recoil things ... and other stuff.

(pardon the terseness of the listing, but is late and isn't thinking well, night)