Forums of the Megaverse®

For all you math/physics majors...

In SD or MD how much damage would a 30 caliber 200gr round going 4616 ft/s do?

Well if a .308 is 5D6 and a .50 is 1D6x10 SDC we have some limits on either side.

Given the velocity we'll probably see it higher in tha realm, so 1D4x10 SDC.

Of course that's without any knowledge of bullet construction. Given the velocities involved, a well designed bullet may be able to penetrate deeply. A generic FMJ or Ball round is probably going to break up pretty close to impact though, limiting penetration power.

Edit to add Maths:

Having done some calculation on it, I got a 9461 ft-lbs energy.

A .50 BMG is in the 13K to 15K ft-lbs range.

A .308 is around 2.5K to 3 ft-lbs

So better than a .308, not as good as a .50, so 1D4x10 SDC again makes sense.

Also, hate doing this in Imperial Units, can't we all use Metric like civilized human beings?

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:For all you math/physics majors...

In SD or MD how much damage would a 30 caliber 200gr round going 4616 ft/s do?

I know this is an old question, but it needs a proper answer.


You can't measure damage like that without a standard.

That is, it's standard in Palladium games that the damage comes from the gun and not the bullet; this is apparent by looking at different guns that use the same calibre round.

So you first need a standard. And this messes everything up, all thanks to punch damage.

That is, your fist apparently does 1d6 SDC, and as Jefffar so kindly posted, it's listing a .308 as doing 5d6 SDC.

Even if you could apply 5 times the force you normally can with your punch, there is no way it is physically possible to drive your fist through a human body in any and every direction and come out the other side, whereas with a .308, it is.

Basically, having an SDC system is quite arbitrary, and completely ignores the reality of physics.

Or to put it another way; a bullet from a .308 from any distance that strikes a target head-on directly in the face will kill the target, barring some medical miracle and a life of brain-damage. Meanwhile, a person has to have both technique and strength to achieve a knock-out effect from the same angle (re: boxing), but this typically will not kill someone, even after 5 punches.

From this example, we're talking about someone who is doing 1d6 with bonus damage (re: strong) on a punch, who, if they threw 5 punches would be doing (on average) more damage than the .308 damage that is listed, despite the reality that the .308 is doing magnitudes more damage.

Basically, trying to determine the damage done using real-world science is physically impossible.