Page 1 of 1

AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Tue 01 Aug 2017, 22:13
by Fragpuss
Hi,

I've recently picked up the game and am working on my first readthrough. Really enjoying it so far and looking forward to having a crack at the quickstart with my club.

Reading through the combat section I had a question about the AP economy. As written, the rules say that each PC/NPC has 3 AP and on your turn you can spend some or all of them or save some for defence, overwatch, etc. So, if I decide to make 3 quick shots or 3 quick attacks and I have the highest initiative, that would mean that I get 3 attacks before anyone else has a turn. 

I kind of buy that for 3 quick shots, but melee attacks, I'm less sure about. How have people found that works in practice? Do any players actually risk 3 quick attacks with the penalty and leave themselves defenceless or is it more of a desperation move?

Thanks

Re: AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Sat 05 Aug 2017, 00:26
by Vargbane
Good question, looking fw to response!

Re: AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Sun 06 Aug 2017, 03:24
by Tomas
Hi,

I've recently picked up the game and am working on my first readthrough. Really enjoying it so far and looking forward to having a crack at the quickstart with my club.

Reading through the combat section I had a question about the AP economy. As written, the rules say that each PC/NPC has 3 AP and on your turn you can spend some or all of them or save some for defence, overwatch, etc. So, if I decide to make 3 quick shots or 3 quick attacks and I have the highest initiative, that would mean that I get 3 attacks before anyone else has a turn. 

I kind of buy that for 3 quick shots, but melee attacks, I'm less sure about. How have people found that works in practice? Do any players actually risk 3 quick attacks with the penalty and leave themselves defenceless or is it more of a desperation move?

Thanks
Your interpretation of the rules is correct. :)

Re: AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Sun 06 Aug 2017, 18:56
by Fragpuss
Thanks. I suspect some of my more gung ho players might try it, hoping to put someone down quickly, but thinking through all the penalties, lower damage, etc, and the fact it will leave them defenceless and unable to move, I suspect they won't do it more than once - not if I'm doing my job properly anyway  :twisted:

Something someone mentioned in the Google+ group where I also posted this question is that with the possibility of 3 quick shots, what's the point of autofire? You might be able to hit more enemies and there's an small chance of having some ammo left, but it feels like 3 quick shots give you more chance of doing more damage. 

Does anyone have any insights they can share into how that works in play? 

I've only had one read-through of the core book so far and I have a lot of ideas swimming around in my head (limit quick shots to a single target or maybe reduce the crit cost for autofire), but I'll play the quickstart using RAW to see how it goes, I think.

Re: AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Wed 09 Aug 2017, 06:01
by VoxenTass
Yeah autofire on it's own can leave you in a bad spot if you're unlucky on the dice rolls. That being said, with high capacity mags (ignore your first "1" on the autofire task) coupled with Machinegunner talent (same thing and stacks with high cap) you can really do some damage. Let's say your Ranged + Agility = 7. With an accelerator machinegun (DMG 3 Crit 1) for a full action (-2 dice) you can roll 5 dice and get 1 or 2 hits, then you get to roll that extra die for additional chances to hit and so long as you don't roll three 1s (high cap + machinegunner+ autofire) you keep adding hits. The player in my group generally stops when he gets two 1s and never runs out of ammo. It's possible to get 4 or 5 extra points and since you get to assign where they go after the attack is done, you can optimize your results. 7 sixes turns into 1 hit + 1 crit for 3 different targets with 1 "hit' left over to put where he wants, or he dumps it all into one guy doing say 1 hit + 3 extra damage and 3 crit choices ensuring a severely wrecked day for said goon.
Another difference with this and quick shots is autofire can be done at up to long range, whereas quick shots are limited to close and short range.
Also, even if your initial attack misses, you still get roll that extra die for the autofire, it's like a second chance all on its own!
As with most games and characters, it comes to player preference and playstyle as well as circumstance. Our group does it both ways. :)

Re: AP and combat turn sequence

Posted: Wed 09 Aug 2017, 10:45
by Fragpuss
Good points, thanks. I must admit, I'd missed 'Machinegunner' on my first read-through - probably still intoxicated by that lovely new book smell. Of course, I won't be letting my players within an AU of heavy weapons.