Forum

Oh, yes, for sure I'm with you on all that.

What I don't quite get is this... can the components continue to absorb damage on vehicle penetration hits? I get that the Vehicle Rel can never go below 0, but are those components still able to take hits that might otherwise be passed on to the PCs.

Oh, yes, for sure I'm with you on all that.

What I don't quite get is this... can the components continue to absorb damage on vehicle penetration hits? I get that the Vehicle Rel can never go below 0, but are those components still able to take hits that might otherwise be passed on to the PCs.

I guess you mean after the vehicle is inoperable (i.e. reliability 0). That depend on component:

ENGINE: <> Any excess damage will be stopped by the engine block and does not continue to hit another component.

SUSPENSION: <> Any excess damage continues to hit another component.

So, on a vehicle that has been made inoperable, the engine still will block damage but not the suspension. When it comes to the wheels, the rules say that if a component is not present you should move up one row on the table, but the wheels are already the top on the table so if the vehicle has been made inoperable and the wheels are hit again there is no effect.

Which makes sense in a certain way: If you hit destroyed wheels (i. e. tires, rim, wheel base etc.), once it's torn to pieces, this is a pretty external part that wouldn't allow penetrating bullets to go anywhere more "internal". I think that'll work for me as an explanation at least.

You could also explain it as beyond a relatively close range projectiles will be falling so a round that passes through the destroyed suspension would go under the hull of the vehicle.

Rockets and missiles using HEAT will be dissipited by the ruined suspension.

Alternatively you could make a roll: 1 to 3 the projectile passes through and hits the hull, 4 to 6 it passes underneath.

Given the situation faced in TW2000 a vehicle with a destroyed suspension is probably a write-off anyway.

A crude method but one that works until more detailed vehicle comabt rules are released.

I think, T2K is not a system that encourages to many rules details. It clogs the abstract mechanics and disables fast paced action. And since that's where this system shines, adding very arbitrarily designed extra dice rolls that are themselves only rough abstractions, adds nothing important to the core game.