|
Post by stormwarden on Apr 10, 2010 2:30:39 GMT -5
The Russians have a SAIGA series of shotguns, that load with a clip.
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 10, 2010 7:26:43 GMT -5
The Russians have a SAIGA series of shotguns, that load with a clip. Then you have things like the Pancor Jackhammer, which load with a drum.
|
|
|
Post by Rime on Apr 10, 2010 10:43:52 GMT -5
There's a wee difference between the SAIGA 12 and the Pancor Jackhammer. I can get an actual price on a SAIGA. Either would make great for dispersing packs of attacking coyotes.
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 10, 2010 16:41:24 GMT -5
There's a wee difference between the SAIGA 12 and the Pancor Jackhammer. I can get an actual price on a SAIGA. Either would make great for dispersing packs of attacking coyotes. I just raised the Pancor as an example since it's one of the more familiar non-traditional shotguns.
|
|
|
Post by stormwarden on Apr 11, 2010 0:07:55 GMT -5
What he is pointing out is that the SAIGA Series is more widely available than the Pancor Jackhammer. I also recommend the Ishmash MP-131K, as it uses both a clip and an underbarrel tube and can switch freely between the two.
And the Jackhammer uses cassettes, I think you have confused it with a South African shotgun.
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 11, 2010 22:52:30 GMT -5
Another mission idea.
The party is hastily dispatched to Detroit, wherein the commander on the ground greets them with alarming news: a rather nasty batch of demons has barricaded themselves inside an industrial complex and are using it as a base of operations from which to counter-attack the scattered soldiers in the city.
Making matters worse is the fact that they've identified which factory it is. Turns out that the company makes a chemical used by the automobile industry, a chemical which - in competent human hands - could be turned into a potentially toxic weapon. If they can't get the demons cleared out of the factory, then the President is willing to authorize the use of a tactical nuclear device - one of the few Davy Crocketts that the Army has been able to recover - in order to "sanitize" the factory.
To avert this, the party will be one of five commando teams that will be tasked with sneaking into a specific sector of the factory and cleaning house. Making matters worse is the fact that, for fear of accidentally breaching the containers or otherwise causing pollution, the party may only use pistols, plasma rifles, and melee weapons; the heavy artillery is to stay behind.
The twist, of course, is that the demons who first invaded the place drank the stuff some time ago and are now all dead. The batch of demons who are in there now - most of whom are assorted zombies - have nothing to do with them and simply see the place as shelter. Thus, all the fuss is for nothing.
|
|
|
Post by Art Vandelay on Apr 12, 2010 5:29:28 GMT -5
That sounds rather boring for the players...
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 12, 2010 10:19:43 GMT -5
That sounds rather boring for the players... I make it a point to throw whatever party I GM for at least one curve ball just to keep them on their toes, especially if the nature of the campaign means they're only facing off against a limited variety of opponents. For example, the Battletech campaign I ran nearly came to a crashing halt the day I put the party and their giant robots against infantry armed with missile launchers; they were so used to infantry being "squishy" that they had no idea what to do against guys who could actually fight back. After that, they started taking infantry encounters seriously again.
|
|
|
Post by Vene on Apr 12, 2010 14:06:43 GMT -5
What's the point of encounters if they're not a threat?
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 12, 2010 15:30:42 GMT -5
What's the point of encounters if they're not a threat? Game balance. Having a party face a "battle to the death" each and every time they go out is no better than having them curb-stomp a mime convention each time they go out. You've got to play both ends of the spectrum *and* vary things up a little to keep people interested. For example, Battletech may be all about the giant robots, but the damn things are prohibitively expensive to the point that some of the individual robots have been in service for generations (with a few having been around at least a good 300+ years) simply because most units can't afford to be replacing them unless they're too badly damaged to fight. And your heavier-end machines are so uncommon that entire skirmishes have been fought over individual carcasses. Because of this, every last single planet in what is known as the Inner Sphere still maintains infantry, conventional vehicles, and atmospheric aircraft in their arsenals; players are just as likely to fight these as they are other giant robots. In fact, one nation, the Outworlds Alliance, is so poor that they've had to focus on cranking out fighter planes and fighter pilots since they don't have the money to field large quantities of robots. The end result is that while their fighters are typically obsolete (even the ones rolling off the assembly lines are about 40 - 50 years behind the times; they're akin to F-86s in a world of F-22s), their pilots are among the fiercest in the universe and their ground forces know how to take full advantage of this. One of the more common ground vehicles is the Hetzer, a tank destroyer that sports a 200mm main gun mounted in its front glacis. If the thing catches a robot in its front firing arc, it can potentially amputate a limb with a single shot because 3/4ths of the robots out there just don't have the armor to take that kind of hit; it can actually KO some of the smallest ones outright. However, the thing has no backup weapon and so can be easily knocked out of attacked from the side or rear. Thus, the same battle can be either climactic or anti-climactic depending upon how the party reacts to the threat. Likewise, infantry w/o the proper training and gear can end up going "squish" if they try to take on a robot 1-1, but if you've got soldiers with rocket launchers, C4, satchel charges, or even a heavy-caliber rifle or machine gun then they can easily win the battle. "Kneecapping" robots by sticking explosives in their joints is actually in the rules, and the smaller dudes can be brought down simply through concentrated fire. And the heavy missile carriers? A single one can wipe out an entire company... provided the company doesn't have anyone fast enough to get within the minimum range and cut through the paper-thin armor.
|
|
|
Post by Mira on Apr 12, 2010 20:59:15 GMT -5
Game balance. Having a party face a "battle to the death" each and every time they go out is no better than having them curb-stomp a mime convention each time they go out. I want to play that game!
|
|
|
Post by Vene on Apr 12, 2010 21:52:39 GMT -5
You've gotta be careful, Mira, they have clown backup.
|
|
|
Post by skyfire on Apr 13, 2010 5:48:12 GMT -5
You've gotta be careful, Mira, they have clown backup. "...and I'll tell you guys right now, we are probably going to burn for what we did back in Paris." "What did you two do back in Paris?" "Well... let's just say that the sous chef had it coming. And the mime, too. Too bad about that animal rights guy, though; he was just an innocent bystander." (I've had the idea to insert that joke into something I'm writing, but haven't gotten around to it yet."
|
|