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ASL Game Mechanics - Rate of Fire (ROF)

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pward
, 20 Jul 09 at 16:48 (1852 Views)
After the IFT v IIFT blog, I figured I might want to post about some of the other game mechanics in ASL. This blog post is about Rate of Fire (ROF).

Normally you throw a colored die (cdr) and a white die (wdr) as part of the (I)IFT attack DR. Some sets of ASL kit come with a red+white, some black+white, and others had different colors paired with the white die. Having multiple colors also speeds random selection, but that's another blog post...

(Non ASL player reminder, dr = 1d6, DR=2d6.)

So for a HMG (Heavy Machine Gun) which normally has a ROF 3, if the colored dr is <=3 you get to shoot that weapon again. Very handy sometimes. Medium MG normally have ROF 2, and Light MG have ROF 1. Guns and mortars usually have a range of ROF, until you get up to the bigger sized guns. (Worst case is an assault mortar that takes a whole player turn to reload... No ROF for that vehicle at all.)

One of the side effects (bad, according to some folks) is that when you roll low on the DR, you're getting a good result on the fire table (whichever one you selected) and getting rate to shoot again. Conversely, if you roll high enough, there is no hope of getting rate and you likely got a lousy result.

Some folks suggest a third die for ROF. Overall it doesn't change the odds of that particular die rolling low enough to get another shot, but it does disconnect the effect from the subsequent shot. That's nice, but not what the designer intended. There is even a footnote in Chapter C (Footnote 6 I think, but I can't lay my hands on a rulebook at the moment) that basically says ROF for guns is because the original shots were well aimed the crew had more time to engage that particular target again, or to switch targets. Game designers intent is fairly clear from that footnote, in my opinion.

The other reason I wouldn't suggest such a thing unless absolutely necessary is that it adds complexity where it's not worth it. Playing someone new at a tournament, and you have to try to remember which die is Rate, and which two are the actual result. ASL is complicated enough, why throw in more delays and confusion creating options?

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Updated 09 Sep 09 at 11:08 by pward

Tags: asl, rate of fire, rof
Categories
Tabletop Gaming , Boardgames

Comments

  1. Michael Dorosh's Avatar
    One of the side effects (bad, according to some folks) is that when you roll low on the DR, you're getting a good result on the fire table (whichever one you selected) and getting rate to shoot again. Conversely, if you roll high enough, there is no hope of getting rate and you likely got a lousy result.
    This is intuitive. If you're hitting the target, you're doing damage. It was the same in Ambush! with automatic fire and Multiple Hits. Hitting the target and doing damage are generally synonymous.
  2. pward's Avatar
    I'm slacking on reviewing comments and approving them, much less replying to them...

    Some folks object to those two issues being so completely tied together. If you get ROF on an HMG, the worst you're rolling is a 9. (MMG 8, LMG 7) At 2-4-6 FP, interestingly enough, that's "just missing a result by 1". I.e. just one above the PTC on the column that MG fires on.

    Possibly another design for effect example, but it could just be an artifact of the FP steps for L/M/HMG incrementing in time with the ROF 1/2/3 and the IFT.
  3. Michael Dorosh's Avatar
    Some folks object to those two issues being so completely tied together.
    It would be interesting to know what their rationale is; if it is tied to a (dreaded) "reality argument" or to a game-play argument. I could understand, without agreeing with, the latter if all they wanted to see was increased randomness.

    But it makes just as much sense to tie effect to accuracy. It may be easier to remember logistically for one (in Ambush, for example, you roll lower than before, you keep firing; in ASL, you roll lower on the colored die, you keep firing, etc.) as opposed to creating additional steps to determine rate of fire. I think the "reality" argument would also be in favour of accuracy and damage being harmonious with each other, too, though.
  4. pward's Avatar
    I think most of the time it's a little of both, game play and reality.

    If the MG crew is engaging well (rolling low), with short bursts (maintaining ROF) at the same time...

    One long unrelenting burst might have scored that KIA result, but overheated the barrel or mandated a new box of ammo get cracked open.

    Lots of short bursts (good discipline = more ROF) might still be poorly aimed (rolling high).

    Explaining it like a reality argument can still be boiled down to the game mechanics themselves. A unit getting ROF, will likely also be rolling fairly well, thus inflicting MC and K/# or even KIA results. It's odd that they are tied together in that fashion when looking at the two mechanics abstractly.

    Personally, I don't object to them being tied together, since it reduces the number of rolls required. Take Warhammer game (either flavor) for instance. Roll to hit, then wound, then the target gets a save. ASL has roll to hit, then save; essentially reducing the number of rolls to 2/3rds the quantity of a Warhammer game.

    The "quickest" system I've seen was Silent Death, where the roll to hit formed the resulting damage dealt, which was just reduced by damage resistance x and applied to the damage track directly by checking off boxes. One roll did it all, while still being more flexible (gunner skill, weapon type) than the combat mechanics in Axis and Allies for instance.
  5. Kevin Kenneally's Avatar
    I like ROF. My AT Guns always seem to get it, but never kill the target when they get rate.

    My MGs never seem to get them. If they do, the next roll is always "6,6".
  6. WBRP's Avatar
    The only problem I have with the ROF mechanic is when it doesn't connect an effective hit to maintaining rate. The SW MTRs are the most egregious example of this, especially since they usually had very little ammo. The usual litany is:
    Miss with rate...acquired...hit with rate...no effect...hit with rate...no effect...hit with rate...no effect...hit, no rate...PTC.

    I wouldn't mind if rate could only be maintained if the TH DR was a hit or, if not needing a TH DR, the IFT DR resulted in at least a PTC.
  7. pward's Avatar
    Try shooting one of those itty-bitty mortars at a woods sometime. A 2 down 1 isn't something to ignore. In urban areas with +3 TEM, the 2 chart is basically a crap shoot for the result. You can't pull the K/2 or 2MC from the 4 chart, but you can get to the 1KIA. (Using the general rule that a -1 DRM is as good as a column shift up the chart, 2 to 4 in this case.)