X-Com: Gray Dawn Suppressing Fire

Suppressing Fire

Suppressing fire can take two distinct forms. One is covering fire, blind, un-aimed shots meant largely to psychologically incapacitate a target and prevent them from pressing the attack. The other is creating a firing lane, a zone of concentrated fire that has a chance to hit any target within or passing through.

Covering fire is aimed at a target's general location. Because this type of fire is not aimed, hits will be incidental and largely out of sheer luck. No attack roll is made for covering fire, but the target will make a dodge/cover roll; if the result of the target's defense roll is 0 or less, the attack hits (this reduces the number of rolls made and hopefully will speed up combat and logistics over the old system). For every firing action (full ROF) expended, +1 suppression is applied. You can burn through ammo very quickly this way if you want to try and keep their heads down, but consider that an average 9mm pistol carries around 16 bullets; if you empty a magazine at a single target, you can put 8 points of suppression on them, which effectively makes the target number for a suppression check 23! Regardless of how many shots you expend on covering fire, only one attack roll is made, and only a max of one round may hit. Covering fire may be laid down on multiple targets in a single round. Each target must make a dodge roll.

Burst fire weapons can fire multiple bursts (3 rounds). Each burst causes the target +1 suppression. Unlike single-fire suppression, the target must make a dodge roll for each burst. If any burst hits, a maximum of one shot from each burst will hit. This mode of covering fire is not as effective at providing suppression on a per-bullet basis, but will result in more incidental hits. Covering burst fire may also be laid down on multiple targets.

Full-auto weapons can perform covering fire by creating a firing lane (see below). An automatic weapon sets up a firing lane with a minimum width of 2 meters (or 2"/hexes/spaces on a tabletop) and a maximum of 1 m/5 ROF (a ROF 30 machine gun can effectively suppress a lane 6 meters wide). The level of suppression equals the number of shots fired/width of the firing lane. Most automatic weapons will have a ROF of around 30; this means that you can deal up to +15 suppression to a single target, which will do great service toward keeping their heads down. A target within the lane of fire will only need to make one dodge roll, but if they roll a 0 or less, multiple shots may hit; roll on the burst fire table.

Covering fire is not intended to be accurate. It is the simple act of firing downrange to prevent an opponent from firing. Hits will largely be random and due to sheer luck. Also, covering fire is the only real attack option available to a combatant that has failed a suppression roll, or one that has chosen full cover for their combat stance. Covering fire is the equivalent of sticking your weapon around a corner or over an obstacle and plugging away while exposing as little of yourself to incoming fire as possible (and losing any ability to aim). Covering fire is only effective out to long range (see Range, below), since because it is poorly aimed to begin with, firing at targets at extreme range will likely mean that your shots are so far off the mark that the target may not even realize he is being shot at (which is the whole psychological mechanism behind suppression). Suppressing a target at extreme range will require actual aimed fire.

Since a large component of suppressing fire is psychology and proximity, combatants adjacent (within one space/hex/inch) will also receive suppression from covering fire. Full-auto covering fire increases the suppression effect to two spaces/hexes/inches. Who knows who that wild shot was aimed at? It still hit the log a few feet from your head, so it might have been aimed at you. This should also (as in real firefights) encourage combatants to spread out, or focus fire on targets clumped together. Choosing covering fire for your action will take your entire combat round; you are periodically popping off shots for the entirety of a few-second period. During combat, if you declare your intention to lay down covering fire, you can ignore your initiative roll and immediately begin applying suppression to targets (who will need to make suppression rolls on their initiative.

The second form of suppressing fire is the creation of a firing lane with saturation fire. Like covering fire from automatic weapons above, a firing lane does not need to be centered on a combatant, but can also be directed at a location (for example, down the length of an entire hallway, even if no targets are currently presenting themselves). Only automatic weapons can be used for this tactic. It is coordinated fire for the purpose of area-denial. It is employed as described for suppressing fire in the FNFF rules. Multiple sources of fire can cover the same area, which can potentially make a small area virtually impassible. Any target already within the firing lane will need to make a suppression roll to emerge from cover. Any combatant attempting to move through it during the combat round will need to make a suppression roll to try it (with +1 suppression for ROF/width of firing lane in meters). If the target succeeds, a dodge/cover or athletics roll at a target number of the number of rounds fired/the width of the firing lane. If you spray an automatic weapon at a piece of cover you know an opponent is hiding behind and they take an active combat stance to shoot at you from behind it, they stand a chance of being hit before they even take a shot. Hits from saturation fire take place before the target can act. Those bullets were already flying, and the only reason you got hit was because you stuck your fool neck out. You lose the initiative on that one, bub. If hit by saturation fire, the target rolls on the burst fire table to determine the number of hits.

Covering fire may be key when attempting movement in combat; if potential attackers are suppressed, they cannot make aimed attacks at any targets, making it much safer for an advancing force to move in the open. Additionally, suppressed targets may need to make an awareness roll vs. an attacker's stealth roll to notice a flanker sneaking up on them!