X-Com: Gray Dawn Suppression
Suppression
In many RPGs, no heed at all is played to a person's plain ability to overcome fear and actually take the actions they intend to. In a stressful situation, we may want to act bravely or decisively, but sometimes fear overtakes us. We lose our nerve. We have a fight or flight instinct; sometimes the urge for flight gets the better of us. Additionally, In classic X-Com, units on the field will sometimes break or panic, and cannot perform directed tasks.
In this vein, suppression will play a role in combat situations. If you are in the open and under fire, your natural urge ought to be to get the hell out of there and take cover; it takes a lot of discipline and outright nerve to do anything approaching conscious thought, to do something like consciously fight back. Suppression is a natural by-product of gunfire, and has been purposefully (and successfully) employed in warfare for over a century (pretty much ever since we figured out how to make guns that could fire more than once before more powder and bullets needed to be crammed down their muzzles). From the player's perspective, one would likely hope that if they can throw some shots downrange at their opponents, their enemies may actually take notice of the fact that someone is trying to kill them, even if the shots don't hit. Self-preservation is a natural urge that often gets in the way of our conscious heroic desires, and is equally ignored by mooks, and is often glossed over in most RPGs.
A FNFF combat round is about 3 seconds long. Activities performed in that short span of time have to be abstracted somewhat; if you are behind cover but trying to attack your enemies, then some of the time you are popping out and looking or taking a shot. This is why cover won't fully protect you depending on your combat stance (see Combat Stance, below).
In the middle of a firefight, one may not be able to overcome the fear of getting hit that it takes to pop out from cover and take an aimed shot. If a combatant is taking fire and wishes to emerge from cover to return the favor, they must first make a standard (15) suppression roll. This is a CL+Cover/Evade skill+1d10 roll. (See Taking Cover for how cover and armor affect suppression checks. Several perks also have an effect on suppression checks.) If the CL roll is failed, the target cannot muster the nerve or maybe even find the opportunity to safely pop out from cover and fight back. The combatant's combat stance changes to "full cover," where they essentially begin to lose track of what is going on around them outside of their immediate vicinity. If the combatant is in the open, the only option they can manage is to run for cover (which is usually a pretty good idea regardless of whether you do it as a conscious choice or out of pants-wetting terror). Their combat options are limited to poorly aimed reactionary fire (see covering fire). The suppression rules can, of course, be used by the PCs to try and pin down an opponent and reduce their effectiveness in combat.
Suppressing fire is not primarily intended to strike a target. It is a tool that pries at the morale, bravery, courage and psyche of the target. Some weapons and types of attacks carry a greater psychological toll than others.
If a character is behind cover and is actively attempting to engage in combat, it is assumed that they are periodically peeking out to see what the hell is going on around them, thus occasionally exposing themselves to enemy fire. If a character fails their suppression roll, they will take full cover (explained below), and will lose track of what is going on around them as they duck and cover.
This can be used for tactical advantage: If several members of a squad concentrate their fire, they may suppress a target. If the target is suppressed, it cannot observe the battlefield, giving the opportunity for the remaining members of the squad to dash from cover and fire on the suppressed opponent's flank, where the cover does them no good. If they make a stealth roll and the suppressed opponent fails an awareness roll, they may even be able to ambush him...
Being struck by incoming fire gives a +3 penalty to the target's next suppression roll. Explosives (grenades, flash-bangs) that detonate nearby will give a +3 penalty. Explosive fire support is a highly effective method of suppressing a large area; for example, a mortar battery can suppress an estimated 250m x 250m area with sustained HE fire.
When a combatant's initiative comes up and it is their turn to act, they must make a suppression roll if they have been fired upon since their last initiative. Tally up all the factors up to that point and make the roll. Once the roll has been made, regardless of success or failure, the suppression level is reduced by the target's CL; the higher the stat, the better the target can shake off the psychological effects of incoming fire. For suppression to be effective over time, it must be sustained. Any effects that occur later in the round (and on the next round prior to the combatant's next action) begin stacking up for the next suppression roll. In the case of a combatant taking multiple actions during a round, the suppression roll is only necessary for the first combat action; if you choose to take a second combat action (like firing two bursts) but don't make the initial suppression roll, you are stuck running for cover or taking full cover anyway, and usually your only available combat action is covering fire (which doesn't take advantage of multiple actions). The suppression check determines whether the combatant is able to act that round (which is a relatively short span of time). Toward this end, suppression checks should be made before stance or number of actions are chosen.
