Megablast trait

[Trithemius]

Hi all,

I've been blithely burning up Zero Index weaponry to fill out our armoury a bit and I have hit a bit of a conundrum. I built a pretty neat vehicle-mounted squad support weapon that I am currently called a VRAC (Very Rapid Auto Cannon) which I imagine is something like a pair of 20mm gatling guns on a 360-degree mount.

My problem is that I had given this weapon the Megablast trait - as part of a trait I created called Hail of Death (5pts: Megablast, +1D in Suppressive Fire, +1 Ob to Ammo checks). I'm not sure that I like this now since even a Mark Hit with this weapon would wipe out an entire fireteam, thanks to its Vehicular-scale damage.

Should direct fire weapons (other than flamethrowers...) have Megablast?

[luke]

I don't see a problem with it, but I'd really have to see a playtest to be certain.

[cmoeller]

Hey John,

How about adding a limitation revolving around the fact that it's directional (ie: guys behind sandbags aren't megablasted by this thing unless they're sticking their heads out, as opposed to a mortar that is coming down on top of them)? Something like vs. guys in no mans land it's normal megablast, vs guys in cover it's reduced somewhat? Don't have the book w/me or would toss out a more specific idea.

-Chris

[Trithemius]

Hey John,

How about adding a limitation revolving around the fact that it's directional (ie: guys behind sandbags aren't megablasted by this thing unless they're sticking their heads out, as opposed to a mortar that is coming down on top of them)? Something like vs. guys in no mans land it's normal megablast, vs guys in cover it's reduced somewhat? Don't have the book w/me or would toss out a more specific idea.

-Chris

That is a great idea! I'd nearly decided to scrap the megablast and "merely" reduce the successes need for a shot opportunity in suppressive fire. I might have to juggle points around again and post it up for some wider peer-review.

As an aside: Some of the players from our current game are keen to have a few standalone firefights to test a few of my new toys out so hopefully we can get an idea of how horrible this gun is.

[Trithemius]

Current thought: Megablast + Categorical Limit: target must not be in cover.

This makes the weapon excellent for scything down targets crossing open ground, but makes it much less effective for dealing with targets in defensible positions.