Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

[Jas]

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

 

I am beginning to appreciate the nuances that longer "action periods" lends to HERO over the "hack every second" potential of GURPS, just based on this discussion. I'm happy with a system that still models individual actions or action parcels (Martial Dodge, for example, being a series of dodges depending on the situation), and will run through some more test encounters to ensure I'm really grokking how the system works.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

 

If Joe Normal needing 6 seconds to take an action bothers you' date=' reduce a turn's length to the duration you are more comfortable with. Should he only need 2 seconds (2 GURPS time units) to make a full action? OK, then, a turn is 4 seconds long and a segment is 1/3 of a second. That was easily resolved.[/quote']

 

Most fights in Hero are over far too quickly for their real life counterparts anyway. Fist fights often take only a turn or two at most, and gunfights are often even quicker. Most actual fist fights involve a lot of testing the water and most actual gunfights involve a lot of missing and ducking behind cover, and can get very protracted. If you actually play it in 'game time' then a team of superheroes can probably enter, scout and defeat the soldiers and end of level bosses of a medium sized VIPER base in less than two minutes, with maybe another 12 seconds to raid all their data bases.

[Jas]

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

 

Most fights in Hero are over far too quickly for their real life counterparts anyway. Fist fights often take only a turn or two at most' date=' and gunfights are often even quicker. Most actual fist fights involve a lot of testing the water and most actual gunfights involve a lot of missing and ducking behind cover, and can get very protracted. If you actually play it in 'game time' then a team of superheroes can probably enter, scout and defeat the soldiers and end of level bosses of a medium sized VIPER base in less than two minutes, with maybe another 12 seconds to raid all their data bases.[/quote']

 

Yes, and that's a bigger problem in GURPS, where some battles last all of two or three seconds due to the combination of "attack every second" and "one hit can easily be fatal" mentality.

[Christopher]

Re: Non-Phase Segments - what is happening then?

 

Conceptually' date=' your action takes place across the 4 second period. Practically, we have to divide the combat period into discrete sections in order to resolve it in an orderly fashion. "How fast can I pull the trigger" is not the same as "how fast can I line up the moving target across a chaotic field of combat and get a bead on my target that I think will hit him and not do any collateral damage".[/quote']

True, indeed.

 

The other view I have had is that it really just does take the PC time to absorb information and give the order to his body to do something. And that gap in time is really why there exists the staggered speeds. The time inbetween is just the time it takes the character to think long enough to take another independently thought action.

I think the official asumption for determining the breaking time of a car is that it takes you up to one second before you even react to the danger/situation.

Unless of course you were prepared (held a action in hero terms, wich humans can't do for long peroids of time). The example Computer in 6E2 is a Navigation Computer with a SPD of 1. While that does not seem much, it can effortlessly hold 1 phase to quickly react to dangers and that over hours - a feat no human could do. It is by no means able to avoid fire in combat effectively.

 

I've been to firing ranges a few times so I can tell you that it takes a normal person a couple of seconds to line up a decently accurate shot

I think this is an excelent example for the use of the Brace, Set and Haymaker on a gun.

Brace reduces the Range penalty by 2 and helps you with the recoil (reduces STR-Minimum by 5).

Set gives another +1 OCV.

Haymaker for simulates simulates a "especially precise shoot" (aiming for the vitals/head).

 

Yes, your old aunt (STR 8, OCV 3) might be able to hit very good on the shooting range with a Revolver that has a 13 STR-Minimum.

But trying to archive the same performance in a actual combat would mean one full phase at half DCV, anotehr full phase at -5 DCV (and the rest is halved) - and then the final segment for the haymaker. Even just brace is a dangerous action in combat and it is a 0-phase action.