Vehicle cargo TAC, how much damage to infantry?

[Ghostbear_Gurdel]

After a recent game, i just wanted to get some clarification on a event that came up.

If an infantry unit is riding in an APC, and the vehicle takes a crit to the cargo bay, the weapon damage is transferred to the infantry. The rules in TW give an example that if the cargo get hit with a Gauss, the infantry in the bay will take the 15 points of damage. (TW Page 194)
The Clarification i seek is this:

Does the damage from a crit still apply the infantry damage divisor?

1) Gauss TAC hits infantry bay, doing 15/10 damage, 2 dead troopers?

OR

2) Gauss TAC hits infantry bay, doing 15 damage, killing 15 troopers?

my gut tells me later, but the rules (1st printing) are not so clear. Thanks for the clarification

[cornmoggler]

Honestly not sure what the official answer is, maybe start a thread in the rules section, but my group generally plays the second way- or at least we did before we decided to decide all vs infantry damage via d6 rolls. (Flat damage values vs amorphous blobs of squishies make no sense to us)

[Force of Nature]

I would choose the second way, why? The infantry are in an enclosed vehicle and not spread out all over a hex. 15 dead troopers...

[massey]

I thought it was clearly the second way.  15 dead dudes.

[Colt Ward]

Honestly not sure what the official answer is, maybe start a thread in the rules section, but my group generally plays the second way- or at least we did before we decided to decide all vs infantry damage via d6 rolls. (Flat damage values vs amorphous blobs of squishies make no sense to us)

Problem is those troops are spread across that 30m hex and can survive near misses, that is why you have AP weapons which spread the damage b/c of the 'burst' ability- SPL, MGs, Flamers, Plasma.

[cornmoggler]

Oh absolutely. Without going to deep into house rules... we had all non anti-infantry weapons roll a d6 minus a mod for that gun. Ie- a ac5 or a lrm launcher would get a -2 applied to its roll (stream of projectiles) where as a ppc or gauss rifle would be looking at a -4.

[Scotty]

It's up in the rules forum, yes?  You'll get an answer sooner or later (I'm betting sooner).

[theagent]

After a recent game, i just wanted to get some clarification on a event that came up.

If an infantry unit is riding in an APC, and the vehicle takes a crit to the cargo bay, the weapon damage is transferred to the infantry. The rules in TW give an example that if the cargo get hit with a Gauss, the infantry in the bay will take the 15 points of damage. (TW Page 194)
The Clarification i seek is this:

Does the damage from a crit still apply the infantry damage divisor?

1) Gauss TAC hits infantry bay, doing 15/10 damage, 2 dead troopers?

OR

2) Gauss TAC hits infantry bay, doing 15 damage, killing 15 troopers?

my gut tells me later, but the rules (1st printing) are not so clear. Thanks for the clarification

From what I'm reading on pp. 223-224, interpretation #2 is what apparently applies.  In one sense, though, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, because the chart on p. 223 gives mounted infantry a chance to survive the destruction of the vehicle transporting them (even Aerospace units give their infantry a 1-in-6 chance).

Personally, I would house rule it as this:
 -- roll on the table on p. 223 (depending on the carrier vehicle's type), with an optional -1 modifier
 -- "destroyed" means apply full damage without modifiers, "survived" means apply damage with the normal modifier

So, in this example, after getting the "Cargo Bay" result for the vehicle, you roll a 1D6; on a 1-4, the unit loses 2 troopers (15/10 for direct-fire ballistic = 1.5, rounded up to 2), on a 5 or 6 the unit loses 15 troopers.    Note that the effect will vary depending on your vehicle.  For example, a Heavy Tracked APC (2-platoon capacity) not only easily shrugs off the loss of 2 troopers, but is still fairly effective even if 15 troopers are lost (as it still has 41 left); a Hover APC, on the other hand, has lost a significant portion of its squad with 2 troopers, & is completely dead if it takes the full 15 points.

The only issue becomes with the burst-fire weapons listed on p. 217.  Best thing I can recommend is that, for the "Destroyed" option, those weapons do double their normal damage to the infantry unit (i.e. a Flamer would do 8D6 instead of 4D6, & even an LMG would do 2D6].

[mbear]

From what I'm reading on pp. 223-224, interpretation #2 is what apparently applies.  In one sense, though, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, because the chart on p. 223 gives mounted infantry a chance to survive the destruction of the vehicle transporting them (even Aerospace units give their infantry a 1-in-6 chance).

Snipped

I can see the reason it works: The gauss rifle round had enough energy to penetrate the armor and enter the cargo bay, but not enough energy to penetrate it again to exit the other side. So the battle armor winds up trapped in a small, heavily armored box with a supersonic chunk of metal bouncing around. That has to be unpleasant. Presumably they're strapped into seats to protect them as the vehicle moves across country so dodging or hitting the deck is going to be a real trick.

[ANS Kamas P81]

So the battle armor winds up trapped in a small, heavily armored box with a supersonic chunk of metal bouncing around. That has to be unpleasant.

I coin the term "meat pinball" to describe such an event.