Plasma Rifle Questions

[Aldous]

Can someone explain plasma rifle damages to me? How does it effect tanks or protomechs?

Also... where can I see the original fluff for the Plasma Rifle other than Total Warfare and TechManual?

[Weirdo]

I believe plasma rifles were introduced in TW and TM, so you won't find any prior fluff about them.

Against vees: You take the 10 damage, the 1d6 heat is converted to 2d6 damage and added to the 10, and the whole thing is applied in 5-point groups. So if you hit a tank and roll a 7 on the 2d6 roll, you'd apply 17 damage in groups of 5,5,5, and 2.

I *think* shooting at Protos works the same, but don't quote me on that.

[martian]

Also... where can I see the original fluff for the Plasma Rifle other than Total Warfare and TechManual?

In Combat Equipment is fluff for the original man-portable Plasma Rifle (which was later upscaled to work as a 'Mech weapon).

[Aldous]

Thanks.

[StuartYee]

I *think* shooting at Protos works the same, but don't quote me on that.

You're absolutely right according to my copy of TW p 140.

Basically:
Against Heat Tracking Units ('Mechs, Aerospace Fighters, etc.)-- 10 Damage + 1d6 heat
ALL others-- 10 +2D6 Damage (Total Damage divided into 5-point groupings)

Against enemy Battle Armor, I LOVE Plasma Rifles!  >:D

[Alexander Knight]

Against enemy Battle Armor, I LOVE Plasma Rifles!  >:D

Right up until the little buggers start showing up in Fire Resistant armor  :)

[Coldstone]

Personally I prefer the long tom cannon or an Arrow IV Launcher for BA Hunting. Since reactive armor on BAs is quite rare in earlier eras. But the Plasma Rifle is still easily one of the best IS Weapons and far superior to the Clan Plasma Cannon in my opinion. Especially if grouped to 3 to 4 Rifles.
The Demolisher Arrow IV works quite well. (And with 7 Tons of Arrow Ammo you have plentyful ammo options ;) )

[ehlijen]

The Plasma rifle is especially fun against BA hiding in non hardened buildings.

Fire at building -> double damage
Apply 75/50/25% (150/100/50% of the damage you'd have dealt in the open) to the BA unit on that floor.
Do some more damage when the building quickly collapses because you keep hitting it for 20+4d6 damage!

And I think fire resistant armour doesn't even stop any of that as you damage the building and the unit inside takes a portion of whatever that is, regardless of type or source.

[StuartYee]

Personally I prefer the long tom cannon or an Arrow IV Launcher for BA Hunting. Since reactive armor on BAs is quite rare in earlier eras. But the Plasma Rifle is still easily one of the best IS Weapons and far superior to the Clan Plasma Cannon in my opinion. Especially if grouped to 3 to 4 Rifles.
The Demolisher Arrow IV works quite well. (And with 7 Tons of Arrow Ammo you have plentyful ammo options ;) )

I'm fond of Arrow IV as well!

So between Arrow IVs and Plasma weapons, it's now fun to play Capellan!

[iampoch]

And don't forget TSEMPs. Capellans seem to field it on mechs the most. It suits their sneaky style, though.

[Stinger]

Wait, so does this mean we have to divide plasma rifle damage to mechs into 2 5-point groupings?

[Weirdo]

No. Against 'mechs, ASFs, and Small Craft, you apply it as a single 10-point slug. Only against units that do not track heat does the damage get split up.

[martian]

Wait, so does this mean we have to divide plasma rifle damage to mechs into 2 5-point groupings?

No. Against enemy 'Mechs, the Plasma Rifle deals 10 points of damage, just as AC-10 or standard PPC. But on top of it, the Plasma Rifle adds 1D6 heat to enemy's heat.

[Hellraiser]

Best BA Killer is "Inferno-IV"   (Unless its Salimanders)

1 Inferno-IV round = Auto Kill for All BA in 7 Hex Area.

My GM will not let me use Inferno-IV any more.

[Jim1701]

Best BA Killer is "Inferno-IV"   (Unless its Salimanders)

1 Inferno-IV round = Auto Kill for All BA in 7 Hex Area.

My GM will not let me use Inferno-IV any more.

Not quite so deadly given latest errata.

If they are hitching a ride they at least have a chance. 

* Attack Damage to Troopers (p. 228)
After the first paragraph on page (the paragraph continued from p. 227) insert the following new subsection:
Area-Effect Attacks: When resolving an area-effect attack on a hex with a unit carrying battle armor, the battle armor does not take normal area effect damage, but suffers damage as described above instead (roll 1d6 if the location a battle armor trooper takes damage, etc.).

Though TBH I'm not sure how it would be resolved.  Either one roll and the unlucky trooper (if any) takes 5 inferno hits (overkill) or 5 rolls and most likely no one dies (barring multiple hits in a given round.) 

[Diablo48]

Not quite so deadly given latest errata.

If they are hitching a ride they at least have a chance. 

Though TBH I'm not sure how it would be resolved.  Either one roll and the unlucky trooper (if any) takes 5 inferno hits (overkill) or 5 rolls and most likely no one dies (barring multiple hits in a given round.)

I thought that was only for the AE damage and Infernos were applied normally.

[Jim1701]

I thought that was only for the AE damage and Infernos were applied normally.

Yes, I was refering to Arrow IV infernos.  Their AE effect is as if everything is hit be 5 inferno SRM's which would be plenty to kill an BA squad in the affected hexes.  But if they are riding an omni then they would not take AE damage normally.

[StuartYee]

My GM will not let me use Inferno-IV any more.

Awwww.....GM not like the mayhem?

My GM threw everything he had at taking down my mech with the "demon weapon" lol!

[Coldstone]

Well, my GMs had always the same reaction when I put some nice LRM Carriers with Thunder Augmented on the Field. ^^
It's raining mines ;)

[Weirdo]

That one I can understand. As a concession to playing time and a courtesy to other players(who are there to have fun just as much as I am), I never include more than one ton of T-Aug ammunition in any force.

[Firesprocket]

My playgroup has largely banned MY use of special munitions.  Several years ago I meta'd against a force I was expecting to be largely made of VTOLs and had a mix of forces that largely included pulse lasers and LRMs armed with Swarm.  The first fire phase took about 2 hours to resolve my LRMs and the Opfor didn't even show up with VTOLs like I was expecting.  More recent battles I've had too much fun with mobile smoke screens.

Getting a little bit back on topic though I've really developed a love affair with Plasmas weapons.  I was a bit skeptical of the limitations that the weapons' range and limited options there were for deploying the weapons to the field until the unabridged record sheets came out.  Against armored vehicles their damage is incredible.  Against mechs the weapon is enough to make people think twice about unloading if they know their heat scale is going to spike up enough to slow them to a crawl the next turn.  The heat dispersion armor doesn't really bother me.  It seems to me to be terribly inefficient.

[EthrDemon]

Against mechs the weapon is enough to make people think twice about unloading if they know their heat scale is going to spike up enough to slow them to a crawl the next turn.

Yeah, I had never actually played with the plasma weapons before GenCon this year, my striker star's heavy (Puma Prime) got hit with a plasma rifle after firing both ERPPCs.  Lost that game pretty badly, not gonna make that mistake again...

[Hellraiser]

Not quite so deadly given latest errata.

If they are hitching a ride they at least have a chance. 

Though TBH I'm not sure how it would be resolved.  Either one roll and the unlucky trooper (if any) takes 5 inferno hits (overkill) or 5 rolls and most likely no one dies (barring multiple hits in a given round.)   

Doesn't make much sense really.  Not sure how being spread out on a mech/tank is any different than spread out over the hex.  Its not like the Mech/Tank isn't also taking the AE damage too.

I personally never liked the way BA take ANY AE damage myself, not just inferno, but if they wanted to change that then why just for Omni-mounted BA.  Seems very odd.

[Colt Ward]

Reviving this . . .

 . . . can Plasma Rifles be used for Field Guns?

[Weirdo]

No. They're not on the list.