When I was researching a couple of military campaigns for use in GURPS I was struck by how long it would take to get fire or air support.
Minutes.
In a game that is famous for resolving combat in seconds.
I think that says a lot that, in the real world, that real troops in contact were able to fight for five to twenty minutes waiting for support to arrive. Sometimes even more minutes while the aviators got themselves aligned with the situation.
I think I know how to make it work, but it will impact the player's expectations about modern combat.
I bumped into it before when trying to explain that the 3e rules let far too many hits happen unless you tossed in some of the, unpopular, optional rules.
They'd become accustomed to the world acting like a shooting range and the bad-guys being the paper targets.
Extending the ranges that contact begins at would go a long ways towards making the entire battle last longer in game time rather than table time.
I see running it in combat turns in small spurts to simulate the pulse of the battle.
I don't see a chance to test my idea any time soon, but...
Real life combat isn't heroic. Fantasy games are heroic. Reality disrupts the heroics of the Millennium Falcon not being blasted out of existence by the trio of Star Destroyers or easily crippled for boarding parties.
ReplyDeleteUnless Air Support is loitering directly (or pert near) and with a dedicated FAC embedded in the troops, yeah, minutes to tens of minutes for response.
ReplyDeleteSame with artillery support. Or naval gunfire support. Medical support. Heck, even logistical support.
When seconds count, help is minutes away. And that's if help is ready to supply help.