Topic: How many rounds in a burst or supression?

[pyrotech]

Hello,

I've been building a campaign for Harp Sci-fi lately and have been putting together some campaign specific modern ranged weapons.  While creating these I discovered that I could not find what the number of rounds used for a burst or supression fire action is.  I know 2, 3, and even 5 round bursts are not uncommon in modern weapons, but don't know what the official rule is for these.  I suspect supression fire will use probably 3 bursts or so of ammo, but again could not find the official rule for these.

Does anyone know where I can find this info?

Thanks,

Clint

[joel.lovell]

I'm sure Nicholas will clarify, but from looking at this section of the rules:

Spread Burst: This action requires a projectile or energy
weapon capable of burst fire. When fired in the spread burst
pattern, the wielder may shoot at multiple targets within a 15
degree arc. Targets must be adjacent (with no one else between
them). There must be no more than one target per three shots/
bolts in the burst.

it appears there are 3 rounds or energy bolts per burst...

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Any form of burst or suppression fire takes one round.

In terms of the number of bullets/bolts required for a burst, for spread burst, you need a minimum of three bullets/bolts per target. For aimed burst, use the same unless the weapon is something like a revolver or some such where "burst fire" is actually representing a "double tap". Likewise for fully automatic weapons like machine guns, bursts may trivially go through tens of bullets.

The rules allow for finetuning, so GMs with a plethora of gun expertise can adjust the rate of ammunition to suit specific weapons. The weapons in the HARP SF core rules are deliberately generic. I fully expect that we will have a lot more detail in a future sourcebook or combat supplement.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[pyrotech]

Thanks for the help guys.  I figured there was an answer somewhere I was missing.  Knowing this I'm moving forward on my campaign specific weapons.  Once I get everything put together in a nice readable package I'll try to post some of it to the campaigns section.

(The campaign is based on pushing the old Amazing Engine Bughunters setting 25 years into its future after humanity has encountered several fairly cooperative sentient species and begin to figure out exactly how bad a position they are in)

[markc]

 That rule above almost helps solve a problem I had in my SM:P game. Except the ROF was continuous so I ruled it could attack everyone in the area.
MDC

[Thom @ ICE]

Correct -on a continuous fire (lazer beam attack) it would get an attack anywhere within the area of the attack.

* For suppression you can span an arc, growing wider at various distances.
* For spread burst the arc is limited and there are penalties for increasing the number of targets, but you get a bonus on the OB for the burst bonus of the weapon.
* For aimed burst you get the bonus to OB, you get an increase in attack size, but you only have 1 target.

All of the options are covered.