Re: [HOE] Massive Damage ... lookin for a good discussion ... [PEG] [Hopler]

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>I think the key thing to remember, for players and GMs, is to always use 
>your head.  Getting close to an automaton is not using your head.
>

Sure, but the problem here is you've got to assume the automatons (what with 
those evil mainitou spirits in their heads) are going to ...umm, use their 
heads too.  I'm sure they don't want to self-destruct, but they've got to 
figure that if they _do_ somehow die, they're going to want to be close-in 
and take some opponents with them via the self-destruct.

In other words, an automaton should be just as sneaky as devious about 
getting in as a player is about staying far away from them.  When you split 
the difference between the players being tactically oriented, and the 
automatons being tactically oriented, you end up with roughly a 20 yard (2 
Blast radius) gap.  See my previous example for how fatal that can be...

Yeah, if my opponents were _dumb_, and my players had enough ammo, then 
sure, staying outside an automaton's blast radius would be easy.  But as you 
note below, the bad guys should be creative.  For sheer maliciousness, a 
automaton is probably more creative than your average BH grunt.

>If players, and GMs, think tactically, instead of MIRVing right away, 
>they'll do better. Stay creative! Bad guys should ambush and run away.  Our 
>party's biggest trouble has been when we made some poor decisions, and got 
>ambushed and split up by a Black Hat patrol when we were house-to house 
>searching.  I mean, c'mon, there's no character that will survive 3-4 black 
>hats going full auto on him from 10 feet away.  And if that's only a 
>warm-up...
>
>Jason.


---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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