This is how some of the basic combat tactics work in N.E.W. The combat system is very skirmish-oriented. Remaining in one place too long makes it progressively easier and easier to hit you, and positional factors greatly increase your chances of hitting your target (crossfires etc.) The result is that combats end up very mobile as combatants jockey for position while avoiding granting any kind of advantage to their opponents. As an interesting twist, a starting character using *no* tactics at all will actually find shooting a bad guy pretty difficult.
OVERWATCH [ranged]
Overwatch is a special type of action. When you choose to overwatch, you wait ready with your weapon to fire on any targets which make themselves available. Usually this means targets which break cover and enter your line of sight. The maximum number of targets you can fire upon during a turn when in overwatch is equal to your AGILITY attribute.
You may only fire on a given target once during a turn when on overwatch, and may only fire when the target has zero cover. Your shot interrupts his turn at the earliest point possible.
AIMING [ranged]
Aiming, which costs one action, grants +2d6 die bonus to a ranged attack roll taken in the same turn. The attack action must come immediately after the aiming action.
SUPPRESSIVE FIRE [ranged]
Suppressive fire is the antidote to overwatch. It allows you to lay down fire in a particular area in order to “cover” an ally's exposed movement or action which would normally attract overwatch attacks.
Unlike most attack types, suppressive fire is not target-dependent. It depends on your ally. You designate a specific ally as the beneficiary of your suppressive fire; this benefit last until your ally's next turn has ended. During that turn, you ally's actions gain the benefit of COVER (see below), even when he or she is exposed.
This means that your ally will automatically be immune to overwatch, and gains some protection from regular fire.
However, enemies can choose to recklessly ignore your suppressive fire. When they do this, they put themselves at risk, but your ally does not gain the benefits of your suppressive fire. Any combatant who attacks a target protected by suppressive fire using overwatch, or who attacks a target protected by suppressive fire with normal fire and chooses to ignore the cover penalty created by the suppressive fire, becomes subject to a free ranged attack from the character laying down the suppressive fire.
Some weapons, noted as “auto” in the equipment lists, are especially efficient at suppressive fire. These weapons gain your ally an additional 1d6 of cover.
Multiple characters can - and should - combine forces to provide cover for an ally. The cover bonuses do not add together (although you should use the largest one), but the potential danger in terms of how many people would be shooting at a potential attacker makes firing at the covered character an increasingly unattractive option.
POSITIONAL EFFECTS
Combat in N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game is a highly positional, tactical affair. Using crossfires and avoiding getting pinned down or falling into the enemy’s crossfires, combatants move about the battlemap in an attempt to gain an advantage over their foes.
COVER
Cover is very important. Targets without cover are very vulnerable to enemy fire. A target in cover inflicts a 2-die penalty to attack rolls made against him (although this can be alleviated by the “pinned down” rule, below).
It's important to distinguish between cover and a blocked line-of sight. A character cannot be completely immune to fire and simultaneously able to fire himself, and cannot be in a position where line of sight is completely blocked except for when he pops up to fire.
There are three positions which require a move action to switch between:
OPEN A character without the benefit of any cover is considered in the OPEN.
COVER If a character can fire on an enemy without expending a move action, he is IN COVER; line of sight is not blocked.
BLOCKED If a character must expend a move action in order to fire upon an enemy, line of sight is BLOCKED. The move action need not involve leaving the square, but it is important that the move action is needed to move to a firing position, and another one is needed to move back to the fully blocked position.
GETTING PINNED DOWN
In N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game, it's never advisable to stay in one place too long when other people are shooting at you. If you remain in one spot too long, you become easier to hit. Your cover starts to be chipped away, while your enemies make tiny corrections to their aim.
For every turn that you remain in the same square, opponents gain an additional die to ranged attacks against you. When you move, this gets reset back to zero again. However, you must move to a location at least 10' away from your original location, and returning to that location does not count as a “move” when determining whether you are pinned down.
Some careers, such as the sniper, are harder to pin down.
CROSSFIRE
In an exchange of ranged gunfire, every soldier dreads being caught in a crossfire. Avoiding gunfire from multiple directions is extremely difficult. A crossfire is also known as interlocking fire, as each shooter's arcs of fire mutually support one another.
A crossfire exists if two attackers are positioned at greater than 90-degree angles to each other with respect to the target. Each of the attackers beyond the first grants a cumulative +1 die bonus to ranged attacks against that target (making a maximum bonus of +3d6 for four attackers).
OVERWATCH [ranged]
Overwatch is a special type of action. When you choose to overwatch, you wait ready with your weapon to fire on any targets which make themselves available. Usually this means targets which break cover and enter your line of sight. The maximum number of targets you can fire upon during a turn when in overwatch is equal to your AGILITY attribute.
You may only fire on a given target once during a turn when on overwatch, and may only fire when the target has zero cover. Your shot interrupts his turn at the earliest point possible.
AIMING [ranged]
Aiming, which costs one action, grants +2d6 die bonus to a ranged attack roll taken in the same turn. The attack action must come immediately after the aiming action.
SUPPRESSIVE FIRE [ranged]
Suppressive fire is the antidote to overwatch. It allows you to lay down fire in a particular area in order to “cover” an ally's exposed movement or action which would normally attract overwatch attacks.
Unlike most attack types, suppressive fire is not target-dependent. It depends on your ally. You designate a specific ally as the beneficiary of your suppressive fire; this benefit last until your ally's next turn has ended. During that turn, you ally's actions gain the benefit of COVER (see below), even when he or she is exposed.
This means that your ally will automatically be immune to overwatch, and gains some protection from regular fire.
However, enemies can choose to recklessly ignore your suppressive fire. When they do this, they put themselves at risk, but your ally does not gain the benefits of your suppressive fire. Any combatant who attacks a target protected by suppressive fire using overwatch, or who attacks a target protected by suppressive fire with normal fire and chooses to ignore the cover penalty created by the suppressive fire, becomes subject to a free ranged attack from the character laying down the suppressive fire.
Some weapons, noted as “auto” in the equipment lists, are especially efficient at suppressive fire. These weapons gain your ally an additional 1d6 of cover.
Multiple characters can - and should - combine forces to provide cover for an ally. The cover bonuses do not add together (although you should use the largest one), but the potential danger in terms of how many people would be shooting at a potential attacker makes firing at the covered character an increasingly unattractive option.
POSITIONAL EFFECTS
Combat in N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game is a highly positional, tactical affair. Using crossfires and avoiding getting pinned down or falling into the enemy’s crossfires, combatants move about the battlemap in an attempt to gain an advantage over their foes.
COVER
Cover is very important. Targets without cover are very vulnerable to enemy fire. A target in cover inflicts a 2-die penalty to attack rolls made against him (although this can be alleviated by the “pinned down” rule, below).
It's important to distinguish between cover and a blocked line-of sight. A character cannot be completely immune to fire and simultaneously able to fire himself, and cannot be in a position where line of sight is completely blocked except for when he pops up to fire.
There are three positions which require a move action to switch between:
OPEN -> IN COVER -> BLOCKED
OPEN A character without the benefit of any cover is considered in the OPEN.
COVER If a character can fire on an enemy without expending a move action, he is IN COVER; line of sight is not blocked.
BLOCKED If a character must expend a move action in order to fire upon an enemy, line of sight is BLOCKED. The move action need not involve leaving the square, but it is important that the move action is needed to move to a firing position, and another one is needed to move back to the fully blocked position.
GETTING PINNED DOWN
In N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game, it's never advisable to stay in one place too long when other people are shooting at you. If you remain in one spot too long, you become easier to hit. Your cover starts to be chipped away, while your enemies make tiny corrections to their aim.
For every turn that you remain in the same square, opponents gain an additional die to ranged attacks against you. When you move, this gets reset back to zero again. However, you must move to a location at least 10' away from your original location, and returning to that location does not count as a “move” when determining whether you are pinned down.
Some careers, such as the sniper, are harder to pin down.
CROSSFIRE
In an exchange of ranged gunfire, every soldier dreads being caught in a crossfire. Avoiding gunfire from multiple directions is extremely difficult. A crossfire is also known as interlocking fire, as each shooter's arcs of fire mutually support one another.
A crossfire exists if two attackers are positioned at greater than 90-degree angles to each other with respect to the target. Each of the attackers beyond the first grants a cumulative +1 die bonus to ranged attacks against that target (making a maximum bonus of +3d6 for four attackers).
