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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 1429026" data-attributes="member: 463">1. Re LAWs and RPG-7s - a modern LAW will around twice as much armoured plate as an RPG-7, eg according to Directory of the World's Weapons (1993) a LAW 80's penetration is over 600mm, to 330mm for an RPG-7, 375mm for an RPG-18.&nbsp; Considering how much more a LAW costs, that's not surprising.&nbsp; You can argue that humans aren't made of armoured plate, but tanks are, and I like to keep everything on the same scale for ease of scaling up and down the line, so I can have MBTs fighting dragons, gods vs power-armoured Troopers, etc. 2. 9mm doing 1d6 - well admittedly this was set in 1e/2e when a spear also did 1d6 damage!&nbsp; However that's 2d6 on a critical, where a typical human has maybe 4hp.&nbsp; If you fall to -1 hp you're _dying_ so I don't see the problem you postulate.&nbsp; IRL many police and others who use handguns are contemptuous of 9mm parabellum because it _does_ lack stopping power, it often _won't_ put down the determined assailant, even with several hits, hence the continued popularity of .357 magnums, Colt .45s (firing .45ACP), and such.&nbsp; Of course most normal people who are shot 'assume' they're mortally wounded and immediately fall down (more of a Will than a Fort save), but immediate kills as a result of a 9mm hit in combat conditions are extremely rare.Edit: How to calculate damage.&nbsp; GDW, responsible for Twilight:2000 and Traveller: Fire Fusion and Steel, have lots of info on this. Damage is affected by both size of bullet, which affects size of the wound trail, &amp; kinetic energy imparted, which increases the size of the wound and 'shocks' the target.&nbsp; For rigid targets damage is largely proportional to the kinetic energy imparted to the target. Essentially, for a solid bullet hitting a human, damage can be worked out quite simply by finding the lateral cross-sectional area of the bullet, which is its diameter x length*.&nbsp; Tests indicate that, leaving aside questions of body armour, damage - stopping power - is almost wholly directly proportional to this figure.&nbsp; A bullet that's twice as long or twice as wide, does twice as much damage.*Including length of the powder charge in the unfired round gives an even closer result.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 1429026, member: 463"] 1. Re LAWs and RPG-7s - a modern LAW will around twice as much armoured plate as an RPG-7, eg according to Directory of the World's Weapons (1993) a LAW 80's penetration is over 600mm, to 330mm for an RPG-7, 375mm for an RPG-18. Considering how much more a LAW costs, that's not surprising. You can argue that humans aren't made of armoured plate, but tanks are, and I like to keep everything on the same scale for ease of scaling up and down the line, so I can have MBTs fighting dragons, gods vs power-armoured Troopers, etc. 2. 9mm doing 1d6 - well admittedly this was set in 1e/2e when a spear also did 1d6 damage! However that's 2d6 on a critical, where a typical human has maybe 4hp. If you fall to -1 hp you're _dying_ so I don't see the problem you postulate. IRL many police and others who use handguns are contemptuous of 9mm parabellum because it _does_ lack stopping power, it often _won't_ put down the determined assailant, even with several hits, hence the continued popularity of .357 magnums, Colt .45s (firing .45ACP), and such. Of course most normal people who are shot 'assume' they're mortally wounded and immediately fall down (more of a Will than a Fort save), but immediate kills as a result of a 9mm hit in combat conditions are extremely rare. Edit: How to calculate damage. GDW, responsible for Twilight:2000 and Traveller: Fire Fusion and Steel, have lots of info on this. Damage is affected by both size of bullet, which affects size of the wound trail, & kinetic energy imparted, which increases the size of the wound and 'shocks' the target. For rigid targets damage is largely proportional to the kinetic energy imparted to the target. Essentially, for a solid bullet hitting a human, damage can be worked out quite simply by finding the lateral cross-sectional area of the bullet, which is its diameter x length*. Tests indicate that, leaving aside questions of body armour, damage - stopping power - is almost wholly directly proportional to this figure. A bullet that's twice as long or twice as wide, does twice as much damage. *Including length of the powder charge in the unfired round gives an even closer result. [/QUOTE]

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