(Psi)SeveredHead said:I'm a bit leery of all these ammunition types. In game terms, they usually do the same thing anyway (they do more damage, or they penetrate better, or maybe both, and the only in-game difference is you call one "Hydra-Shok" and the other one "hollowpoint")
It's great for realism, but in terms of game balance (real-life isn't balanced) I think it's a bad thing. I see no reason why I wouldn't always try to get explosive ammo for guns. If you have the explosive ammo, you're simply better (as long as you're not trying to be stealthy). IMC explosive ammo only does +1 damage. I just don't want equipment to start to overshadow character abilities. (To put it another way, don't buy better bullets. Take Double Tap or something like that instead.)
Knowledge is good. While a Hydrashock is essentially only minimally more effective than a hollowpoint, some games do to take into account. And for those that don't take it into account, well, you have a resource that you can use against a player who wants Hydrashock bullets because he heard some media misinformation about how much more effective they are than hollowpoints.
And then there's instances where almost every game system covers the same topic incompletely, like with explosive bullets. A lot of books mention explosive ammunition. How many of them mention that explosive bullets (every gun .50 caliber and above is considered to be a cannon) are illegal under the Geneva convention and you can be treated as a war criminal for possessing them in a combat zone, even summarily executed for being caught with them?
A lot of knowledge is not a bad thing. It is the way it is applied that causes the problems.
