Long-ranged combat

How do you make it interesting, Veeky Forums?

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Focus more on the environment and the maneuver rather than the mechanics of long ranged combat itself.

By providing interesting options. Different weapons with their own strengths and weaknesses, solid terrain and cover rules to make positioning and movement meaningful, various player side skills they can gain that let them manipulate things in their favour or penalise their opponents.

Beyond that, it entirely depends on what kind of ranged combat you're actually going for. Realistic military firefights requires a very different set of design goals from John Woo heroic bloodshed shootouts.

Play outside. Set up targets at the range where the enemy is at. Shoot at the targets with a gun similar to the one your character is using. If you hit the target, you hit the enemy in the game.

Dog Fighting. Youjo Senki got many, many, many, MANY things wrong, but dog-fighting flying magic slingers in a pseudo-WWI era is the one thing it got right.

Strategy, manoeuvre, guesswork as to enemy positions, and dodging return fire. Tension and quick thinking.

Differentiate and give mechanical advantages/disadvantages to both direct fire and indirect fire. Make concepts such as cover, suppressive fire, line of sight and field of vision mechanically and tactically important.

By not resovling it like a combat encounter but rather like an elaborate skill challenge sprinkled with bursts of fighting. Fighting against a sniper shouldn't feel like fighting a goblin 30 feet away from them. It should feel more like dealing with hostile terrain. Fighting a sniper isn't the same as a swordfight but it also shouldn't just be "kills one person per turn."

There was one time this came up in an old campaign of mine where the party got involved in something they probably shouldn't have, as a crimelord was recruiting with plants in the crowd in the wake of a city collapsing into anarchy. One member stood up as a voice of reason and took a stand against the lies that were being peddled, while a sniper that was there to protect the firebrand took aim. He was dropped to the ground by the first shot, I handwaved him falling behind terrain that offered full cover and allowed a party member to get to him and tend to him safely. Meanwhile, they dealt with the thugs planted in the crowd while keeping their heads down and trying to figure out where the sniper was. After they did, it was a mixture of suppressive fire, a rogue sneaking away and scaling a tenement, and some illusions to draw out shots while keeping the sniper engaged with them.

This

youtube.com/watch?v=d4XSwqNCDnc

This, pretty much. Extended skill checks aplenty.

This is pretty much how Burning Wheel's 'Range and Cover' combat system works. A round basically goes:
>If the start of the fight begin at the highest maximum range of all weapons present
>everyone chooses their manoeuvre, which will either move them further away, closer to or maintain distance from their opponent
>oppossed tests are made and the winner's action determines how the range is adjusted (moving one range category, categories being (close, optimal, extreme, out of range)
>The winner then spends extra successes to perform actions (including attacking)

depends on if you are attacking at long range or being attacked

if attacking at long range make the PCs go through what an actual sniper would: camouflaging the position, accounting for wind, gauging distance, dialing in etc. focus on making the actions required deliberate if they intend to kill or hit what they are shooting but not if they just want to suppress movement, there should be a greater utility to being a sniper not just raw killing potential since a lot of what they provide is reconnaissance

if being shot at by a lone sniper penalize the PCs for staying in one position for to long and make the combat solution a combination of finding the snipers position and how to go about overtaking it

if it's a sniper with other soldiers/enemies nerf the snipers potential to kill and focus on having them compromise the PCs positions unless taken out

Tell me about this man, how does he pull the trigger?

Concentrated cheeki breeki.

In the Zone, trigger pulls you.

What you're not seeing is the giant petrol pump-esqe mitten trigger said mitten is concealing.

No trigger guard.

What stuff did they get wrong that can't be excused by the fact it's not real WW1? I know the manga does stuff that looks artistic but is pretty stupid if you are really into military history and you stop to think about it. One of my favorite pages is that way actually.

E.g. a veteran just idly standing outside of a trench looking down inside it during a war.
I'm not sure if mage shields are strong enough to dangerous that would be for an ordinary soldier.

This.

Environment. Also, have multiple range possibilities, but state them before hand. If you decide to make a check of range, and fail, your cover is blown by a factor of 1.

Nail your hiding spots? Cover by a factor of 1.

Well nourished? Add 1.

Have to take a shit? Too bad, subtract 1.

Come up with bullshit and everyone agrees? Add 1. Disagreement? Loose 1.

1) It's basically another Edgelord-Sue Isekai Power Wank that poorly attempts irony.
2) It's basically another Edgelord-Sue Isekai Power Wank that poorly attempts irony AND IT'S NOT EVEN FUN.
Here's the joke:
>Wah, I don't want to fight but I've gotta fight because I pissed off God.
>Wah, now I have to use my SUPER ULTRA Genius to win without a scratch.
>Wah, God gave me an OP Miracle item to win and but to use it I have to pray to him but wah I'm an atheist.
>Wah, I have to impress my superiors using my oddly specific historical war knowledge.(that I have despite NOT being an established historical buff and also that I remember despite having spent the last 13 YEARS WITH AN UNDERDEVELOPED BRAIN BECAUSE I'M A LITERAL KID)
It's basically Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, except with more plotholes, and War History Wanking instead of Muh Logic wank.

This user is 100% on the money.

Nobody cared about the trigger until he put on the mag