[Ajax]

Am I wrong or going by the rules as written is it impossible to fire a single bullet from the majority of firearms in the game... I must be missing something, right?

Firing Mode
These are the modes you can use while firing. Weapons can fire in Single Shot (SS), Semi-Automatic (SA), Burst Fire (BF), and Fully Automatic (FA) modes depending on the type of gun or the modifications that have been made.

Snip

SS: You fire a single bullet. There are no changes to a weapon’s attributes with a single shot.
SA: You fire two rounds rapidly with two trigger pulls. Decrease the Attack Rating of your weapon by 2 and increase damage by 1.
BF: You’ve got a fancy gun that pumps out multiple rounds with a single trigger pull. You can fire four rounds in an attack. You can shoot a narrow burst, which decreases the Attack Rating by 4 and increases damage by 2, or make a wide burst and split your dice pool between two targets and count each as a SA-mode shot.

Snip

FA: This mode allows multiple attacks without using the Multiple Attack Minor Action. The shooter chooses to split their dice pool among any valid targets in range. This can be used to attack a slew of targets or even a single target with a series of small dice pools, with each hit doing the full damage of the weapon. This mode uses ten rounds and decreases the Attack Rating by 6.

Modes
These are the firing modes firearms use, as discussed on p. 108.

So, per p. 246, a firearm can only use the firing modes listed on the various weapon charts (p. 250-259). Out of all 45 of non-taser the Firearms listed, only five (5!) of them have the Single Shot (SS) Firing Mode listed. It's literally impossible to fire a single bullet from any Light Pistol, Heavy Pistol, Machine Pistol, SMG, or Machine Gun. There is only one Rifle and only one Shotgun that will let you fire a single bullet.

Do I even have to explain how silly this is?

[CigarSmoker]

You are right about the Firing modes description. But on page 106 is an example given - contradicting the other rules - where an "Ares Predator VIII" is used to fire a Single Shot.



 

[Michael Chandra]

You are absolutely right, it's missing. I consider it a change blindness example and expect errata.

Anyway, in QSR, it says guns always have SS mode. However, I think it would be better if errata say SA-mode allows firing a single round, rather than having to switch firing mode to not manually double-tap. For now, I'd suggest allowing an SS-like attack in SA mode. (But not in BF/FA mode.)

[Ajax]

For now, I'd suggest allowing an SS-like attack in SA mode. (But not in BF/FA mode.)

That's exactly how we've been playing it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something that was hidden away on the infamous "Page XX."

I like 6th Edition, I do...  But the actual book feels like a rough draft and not a finished product.

[Michael Chandra]

Meh, change blindness parts is still better than rules that clearly contradict and are never properly clarified.

[Ajax]

"Change Blindness" is a direct result of poor editorial work.

I've never worked in the game industry, but I was spent the better part of a decade doing editing, proof-reading, transcription, and similar work in the legal field. It's really easy to fall into the trap of reading what you meant to write instead of what you did write when your hammering out the twelfth draft of a 28-page legal memorandum, let alone something like like a 328-page contract... Especially if it has a lot of "boiler plate language." I get it, I do.

[Xenon]

From the house rule thread :

SA firing mode
You fire two rounds rapidly with two trigger pulls. Decrease the Attack Rating of your weapon by 2 and increase damage by 1, or split your dice pool between two targets and count each as a SS-mode shot. You may also fire just one round with one trigger pull, counting the attack as a SS-mode shot.

[Michael Chandra]

Yeay okay but that's a houserule. Not the same as 'this rule is missing but it probably should be X'.

[Xenon]

Yeay okay but that's a houserule. Not the same as 'this rule is missing but it probably should be X'.

I would say that this rule is actually missing and that it probably should be what I just quoted.

[Michael Chandra]

You explicitly introduced attacking multiple people with an SA-burst though.

[Xenon]

Yes.

But honestly, if you are already allowed to aim at one target, tap the trigger once and then aim at another target to tap the trigger a second time if you are using burst fire mode then you should probably also be allowed to do it in SA mode (in fact I would argue that it is far easier to do it in SA firing mode than BF mode since in SA firing mode there will be a lot less recoil involved but also because you don't need to pause that extra 0.15 second or so at each target to wait for the whole burst to leave the barrel before you shift targets).



In 5th edition SA firing mode meant you could hit up to three targets within short or medium range while BF firing mode only let you hit two targets within short or medium range. This was IMO even more 'realistic' (unfortunately wording was awkward and a lot of people never really fully understood firing mode rules in that edition). From a balancing point of view it also made sense as it gave the different firing modes different pros and cons.

[Michael Chandra]

I understand your arguments for your houserule, but I am not comfortable with mixing houserules with likely-errata-or-proper-interpretation when someone asks a rule question, since it can be horribly confusing. I think those should be more clearly separated.

[Xenon]

Well..... rule wise I think we already established that you are not allowed to fire a single bullet in SA mode.
Applying rules from QSR mean you would be allowed to spend an action to switch to SS mode and then fire a single bullet.

Anything beyond this is guesswork and house rules and I agree that it should not be brought up in the rules forum without clearly being marked as such.


Firing a single shot against a single target while you are still using SA mode (that you also suggested btw) is a house rule
Firing a single shot against two individual targets while you are using SA mode is a house rule.
Firing a single burst against a single target while you are using BF mode would also be considered a house rule.

I think I was pretty clear about it being a house rule. I also think you were pretty clear about it. ;-)

Besides, just tapping the trigger once to attack a single target with one bullet in SA mode or one burst in BF mode (without changing firing mode) is actually introducing a new game mechanic - unlike aiming at one target to tap the trigger once and then aim at a second target and tap the trigger a second time which actually already have a predicate (see BF mode, rules are clear on how you would resolve it if it was also applied to SA mode).