MG fire "shrapnel" ??

[PDF]

When a gun fires and some vehicle is adjacent it can get hit by "shell splinters". Why not, but I find it occuring *very* often , particularly with MG fire !
I can't see a 7.62 bullet making many "splinters" ...

I didn't notice that in v1.0, only in 1.1

[narwan]

It's a side-effect of the reduction in lethality of artillery against AFV's. MMG's and'HMG's have a splash zone like heavy HE rounds do and the game treats them the same with regards to splash effects. Where rounds used to hit AFV's and have a chance to do full penetration in hexes in the spalsh zone, now they sometimes/often only shower the target with 'splinters'. That gives suppression, can strip a vehicle from riders and do damage if it hits an unarmored surface.
The MG's use the same mechanic and give you the same message. I agree it reads a bit odd, perhaps this will be tweaked later but it is only the text that is off for mg's (and hence only a very minor issue).

Narwan

[MarkSheppard]

It actually makes a lot of sense; a Machine-Gun isn't a precision weapon, you actually want it to be somewhat inaccurate, to create a beaten zone, in which nothing can live without being hit by a round.

[Mobhack]

"shell splinters" is a fixed string in the code for being hit by fragments and or blast in an HE zone. There are no plans to change it for various SAA hits, flamethrower hits, custard pie hits etc etc .

It represents a grazing hit on an AFV (or just a worry that the rounds have come too close for comfort! ), causing minor supression if and only if the vehicle status is currently less than closed down. If it is currently closed down or worse status, there is no added S, so no further effect.

Cheers
Andy

[snake]

I don't find this too upsetting as a MG is more an area weapon than a precise aim like a rifle. I also find that it's only true for the independent "Heavy MG" units and not MG's on vehicles, in squads or light/med MG's.