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View Full Version : Ammo tracking - up or down ?



phantomwhale
January 7th, 2011, 00:51
This might be a small thing, but it's bugging me :

Should ammo track UP or DOWN ? E.g. should it go from 0/6 to 6/6 as you fire bullets (which is UP), or from 6/6 to 0/6 as you fire bullets (which is DOWN) ?

I'm asking this as power points seem, to me anyway, to certainly track down (e.g. from 10/10 to 0/10 as you spend them).

And if powers with individual power points were to be added to the mini sheet (say, for martial artists and mad scientists in Deadlands, as a random example) then it would be good from a usability perspective if they both counted in the same direction, to my mind anyway !

tdewitt274
January 7th, 2011, 02:50
0, in my opinion, means you have none. So, start off with 6 bullets and lower as you go.

Depends on the rules, really. If they say it does X->Y, then go with that.

VenomousFiligree
January 7th, 2011, 07:38
It's definitely wrong (imo) at the moment and should be down! :)

Valarian
January 9th, 2011, 17:28
Surely this is a case of how you see it.

If you think of the dots as a clip that's full and then want the ammo counter to show empty when the gun is, then it should go down.

If you think of it as recording the number of shots you've used so far, then the counter is correct as it stands (going upwards). When all the dots are filled, you don't have any shots left.

This debate is as useful as saying: should you record shots with a tick or a cross.

VenomousFiligree
January 9th, 2011, 17:52
Surely this is a case of how you see it.

Indeed and that is what the poll is for to see how people want it... :confused:

mac40k
February 21st, 2011, 16:44
Currently, it tracks it the way most physical character sheets are set up to track it, by usage. That's because it's easier to tick off dots on a sheet as ammo is used rather than to fill in the correct number for your starting supply and erase as used. However, I voted for count down, because that makes more sense in an automated setting, probably because it is more in keeping with what we are used to seeing in video games.

sturtus
February 25th, 2011, 23:05
The question was how should ammunition count be tracked, not how many shots have been fired. I think there is a distinction.

The statistic measures the maximum amount of ammunition a character can carry in their inventory and how many units are left. Clearly the stat should show the number of items, not the number of shots fired, counting down from starting ammunition.

Keep in mind this same function might end up being applied to different items in the inventory: potions, bullets, arrows, psionic points, energy. In the case of a weapon that can use variable amounts of ammunition in a single shot, the stat should track how much it used.

mac40k
March 3rd, 2011, 16:21
The question was how should ammunition count be tracked, not how many shots have been fired. I think there is a distinction.

The statistic measures the maximum amount of ammunition a character can carry in their inventory and how many units are left. Clearly the stat should show the number of items, not the number of shots fired, counting down from starting ammunition.

Keep in mind this same function might end up being applied to different items in the inventory: potions, bullets, arrows, psionic points, energy. In the case of a weapon that can use variable amounts of ammunition in a single shot, the stat should track how much it used.

Hmm, I've always used it as a shot counter. It doesn't matter that I have a box of ammo in a backpack if the clip runs dry. I just track extra ammo on the Inventory tab and decrement it by the reload amount when resetting the counter to 0. If you use it to track total ammo, you have to mentally do the math each round to determine if you can shoot again without first reloading otherwise you have a bullet hose. If I have a 100 bullets, but the gun's clip only holds 17 rounds, I don't want a counter telling me that I've used 49 rounds of my total supply. But that's just me.

Again, on paper it's easier to tick off ammo as used, but for FG it would be preferrable if it decremented. I don't think it matters whether you are using it to track bullets, arrows, or even Power Points. Also, whether you are using it as a shot counter like I do or to track total supply, I still think decremeting is preferrable because I'd rather know at a glance that I have y left than that I have used x of y.

As for multiple shots, currently we just have to click the counter twice for a double tap and multiple times for autofire. That's no too difficult and in the interest of desktop real estate is preferrable to dedicated buttons that decrement the appropriate amount in a single click. Furthermore, since autofire (and suppression) uses a number of shots based on the weapon's RoF, the values of dedicated buttons would need to be user assignable. More trouble than it's worth IMO.

phantomwhale
March 22nd, 2011, 05:35
Poll is now closed (or at least, I'm not looking anymore)

Ammo will count DOWNWARDS in the next Savage Worlds release - coming real soon.