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Aim is a maneuver to get a hit bonus. Aiming a weapon (or a device, such as a camera) takes a full turn. You cannot aim at something that you cannot see or otherwise detect. You cannot aim while performing a pop-up attack.

Quick reference[]

  • Movement: Step. Exception: You cannot step if using a braced, two-handed weapon.
  • Active Defense: Any, but you automatically spoil your aim and lose all accumulated benefits. If you are injured while aiming, you must make a Will roll or lose your aim.

Aiming with Thrown Weapons[]

You can take an Aim maneuver to improve your odds with Rapid Fire with Thrown Weapons (p. 120) or Rapid Strike with Thrown Weapons[1]

Tactical Shooting[]

pg 14 "can be combined with all firing stances except hip shooting"

You lose your Acc bonus when any of these occurs:

  • You lose sight of your target;
  • switch targets;
  • make an attack roll (but see Follow-Up Shots, below); *move more than the step allowed by the Aim maneuver;
  • attempt a defense roll;
  • fail the Will roll after being injured;
  • choose a different maneuver from Aim (e.g., Ready to reload);
  • switch weapons;
  • unbrace a braced weapon,
  • switch between sights,
  • otherwise change your weapon’s mode of use

Follow-Up Shots is a new rule allowing 1/2 the aim bonus to be retained in subsequent shots against the same target: FULL for braced weapons.

  • Cole's approach to FUS in On-Target was to only allow the retention on Committed Attack (Ranged) or All-Out Attack (Ranged), not on a normal Attack (Ranged) as Tactics previously allowed.
    • He suggests requiring an aim roll (free action) to get this bonus though.
  • There's also no approach to following up an aimed shot with more aiming to stabilize the existing aim.

Interactions with Altered Time Rate[]

Kromm in 2009: http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=696171&postcount=55

  • Aim and Evaluate bonuses come from watching what the enemy is doing over time – how he's fighting, where he's moving – and thus don't benefit from a sampling rate higher than his reaction rate. This is basically the same argument used to disallow Feint with Altered Time Rate.
  • You may still get your Accuracy bonus from your weapon however, such as aiming down the sights of a firearm (aim, then attack)

Given that Kromm's explanation implies a moving enemy, it would seem reasonable to allow these to be used at doubled rates against NON-moving enemies (ie stationary targets, pinned targets) since there is no reaction rate, so having a higher sampling rate SHOULD matter.

  • in fact, Evaluate bonuses are actually DOUBLED against foes who drop their guard, per B557 result 13 on Unarmed Critical Miss Table. It might be reasonable to treat stationary objects as having "dropped guard" and also double the Evaluate bonus against them too
    • this lets Evaluate get to +6, higher than Telegraphic Attack, or +10 when combined with it.

Even though "dropped guard" does a -2 defense penalty like committed attack (not quite as bad as losing all defenses with All-Out attack) there is not a x2 to Evaluate bonuses against an All-Out Attacker, presumably because they are physically moving.

  • since it is possible to do an All-Out Concentrate without moving (purely mental) in that situation it could make sense to also double Evaluate bonuses against them
    • this could also make sense to do for the All-Out Aim that Douglas Cole invented in On Target. It actually mandates 0 move (like Do Nothing) unlike AOC which at least gives the OPTION for a step.
      • maybe not taking that step should give AOC another +1?
        • that's a total of +3 if you boost AOC to +2 base in accordance with how Commited Attack (Ranged) and Committed Aim work

Additional Information[]

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References[]

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