Chimera vehicle question

By felismachina, in Only War Rules Questions

In next session my team will get chimera transport. Does standard chimera have gun turret? And if it has and nobody have operate skill can they fire that turret? Is it simply BS test or require some special skill? Another thing, chimera have enclosed trait so i assume it's environmentally sealed. So does it have any firing ports so characters inside can fire or not?

Check out the Chimera entry on page 217 of the rulebook.

Chimeras always have a turret. The most common and iconic is a multilaser. It also has a hull mounted weapon you shouldn't forget also.

To fire a vehicle mounted weapon doesn't require any special weapon training, so a basic BS test.

The chimera does have firing ports, see the chimeras special rules on page 218. The chimera has 3 lasguns each side that are for passengers use and a top hatch. The top hatch can accommodate a few people firing out of it, but the chimera will not be environmentally sealed if it is open.

Unless you have the right operate skill, you still need the appropriate weapon training to fire the weapons or receive the normal penalty.

I swear I read somewhere (a FAQ or something) about not needing the weapon training but I can't find it. Maybe it was from the beta?

Anyway refreshing myself with the rules, the Operate skill does not help with vehicle shooting and is not needed to shoot vehicle weapons. To fire the weapons you do, however, need the appropriate weapon training or suffer -20 to BS tests. So most weapons on vehicles need the heavy weapon training and the appropriate weapon training specialisation.

A wierd thing is that vehicle class weapons only require the appropriate weapon training specialisation and not the weapon training heavy specialisation. So a person with weapon training (Solid Projectile) but without weapon training (heavy) would be able to use a battle cannon without penalty but with an autocannon would suffer -20 to BS tests. Not that Chimeras are equipped with vehicle class weapons.

I swear I read somewhere (a FAQ or something) about not needing the weapon training but I can't find it. Maybe it was from the beta?

Anyway refreshing myself with the rules, the Operate skill does not help with vehicle shooting and is not needed to shoot vehicle weapons. To fire the weapons you do, however, need the appropriate weapon training or suffer -20 to BS tests..

Kindly re-read the second-to-last bullet point, first column, on p. 274 of the OW corebook.

Why they burried something so important that deep in the text I don't know. But there it is.

Edited by Tenebrae

I stand corrected. Foolish me I just looked up the Operator Skill and Weapon Training Talents.

At least I was right about the Chimera armament and firepoints.

Thank you for your replies. It's sometimes hard to find some rule in a wall of text. But i have another question if chimera have firing ports with mounted guns can they be closed like top hatch or they are always open and chimera is not environmentally sealed. At least it makes sense to me.

The three lasguns each side IMO can be used without breaching the environmental seals.

It states on page 213, under Evironmentally Sealed, "Passengers and crew cannot fire their own personal weaponry from a vehicle with the Environmentally Sealed Vehicle Trait without first breaching those seals."

The built in lasguns are for passenger use but are not the personal weaponry of the troopers inside. So using those lasguns will not compromise the environmental seal.

I stand corrected. Foolish me I just looked up the Operator Skill and Weapon Training Talents.

Why they burried something so important that deep in the text I don't know.

I'm just gonna chime in with a bit of RAW from "special rules" of chimera.

(...), most Chimeras have several fiering ports running along theire flanks (3 per side). Sometimes these are taken up by hull-mounted lasguns to be controlled by transported troops, but if not, they may be used as fiering ports by passangers. The Chimera also has a hatch on top of the hull that can be used by passangers as a method of embarkation/disembarkation aswell as a fiering point.

So it's up for the GM to decide if the Chimera has hull-mounted lasguns and is enviromental sealed when they are used or are those only fiering ports and need to be opened to shoot, breaking the seal in process. And I would limit fireport shooting to basic and pistol weapons, they want to shoot something heavy? make them open the hatch, and stick theire head into fire zone. (getting shot in the transport even when fiering thru fire port is almost impossible)

In the new IG codex they are specifically mounted lasguns.

In the new IG codex they are specifically mounted lasguns.

That is cool, I guess. Personally, I like environmentally sealed ports that can be opened to fire out of with any basic weapon. So, if my weapon specialist wants to push out the nozzel of his Hades Assault Flamer and have an Ork BBQ, he can do that.

In the new IG codex they are specifically mounted lasguns.

That is cool, I guess. Personally, I like environmentally sealed ports that can be opened to fire out of with any basic weapon. So, if my weapon specialist wants to push out the nozzel of his Hades Assault Flamer and have an Ork BBQ, he can do that.

I think there used to (and may technically still) be a version that had ports that could be opened to fire through, but those were only environmentally sealed while closed. 'Swhy the premounted and internally controlled version's more popular - that version they can shoot while inside and remain protected in hostile environments.

Though, technically speaking it's probably possible (for someone who isn't bound to maintaining the standard patterns) to utilize similarly sized weapons other than a standard lasgun for the mounted guns, but it's probably not an official/found STC pattern.