Squad Leader uses a Prep Fire, Move, Defensive Fire, Advancing Fire phase sequence that alternates between players, with defensive fire allowing units to be brought back to any space they moved through to take fire during the Defensive Fire phase. It worked, but the Squad Leader system was a slow play system that wanted to give players a lot of detail.

DUST is designed to allow faster play, so they designed the Reactive Fire mechanic in place of extra phases to track, or order tracking to place specific units on overwatch. I like the idea of allowing multiple units use Reactive Fire, because it keeps overwatch more of the threat it should be, without making it a game breaker when combined with DUST's lethality. It also helps with the long movement option units, so units toward the beginning and end of a target's move can both fire, even if neither one might see where the other one can engage.

As to whether requiring all Reactive Fire be declared before any is resolved is a better simulation is an open debate. If you're picturing fast moving action in each turn, where attacks are more reflexive than deliberate, then declaring them all would make more sense. If you're picturing units moving on advance over a longer period of time, then there is time to allow additional units to react or be called on to add additional Reactive Fire during a target's move.

I look at the logical time and ground scales for DUST, where one space is at least 50 meters to reflect engagement abilities of combat rifles and other weapons (based on historical engagement ranges, and not maximum weapon capabilities, which would create bigger spaces). Time per turn then slows down, as troops moving in combat are not doing straight out Olympic sprints, but actually trying to be small targets to survive and accomplish goals while carrying a lot of gear, and time stretches out to at least 20-30 seconds per game turn. Both of those could arguably be small options, but they certainly fit the minimum for what we have.

Buildings can add some confusion for players, as while factories might be over 100 meters square, residential buildings rarely are. When you consider that the infantry and vehicle models are not exactly matching the ground scale, as with most miniatures games, it becomes understandable to use large single buildings that fit the infantry models to represent what would arguably be a residential area of multiple buildings. Games have been doing that for decades because it looks strange when the buildings don't fit the models.

We don't need an absolute time or distance allowance, as it could easily bring in the pseudo-realists who want to calculate and argue exactly what someone or some weapon can do without considering their use on a realistic battlefield that limits optimum performance. I don't worry about rates of fire, as they are simply subsumed in the dice mechanic, without any real indication for other than limited ammunition weapons as to how many rounds are actually assumed for the listed effects. A general idea can help understand some of the mechanics, however.

With 20-30 seconds for Reactive Fire to be occuring, units have more time to call for more supporting fire, or squads have more time to notice movement they hadn't noticed before, or squads can notice a unit they thought could handle something wasn't. Any of those could result in further Reactive Fire that didn't start when one unit started it, but still came into play while the activated unit was still crossing the same 50 meters of one space.

Squad Leader uses a Prep Fire, Move, Defensive Fire, Advancing Fire phase sequence that alternates between players, with defensive fire allowing units to be brought back to any space they moved through to take fire during the Defensive Fire phase. It worked, but the Squad Leader system was a slow play system that wanted to give players a lot of detail.

DUST is designed to allow faster play, so they designed the Reactive Fire mechanic in place of extra phases to track, or order tracking to place specific units on overwatch. I like the idea of allowing multiple units use Reactive Fire, because it keeps overwatch more of the threat it should be, without making it a game breaker when combined with DUST's lethality. It also helps with the long movement option units, so units toward the beginning and end of a target's move can both fire, even if neither one might see where the other one can engage.

As to whether requiring all Reactive Fire be declared before any is resolved is a better simulation is an open debate. If you're picturing fast moving action in each turn, where attacks are more reflexive than deliberate, then declaring them all would make more sense. If you're picturing units moving on advance over a longer period of time, then there is time to allow additional units to react or be called on to add additional Reactive Fire during a target's move.

I look at the logical time and ground scales for DUST, where one space is at least 50 meters to reflect engagement abilities of combat rifles and other weapons (based on historical engagement ranges, and not maximum weapon capabilities, which would create bigger spaces). Time per turn then slows down, as troops moving in combat are not doing straight out Olympic sprints, but actually trying to be small targets to survive and accomplish goals while carrying a lot of gear, and time stretches out to at least 20-30 seconds per game turn. Both of those could arguably be small options, but they certainly fit the minimum for what we have.

Buildings can add some confusion for players, as while factories might be over 100 meters square, residential buildings rarely are. When you consider that the infantry and vehicle models are not exactly matching the ground scale, as with most miniatures games, it becomes understandable to use large single buildings that fit the infantry models to represent what would arguably be a residential area of multiple buildings. Games have been doing that for decades because it looks strange when the buildings don't fit the models.

We don't need an absolute time or distance allowance, as it could easily bring in the pseudo-realists who want to calculate and argue exactly what someone or some weapon can do without considering their use on a realistic battlefield that limits optimum performance. I don't worry about rates of fire, as they are simply subsumed in the dice mechanic, without any real indication for other than limited ammunition weapons as to how many rounds are actually assumed for the listed effects. A general idea can help understand some of the mechanics, however.

With 20-30 seconds for Reactive Fire to be occuring, units have more time to call for more supporting fire, or squads have more time to notice movement they hadn't noticed before, or squads can notice a unit they thought could handle something wasn't. Any of those could result in further Reactive Fire that didn't start when one unit started it, but still came into play while the activated unit was still crossing the same 50 meters of one space.

Squad Leader uses a Prep Fire, Move, Defensive Fire, Advancing Fire phase sequence that alternates between players, with defensive fire allowing units to be brought back to any space they moved through to take fire during the Defensive Fire phase. It worked, but the Squad Leader system was a slow play system that wanted to give players a lot of detail.

DUST is designed to allow faster play, so they designed the Reactive Fire mechanic in place of extra phases to track, or order tracking to place specific units on overwatch. I like the idea of allowing multiple units use Reactive Fire, because it keeps overwatch more of the threat it should be, without making it a game breaker when combined with DUST's lethality. It also helps with the long movement option units, so units toward the beginning and end of a target's move can both fire, even if neither one might see where the other one can engage.

As to whether requiring all Reactive Fire be declared before any is resolved is a better simulation is an open debate. If you're picturing fast moving action in each turn, where attacks are more reflexive than deliberate, then declaring them all would make more sense. If you're picturing units moving on advance over a longer period of time, then there is time to allow additional units to react or be called on to add additional Reactive Fire during a target's move.

I look at the logical time and ground scales for DUST, where one space is at least 50 meters to reflect engagement abilities of combat rifles and other weapons (based on historical engagement ranges, and not maximum weapon capabilities, which would create bigger spaces). Time per turn then slows down, as troops moving in combat are not doing straight out Olympic sprints, but actually trying to be small targets to survive and accomplish goals while carrying a lot of gear, and time stretches out to at least 20-30 seconds per game turn. Both of those could arguably be small options, but they certainly fit the minimum for what we have.

Buildings can add some confusion for players, as while factories might be over 100 meters square, residential buildings rarely are. When you consider that the infantry and vehicle models are not exactly matching the ground scale, as with most miniatures games, it becomes understandable to use large single buildings that fit the infantry models to represent what would arguably be a residential area of multiple buildings. Games have been doing that for decades because it looks strange when the buildings don't fit the models.

We don't need an absolute time or distance allowance, as it could easily bring in the pseudo-realists who want to calculate and argue exactly what someone or some weapon can do without considering their use on a realistic battlefield that limits optimum performance. I don't worry about rates of fire, as they are simply subsumed in the dice mechanic, without any real indication for other than limited ammunition weapons as to how many rounds are actually assumed for the listed effects. A general idea can help understand some of the mechanics, however.

With 20-30 seconds for Reactive Fire to be occuring, units have more time to call for more supporting fire, or squads have more time to notice movement they hadn't noticed before, or squads can notice a unit they thought could handle something wasn't. Any of those could result in further Reactive Fire that didn't start when one unit started it, but still came into play while the activated unit was still crossing the same 50 meters of one space.

Sorry guys for double post. Computer issues!!!