GURPS Stealth and Camouflage Guide Part 2
Disambiguation:
Prey - A subject that tries to avoid detection by means of stealth and/or camouflage
Hunter - A subject that tries to detect prey by means of Perception, Observation or others.
Sneak - Operative that trained for and favors stealthy approach.
Stealth and camouflage are tools used to achieve specific objectives, set by yourself, your superiors or circumstances at hand. Almost all situations can benefit from acting quietly, and rich but small units often resort to stealth to offset their lack of numbers.
While stealth is almost universal within certain type of adventuring parties, even one dedicated sneak can create advantage for the team in a variety of combat and adventuring situations.
Stealth and Camouflage on tactical level
On the most basic level, Stealth and Camouflage serve to hide you from your enemies.
An enemy that doesn't know of your presence is limited to only passive counter-measures against you, such as being alert for intruders and reinforcing his position, granting you the ability to strike first or avoid the encounter entirely. Picking your battles is an important capability for a small unit or a lone infiltrator.
An enemy who is aware of your presence is limited to active measures aimed at locating you, he still cannot make direct attacks upon you, and via maneuver you can use the enemy's measures against them.
If the enemy only knows your rough location, but cannot see you, he attacks at (-6) penalty.
If the enemy has you zero'd to within 1 yard, his skill is capped at 9 to engage you, with a hefty penalty (-4).
Understanding these concepts will tell you that deploying Stealth and Camouflage at any point in time is extremely beneficial to tactical combat, and gives a smart fighter extreme advantage that is worth much more than heavy armor.
Stealth and Camouflage are opposed by Perception and it's sub-attributes via quick contest or Observation.
The hunter, who searches for prey by vision, can receive +10 if the target is in plain sight, but is penalized by the range penalty to the prey, their stance's melee attack modifier (ie, -4 for prey being prone), prey's low visibility clothing (if prey is using Stealth with camouflaged outfit), cover's to hit penalty, as well as darkness penalties.
Usage of Stealth/Camouflage almost always disqualifies hunter from claiming 'in plain sight' bonus.
This can easily stack to insurmountable odds for the hunter, and maximizing their penalties is one of the tactical skills of using stealth/camouflage.
A prone man (-4) in the grass (-2), wearing ghillie suit (-8), 30 yards away (-7) gives a hefty -21 penalty to spot him, which wouldnt even be offset by 'in plain sight' modifier (if he even was in plain sight).
The hunter who searches for prey by hearing uses his hearing against target's stealth, or simply adds target's sound-reducing bonus as a penalty to his hearing roll (like -1 for sneakers). This is also modified by ambient sound levels, listener's attention, for vegetation, mountains, concrete streets, buildings. This is usually a penalty that can go over -10, HT158 goes into detail on these concepts. Range also modifiers hearing, use hearing table at B358 or hearing table on HT158. Kromm suggests that Hearing's "in plain sight" bonus is +5. Hearing is not as precise as vision, and at best can zero prey's location to within 1 yard, but usually giving 'general direction'.
A ninja carrying one shuriken and ninja suit (0 encumberance) , wearing tabi (moccasins, +1 to stealth), sneaking in the alley by a busy street (-5), upon a hobo digging in a trashcan (-2 for beind distracted), moving at 1 yard per second (no speed penalty until 1 yard away) competes against Hobo's hearing at +1 vs -7+Range penalties. A GM might rule that hobo, not being on alert, does not oppose and thus the ninja rolls a simple stealth check, possibly modified for his victim's unfavorable state (+7+range penalties).
The hunter who searches for the prey by smell rolls his taste/smell or tracking. It is opposed by Stealth-5 against hunter with discriminatory smell, but camouflage can include concealing scent, soldier may include actively minimizing mistakes that lead to being smelled. Either way, generally, human sense of smell is not long range or extremely precise, and person's own smells like the smell of his ski-mask, gunpowder in the air or unwashed body/gear can throw it off. Unless the prey is absolutely reeking, it's usually fruitless to make such rolls.
A prey who washes exclusively with water and bland soap, wears scent-masking clothes (-4) and avoids stepping into dung should have no trouble avoiding a sentry who tries to smell him. Dogs have discriminatory smell! (+4 to tracking/smell and taste checks).
Roughly, tactical stealth can be broken into three distinct types
Hiding
Hiding is concealing yourself within the area in order to avoid scrutiny, and grant yourself a bit of security in hostile area. Hiding is usually a stealth roll modified by presence of 'hiding spots' in the area, from penalty to bonus, and consists of moving to the hiding spot and adjusting stance. Sneak usually conceals themselves in their hiding spot until the purpose of the maneuver is reached (ie, let a sentry pass, hide yourself in hostile forest for the night, etc).
Immobile hiding can be substituted by, or combined with camouflage, and is the basis of sniping - hiding until you can make an accurate shot. The key to hiding is to pick areas or places seldom visited, hide in angles covered only by hunter's flank or back, hide high or extremely low, use nature, buildings, objects etc, get creative! Hiding far away from the enemy is a sure-fire way to not be discovered.
Stalking
Is the art of moving unnoticed, by both picking routes that do not allow or break line of sight, and moving quietly towards the objective. Stalking is best utilized with specific objective in mind, such as 'sneak past a sentry', 'approach target for a backstab', 'dodge the camera', etc. Creative solutions can improve or hinder stalking. Against targets who have no line of sight to you, roll stealth vs hearing or smell, they cannot see you! Targets that have line of sight to you can use either vision or combined perception, and targets that catch you outside of cover, standing tall, can spot you at +10 for 'plain sight'. Avoiding this penalty is moving low, slow and via cover.
Basic Set suggests that moving over 1 yard/s imposes -5 penalty. That becomes an unmodified stealth against unmodified perception at 8 yards and more, with hunter incurring aditional penalties from range beyond that. This is somewhat unrealistic, as a man running about just 8 yards away is oddly challenging to hear. Kromm suggests penalty to equal person's speed in yards, ie 3 y/s is -3 to stealth, 6 y/s is -6 to stealth. Cyborg ninja running at 20 y/s has -20 to stealth unless his legs are explicitly modified for such use!
For extreme penalties and bonuses, it is recommended to use Extreme Scores on B349. A roll of stealth of 10(-20) vs perception of 10(-20) just might be obnoxious in play.
Evasion
Evasion is the usage of stealth in combat in a defensive manner. It involves rapidly breaking line of sight between you and the enemy, and then executing a maneuver that confuses the enemy's knowledge of your current location.
It consists of creating a situation where stealth can be effective (running behind a wall, diving behind cover or into a ditch, activating your stealth device, tossing flashbang etc) and at the start of your next turn performing a maneuver alongside a Stealth roll, opposed by hunter's senses as appropriate.
It is important to make tactical choices here, as disappearing behind a single tree on the hill might create a situation where enemy can't exactly see you, but can still put rounds and explosives on your position rather precisely (-6 or -4, limited to skill level 9, if they got you down to 1 yard. They can attack your hex itself!). The enemy can also assume your direction and try to intercept you. A random mook will most likely just pursue you, but a skilled hunter may use tactics vs prey's stealth or IQ-based stealth quick contest to realize the purpose of prey's maneuver.
Making sharp turns away from logical path, climbing over obstacles, quickly finding a hiding spot, or simply outrunning your hunter are good ways to evade them. Do everything you can to minimize line of sight and increase penalties for the enemy, take move & attack to destroy lights to create darkness, toss grenades to confuse enemy's hearing, prevent pursuit or blind them. The objective is not to conceal your existence, but to conceal your current position and your direction of travel.
Using immobile stealth, assisted or substituted by camouflage, may be effective, but if the enemy realizes you never actually escaped further than the ditch 1 yard away from your last position, they can quickly surround and expose you. High margins of success on mobile stealth can turn this behavior into an advantage, as enemy tries to attack your last known position behind the bush that you have passed 20 seconds ago (a baiting tactic).
End result permits you to disengage the enemy and escape, or set up an ambush for the enemy, distract them from the objective, etc. It is also an effective way of avoiding being shot.
Stealth Tactics
Fire & ManeuverThis classic small-unit tactic requires 2 elements, support and assault. Support team, armed with automatics, grenade launchers, etc, engages the enemy in a stand up fight, acting loud in order to make the enemy believe that the support element is the entire force, while possibly using Tactics to trick the enemy into believing they're winning.
Meanwhile, a pre-concealed assault team, or assault team that evades enemy, works into the flank or the rear of the enemy via stealth, resulting in a quick ambush against enemy's flank or rear. Carefully positioning your teams should avoid crossfire.
All soldiers know this maneuver, and the enemy might try to pull a fast one on you as well! For that purpose, a team may have designated rear guard, commit assault team to ambushing enemy's assault team (the standard move is to flank from the enemy's right, where right-handed men have trouble spotting the enemy due to operating a firearm) in a defensive play, or have support team push at the enemy to simulate counter-ambush tactic.
Ambush
Another classic tactic that involves ambushers disappearing themselves into the area through which the enemy may pass, and then striking at them from concealment, forcing a partial (or total!) surprise or at the very least denying enemy their defenses. Extra time can be spent lining up a shot and setting up wait maneuvers for a clean and efficient simulatenous takedown.
L-shaped ambush and retreating ambush are variants of this maneuver that focus on locking the enemy into the ambush.
L-Shaped works best by attacking enemy from the front AND one of the sides, preventing them to just run through your ambush, and is most useful on turns of the road, and against vehicles that cant simply reverse at high speed.
Retreating ambush is favored by US Military and involves permitting the enemy to take an easy forward position, such as the gate, or sniping positions, usually guarded by a small fireteam, which retreats (or heroically dies). When the enemy has taken hold of this new position, the main force detonates concealed explosives, fires pre-aimed artillery or simply closes the door behind the enemy, assaulting the lost position with overwhelming force. Overconfident enemy is the prime target for such maneuver.
Stealth Assault
Favored by special forces, CTs and people with a lot on the line, this maneuver involves using stealth to take over the objective, such as hostage room, planted bomb, enemy command center, the escape vehicle etc, eliminate immediate threats and lie in ambush.
When the main assault force engages the enemy's outer perimeter, most of the security will focus on engaging the assaulters, while some will definitely attempt to backtrack to kill the hostages, prime the bomb, or jump into the escape vehicle, where sneaks would be waiting to decimate the surprised enemies. If situation permits, stealth team can continue using their advantage against the enemy's rear as they try to contain the assault.
Failure on such insertion is still advantageous, as such maneuver is attempted only when raid is the only option, as it starts one of the teams already in a position of proximity to the target and forces the enemy to act against multi-sided assault.
Timed Action
Timed Action is a tactic that involves hiding your maneuvers against an event that attracts most of the enemy's attention.
A sniper might want to time his shot with enemy's artillery fire, to eliminate the chance of anyone using sound to locate his position.
A team of sneaks can detonate a pre-planted explosive, and, while enemy is staring at the fireball in confusion, sneak behind them, or shutting out the lights in the building for a moment to conceal a ninja escaping from being surrounded.
For concealing your action behind an event that lasts a second or more, simple wait maneuver should do. For events that unfold in less than a second, a GM may permit to use haste rules, with blanket -5 to match one gunshot with another, sound of car exhaust with somebody's head hitting the pavement etc.
General -2 and -3 for being distracted usually applies, the original event attracts full attention, while the concealed maneuver is registered at a penalty based on the nature of the distraction (a cat screaming madly vs a jet exploding on the airfield).
Bait
A team of sneaks can easily dispatch disjointed forces by baiting them out of their position. A guard distracted by subtle death gasp of his partner opens himself up to a backstab from a different ninja! Generally, the more benign or unusual the distraction is, the longer it takes for the enemy to see through.
Seeing the patrol you are about to shake hands with lying dead on the ground prompts rapid counter-ambush tactics, while seeing them all hanging off of a tree, ominously standing in the darkness (their dead forms held up by ninjas), or finding a plush toy on the ground may confuse the enemy and give the sneaks a few moments to engage the baited at an advantage.
Tactics, IQ rolls and other creative skill and ability uses are usually opposed by enemy's IQ, Soldier or Tactics. An experienced soldier might go into counter-ambush mode because he saw a teddy bear on the ground, becoming a laughing stock of his unit and the only survivor.
Takedown
Takedown involves stalking the enemy until the unit decides to eliminate them. A moving ambush. At TLs without suppressors, that is limited to melee combat or muscle-powered ranged weaponry.
Melee takedown involves sneaking into the range of your melee weapon, slowing down as you go, from a blind spot, and then striking at high value targets - back (or front!) of skull, neck, vitals, gaps in armor, around the trauma plate (-6). A classic 'backstab'.
Properly ambushing the enemy allows use of telegraphic attack and other such bonuses.
If enemy does not properly succumb to his wounds (falls unconscious right after the strike), he might scream out for help! To prevent such, grappling a man's face should be appropriate enough to muffle them. Combine that with Grab and Smash (MA118) for one-turn grapple and attack that deals increased damage, but gives the enemy an opportunity to defend against the attack after the grapple (at obnoxious penalties for grappling and rear/sides. He might even be surprised!).
Ranged takedowns are easier to perform, but are louder, even with suppressor. All the same high value targets are used, but Aim maneuver permits to acquire extensive bonuses to hit them, especially at low distances where penalties don't apply. Sneaking close enough allows to use melee rules (TS25) for attacks, and attacking a person by pressing the gun against them gives additional -1 to hearing in exchange for revealing your presence. High ROF weapons are of use, as they allow to quickly force the person unconscious via raw damage. Smash and Grab can be used too, but naturally ranged damage of your weapon won't benefit from All-out Attack (Strong).
Stealth and Camouflage on strategic level
Stealth missions, like any other missions, require extensive planning, and stealth should be a concern at least at the stage of setting objectives.
Commander must decide the purpose of the stealth in the mission.
1) Stealth as main objective/success condition - in such situation, stealth is REQUIRED for completion of the mission. Sneaking into an embassy to plant a bug is most certain to fail if infiltrator is spotted - it might prompt an embassy-wide clearing ops that will certainly discover the bug!
2) Stealth as advantage - in such situation, stealthy execution of the mission is a bonus that makes it easier/more convenient/cost effective. Escaping from prison is possible by starting a riot, breaking into armoury and shooting your way out, but it is much more efficient to sneak out.
3) Stealth is an option - in such situation, stealth yields no explicit benefits to accomplishment of the task, but may be chosen if the operative(s) are especially adept at it. To assassinate a man, you dont have to sneak up on him, you can poison his wine or simply plant a bomb in his car.
Depending on the purpose, preparations must be made to faciliate stealth. First case may require an entire stealth support team, third case may require just preliminary intel gathering, and in some cases it's completely appropriate to wing it.
Stealth Support Team
Stealth Support Team is an element of assistants that provide the sneak an advantage on his endeavour. Their scale, number and competence can range from a buddy with a telescope to Mission Control or HQ.
Observer - This element provides observation of the area of operation, expanding the sneak's tactical perception of the area beyond his hearing, vision and smell. Being able to percieve situation from multiple angles, and from a distance, allows to avoid such embarrassing situations as turning face-first into a guard, or being out-sneaked. Observers can also watch nearby facilities for incoming backup, and may actively attempt to prevent it's arrival in case of compromise.
Observers can range from a sniper team, other PCs, sneaks in training radioing the situation to unmanned drones or hacked cameras that feed into user's HUD. Their important skills are Observation, Stealth, Camouflage, Tactics, and possibly lockpicking and electronic repair (security), electronic operation (communications) and electronic operation (electronic warfare) to get into position, conceal themselves and provide overwatch.
Usually it's a low-intensity role best reserved for NPCs, but an injured and recovering PC can spend a session or two on overwatch.
Electronic Intelligence Agent/Hacker - This element, appearing alongside with creation of cyphers, radios and computer systems, ensures that they can be used against the enemy - to track their comms, watch their radios, prevent backup being called, etc. Either granted access by the sneak, or independently, this element is important in bypassing high tech security and fooling organized groups.
Insertion/Extraction specialist - This element provides vehicular or pathfinding assistance in leading the sneak in and out of area of operation, himself most likely an accomplished sneak with focus on transportation and smuggling.
Quick Reaction Force - An element of fully equipped gunmen, often an assault or counter-assault team. Sneaks are expensive to train, carry good gear and may reveal secrets on capture or death. QRF is there to ensure that despite failure of stealth, objective can still be completed or the sneaks can be safely extracted.
Negotiatior/Interpreter - When met with unknown language, a specialist can translate it as it is spoken, record it and even speak on behalf of the sneak, using psychology negotiation tactics that the sneak might lack himself.
The team can lack certain members, or all of them, depending on budget, legality, manpower and mission objective. A recon unit behind enemy lines can at best expect an Insertion/Extraction in the form of a helicopter pilot, and observers in the form of a separate recon unit (or half of their own).
Preparation - aka legwork. Gathering intel about the target, area of operation, creating contingency plans is essential to stealth. Acquiring a full map of the target, organizing an entry point, creating an explicit plan to follow, disabling security features, all assist with stealth. Even having a stealth retreat plan after non-stealth raid can seriously increase unit's survival chance. Research, Streetwise, Computer intrusion skills, Observation, etc, allows you to build the full understanding of the situation, and use such understanding to your advantage.
Weaponry
Melee Weapons
At TLs or LCs where suppressed ranged weaponry is unavailable, some may resort to melee weapons. Melee weapons are generally LC4, they're easy to hit a backstab with, have good wounding modifiers and, when properly camouflaged and not encumbering, they do not negate your stealth advantage. Stealth with a greatsword, if you wish.
Appropriate options are reverse grip (+1 thr damage) and defensive grip with one-handed weapon (-2 to hit, +1 thr damage). Both can be combined for popular two-handed down stab with a knife.
Ideal skills for stealth use are
Knife (DX/Easy) - Is a skill of using various knives and appears on variety of templates. Weapons almost always thrust at reach C, and sometimes swing at C,1. Damage is usually nothing to write home about, putting assassin at risk of his target surviving. Weapon is available at all TLs, and is easy to scrounge up (kitchen knives). Modern (TL7+) knives are Fine (Quality) for no extra cost. Various tactical variants appear at HT197. This skill also covers the use of pistol bayonets, and a pistol with bayonet acts like Large Knife (HT197).
Shortsword (DX/Average) - Skill of using short swords, machetes and police batons, is likely to be found on a police or jungle survivalist template. It has better damage than knife (it even allows use of Large Knife at Shortsword+0), but reach is almost always 1. Reverse Grip allows to avoid this issue and adds damage. While militaries stopped issuing such weapons at TL7+, manufacture, especially tactical, still continues. Market is full of tactical wakizashis, ninja-tos and such, with paracord handles and non-reflective blades. Adding a scabbard for a ninja sword to your kit may cause your team mates to laugh at you, but they won't laugh when you actually ninja somebody's head off with it.
Spear (DX/Average) - Skill of using spears and weapon-mounted bayonets! It can be found on military templates, and most bulk -4 or worse firearms can accept bayonet. The benefits are a plenty - obnoxious damage (thr+3 imp), ease of carry (bayonet detached from a weapon is just a knife), good reach. There are some negatives too, like -1 to Guns if you fire a weapon with mounted bayonet, and it takes 4 seconds to mount the bayonet (fast-draw knife makes it 3). Weapons with integral suppressor often dont support bayonets, but a smart application of ring mount or accessory rail can permit mounting. Nothing stops you from using such 'spear' one-handed, so using it with ice-pick grip is viable while muffling the target with your off-hand.
Brawling (DX/Easy) - Skill of unscientific fighting with hands and knees. And the skill of using fist-loads! The most appropriate fist loads are push knife, brass knuckles and the gun. Any weapon balanced for one-handed use (such as many SMGs and Automatic Pistols) can be used to pistol whip (HT93) (damage is thr-1+absolute bulk). Sneaks, who use suppressed SMGs and Pistols, will find that their weapon has obnoxiously high damage due to bulk (Suppressed -2 bulk pistol, at -3 total, deals deadly 1d+2 cr). Adding an extended magazine improves damage even further, as long as bulk gets worse, and already large weapons permit to achieve brain-scrambling damage, although the GM might get upset. Folding stocks, holding one-handed weapon with two hands, and other such actions that reduce bulk do not count for damage calculation, as the weapon's weight does not decrease.
Other melee weapons - are of varied availability and usefulness, but generally they should be available at reach C either natively, or via reverse-grip, and carry good damage (5.5 average for skull attacks, 4.5 for vitals, etc). The objective of these weapons is to deliver enough backstab damage to force the opponent to roll to fall unconscious. A modern, 'tactical' katana used with broadsword skill might be available everywhere, while a good saber or rapier of non-sport variety will require commissioning. Tactical Tomahawks are sometimes popular, especially if they have a pick on the blunt side of the axe. Or just get an ice-axe.
Muscle-powered ranged Weapons
Bows - are usually quiet, but are harder to shoot than firearms, and have subpar damage. A strong bowman, firing compound bow, barely matches the damage of a concealed 9mm pistol. One benefit of it is imp or (2) pi damage, as most soft vests have reduced DR against imp attacks, and (2) allows firing through helmets and flak vests. Otherwise, they're heavy, slow-firing and bulky, but LC4 usually.
Crossbows - Similar situation to the bows above, except it loads even slower, is slightly less bulky, and you can modify it to fire at obnoxious ST in exchange for increased reload speed. A 12 ST man firing ST 16 compound bow fires at respectable 1d+5 imp or 1d+5 (2) pi, which is comparable to 2d+2 pi++ handgun. Ability to mount scopes and other firearm accessories permits it's use as marksman weapon, and it's easier to apply poisons upon it.
Thrown weapons - Are sometimes taught to special forces. Knife and Throwing Axe are most appropriate. While knife is somewhat anemic, throwing axe is seriously deadly and tactical hatchets are made up to TL8 (and is also fine at TL7 for no extra cost). Spear is seldom trained, but an absolute madman can have it in him to throw a rifle with bayonet attached. Spear Thrower, Dart and others are generally the matter of the past.
Ranged Weapons
Firearms for a sneak are based on 3 separate groups, divided by how easy they are to silence.
Subsonic Calibers and Subsonic Weapons
These weapons and calibers fire a subsonic bullet (free -1 to hearing), and can use full range of caliber upgrades (even +P) without needing to apply subsonic upgrade.
.32, .380, 9x18 - Are light pistol calibers, meaning they get an extra -1 (-2 total) to be heard compared to 9x19 and .45 pistols. They often come in concealable variants, but SMGs and full-size pistols exist. They usually lag behind 9x19 by 1-2 points of damage, and have pi wounding out of the box.
.45 ACP - A powerful caliber of pi+ variety, it is characterized by high recoil, but it is increasingly beneficial. A good suppressor on an SMG like MAC-10 (HT126) delivers -5 to hearing and has solid 2d+1 pi+ damage, which easily becomes 2d+2 pi+ with P+ ammo or 2d+1 (2) pi with APHC. Suppressed Colt Government (HT108) is favored by stylish hitmen. Due to low damage, primary targets are vitals, skull and around rifle plates, but it is actually deadly against unarmored targets.
9x39 - A rifle-sized caliber exclusive to Russia, AS VAL and VSS chamber it (Both at HT118). The firearm and caliber combine interesting qualities. It's an acc 4, bulk -4 weapon, meaning it doesnt suffer from the usual pitfall of attaching a suppressor to the rifle and worsening bulk. It's bullet is either APHC or FMJ Match free of charge AND subsonic, something that is rare for rifle bullets. It has serious damage die of 3d, which is lethal against helmets and light body armor with APHC bullet, and unarmored targets when firing at vitals. APHC P+ chambering exists, called PAB-9 (3d+1 (2) pi-), but it is too taxing on the weapon (Malf 16). Theoretical supersonic bullet is plain 5d pi, but the weapons are not designed for them (Malf 16, or even 15!). In late 2010s, AR-15 variants modified for 9x39 appear and are able to take advantage of western suppressors and built rugged enough to whistand 9x39 supersonic and 9x39 PAB-9.
9x19 MP5SD - this variant of the MP5 has curious quality that is oddly missing from High Tech. All 9mm bullets fired from the weapon are slowed down to subsonic speeds, meaning that the weapon can fire conventional 9x19mm bullets quietly. This means that APHC, tracer, P+ and other obscure variants not made in subsonic are usable by a sneak with this weapon. This is especially important for commercial loads. 9x19 Swedish (2d+1 pi) is a P+ round that can be bought in bulk, while 9x19 7N21 is a modern APHC P+ shot from Russia (2d+1 (2) pi-). 7N31, also from Russia, is an APDS P+ shot that transforms an SMG into PDW (2d+2 (2) pi-, x1.5 range). At TL8, aftermarket suppressor can replace stock one for -4 (-5 total) to hearing.
Supersonic Pistol Caliber Weapons
9x19, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, 7.62x25 TT, 10mm Auto and other - Are available in subsonic loads. For pistols and SMGs, this only reduces range of the weapon, so obnoxious variants like MP5/10 firing 10mm Auto subsonic P+ deal absolutely teeth-shattering 4d pi+, while maintaining silence with a -4 suppressor (-5 total for subsonic). Main downside is the lack of both subsonic and special ammunition on open market, such as Subsonic APHC, requiring handloading. If the GM simply allows you to buy whatever, this might be the better option compared to subsonic guns.
Supersonic Rifle/PDW Caliber bullets
This variant is likely the least effective, as damage of the weapon is x0.6 when firing subsonic. 7.62x39 and 6.8mm SPC deal pitiful 3d+1 pi (At TL7, 7.62x39mm deals 2d pi), while being heavy, expensive and sometimes unwieldy due to extreme bulk when suppressed (-6 of AKM). Smaller calibers like 5.56 are barely 3d, while 5.45 subsonic fails to cycle the weapon (ROF 1, extra -1 to hearing from 'bolt-action' operation). Bigger calibers like 7.62x51 and 7.62x54mmR have more sensible 4d+2, which allows helmet-hunting and brain scrambling with reliability, but general downsides of the weapon apply. Sniper rifles with high damage dice such as .338 are rather effective, but most are only available in sniper rifles, and most are not made APHC, P+ or any other advanced variant.
On the bright side, these weapons usually have high acc, and switching to full rifle damage is only a magazine swap. Skill of Guns (Rifle) is more common and effective, and thus characters on a point budget may opt for this option. 7.62x54mmR Subsonic existed since WW2 and is fired out of a suppressed Mosin Nagant. Such weapon might be the only option of an early TL7 sneak-sniper.
PDW Handguns
A special note is needed for pistols that fire PDW calibers, such as Five-seveN (Firing 5.7) and SPS Gyurza (Firing 9x21). If treated equal to their big brothers, these weapons receive full x0.6 damage modification and thus become extremely anemic. 5.7's 2d+2 (2) pi- becomes an embarrassing 1d+2 (2) pi-, while SPS with it's 3d-2(2) pi- also drops to 1d+2 (2) pi-. Neither is sufficient for stealth work, and so it is recommended to treat them as pistol calibers for subsonic load rules.
Part 3 will cover auxillary equipment, complimentary skills and counter-stealth tactics/gear.
