Combat is split into phases known as rounds. Each round is six seconds, and thus there are 10 rounds in a turn. Every character rolls for Initiative to determine when they act in that round.
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At the beginning of each combat round, every player rolls their AGI to determine which order they do their actions each round. The person with the highest roll gets to make his action first, the second highest roll goes second, and so on until the lowest roll. If the Games Master has a large number of NPCs to control, it's perfectly common for him to make one roll for all NPCs and they all act at the same time.
Once a combat order has been determined, each participant takes their turn to make an action; this can be moving, shooting, punching someone in the face, or even turning tail and running away.
Each character has a statistic called Actions, which is the number of Standard Actions he may perform in a combat round (six seconds).
Actions are divided into three distinct classes: Micro Actions which typically take 1-3 seconds, such as ducking behind something, or shouting a command; Standard Actions, such as shooting a rifle, punching someone, or bracing a large weapon; and Long Actions, which will take longer than one combat round and must be concentrated on over a number of rounds, such as breaking into a safe, or hacking a computer system.
Table 3.2 lists several common actions that can be used a guide, but this list is far from exhaustive. Anything players wish to do during combat can be allocated into one of the Action Classes.
Actions are either non-Skill actions or Skill actions, meaning that some require the use of a Skill to attempt. Even if your character doesn't have the particular skill required, it is still considered a Skill Action. Non-Skill Actions are such things as moving, reloading your weapon, or squatting down into cover.
Typically a character should get one Micro Action "free" in a round where she is performing one or more Standard Actions (depending on her Actions characteristic), or should get 3 Micro Actions in a round on their own. But at the GMs discretion, he may opt to allocate more or fewer.
Some things, however, take a bit longer than aiming at a body and pulling a trigger. Cracking a safe, hacking a door-code, breaking into a computer system, diffusing a bomb, are not usually achievable in six seconds.
There are two ways to play long actions and it is possible to choose one method over the other, but you will have more flexibility by choosing the most appropriate method for the task at hand.
Method 1: Roll until you succeed.
When doing something like hacking into a computer system, the player will typically have to roll against a high DN. In this instance, a player could keep rolling until they succeed. Each roll can represent a combat round, or if it's a complex system, it may be decided that the player should roll for every minute of hacking, or every ten minutes, or every hour. If you're against a clock, then you better roll well.
Method 2: Roll multiple successes.
The alternative is to require a set number of successes. Again, each can be a timeframe set by the GM, but most will default to a combat round. If your character is trying to crack a safe that has multiple codes, then each successful roll may be another code found. Once the PC has figured them all out, the safe will open.
Fighting can come in many forms. It can involve shooting guns, brawling in a bar, pulling some kung-fu moves, or it can be a couple of girls pulling each others' hair. Shooting is the favoured form of combat though, as the participants can stand at a distance and can hide (oops, sorry, strategically maneouvre) behind objects offering cover.
Whatever form of combat is chosen, there are three basic steps;
The attacker rolls the appropriate combat Skill against a DN. For example, Jack shooting his pistol rolls his Shooting (4d) and adds his Pistols (+3) against a Tier 3 DN because he is at medium range. This means he must roll 15 or higher on 4d+3 to successfully hit his target. The range determines the base DN tier that the attacker will have to roll against to successfully hit a target. See Table 3.1 for details.
| Range | DN Tier |
|---|---|
| Point Blank | 1 |
| Short | 2 |
| Medium | 3 |
| Long | 4 |
| Weapon Type | Tier Save |
|---|---|
| Melee (m) | 0 |
| Blades (Bl) | 0 |
| Bolt Guns (Bo) | +1 |
| Gauss (G) | +1 |
| Blasters (Bs) | +2 |
| Plasma (P) | +2 |
| Laser (L) | +3 |
The defender rolls his Armour score versus the Save DN. One Eared Pete has a nanofibre mesh jacket that affords him a 3d save. If he successfully makes a Tier 3 save, he will take half damage; if he successfully make a Tier 4 save he will take no damage at all. You might notice that with an Armour score of 3d, the maximum roll possible is 18, and a Tier 4 Save requires a roll of 16, so this would be tough.
The basic Save Tiers are 1 for half damage, and 3 for no damage; in other words, a player must roll 4 or over (Tier 1 Save) for her armour to reduce the weapon's damage to half, but if she makes a roll of 12 or more (Tier 3 Save), then her armour would soak up all the damage.
However, all Saves are adjusted by the type of weapon being used. All adjustments are Tier Modifiers. For example, taking damage from a bolt weapon causes +1 Tier Saves, which means that rolling Armour against a bolt weapon requires the defender to roll Tier 2 and Tier 4 Saves for half an no damage respectively. Rolling Armour against a plasma weapon requires +3 Tier Saves, which means that someone being shot by a plasma weapon needs to roll against Tier 4 to take half damage, and Tier 6 to take no damage. Only the very best armour will even make this possible.
The default Save Tiers assume blades or melee weapons. Melee weapons are defined as hands and feet (martial arts, boxing, brawling), improvised weapons (chairs, tables, bottles), and non-bladed weapons (hammers, maces, clubs). While blades are technically melee weapons, they are in a separate category for game purposes.
Suits of armour usually have a protection type. This is a type of weapon, or several types of weapons that the armour is specifically designed to protect against. For example, a Rflek Jacket protects against laser weapons, but is relatively useless against anything else. When rolling an armour save against weapons that suit is designed to protect against, the armour saves are rolled at the default save tiers of 1 & 3.
Attacker rolls weapon's damage and result (modified by Armour save) is applied to the target.
Each PC and NPC has number of Hit Points, or HPs, and each point of weapon damage inflicted upon them reduces this total. This loss of Hit Points is not permanent, and can be recovered with rest and medical attention. Most ships have medtanks, or simple medkits, and every city on every planet has at least one hospital.
Once a character reaches 0 HP, he is knocked unconscious, and will bleed (internally or externally) until he is dead unless attended to fairly quickly. Characters bleed at 1 HP per minute (ten rounds).
When a character's HP reaches -10, then they are dead.
When doing melee combat, whether it be with bare hands and feet, or with improvised weapons, the damage dealt to your opponent is 1/2 of your character's PHY rounded up. So, a PHY of 1-2 will result in melee damage rolls of 1d; PHY of 3-4 will do 2d damage; and so on.
This is modified by use of an actual weapon in hand. Refer to the Gear chart in Chapter 4 for the appropriate Mod that a particular weapon uses. For example, Knuckle Dusters have a damage listed as +1. This damage is added to the damage done by your PHY. So if Mac the Knobb, with his PHY 3, is wearing knuckle dusters, then when he punches someone, he does 2d+1 damage.
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