7 Combat Mechanics

7.1 Method of Play

Right now at least, combat is handled a bit differently depending on the degree of detail needed to simulate actions and the environment. This may well change, but currently the ways it can be handled are:

Map-based. Units move around hexagonal/staggered-grid maps, with each location possibly differing in terrain features
Abstract map. Locations are expressed in abstract terms. There are currently two versions of this type of play, one with more detail to the abstract representation than the other. Both, though, are intended to be useful for combat without needing than a sheet of paper for jotting down notes and a couple of dice.
Narrative. The GM and Players roleplay out the combat, with the GM deciding the mods to various actions dependent on the situation. Best for duels and non-lethal combat.

But I won’t be doing any development of a map-based system in the foreseeable future.

So, yeah, that’s just a round-about way of saying I’m just focusing on the Skirmish system and that may be it.

7.2 Action Points

Units in tactical scenarios have action points (APs) they can use. Most units get 2 APs per round and APs usually refresh each round.
APs can be used to perform a discrete action. The most common actions are:
- Attack
- Defend
- Conduct reconnaissance
- Evade detection (and try to become undetectable)
- Move to a new location
The number of APs actions require can vary.
- Most attacks, defenses, recons, and evasions cost 1 AP
- Movements between locations usually cost 2 APs
- However, additional APs can be invested into an action to make improve its chances of success. These additional APs act like OPs, and flavored APs can only be used to modify similar actions. (Units are taking more time to make a more careful, focused, well-timed, etc. action.)

Example

A unit with a 3° attack starts a round with 2 free APs.
They decide to use their first AP to attack, an action which costs only 1 AP. They are currently set to make a 3° attack, thus needing a 3 or less to hit their target.
They decide to use their second AP to modify this basic attack. The unit uses this AP to it make their attack +1°. It is now a 4° attack (needing a 4 or less to hit). It also now takes the entire turn to complete, having effect the next time the unit can act.

Some actions can take more than 2 APs to complete, and thus take more than 1 round to complete (for most units).
- Actions that take more than one round to complete have no outcome until completed. Multi-turn actions can be stopped before completion; all APs used until then are lost, the action has no outcome, but the unit can immediately perform an other action. (I.e., a unit in the midst of a multi-round action can stop devoting points to that action at any time and instead use their current APs for an other action.)
“Flavoring” APs restricts their use. An attack-flavored AP can only be used to attach; if it isn’t used to attack, it is lost (and often regained the next round).
Most APs start vanilla, but this may vary.
- Buzzkills, for example, start each round with 4 APs, but one of them is always attack-flavored. This attack-flavored for the Buzzkills cannot be removed, but may be spiced, e.g., based on the parameters for their religion
Up to one AP can be carried over to the next round, allowing, e.g., for actions that take 3 APs, such as making +2 attacks or defenses. Once an AP is dedicated to it, it can’t be changed. In addition, the first APs used by that unit must be towards finishing that action.

7.3 Weapon Platforms

7.3.1 Mechanized Units

These are any units that have internal power plants and modular, mechanical systems.

“Wet” mechanized units also contain living organisms (like Humans and Buzzkills—even if only briefly at the same time)¹.
- Wet units require life support in adverse environments
- They often gain OP bonuses
“Dry” units may contain other robots, Ais, etc. in addition to their own intelligence.

Characteristics

Mechanized units also typically have 3 HPs. Destroying these HPs renders the vehicle inoperable.
- In addition to these vehicular HPs, every passenger in the vehicle also has their own armor and HPs, all of which can be hit with attacks to the back line.
In addition to these 3 fatal HPs, mechanized units also have other systems that also have points
- These other systems usually work at full effectiveness until all points for that system are destroyed.
- These systems can be in either the front or back line. However, they can usually not be spread across the two lines, and often their location is fixed.
- Attacks on systems in a given line follow World rules, the default being that points are subtracted at random from all points in a line.

Common mechanical subsystems are:

Table 7.1: Common Mechanical Subsystems, Their HPS, and Typical Lines
Hit Points	Description	Line of Battle
Varies	Propulsion/Armor²	Front for propulsion; armor can be either front of back
3	Main battery	Front
2	Secondary battery	Front
1 – 3	Reconnaissance/surveillance³	Front
1	Life support⁴	Back
1	Communications⁵	Front

7.4 Rounds

Combat occurs in rounds; round are divided into uses of APs. When all engaged units have used up (or dedicated to the next round) all of their APs, then a round ends and a new round starts.

The default length of a round is 10 seconds. This can be changed to faster or slower engagements, such as larger battles with many units & larger scales like system-wide invasions.

7.5 Initial Engagement

Upon engaging in combat (i.e., at the start of every combat scenario), all sides makes successive 0 AP rolls on either Recon or Ambush rolls. At the beginning of each roll, each side chooses the skill of which unit they’ll be using for the roll⁶. Note that being able to use either skill requires that the unit with it is able to use it (e.g., doesn’t have a reserve that’s depleated, is not actively preparing to ambush, etc.).

All sides make their engagement roll—whichever one they chose—together.
- All Sides Fail: Sides reroll together again. Both sides remain close to each other, but not engaged.
- One Side Wins: The winning side can either choose to raise the level of Awareness of all the other sides units to Concealed or successfully ambushes the other side, depending on the skill used.
- More Than One But Not All Sides Win: Winning units gain the awards of their roll’s success (Multiple ambush winners rolling randomly on each issue to work out any differences, e.g., Side A wins choosing distance, Side B wins gaining vOPs, and Side C lost both rolls.)
- All Sides Win: The scenario starts with all units Fogged at Very Far locations. You all got a whiff of each other.

7.5.1 Initiative

Once the initial engagement has been resolved, you got one more roll to do before you can start swinging: Iniative⁷.

Each unit in play in a given scenario must roll for when they can act during a round. Whenever a unit enters combat (including all units that start the scenario in play) all units roll 1D10. Numbers that are closer to 1 go before higher numbers; ties are rerolled between those players until the order is resolved between them.

Order of play is maintained throughout an entire scenario.

7.6 Movement & Location

Battlefields are divided into discrete locations, with a “location” really being all adjacent areas that share the same features & opportunities. For rocky combat, this is usually defined by geography. For void fights, it’s usually by recon & engagement opportunities with big-ticket environmental effects spread to rather distant locations.

There are four distances of locations: - Present - Close - Far - Very Far

Units in the same location and position engage in melee combat. It is usually impossible to become concealed in melee combat. (Reconnaissance technology tends to track the magnitude of military technology; medieval knights could use their eyes and ears for melee; Industrial-era soldiers could hear gunfire and see flashes; Anthropocene-era units can use tremor & radiation distortion to detect units out at the speeds of sound & light and through most obstacles.)

[1] 0.02003982

7.7 Weapon Ranges

The default ranges for weapons of various degrees are: - 1°: Present - 2°: Close - 3°: Far - ≥4°: Very Far

7.8 Communication Between Units

Units in locations that are at least Close to each other share “ambient information”: they are both aware of the same, general information. On rocky terrains this is usually the horizon or as far as one can detect through the atmosphere. In voids, it’s usually set to be 0.02, about 10 light seconds out. Not that other locations away from a ship are not all .03 AUs in size (or distance), but the ambient info one is standard for voids.

Units beyond this range must be detected through active recon. Given the range of Anthropic-era weapons and recon are vastly farther than those of the previous eras, most combat begins in the “offing,” events that are happening beyond the range of your natural senses.

7.8.1 1D Battlespaces

The battlespace is very generally construed in terms of moving towards or away from one’s opponents. Movements is therefore either closer to or away from other units.

All units are placed on the same line, and distance is simply distance on that line. This line can be made however long it needs to be, but for most engagements, a 10-point line should be fine.

At the beginning of a battle, each unit rolls 1D10. They are placed on the battlespace line (um, so I guess “line of battle”) at that location.
- Units that are at the same location (i.e., rolled the same number) begin the battle in melee. Boo.
- Units that are within ambient range (i.e., rolled a number right next to that of an other unit) begin revealed an within ambient range. (It’s assumed that any unit is at least partially unready at the beginning of any engagement and hasn’t had time to know how to hide.)
- Units beyond that range start in the fog and can move undetected until concealed or revealed.
Movement along the line of battle costs 2 AP. Movement from 1 to 0, however, costs 4 AP. You can loop back on the map, but that costs double. (The terrain is too generally conceived to have enough features where a unit could be cornered, but you can run a unit into a tighter spot.)
- Units that move into ambient range of (i.e., adjacent to) an other unit become concealed (unless already revealed).
- Units that move out of ambient range become concealed until either revealed or evades into the fog.
- Units that move onto the same space engage in melee with any opposing units there.
Units can stay in the same location and conduct “movements” within that location. These actions usually cost 1 AP. These include:
- Move into a more offensive position: Unit uses 1 AP to move into a position that affords them an enduring +1 for attacks made from that location. The maximum number of mods is 2. These mods are retained as long as that unit makes no other movements. Using recon or evasion are allowed.
- Move into a more defensive position: The same rules as above: Units can spend a movement AP to gain an enduring +1 or +2 defensive mod to any incoming attacks.
- Note that units can move into positions that are better both for offense and defense, stacking up to +2 on all attacks and +2 on all defenses that unit makes from that location. And they could conceivably then evade into concealment and then the fog at that location.
- Of course, moving out of that location disrupts all those mods; they must be actively re-established if that unit moves back.
Locations can have natural mods to the various skills. Locations can also make 0 AP attacks on the units in them.
- Locations on the battle of battle are usually considered to all give the same effect to all units and therefor not otherwise modify the battle (yeah, it’s really cold here; it’s really cold for everyone).
  - However the campaign, GM, World rules, etc. may decide that locations can & do vary. Some ways it may vary:
    - Offensive–Defensive Axis:
      - Units in location 1 gain +2 offense
      - Units in locations 2 and 3 gain +1 offense
      - Units in location 4 – 7 gain no mods
      - Units in location 8 and 9 gain +1 defense
      - Units in location 0 gain +2 offense
    - Randomly: Any time a unit moves into a new location, they make an X° roll to see if there’s a mod from the terrain for them. The degree of success of the roll is the degree of the mod. Units can make additional movements within a location, accumulating up to the maximum of +2 on all effects (+2 attacks, +2 defenses, +2 recons, etc.⁸).
      - The information about these (accumulated) effects from the environment need not be shared with any other players⁹, but is automatically given to the GM
      - The type of effect can be itself determined randomly:

Table 7.2: Random-Generation of Terrain Effects
Roll	Effect
1	+1 on all attacks
2	+2 on all attacks
3	+1 on all defenses
4	+2 on all defenses
5	+1 on all recons
6	+2 on all recons
7	+1 on all evasions
8	+1 on all evasions
9	2° attack made by this environment on this unit every round
0	2° attack made by this environment on this unit every round

7.8.2 2D Battlespaces

Although the advantage of additional dimensions quickly runs out, it can be worth adding an other one, especially fo void fights.

7.9 Surprise Attacks

Some attacks are deemed to be surprise attacks. Defending units cannot use OPs on the defense of surprise attacks.

7.10 Lines of Defense

Most units have a front line and a back line of defense.

Normal attacks must first deplete all points (APs, OPs, armor, etc.) in the front line before then hitting the back line.
Penetrating attacks (e.g., when an attacker rolls a natural¹⁰ 1) are made on the back line

7.10.1 Front Line Damage Allocation

Armor points are deducted first, with the target deciding which type of armor is first hit, etc.
Types of front-line armor are all hit together within a line, so, e.g., if a player decides that a specialty armor is hit first, then all points of that armor are brought into play

7.10.2 Back Line Damage Allocation

Each point of damage taken to the back line is (usually) decided separately
Points in the back line are randomly removed from back-line damage¹¹

7.10.3 Ambush

Example

Round 1

An opponent attacks with a 4° inter-offer against a target with 2° default armor in the back line and 3° defense
The opponent rolls a 1, penetrating into the back line
Since it’s a penetrating attack, the target makes a 0 AP defense roll; they roll a 7, failing to mod the attack
The opponent makes a 0 AP attack, rolling a 2.
The target has 5 points in the back line: 2 default armor and 3 HP:
1. They roll a die to see which point is removed by the first of those 2 points of penetrating damage. They roll that the first point comes from HPs, wounding that target¹².
2. The target then rolls again to see where that second point of penetrating damage is deducted from. They now have 2 points of armor and 2 HP¹³, and randomly choose that this next point is absorbed by the armor.

Ambush results
- Failure: The attacker does not ambush. In rolls for engagement, they have failed that roll.
- Success:
  - The attacker decides the shortest distance between the sides (Very Far, Far, Close, or Present)
  - The degree of the success are awarded to attacker as vanilla OPs. Succeed with a roll of 4, you got 4 vOPs.
  - For rolls of engagement, keep in mind that no units have yet been detected—all start the scenario Fogged—but the scenario has now started¹⁴.

Note that the above rules apply to the uses of the Ambush skill. This is not meant to preclude scenarios designed around ambushes with very different starting parameters.

7.11 Area Effect Weapons

Area effect weapons attack multiple units in a given location
- Any attack mods made to the attack affect all attacks made by that weapon
  - However, defenses are unit-specific
    - I.e., a dug-in, concealed unit will have better defense than a revealed one with no defense mods
- The first unit attacked is the one targeted
- Most area effect weapons attack as many additional units as its degree
  - I.e., a 2° area effect weapon attacks a total of 3 units: the target and 2 others
- However, area effect weapons of 6° or higher attack affect all units in a location
- Additional enemy units are selected first for additional attacks
  - Which additional, enemy units are attacked is determined randomly
- If additional attacks also hit friendly units, the friendly unit attacked is randomly chosen
- These additional attacks on other units cost no APs
Some area effect weapons are precision weapons
- These have a modified attack against friendly units, usually 3°, but this can vary

7.11.1 Anthropic Locations

Area effect weapons that strike Anthropic locations always make an AP-free subduing attack on that location
- This attack has the same mods as the main attack

O.K., living organisms that matter for play. Nothing personal microbes and tardigrades.↩︎
Points can be used for armor or propulsion. For every 2 points of propulsion, the unit gains 1 movement AP per round.↩︎
Recon/surveillance systems provide recon mods equal to their degree. This bonus is lost as points are damaged. Units with destroyed systems get -2 recon mods.↩︎
Found in all wet vehicles in hazardous terrain. Any wet units in the vehicle must survive attacks from the environment every round after system is destroyed.↩︎
Units with destroyed communications loose entangled communication points.↩︎
So success in this situation depends solely to the best unit/skill.↩︎
Or just decide you always go in that order or alternate or whatever and skip this step; these rules are for if you need them↩︎
And yes, this includes stacking up a 2°attack from the enviro every round if you roll badly enough on that table.↩︎
It is assumed that it’s automatically shared with all allies within ambient range,though.↩︎
A “natural” result of a die roll is the actual number that appeared on the die, without any modifications.↩︎
World rules can change this (as they can change anything), so, e.g., HPs are still hit last, which would make the distinction between the front & back line nearly moot while making play simpler and less prone to lucky shots.↩︎
How is this roll done? However works best. Since here we’re randomly selecting from 5, we could just have rolls of 1 & 2 be remove the first armor, 3 & 4 second armor, 5 & 6 first HP, etc., but usually it’s easiest just to order the points (say, always armor first) and then re-roll if the rolls is higher than the number of points. So, here, rolls of 1 & 2 come from armor; 3, 4, & 5 are the HPs. They can repeat that pattern for rolls of 6 – 10.↩︎
So, now they could just flip a coin, rolls against even/odds, high/low, etc.↩︎
The Ambush skill successfully puts you into position; now it’s up to the units to use that to attack successfully.↩︎