RCS:The MTWiki Revised Combat System

From MegaTravellerWiki

The original system in MegaTraveller treated humans as amorphous blobs and made armour global to the entire person. Though this is simple to understand and relatively easy to grasp (once you've learned the Low-Penetration/High-Penetration system by heart, at least), it seems out of place in a rules system that favours realism except when contrary to playability.

In My Traveller Universe, combat is given a more stringent amount of realism. In addition to my danger space revision, the following rules present a more advanced version of combat. As with the vast majority of the other content on this Wiki, I have not yet play-tested these rules with other players, though I have tested most of them during solo play.

A large amount of inspiration for this combat system comes from the MechWarrior 2nd Edition combat system, which I believe is one of the best combat systems available—and it's by FASA, who actually started their careers by creating Traveller products, fiction, and play aids! Another influence includes The BlackHammer Cyberpunk Project for Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0, which provides so many rules for gun combat that it's like a borgasm. The rest is filled in with my many collective years of research, game design, and computer gaming.

The basic summary of the additions and changes are as follows:

• All people, animals, robots, vehicles, structures, spacecraft, spaceships, and starships use the same damage system. "Damage points" from the old system translate to "Damage Value" in the new system and are not to be confused with "Damage Points" in the new system.
• Each person's turn is divided into two Short Actions, which together add up to a Long Action.
• People have hit locations and must provide armour for each of these hit locations. Battledress has weaker armour on the head, abdomen, and arms.
• Called shots allow people to choose whether to aim high, low, left, or right, instead of just firing broadly at the target's general area.
• Aimed shots allow people to choose specific hit locations to attack.
• Hit locations react differently to injury. Being shot in the head causes concussions (if it doesn't kill), being shot in the abdomen really hurts, being shot in the leg causes you to fall.
• Limbs can be disabled during combat or blown off entirely (but only very rarely, and almost never from anything but explosives, unlike many particularly gory combat systems).
• "Near misses" cause suppression effects -- a person is forced to drop to the ground or duck for cover, wasting an action from their next turn.
• There are two types of damage: Non-Lethal Damage causes probable stunning and eventual unconsciousness, Lethal Damage causes probable unconsciousness and eventual death.
• An Initiative system replaces the Interrupt system and the "alternating turns" system, and makes use of an Initiative Card system to provide smooth gameplay and a better visual aid to players.

The MTWiki Revised Combat System

• Simple Changes and Additions
  • Close-Range Fire Combat
  • Close, Short, and Medium Range
  • Point-Blank Range
  • Crossbows
  • Gun Combat Default Skill
  • Hand-to-Hand
  • Attacking While Moving
  • Clubs
  • Staff/Cudgel
  • Line of Fire
  • Pinpoint Attacks
  • Execution Shots
• Actions During a Combat Round
  • Incidental Actions
  • Short Actions
  • Long Actions
• Possible Actions
  • Incidental Actions
  • Short Actions
  • Long Actions
• Initiative
  • Order of Initiative
  • Declaring and Resolving Actions
  • Seizing the Initiative
• Targetting and Firing
  • Entering Combat
    • Readying a Weapon
    • Targetting and Firing
  • To-Hit
    • Single-Fire
    • Rapid-Fire
    • Burst-Fire
    • Automatic-Fire
• Aspect and Offset
• Hit Locations
  • Personal Hit Locations
  • Head
  • Chest
  • Abdomen
  • Upper Arm
  • Upper Leg
  • Lower Arm
  • Lower Leg
  • Near Miss
• Armour
  • Types of Armour
    • Hard Armour
    • Soft Armour
    • Flexible Armour
  • Types of Attacks
  • Armour Penetration
  • Armour Ratings
• Harmonised Damage System
  • Integrity
    • Integrity of a Person
    • Integrity of an Unimportant Person
    • Integrity of an Animal
    • Integrity of a Vehicle, Craft, or Starship
    • Integrity of an Aircraft (COACC)
  • Damage Value, Damage Dice, and Damage Points
  • Suffering Damage
    • Marking Damage
    • Suffering Non-Lethal Damage
    • Suffering Lethal Damage
    • Wound Levels
    • Natural Recovery of Non-Lethal Damage
• Characteristic Damage
  • Suffering Characteristic Damage
  • Allocating Characteristic Damage
• Limb Damage
  • Maximum Damage
• Called Shots
  • Aiming High
  • Aiming Low
  • Aiming Left
  • Aiming Right
  • Other Called Shots
• Aimed Shots
• Resolving Combat