Greg Lee's Fast Combat Mechanic for T5
As a side note, here's Greg Lee's "Fast Combat Mechanic for T5", which he told me about in the latter part of 2016.
A Fast Combat Mechanic for T5
Traveller5 seeks to consider all of the possible weapons and damage types found in any good space opera. Thus, the primary combat rules appear complicated, even to some unduly complicated. A referee need not, however, find these rules daunting. Instead, especially for role-play situations, the referee can and should use a faster, streamlined approach to the rules.
One. Roll Initiative.
The Initiative is determined either by reasonable common sense (arbitrary determination by referee), determining tactical skill levels among the leaders of each faction or group, or as a task rolled by one member of each group: to take initiative (Int + Tactics). The group whose success is achieved with a larger gap between the target number and the actual role obtains initiative. The task may be considered an “easy” task for simplicity of rolling, but the referee has discretion to make the task more difficult for one or both groups depending on the referee’s view of positioning, topography, elephant-like tramping through the underbrush, and other factors.
Two. Rolls to hit.
The T5 Task mechanic applies as written. Several play aids are available which automate the process of calculating the “to hit” task number. Rather than poring over rules to determine the effect of cover or other factors, the referee uses discretion in setting target size or altering difficulty levels. For example, a character ducking behind a partial concrete shield is a smaller target (e.g., size 3 instead of 5), but the exposed body part is the target “hit.”
Three. Hit location – Ignore It.
Except for aimed shots in which the player specifies that he or she is attempting to hit a particular part of the target’s body or structure, the referee ignores hit location. The referee and players generally assume that the character shooting aims for the main body mass, the big target (e.g., the chest in most bipeds). This is consistent with a reasonable police and military practice; the object is always to quickly and efficiently disable an opponent.
Four. Penetration and Armor Damage.
Roll all forms of damage using separate dice (usually multicolored).
Penetration rolls damage armor on a 1-to-1 correspondence. This differs from the mechanic in the 5.09 rules (which use double penetration) because the referee is assuming somewhat dispersed rapid fire (again, firing on the main mass, thus also well protected). Thus, more penetration points are needed to significantly degrade armor so that shots will eventually cause injury to the person within the armor. If and only if the player is asserting carefully aimed targeting, the referee may apply the more standard mechanic – to the specific body part armored.
Penetration is subtracted only from the armor value in itself, not other forms of protection. This is the COARN rule (a MOARN corollary) – CALCULATE only as really necessary. Yes, that is a coarny joke. Penetration effects on other protection (radiation, em cage, etc.) are not calculated during combat unless CLEARLY essential (e.g., a shock gun is in use).
Fire, cold, EM radiation, sound and other effects are dispersed over the armor, so less-than-full penetration does not allow these effects through unless the roll would by itself overwhelm the protection. Thus, the referee performs no other penetration math in the heat of battle. For simplicity, it is assumed that the layers of protection are beneath the primary armor. As always, the referee may make exceptions for what he or she views as sensible resolution of the combat.
Five. Damage.
Once penetration is achieved, ALL EFFECTS can reach the target individual. This is rational; armor value is almost always higher than penetration.
Injuries to the target individual are calculated using all effects which can reach the individual. Once again, unless the circumstance mandates application of damage to a specific body part, general injury is assumed. An enemy with “0” points left due to a leg being shot off is as disabled as an enemy disabled by abdominal wounds.
Player characters can determine injury locations after combat. The referee can also use common sense – a character hiding behind a crate, with only his or her pilot-seat-contact-point in the line of fire, clearly has an injury to his or her posterior. A person hit when sticking his or her head over the crate may have to accept that it is time to roll a new character.
