I've noticed two major flaws with MT combat:
1) interrupts
2) the penetration vs armor is scaled wrong (by comparison to Striker, where the numbers come from).
I've found that #2 and a bit of slowness is helped by using a different relationship of Pen to Damage
Pen ≥0.1 x AV: damage/10
Pen ≥0.5 x AV: damage/2
Pen ≥AV: Listed damage
Pen ≥2 x AV double damage
This is both easier to remember (the multiplier of AV is the multiplier to damage) and better matches the relative damages of Striker.
As for speeding it up further, just multiply the damage by the margin on the to-hit, rather than remembering the breakpoints, treating 0 margin as 1/2 damage. Yes, this DOES increase damages a bit, and ups the maximum just a bit.
you can also speed things up by having a table (this example uses standard rates):
Code:
Weapon: _____________________
To Hit Margin
AV 0 1 2-3 4-7 8+
Px10: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ x0.1
Px1: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ x0.5
Px0.5: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ x1.0
x0.5 x1 x2 x4 x8
Print such tables on cards, business card stock works, and fill them out before hand, and you never calculate the weapon again. You just look up the AV and the margin. If you really want to get fancy, you list the ranges by difficulty, as with this version:
Code:
To Hit Roll
Rou: 7 8 9-10 11-14 15+
Dif: 11 12 13-14 15-18 19+
For: 15 16 17-18 19-20 ---
Imp: 19 20 --- --- ---
AV 0 1 2-3 4-7 8+
Px10: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Px1: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Px1/2: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
x1/2 x1 x2 x4 x8
Filled out, that card looks like
Code:
For a Pen 6 Damage 3 weapon.
To Hit Roll
Rou: 7 8 9-10 11-14 15+
Dif: 11 12 13-14 15-18 19+
For: 15 16 17-18 19-20 ---
Imp: 19 20 --- --- ---
AV 0 1 2-3 4-7 8+
Px10: ≤_60 _0_ _0_ _1_ _2_ _4_
Px1: ≤_6_ _0_ _1_ _3_ _6_ _12
Px1/2: ≤_3_ _1_ _3_ _6_ _12 _24
x1/2 x1 x2 x4 x8
Most personal combats, ignore attenuation.
Further, remember: Hits don't convert to attribute damage until after combat. As I tell players, "until the adrenaline wears off." This means not having to track attribute damage for NPC's 99% of the time, just the hits.
You can speed up hits tracking by use of poker chips. Hits to down are white, to "dead" are red. (But remember - it's entirely possible to survive damage equal to your total hits. While the average damage is 3.5 points per die, and it's 3 points of atts per hit, it's not impossible.)
Also, tracking interrupts: use a card for each character; after they act, move them to a "done" stack, face up. An active you put in front of you; an interrupt, if made, goes on top, if failed, underneath the top card on the active stack.
When everyone is in the done stack, next turn.
Anyone whose card isn't in the done stack and isn't in the active stack is eligible to interrupt. Highlight PC's with one color, and NPC's with a different color for each side; this reminds people that you can't interrupt the same color.
Oh, and as an aside, I prefer to use Att/3 instead of Att/5 for the attribute mods, and up the target numbers from 3/7/11/15/19 to 4/8/12/16/20, but keep the DM limit at +8.
