Operating Vehicles
Vehicle Attributes
Vehicles have attributes to them to define the way in which they move and how easily they can be piloted.
Acceleration
A vehicle's Acceleration (ACC) tells you how quickly it can accelerate and decelerate. A vehicle may, as part of a normal Maintain Control action, change its Momentum by up to its ACC.
Momentum
While Acc tells you how quickly a vehicle can change its speed, Momentum (MOM) tells you how close to its top speed it's going. A vehicle's Momentum can range from 0-10. Rather than being a static stat, Momentum is a dynamic number that changes as a vehicle accelerates and decelerates. A vehicle's momentum, in addition to acting as a multiplier to its speed, also affects its Handling and makes it harder for to hit with attacks.
While a vehicle is at MOM 0-1, attacks against the vehicle have no penalty. Between MOM 2-5, attacks against the vehicle suffer a 1 grade penalty. At MOM 6-9, attacks against the vehicle suffer a 2 grade penalty. At MOM 10+, attacks against the vehicle have a 3 grade penalty.
Handling
A vehicle's Handling (HAN) is its modifier to Pilot and Drive checks made using the vehicle, giving a bonus 5% for each point of Handling (or a penalty if Handling is negative). A vehicle's Handling is lowered by its current Momentum (So anywhere from -0 to -10, though at -0 you aren't moving and so can't really do much maneuvering anyway). Handling ranges from -10 to 10.
Speed
A vehicle's Speed is its base speed. It, along with the vehicle's Drive Rating and Momentum, is used to determine how many meters it moves on any given turn.
Size Category
A vehicle has a rating called its Size Category (SC) based on its size which is perhaps the most imporant attribute of a vehicle. The SIZ and therefore the SC of a vehicle are determined by the Chassis. A vehicle with a SC above 30 is considered a ship rather than a vehicle. Each system in a vehicle has an amount of Hit Points equal to the vehicle's Size Category, likewise the number of System Slots a vehicle has is equal to its SC. If you need the SIZ rather than the SC of a vehicle use the following formula: (SC^3)/2
Normal Size (SC 1-10): Each point of SC is about .5 meters.
Large Vehicle Size (SC 11-20): Each point of SC in this is about 2 meters.
Colossus Size (SC 21-30): Each point here is 10 meters.
Ship Size (SC 31+): This is now as large as a ship and should use the rules for a spaceship.
Vehicles in Combat
In combat, each round, a Vehicle must move a number of squares (referred to as the Movement Rate) equal to its Speed, times its Drive Rating, times its current Momentum. As an example, take a normal car (Ground Vehicle, Speed 4). If it's moving all-out at its maximum Momentum, it's going 200 meters per combat round (Speed 4, x5 for the Wheeled Drive's Drive Rating, x10 for the Momentum). That's close to 180 KPH, which is about right for an average car. The controller may choose to break up that movement however they want across their turns, but there is a mimumum amount of movement each round.
The Minimum Movement Rate is calculated as (Speed) * (Drive Rating) * (Momentum - 1). At the end of the combat round, if the vehicle has not moved the Minimum Movement Rate, it moves forward in the direction its facing the remaining distance. This assures that the vehicle moves some amount based on its current momentum but also lets the driver move in increments smaller than increasing or decreasing Momentum would allow. If you took the above example of a normal car moving at 10 Momentum, it can move up to 200 meters per round, but must move at least 180m. If MOM > 0 then then the Minimum Movement Rate cannot drop below 1m (the vehicle must move at least some amount).
A pilot or driver of a vehicle has a number of special actions they can take. In order to use any of these actions, they must first use the core and most basic vehicle action, Maintain Control. A driver does not have to take the Maintain Control action - they may instead end up, say, being unconscious, trying to put out a fire, or eating a delicious Ganderbogin Pie. But if they do those things they're probably going to crash into something. Maintain Control must be performed once per round while the vehicle has a MOM > 0 or the vehicle will go Out of Control at the end of the round.
Generally, a vehicle can only move into its front squares. Some vehicles, such as many treaded and wheeled vehicles, can move into their backsquares, but doing so halves the Movement Rate. Changing from moving forward to reversing requires the vehicle to be at MOM 0.
Control Tests
Control Tests are made whenever a vehicle's pilot has to act to keep his vehicle from going out of control. A Control Test is made using the vehicle's Control Skill (Drive or Pilot). Most vehicles that move in two dimensions use Drive as their Control Skill, and most vehicles that move in three dimensions use Pilot. This skill check has a bonus or penalty based on the Handling of the vehicle equal to 5% per HAN. If HAN is negative it is a penalty, if it is positive it is a bonus.
Out of Control
| 1d10 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | Straight Edge - The vehicle continues in a straight line for the remainder of this round. |
| 5-7 | Swerve - The vehicle turns randomly. Roll randomly to determine the new facing of the vehicle. |
| 8-9 | Wild Stallion - The vehicle turns randomly, as above, and also changes its Momentum by its Acc. Determine randomly if the Momentum increases or decreases. |
| 10 | Turn Over - The vehicle flips, capsizes, or otherwise manages to find a way to submit to the harsh mistress of gravity. The vehicle loses hit points equal to its Momentum, turns onto its back, and its Momentum drops to zero. |
A vehicle can go Out of Control in the middle of a Combat Round (rather than just when checking if a pilot used Maintain Control on the vehicle at the end of the round). In this case, the Out of Control table is rolled on immediately and the effects are applied. Actions to control the movement of the vehicle (such as Maintain Control, Punch It, and Evasive Maneuvers) cannot be used while the vehicle is Out of Control. A pilot is assumed to have brought the vehicle back under control by the start of the next Round so long as they are actively piloting the vehicle still (and not say, out of their chair fighting a fire in the cargo hold).
Vehicle Combat Actions
Maintain Control
With the Maintain Control action you maintain control of a vehicle you're driving or piloting. Maintain Control cannot be performed when the vehicle is already Out of Control. You may choose one of the following options:
- Accelerate - You may increase or decrease your vehicles Momenum by up to your vehicle's Acceleration stat, to a maximum of x10. A ground vehicle or mecha may go in reverse at half speed. [//li]
- Turn - You may make up to a ninety degree turn as long as your vehicle's Handling is at least +0. If it is less than that, you'll need to take a Punch It action in order to attempt to turn. If you don't take a Maintain Control action during the combat round and your vehicle is not at a dead stop (MOM 0) your vehicle goes out of control; roll on the Out Of Control chart to see
what happens at the end of the combat round.
After an options is chosen and resolved the pilot may move the vehicle forward into any of its front spaces (or back spaces if in reverse). The vehicle may not move more than its maximum Movement Rate durng a Combat Round (just like normal movement on foot). The choice of Accelerate or Turn can only be selected twice per combat round, subsequent uses will no longer allow that choice, but will still allow the movement.
Punch It
With the Punch It action, you attempt to push a vehicle past its maximum safe limits. This allows you to exceed the safe limits of the Maintain Control action. To make a Punch It action, make a Control Test.
Speed - By pushing your engine just a little harder, you can get a few more KPH out of it. If the test passes, your vehicle's Momentum is increased by 1. If this would put your Momentum over 10, this bonus is lost at the end of the round.
Turning - Normally, you must choose between changing your speed and turning with a Maintain Control action. By turning with a Punch It action, you can have your cake and eat it too. If the test passes, your vehicle may make up to a ninety degree turn.
After accelerating and turning the vehicle may move into any of its front spaces (or back spaces if in reverse). The vehicle may not move more than its maximum Movement Rate durng a Combat Round (just like normal movement on foot).
Fire Mounted Weapon
Proactive
The pilot of a vehicle may fire one of the weapons aboard the vehicle. This attack uses Combat Styles the same way a normal attack outside of a vehicle would, and can generate Special Effects in the same way.
Evasive Maneuvers
Reactive
With this action, the pilot of a vehicle attempts to get out of the way of an incoming attack, sacrificing some speed in the process. A vehicle must have a Momentum of at least x1 to use Evasive Maneuvers. The pilot of the vehicle makes Control Test opposing the roll of the attack.
If the test is successful the attack is avoided. Special Effects can be generated as per normal attacking and evading rules, though the list of special effects on can use against or a vehicle or while piloting a vehicle are different than those on foot. Regardless of the outcome, the vehicle's Momentum is lowered by one.
Chase
Proactive
Used in racing and dogfighting, the Chase action is used to try and get an advantage offer the opponent. Chase is used in place of a normal Maintain Control action and has all of the same effects. However, in addition to Maintain Control's normal effects, the pilot may attempt a Trick, making a Control Test, with of a penalty difficulty grade of at least one. The pilot can choose how many difficulty grades to increase this Control Test by, attempting more elaborate and dangerous maneuvers.
Opponents may spend a reaction action to make an opposed Control Test with the same increase in difficulty grade as set by the pilot. If the opponent wins, they have successfully negated the pilot's attempt to gain an edge.
Anyone who attempts a Trick or tries to respond to it goes Out Of Control if they fail the Control Test.
If the pilot succeeds at the Trick, and none of their opponents successfully counter it, they may choose one of the following options:
Drift - This turn, you may move in any direction without changing your vehicle's facing.
Handbreak Turn - At the end of your turn, you may change the vehicle's facing to any direction.
Vault the Curb - Ignore difficult or impassible terrain for one turn.
Slip By - You may move through occupied squares without hitting anything for the rest of this turn.
Barrel Roll - Attacks against your vehicle have a one difficulty grade a penalty until your next turn.
Puchilev's Cobra - You may immediately decrease your vehicle's Momentum by up to 5. Aerospace vehicles do not stall if their Momentum drops too low from using this.
Vehicle Special Effects
Most special effects for normal combat are available during vehicle combat, though some may not apply (such as Bleed) due to the vehicle not being a creature of flesh and blood, or the inherent size difference of people on foot and vehicles. In addition to those special effects, the following are available during vehicle combat.
Staggering Blow
Offensive, Weapon Specific (Non piercing weapons)
The attacker's blow has enough force to stagger the vehicle's forward progress. The vehicle loses 1 Momentum per 5 damage done (considered before damage reduction). The attack must be one that is sufficiently large, and doesnt just simply pass through a vehicle (like smaller caliber bullets would).
Breach Hull
Offensive, Weapon Specific (Piercing weapons)
If the attacker's blow deals damage in excess of the Armor Points of the vehicle, the weapon pierces the hull of the vehicle, striking an occupant inside. The weapon must be of a type capable of penetrating, such as a bullet. ]If there are multiple occupants, roll to determine a random one to strike. The occupant takes the remaining damage after the armor of the vehicle has reduced it to a random hit location.
A breached hull might lose environmental sealing if it has any, which could cause a submarine to pop a leak, or a plane to depressurize. The size of the projectile will determine how serious this is, as a single bullet hole in a plane might not be enough to seriously threaten either vehicle.
Board
General, Weapon Specific (Unarmed)
The character rolls an Athletics Check with one difficulty grade per 3 Momentum of the vehicle. If successful they grab ahold of the vehicle, boarding it. This might be done as the character evades being rammed by the vehicle, or as the character attacks someone aboard the vehicle. Boarding vehicles may not place the character in a safe position, often they will be grappling the side of the vehicle as it pulls them along.
Shake Control
Offensive, Attacker Criticals
On a critical success, the attacker's strike breifly interrupts the pilot's control over their vehicle, causing the vehicle to go Out of Control. The pilot may spend and an action and attempt a Control Test capped by their Reflex skill to avoid going Out of Control.
Set Ablaze
Offensive, Attacker Criticals
On a critical success the attacker's blow causes a small fire in the system due to a short circuit or other stroke of bad luck. A fire of Intensity 2 starts in the system, potentially damaging cargo and people and threatening to spread.
Damaging Vehicles
Vehicles, like people, have several Hit Locations which have individual pools of Hit Points and Armor Point values. When striking a vehicle, roll on its Hit Location chart to determine which location is hit. Each Hit Location on a vehicle is a system, from the drive train to weapons to the chassis.
When a system receives damage, it receives a Blemish if it above half of the max HP, a Defect if below half of the max HP, and is destroyed if at or below 0 HP. Blemishes are damage and wear on the vehicle that do not effect the short term performance of the vehicle in any meaningful way: a gouge along a car door, a broken side mirror, bullet holes through non critical parts of a plane's wing, etc.
Defects represent damage to a system that inhibits its ability to perform, the effect of such being entirely dependent on the system. For example, a defect to the Wheeled Drive of a Car might reduce the vehicles Drive Rating and Handling, while a defect to a sensor system might make it give false or innacurate info. In any case, a defect does not completely stop the function of the system, it just makes it less reliable or efficient at doing its job.
When a system is destroyed it ceases working entirely and has a 50% chance of exploding, dealing 4d6+10 damage to any occupants (deal damage to 3 Hit Locations) or cargo within the system and all adjacent systems, potentially creating a catastrophic chain of destruction.
Damage to a vehicle does not inherently damage the occupants or cargo of the vehicle. By default, damage is dealt purely to the vehicle, leaving pilots, passengers, and cargo untouched.
Repairing a Vehicle
Vehicles don't (normally) heal on their own. The size of a vehicle directly correlates to how long it takes to repair it - it takes the vehicle's Size Category in hours to repair one hit point worth of damage. Multiple people working at once can reduce this. For every doubling of manpower, the effective Size Category of the vehicle for determining repair time is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of half the vehicle's actual SC). Very large vehicles often have a hundred crewmembers or more on standby to repair or refit them.
Terrain and Other Movement Considerations
Difficult Terrain
Vehicles treat difficult terrain much the same as any character would - their speed is reduced by half. However, a vehicle is inherently more unstable than a character simply by virtue of what it is. A vehicle can go Out Of Control if it attempts to move too quickly across areas of difficult terrain. Examples of basic difficult terrain for a vehicle might be loose gravel or sand, rain slicked roads, or even heavy winds.
If a vehicle's current Momentum is more than 5, a vehicle moving through an area of difficult terrain requires a Control Test or else it goes Out of Control. Especially difficult terrain, like ice, might have incur a difficulty grade penalty on the test.
Impassable Terrain
Some types of terrain - boulder fields, cliffs, deep trenches, and so forth - are all but impossible for any normal vehicle to cross. Unless a vehicle has an accessory or Drive that allows it to move through or bypass the Impassible Terrain it is, as noted, impassible. Someone who somehow gets into impassible terrain with a vehicle automatically crashes it.
Vehicles On Their Backs
Like the noble and mighty turtle, vehicles lying on the ground on their backs are all but immobile and useless. Unless the vehicle has a drive or accessory that allows it to self-right, it is stuck there until someone gets out and gives it a good push.
Righting a flipped vehicle generally requires another vehicle, multiple people, or an act of magic unless the vehicle is particularly small and light. See the rules for Brawn to determine how much SIZ a character can lift, because the vehicle does not need to be completely lifted or even dragged, just rolled, consider the SIZ of the vehicle as one-fourth for the purpose of how much SIZ is being lifted. If multiple people work together to try to right it, evenly distribute the SIZ between them for the purposes of how much SIZ they are lifting.
A flying vehicle that flips over may attempt to right itself before it crashes into yonder ground. This requires a Maintain Control action by the pilot. If it succeeds, the pilot rights the vehicle and might even manage to miss the ground. The pilot may also use a Punch It action to this effect, enabling them to right themselves and turn or change Momentum at the same time. In this scenario, the difficulty grade of the Control Test is increased by one grade.
Combat with Manipulator Arms
Vehicles can aquire arms like people, but vehicles do not have the same charateristics such as strength and dex. The Damage Modifier of the arms is 1d12 per 2 points of SC. The Combat Style rolls by the pilot for fighting with manipulator arms is capped by the vehicles Control Skill. Most of the Special Effects allowed by normal combat on foot apply to combat with manipulator arms, though sufficiently large weapons may allow them to use the Sweep Attack rules, striking multiple enemies on foot or multiple hit locations at the GM's discretion.
Melee weapons used by manipulator arms increase one size for every SC of the vehicle, so a SC 4 vehicle would have Huge fists; this is helpful when determining the amount of damage reduced when parrying among other scenarios.
Use the normal distances for engagement ranges and reach when the vehicle is Normal Sized. Each points of SC in the Large category increases the distance each category of reach covers by 1m. Each point in the Colossus category increase the reaches by 5m.
Manipulator arms can lift an amount of SIZ equal to the vehicles SIZ (calculated from the SC of the vehicle).
Collisions
Sometimes done intentionally, sometimes not. Whenever a vehicle hits something, it deals Xd10kY damage to both what the vehicle hits and to the vehicle itself. X in this is equal to half of the vehicle's SC (to a maximum of 10), and Y equal to a third of the vehicle's Momentum, rounded up. After determining damage, the pilot can attempt a Control Test to keep from going Out of Control, the check has a penalty of one difficulty grade per 3 Momentum. If they cannot (because they are dead, unconscious, or whatever), the vehicle immediately goes Out Of Control and rolls on the Out Of Control chart. If the object being collided with is a significant enough barrier the vehicle will automatically crash (consider this a roll of 10 on the Out of Control chart). If the check passes, the pilot remains in control of his vehicle and the vehicle's Momentum is reduced by up to 2. On a failure, the vehicle goes out of control and the vehicle's Momentum is reduced by 2.
Stepping on things with Walker Drives is a special case and is not considered a normal collision, in that scenario the vehicle does 1d12 damage for each 2 points of SC and does not damage the vehicle, impede its Momentum, or cause the vehicle to go Out of Control.
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