Traveller 5 Pdf

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T5 Personal Combat System Review, Opinion, and Problems
Overview
Although not explained as clearly as it could have been, the T5 personal combat system is pretty simple. The game uses a one minute (or there abouts--time is not rigid) combat round in which characters can take one action and make a move. The character can attack and move, or the character can do some other action, like operate a computer, and make a move.
The round is highly abstract, so even though the character may be firing his weapon several times, he is allowed one attack throw to represent all combat in which he took part during the round.
Attack Types
There are three general attack types: Aimed Fire, SnapFire, and AutoFire.
Aimed Fire is the only attack option available to Single Fire weapons. And, a person cannot move during the same round that he uses Aimed Fire.
AutoFire requires the weapon to be capable of Burst or Full Auto Fire. A person can move up to Speed 1 (Walk) and use AutoFire in the same round. AutoFire adds +1D to difficulty but also adds +2D to damage is the hit penetrates.
SnapFire requires the weapon to be capable of Burst or Full Auto Fire. A person can stand still, walk (Speed-1), or run (Speed-2) in the same combat round as SnapFire is used. SnapFire adds +2D to difficulty and 1D to damage if the hit penetrates.
Movement
Movement is measured in Speed Ratings. The Vehicles section of the book continues with higher Speed ratings. Some aliens may be capable of Speed-3 or higher, especially in flight.
Speed-0 is standing still.
Speed-1 is human walking speed.
Speed-2 is human running speed.
Range Bands
Range in the game is measured in Range Bands rather than exact movement distances. I love using Range Bands. They're so easy on the Ref! If all the bad guys are approaching on foot, at Medium range, then all attacking tasks to hit them will be at 3D. You don't have a lot of measuring to do in the game. Range Bands give you a sense of range without forcing you to use graph paper or some other hard measuring device.
As it was with Classic Traveller, a GM can just keep track of range using a normal sheet of lined notebook paper, placing penciled dots in the lines, each line representing a range band. This allows the Ref to easily describe the action vividly, right from his comfy arm chair, and players don't have to fuss with moving their characters exactly X amount of feet during their turn.
If a GM wants, he can easily use some sort of plot, like hex or graph paper. I've done that in the past, just to show players relative distance. You're still not counting squares or hexes for combat range.
If the range is close to one of the Range Band breaks, I usually use some feature on the map to remind me where the break is. For example, if the NPCs are advancing on the players, if the NPCs get past a certain rock formation, that's the line I've designated as the switch from one Range Band to another.
But, the great thing about Range Bands is that the system allows range tracking without the need for a map. The action can take place in the player's heads as the Ref describes it, and all the Ref need to is put dots on lined notebook paper to tell him target range when he needs it.
Attacks
Making an attack in this game is as simple as rolling a task. Target range gives you the difficulty: The number of dice you throw is equal to the Range Band number of your target. If your target is 57 meters away, then he's in Range Band 3 (which covers distances of 51-150 meters), and you'll roll 3D on your attack throw.
Tasks in this game are typically achieved by adding a Characteristic and a Skill together to get a target number, then rolling a number of dice where success means rolling the target number or less. The harder the task, the greater the number of dice that are thrown.
Modifiers
The game includes some pretty nifty combat modifiers.
Apparent Size: I think this is brilliant. It's a mod to the attack throw to account for the character's perception of his target. The apparent Size modifier is calculated by Target Size minus Range.
Thus, a man is Size 5*. If he's in Range Band 5 (501m to 1000m away), then the modifier is 0. Calculated, that's Size 5 - Range 5 = 0.
If the man is in Range Band 6, then a penalty -1 modifier is applied to the target number: 5 - 6 = -1.
If the man is in Range Band 2 (6m-50m), then the attacker gets a +3 bonus modifier to his target number: 5 - 2 = 3.
Why is this brilliant? Because it's a simple modifier that accounts for the perceived size of the target. A man standing right in front of you is much easier to hit than the same man standing at the end of a football field.
But, doesn't Range and Difficulty take care of that? To a point, yes. But, consider the man in front of you and a football field away, then compare that target to an 18 wheeled tractor trailer truck, right in front of you and 100 yards away. The difficulty stays the same as with the man, but the modifier changes to accomodate different size targets.
Brilliant.
*A man that is half hidden by cover reduces his size to Size 4. A man who sticks his head out of the hatch of a vehicle is considered Size 3.
A crouching man is considered Size 4 becuase he gets -1 Size for the crouch. A prone man is considered Size 3 because he gets -2 Size for lying prone.
A small control sensor (or even a man's eye) is Size 2. Most all vehicles are Size 6. Starships, 2000 tons or less, are Size 7. Bigger starships are Size 8.
Speed: This modifer is to account for firing at moving targets. If your target is standing still, there's no modifier. If your target is walking, then suffer a -1 modifier to your target number because a moving target is harder to hit than a stationary target. If your target is running, you suffer a -2 modifier to your target number.
Basically, you just subtract your target's Speed from your target number. The faster the target is moving, the harder he is to hit**.
**But, there is a provision for targets moving directly away from you or towards you. Ignore the Speed Modifier in these cases. The modifier applies to lateral target movement.
What about Attacker Movement? There are no modifiers for attacker movement as that is built into the types of attacks that can be made.
Cover and Concealment: If a character has cover, this is a penalty modifier to the attack throw ranging from 0 to -6. The player picks the amount of cover he's using in terms of the modifier. Thus, half cover would be rated at -3 or -4 cover. Cover that includes all but an eyeball, giving the character the least amount of exposure, would be -6 cover.
Any attacker firing at a covered character simply uses the cover modifier as a penalty to the attack roll target number.
I love this part: If a character uses cover, then he must suffer a penalty equal to half the cover modifer on his own attack throws. This is to account for the difficulty of firing your weapon from a covered position (restrictions of movement and vision).
Concealment is handled differently. This is a negative modifier to Target Size, akin to what I write above about about a character crouching or going prone. Concealment makes the target harder to see, and, in effect, reduces its size.
Plug this into the Apparent Size modifier above, and you can see how concealment will have an effect on the attack throw.
Tactics: This is the coolest use of the Tactics skill I've ever seen in any Traveller game. At the start of a combat encounter, a character with the Tactics skill adds it to his EDU score. Then, he rolls 2D and substracts that sum from his Tactics total.
Example: EDU 8 and Tactics-4. 8 + 4 = 12.
Roll 2D: result is 7.
12 - 7 = 5.
The character's tactics modifier is +5, and he can use this modifier himself or direct it any ally with which he can communicate.
If the Tactics mod ends up being a negative number or zero, then there is no tactical benefit the character can discern for that entire combat.
If the Tactics mod is positive (as in the example above), then one character can use that modifier in any combat round. The character with the tactics skill directs who gets to use the Tactics mod during any given round.
C'mon. That's pretty damn cool.