Cepheus Review - Weapons and Combat (an Intro)

Gauss rifles and shotguns and more...

TOC

1. Cepheus Engine Review TOC.

Weapons, and Combat

I cut off my previous review of equipment a but early because we’re about to enter the first significantly different section of the Cepheus rules, vs the classic Traveller rules: weapons and combat. As a result, we will be covering weapons, some differences that already appear, and the general structure of the combat round.

We already had a glimpse in the armor descriptions - less so in the addition of any armor or the lack of weight adjustments for vacc suits, than the fat that armor used a damage reduction instead of adjustments to the die roll to hit.

Melee Weapons

If you recall, in addition to cost, weight, and dice of damage, melee weapons in CT had modifiers for not meeting minimum strength, and a bonus modifier at a higher strength, as well as different modifiers for different types of armor, with modifiers determined by a matrix of armor vs weapon type.

In Cepheus, much of that is similar. All of our familiar friends show up, especially under melee weapons. Damage done, weight, required TL to manufacture, law level where it becomes illegal, etc. are still there. Where things start getting different are labeled range bands such as melee (close quarters) and melee (extended reach). Finally, isntead of specific matrixes by weapon type, there are general damage categories: (B)ludgeoning, (E)nergy, (P)iercing or (S)lashing.

Ranged Weapons

Bows to fusion guns. Ranged weapons use similar generalized range bands and damage types (bludgeoning, energy, piercing or slashing), and have a table of common ammo and magazine sizes for different weapons.

Accelerator rifles are recognizable as gyrojet guns, an interesting concept that’s not terribly effective outside of zero G. We’ve also added gauss guns. Finally, there is a short yet representative list of typical accessories such as sights, folding stocks, grenade launchers, computer assisted or “intelligent” weapons, and security/safety features to unlock or fire a weapon.

The latter will have interesting failure points.

Grenades

Grenades get their own section, and include four standard types (frag, aerosol/laser dispersant, smoke, stun).

Support Weapons

Two types of grenade launchers, RPGs, and plasma and fusion guns. Most of these are only technically man portable (the plasma gun requires battle dress or a STR of 12 to handle). The fusion gun is only for people in battle dress - or as a vehicle mounted weapon - for entirely different reasons, namely the radiation backwash.

Combat

There’s a basic checklist at the beginning of this section:

Personal combat in the Cepheus Engine is cyclical. Everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle called a round. Generally, combat runs in the following way:

1. The Referee determines which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all combatants are aware of their opponents, the combatants that are aware of their opponents are considered to get an automatic 12 on their initiative roll, giving them an Initiative of 12 + Dexterity DM.

2. Any remaining combatants roll initiative. All combatants are now ready to begin their first round of combat.

3. Combatants act in initiative order.

4. When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative total acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until combat ends.

Range bands are also defined, with zero, “pesonal”, approximating about 1.5 meters for combatants in the same square, “close” corresponding to up to 3 meters or two squares, and going up from there in a not quite smooth curve.

Attack difficulties are factored in, based on the chose weapon and range:

The weapon column maps to the range used per weapon - and is not unique to any individual weapon. Shotguns and carbines use the same ranges for accuracy.

Starting Range

The typical range for outdoor encounters is given as medium, with considerations listed for lighting, environment, and terrain type

Initiative

CT does not have an initiative system - which as I noted earlier is fine for theater of the mind but makes life difficult when trying to adjucate exactly who was in a position to shoot down a hallway when a player tries to run across. In Cepheus, initiative determines order, and can also be spent to react. Having unilateral surprise / readiness gets a default 12 + a dexterity DM for initiative, and if the other side is unaware, a chance to escape.

Initiative is handled highest first, and descending order, in six second rounds, with dexterity as a tiebreaker. Interestingly there is no further tiebreaker - the ref will have to adjucate simultaneous action.

You can also “hasten” your actions to gain +2 to your initiative, but this results in a -1DM on all rolls that round.

Minor Actions

Characters typically get one significant, and one minor action. If you forego the significant action, you can get two more minor acrions for a total of three minor actions per round.

As to minor actions: a character can aim, gaining +1 DM to hit per round he aims up to +6, but cannot take any other actions. There is also “aiming for the kill” which doesn’t affect the to-hit, but instead adds to the damage. When aiming for the kill you cannot dodge, duck, or otherwise be hit or distracted. Drawing and reloading typically take one minor action, with exceptions listed in the weapon description.

Finally, a character can move up to six meters as a minor action, and the referee may declare other actions as minor as well.

Significant Actions

Are intended to take approximately three seconds, but in practice encompass attacks, skill checks, and anything else requiring full attention for 1-6 seconds.

And Break

There are roughly 8 more pages of rules related to combat here, so this is our stopping point today. While the listed weapons aren’t much different than you’d get in CT and CT: Mercenary, the tables make clear that how they are applied, and how armor works, are much different. While range bands are similar, the rounds now have an explicit initiative order, and there is delineation of what actions can be taken within that time frame.

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