<Cybercore>

"Two seconds of geometry and twenty years of training. That's the job."

Combat is where Cybercore's rules pile up tightest. The next eight pages cover every step of an encounter; order of turns, attack resolution, defences, conditions, positioning, grappling, dying. This page is the short briefing.

How An Encounter Flows

  1. Trigger. Something turns a Sweep into a fight; a Scout reports contact, an alarm hits, a hostile crosses a doorway.
  2. Initiative. Scouts go first. Players pick Strike First or Hold Back for the encounter; NPC group sits between them. See Initiative.
  3. Rounds. Turns alternate in initiative order. Each round is 6–10 seconds of fiction. See Time & Turns.
  4. Turns. On your turn you spend Actions (Free + Energy + Heroic if you crack the pool). Each Action is a Run-or-Act choice. See Action Economy.
  5. Resolution. Attacks roll d100 + bonuses vs target's TL. Hits reduce DR then HITS. A Solid Hit (TL + 30) adds Wild Dice; a Crit (TL + 60, or natural 96-100) doubles the Hits. See Attacks.
  6. Defence. Targets choose AF (armoured), DF (dodge gambit), or EF (area evade). See Damage & Defences.
  7. End. The encounter ends when one side breaks or the GM calls it. Survivors hit a Stim Break.

Hostile Actions

Actions in Cybercore are categorized as either Hostile or Non-Hostile. This distinction matters for certain abilities that can only be used for non-hostile actions (such as suit-powered Energy expenditure).

An action gains the Hostile tag if:

  • It requires a TL roll against another creature
  • It directly causes harm to another creature
  • At the GM's discretion: if gaining the Hostile tag would give a creature the opportunity to spend a Heroic Action to stop you from causing harm

Examples:

  • Obviously Hostile: Shooting a creature, swinging a blade, throwing a grenade
  • Context-Dependent: Moving to a control panel and venting the ship is only Hostile if there's a creature within reach or range who could theoretically spend a Heroic Action to stop you
  • Non-Hostile: Moving, taking cover, scanning, reloading, stabilizing an ally, using defensive abilities

The essence of the Hostile tag rule: if an action could cause harm and another creature could reasonably attempt to stop you, the action is Hostile. This gives creatures (including players - see Creature) the opportunity to react to threats.