<Cybercore>

Not every moment in Cybercore is spent trading fire with hostile xenos. Between encounters your squad moves through corridors, sweeps compartments, cracks open sealed hatches, and generally pokes things they probably shouldn't. This non-combat time is tracked in Sweeps; an abstract clock that keeps the table moving without bogging down in strict turn order.

Sweeps

A Sweep is long enough for everyone in the group to do one thing that involves a Check. Not all Checks require a dice roll; glancing over a bare, empty room probably won't need one unless the GM has a Chameleon-cloaked Lizard hiding in the corner. Once every player has moved, searched, picked a lock, forced open a door, hacked a terminal, or taken some other action, the GM advances the Sweep counter.

A Sweep should land every few minutes of real table time, matching the current game tempo.

Movement is free. There is no speed tracking during Sweeps. Players move wherever they wish, in any order, as part of the Sweep. If a movement itself is risky (leaping a chasm, crossing unstable decking) it becomes the Check for that Sweep.

Sweep Flow

  1. Players declare what they're doing this Sweep
  2. Resolve Checks as needed
  3. GM advances the Sweep counter; apply ER consumption and any environmental effects

Sweeps and Stim Breaks

Sweeps generally begin after a Stim Break. If any active Suffering conditions were not cleared during the break, they persist into Sweeps and continue to deal damage at the start of each Sweep.

See Recovery Cycles for Stim Break, Lockdown, and R&R rules.

When Exploration Ends

Exploration ends in one of two ways:

  1. A Scout or Group encounters a hostile. The current Sweep ends immediately and combat begins. Whether the Scout was detected determines the opening; an undetected Scout means the squad gets the drop; a detected Scout means standard initiative; a botched Stealth check may mean the enemy acts first.
  2. GM call. The objective is reached, an Alarm is activated, a cutscene triggers, a Stim Break is called, or the situation otherwise moves beyond Sweep-by-Sweep resolution.