[Tecumseh]

Well you've dodged, what, 15 bullets, all shot from relatively close proximity? But yeah, those are some 2nd percentile and 1st percentile rolls right there.

James is at 2 Edge of 5.

CT1 IP3
5 - #8 - (action hidden)
4 - #6 female dwarf - shooting
2 - #1 male elf - (action hidden)
1 - #7 air spirit - engulf
0 - James - Full Defense

#6 female dwarf
Simple: Take Aim
Simple: FA Burst

She's at a negative penalty from the boat bouncing up and down due to the troll jumping in.

#6 shooting: Agility + Firearms + Smartlink + Aim - Recoil - Bouncing Boat: ?d6t5 3 hits

Dodge modifiers: -2 from environment, -5 from FA burst, -4 from subsequent attacks. All that and we're just through just James' Full Defense bonus. Damage is 11P -6AP + net hits.

#7 air spirit
Complex: Engulfing (again, because it doesn't know any better)

Engulf: Agility + Unarmed: ?d6t5 5 hits

Dodge modifiers: -2 from environment, -5 from subsequent attacks

And that's the end of CT1. Roll initiative!

[rednblack]

Free Action CT1 IP3: Turn Wireless on Commlink Off.

Dodge V. #6, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mod (2) - Burst (5) - Subsequent Attacks (4) = 16 dice.
Dodge: 16d6t5 6

Dodge V. #7, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mod (2) - Subsequent Attacks (5) = 20 dice.
Dodge: 20d6t5 9

Orokos is being kind this morning.

Initiative: Initiative: 16+4d6 33

As I was not expecting to be in line-of-sight with all combatants, this has affected the plan substantially. 

CT2 IP1
Free: Multiple Attacks
Simple: Ready 2 Grenades (1 HE, 1 Flash-bang, both set to Motion Sensor trigger)
Simple: Throw 2 grenades (HE at conning tower, flash-bang at air boat)
Move: around conning tower to break line-of-sight with air boat and then back into the swamp. Future movements will have James doubling back to air boat.

For Throwing Grenades, I have: AGI (11) + Throwing Weapons (4) + Aerodynamic Spec (2) = 17 dice.  9 for Attack against Conning Tower, 8 for attack against remaining Air Boat

Conning Tower: Grenade Conning Tower: 9d6t5 4
Air Boat: Grenade Air Boat: 8d6t5 1
Edge Re-roll: Edge Re-roll: 7d6t5 4

#6 and #5 don't know that James is throwing a flash-bang, so hopefully they will be going off the sides to avoid getting exploded.

James is at 1/5 Edge.

[Tecumseh]

CT2 IP1
33 - James
26 - #8 - unknown
21 - #6 - female dwarf
20 - #7 - air spirit
18 - #1 - male elf
14 - #3 - ork male
12 - #5 - troll bro
10 - #4 - ork male

First things first, if you turn wireless off on your commlink, you're going to be giving up your Firewall 7 that's protecting your various wireless components.

#3 and #5 will be using the Right Back At Ya! interrupt action, which costs 10 initiative. Unfortunately, since the grenades are on motion sensor, this is not going to go well for them. I had a thought to have the air spirit try this, since it is right in James face and because the result could have been some serious lolz, but I've ruled that the air spirit is not sufficiently familiar with the ways of men to identify grenades and return them to sender. (A spirit of man might be a very different story, although it's also possible that the spirit of man would understand that it's not in its best interest to be around a detonating grenade.)

Normally they would need to make a roll to grab the grenade for the purposes of throwing it back, but I'm going to skip that because even if they botch the catch, it will still hit them in the chest, face, etc.

#3 and #5 will be eating their respective grenades. The next question is how much of the blast do they absorb by trying to catch the grenades (i.e. how much will #4 and #6 suffer by their proximity). I'm going to say that any damage that is not soaked will then travel to the next targets, who are each 2 meters away.

#3 male ork soaking 16P -2AP: Body + Armor - AP: ?d6t5 2 hits, yikes

#3 takes 14P. James noticed that he had obvious cyberarms a fraction of a second before they were completely blown off. #3 is in overflow and drops like a rock.

He didn't soak much for his buddy. The remaining 14P loses 4P for traveling 2 meters before #4 has to soak it.

#4 male ork soaking 10P -2AP: Body + Armor - AP: ?d6t5 3 hits, wow rough night for the opposition

#4 takes 7P. He takes a violent amount of shrapnel that used to be his buddy's arms.

#5 troll bro is eating 10S -4AP. Body + Armor - AP: ?d6t5 4 hits, you should appreciate how much their rolling is cooperating with your plan. This is 2nd percentile rolling so far.

#5 takes 6S. This does not exceed his Physical limit so he is not knocked down. This gives him a -2 modifier and robs him of his remaining initiative for the CT.

The remaining 6S loses 2S as it travels two meters to #6. She needs to soak 4S -4AP. Body + Armor - AP: ?d6t5 3 hits, she takes 1S

Updated CT2 IP1
33 - James
26 - #8 - unknown
21 - #6 - female dwarf
20 - #7 - air spirit
18 - #1 - male elf
8 - #4 - ork male
0 - #5 - troll bro
0 - #3 - ork male

#8 - unknown
Action Hidden

#6 - female dwarf
She is alarmed by the turn of events and decides to give James a taste of his own medicine. She uses the grenade launcher on her Ares Alpha.

Simple: Aim
Simple: Fire Grenade
Free: Detonate Grenade

Firing a grenade: Agility + Heavy Weapons + Smartlink + Aim - Bouncing Boat: ?d6t5 3 hits

James sees the grenade incoming but, unfortunately, can't identify what type it is mid-flight. He can roll to dodge (representing jumping, no initiative cost), use Run For Your Life (-5 initiative, automatically move 7 meters), or catch it and grin like a badass. If he decides to move, his options are basically 1) to move toward the conning tower, or 2) jump in the water.

There are other possibilities which I am not describing but which may unfold depending on James' selected course of action.

Let's resolve this before moving on because it may have a significant impact on the rest of the initiative order.

[rednblack]

First things first, if you turn wireless off on your commlink, you're going to be giving up your Firewall 7 that's protecting your various wireless components.

  Of course.  I meant PAN.  James turns Wireless Off on his PAN. 

#6 - female dwarf
She is alarmed by the turn of events and decides to give James a taste of his own medicine. She uses the grenade launcher on her Ares Alpha.

Was James unable to get behind the conning tower on his action?  James defense will depend on the environment.  Is the sub or air boat deck higher up?  I'm asking because if James jumps into the swamp I'd like to know how close to him the dwarf would be able to drop a grenade -- if the sub's deck is higher, she might not be able to put one within 15-20 meters of him, for example.  Can I also get estimated distances between James and #6 and #4?

Assuming that the dwarf would be able to drop a grenade on him in the swamp, I am going to go Full Defense, and forgo any Run For Your Life interrupts. 

I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mod (2) = 25 dice.
Dodge: 25d6t5 11

James is at 1/5 Edge
Corrected Initiative is 23

Also, triggering a Preparation is a Simple Action, correct?

[Tecumseh]

Triggering a preparation via Command (which James cannot do) is a Simple action. Triggering a preparation via Contact is a Free action (since all you have to do is touch it). As a reminder, James does have an F3 air spirit that he can give directions to with a Simple actions.

Let's break down the distances a bit. We'll say that the submarine is 20 meters long. James was standing at the south end of it to lance #2, so let's put him at Meter 19 of 20 (counting north to south), with #2's dying body at Meter 20.

For simplicity, the conning toward is halfway down the submarine. It is ~2 meters wide, so Meters 10 and 11.

James announced his intention to move toward the conning tower. He can't run since he spent his Free action on multiple attacks, so he has to walk. His walking rate is 11 meters per combat turn. He has four passes, so we'll say 3 meters per pass to keep the numbers whole. That means he could only make it from Meter 19 to Meter 16 during his pass, leaving him well short of the conning tower.

(As an aside - just to complicate matters - I said that he could run 7 meters with Run for Your Life because doing so would cost initiative which would drop his number of passes from 4 to 3. Thus I was dividing his running rate - 22 meters per Combat Turn - by 3 passes instead of 4.)

That said, I should have applied some splash damage to James from his own grenade. If the grenade went off at Meter 11 and James was at Meter 16 then he should have soaked (16P - (5 meters * -2P per meter)) = 6P -2AP. This is where the realism of the turn-based system starts to break down as this is obviously a lot for a fraction of a second (grabbing a grenade, throwing it, walking toward it, grenade detonating), but such are the abstractions we accept in the name of manageable gameplay.

If James doesn't want to soak that damage, we can errata his movement under the reason that he is smart enough not to move toward a grenade blast.

James' dodge puts him 11 meters away from #6's grenade, such are the advantages of being a transhuman with hydraulic jacks in his legs. If he's starting out at Meter 19, then this is enough to put him on the far (east) side of the conning tower, so that he now has cover from #2. (We'll say that there's a bit of space on each side of the conning tower where James can stand without falling into the swamp.) This would put him point-blank beneath #4 though (~2 meters), and could expose him to fire from #1 depending on what #1 is doing. If James is starting out at Meter 16, then that's enough to put him on the far/north side of the conning tower, or he could stop at the conning tower and take his chances being 5 meters away from the blast.

The air boats and the deck of the submarine are at approximately the same level. The orks on the conning tower (one with arms, one without) are elevated 2 meters.

The air boats are tied up to the submarine so #6 is close. We'll call her 9 meters away from the Meter 19 position, or 6 meters away from the Meter 16 position (if James confirms his desire to walk). Depending on James' position and her grenade type, she could be within her own grenade blast radius.

James can jump into the swamp. #6 could continue (blindly) firing grenades in his direction, or she could jump to the submarine deck and start pumping grenades into the water. Then we'll get to use those underwater explosive rules that you found.

[rednblack]

Let's errata James' movement.  I was hoping that I may get to use a Charge Attack on the air boat next pass, but that is far from the realm of possibility.  I think I'll leave him chilling over by #2, and see if he can survive the rest of this pass.

I'll get an IC up soonish to cover all the dodgy-dodging and grenade chucking that we've witnessed since #2 got liver-skewered.

Another question: did the HE grenade on the conning tower damage the conning tower that James can see?  If there's a captain below deck, I am worried about the sub being able to dive while James attends to other business.

[Tecumseh]

If we errata James' movement, that leaves him at Meter 19 to start. Where does he want to end up at the end of his dodge? This is obviously a huge amount of movement but James spent an interrupt action on going Full Defense so I'll give him some control over it. The hydraulic jacks also help explain the faster-than-running movement.

James' position will determine how the rest of the initiative order plays out. Some options:

Meter 12: south side of conning tower, exposed to #6 but protected from #1
Meter 11: east side of conning tower, potentially exposed to #1 but protected from #6
Meter 10: northeast side of conning tower, potentially exposed to #1 but protected from #6

In all cases he'll still be vulnerable to #4 standing on top of the conning tower.

James sees some superficial damage to the conning tower but nothing that looks structural (at least not from his current angle). He does not think that it is likely that the submarine will dive, if only because the hatch will need to close first and the smuggler's ropes might still be blocking it from sealing. He doubts that the captain will wish to flood his or her boat.

[rednblack]

Reprinting the list of combatants here so I can keep better track:

#1 - male elf sentry standing lookout on one end of the sub, assault rifle
#2 - female human sentry standing lookout on the other end of the sub, assault rifle + Horizon Flying Eye drone above her
#3 - ork male standing on the conning tower, pulling up packages out of the sub via rope, no visible weapons but there might be something within reach that's out-of-sight
#4 - same as #3 7P
#5 - male troll in one of the airboats, loading packages for transport, an LMG within reach
#6 - female dwarf in the other airboat, also loading packages for transport, carbine within reach 1S
#7 - air spirit on patrol

Dodge Movement: I will put James at Meter 11, protected from #6, exposed to #4, and potentially exposed to #1.  Since he's still in Predator mode, hopefully #1 will at least need to make an Observe in Detail to be sure of his location. 

I still owe you an IC post.

ETA: Since the Air Spirit has been tagging along with James this whole time, should it Dodge/Soak some of the grenade that was thrown his way? 

[Tecumseh]

The air spirit and water spirit have been bopping along in the astral, so no need for them to dodge.

In other news, you've been neglecting to include Illeana's quickened Combat Sense in your rolls. I presumed that you had been using it because your dodge pools were so high, but nope that's all Agile Defender and Increased Intuition. That's an extra 4 dice for you.

However, I'm going to rob you of some more while you're standing beside the conning tower. Your lateral movement is now severely limited since there's barely a shoulder-width of space between the conning tower and the swamp. James will be at -4 to dodge until the he moves back onto the main deck of the sub (when it will return to being -2).

We will now resume our battle previously in progress. The dwarf's HE grenade goes off but James is safely outside of the affected radius.

Question, does the #7 air spirit get/need a dodge roll against #6's grenade? Another awkward situation of the grenade rules, as the air spirit was not directly target. Alternatively, does the air spirit even know to dodge? I will say yes to both for fairness.

Air spirit dodge: Reaction + Intuition: ?d6t5 9 hits, pretty good, I suppose

That's enough to keep the air spirit safe.

Updated CT2 IP1
26 - #8 - unknown - action hidden
23 - James - grenades
21 - #6 - female dwarf - grenading James
20 - #7 - air spirit
18 - #1 - male elf
8 - #4 - ork male
0 - #5 - troll bro
0 - #3 - ork male

#7 - air spirit
Herding. Agility + Unarmed Combat: ?d6t5 4 hits + die I forgot: 1d6t5 0 hits = 4 hits
The air spirit doesn't attack, but seems to be cutting off James' access to the south end of the submarine.

James gets a straight Intuition roll to resist. I'll roll that to keep things moving. Intuition: 9d6t5 5 hits, James is far too crafty and nullifies the air spirit's jockeying for position

#1 - male elf
Sir Elf does not appear to be the slightest bit fooled by James' chameleon suit. He opens fire!
Simple: Take Aim
Simple: FA Burst

Elf shooting at James: Agility + Automatics + Smartlink + Aim - Recoil: ?d6t5 5 hits

James is at -5 for the burst and -4 for the Environmental Modifiers and -1 from dodging the grenade. Don't forget Combat Sense. Base damage is 11P -6AP.

#4 - ork male
The ork leans over the conning tower and opens up with his Uzi.
Complex: Long Burst

Agility + Automatics + Laser Sight + Point Blank - Recoil - Wound Modifier: ?d6t5 2 hits
He's angry so he's going to Edge that: Edge reroll: ?d6t5 2 more hits

James needs to dodge 4 hits. He is at -5 for the burst, -4 for the Environmental Modifiers, and -2 from dodging another attack. Base damage is 8P -1AP.

Once you've rolled and determined how well James has fared, declare and roll for CT2 IP2.

[rednblack]

Yay! Combat Sense.  Completely forgot about that.  Boo! perceptive elves. 

Dodge v. Elf, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) + Combat Sense (4) - Environmental Mods (4) - Burst Fire (5) - Subsequent Attacks (1) = 21 dice.
Dodge: 21d6t5 7
Not this time, daisy-eater.

Dodge v. Ork, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) + Combat Sense (4) - Environmental Mods (4) - Burst Fire (5) - Subsequent Attacks (2) = 20 dice.
Dodge: 20d6t5 13
Going for some Matrix-styled bullet time.

CT2 IP2
Simple: Draw Redline
Simple: Pew Spirit
Free: A little torn here.  I'm considering triggering the Physical Barrier Preparation to protect James from Elf #1, but I'm also considering re-booting James' link.  If James triggers the Preparation what control does he have over where the barrier manifests itself?

For Shooting, I have: AGI (11) + Laser Weapons (9) = 20 dice.
Shoot Spirit: 20d6t5 9
Orokos is being very kind this morning.  Accuracy is 9, so I get to keep those hits.
Base damage is: 5P -10AP

James is at 1/5 Edge, 4/5 Redline.

[Tecumseh]

James has good control over where the physical barrier manifests itself. It can't float/hover, so it needs to be attached to the ground/sub. It can't be some crazy shape, but a wall or a dome or a semi-dome are all reasonable. James should be mindful that he doesn't use it to block his lines of fire or his movement. For example, he wouldn't want to build a bubble around himself that would make it impossible to fire or climb up the conning tower ladder, etc.

Air spirit dodge: Reaction + Intuition: ?d6t5 7 hits, pretty good, but not enough

James connects with 2 net hits. That makes the damage 7P - 10AP. The spirit has 12 armor reduced to 2 by the laser's AP. Pew pew!

Air spirit soak: Body + Armor: ?d6t5 2 hits + 1 auto-hit from remaining armor = 3 hits. The spirit takes 4P and is now has a wound modifier.

CT2 IP2
16 - #8 - unknown - action hidden
13 - James - lasers
11 - #6 - female dwarf - action hidden
9 - #7 - air spirit
8 - #1 - male elf

Let me know what you're thinking about the preparation before I move on to #7 and #1.

[rednblack]

I'm going to reboot comm as my Free Action. How far from James can he trigger the barrier?

[Tecumseh]

LOS (A), so pretty far.

[rednblack]

Alright, cool. Rebooting for sure.

You started the move yet?

[Tecumseh]

Just packing. Physical move starts on Friday.

#7 and #1 are going to try to tag-team James.

#7 teamwork: Agility + Unarmed - Wound: ?d6t5 3 hits, not very good, will Edge
#7 trying again: Edge reroll: ?d6t5 1 hit

4 hits total. James resists with straight Intuition.

James avoiding the spirit: Intuition: 9d6t5 5 hits, too crafty

The spirit tries to corral James but utterly fails, despite having three times as many dice as James did.

#1 is charging in, trying to engage James in melee. Granted, #1 was hoping for some more help from the air spirit, but so it goes. He is trying to kick James.

#1 kick attack: Agility + Melee + Spec + Charging: ?d6t5 4 hits, I give these guys good dice pools but it isn't showing

James is -4 from environment, -1 from second attack defended, and -1 due to the Reach of the kick attack. If it connects, damage is 6P.

Then we're on to CT2 IP3. Go ahead and declare and roll, the roll initiative once you are done.

CT2 IP3
6 - #8 - unknown - action hidden
3 - James
1 - #6 - female dwarf