Combat
Combat is one of Deadnaut's most complex systems. It involves three discrete stages.
Did I hit?
Nothing matters if you can't hit the target. There are three things that determine accuracy:
- Combat skill: A high combat skill will result in more hits
- Range: The closer the target, the easier it is to hit
- Weapon type: Melee weapons are the most accurate, followed by beam weapons, then ballistic weapons.
Did it penetrate?
Just because it hit, doesn't mean it made an impact. The amount of penetration is a factor of penetration type versus the target's armour.
How much damage did it do?
The next stage is to determine how much damage it did.
First, we compare the damage type of the attack against the target's resistances.
Second, we factor in the amount of penetration.
Special effect
The final stage is to check if we should apply a special effect on the target. This is related to the nature of the attack. Note that there is only a small chance of an effect occurring on a given attack.
- Slow: Slows all actions, including movement and rate of fire (cold damage)
- Flaming: High damage over a short duration (heat damage)
- Confusion: Inability to distinguish friend from foe (cyber, neural)
- Stun: Unable to move or perform any action (neural, shock)
- Chain: Effects passed on to other entities in range (heat, shock)
- Panic: Flee as quickly as possible away from an aggressor (neural, spectral)
- Penetration: Attack passes through enemies (sonic, spectral, beam penetration)
- Dissolve: Attack may lower defenses or dissolve the target completely (toxic)
- Knockback: Target is knocked back (ballistic, melee, blast)
Ambush
If a Deadnaut attacks an unaware enemy, then the chance of a special effect increases dramatically.
Example
Tying it all together, here's an example.
- Deadnaut attacks with a heat beam.
- The beam hits the target
- The target has moderate armour so the beam does minor penetration
- The target has no resistances to heat, so the minor penetration still does a lot of damage
- Checks for a special effect a heat weapon with beam penetration. Chance roll results in a flaming special effect
