Each combat round lasts around six seconds of game time. In each combat round, each Traveller may perform a Minor Action and a Significant Action. Travellers take these actions in Initiative order, starting with those who rolled the highest Initiative check. If two or more Travellers are acting on the same Initiative order, the one with the highest DEX score will go first. If they are still tied, they will act simultaneously.

When it is a Traveller’s turn to act, they take both their Minor and Significant Actions at the same time before play moves onto another Traveller.

Once every Traveller has had a chance to act the combat round is over and a new combat round begins. Every Traveller retains the same Initiative score for every combat round.

A Traveller may perform one Significant Action in every combat round, chosen from those below.

ATTACK
The most common Significant Action used in combat is to attack. An attack is an attempt to damage or injure an enemy with either a melee or ranged weapon, such as a knife or a rifle.

The standard skill checks used when making an attack are as follows.

Melee Attack
2D + Melee (appropriate specialty) +STR or DEX DM

Ranged Attack
2D + Gun Combat (appropriate specialty) + DEX DM

Some ranged weapons will use a skill other than Gun Combat. A rocket launcher, for example, will use Heavy Weapons (portable), while grenades and any other weapons that are thrown will use Athletics (dexterity).

When using weapons of this nature, simply substitute Gun Combat with the appropriate skill.

Common Modifiers to Ranged Attacks
Dice Modifiers (DM) are commonly used to influence Gun Combat (or Heavy Weapons or Athletics) checks when attacking as shown on the Common Modifiers table.

LEADERSHIP
The Traveller can pass orders, commands and suggestions to comrades fighting on the same side. To do this, the Traveller makes a Leadership check (INT, EDU or SOC). The Effect of this check is the number of bonuses (each equal to DM+1) the Traveller can give to any skill checks, including attack rolls, to other Travellers on the same side. The Traveller must be able to freely communicate to another Traveller in order to grant a bonus and no Traveller can benefit from more than one DM+1 bonus for any single check.

However, bad leadership can end a battle quicker than good leadership can win one. If the Effect of the Leadership check is negative, the opposing side may inflict a number of penalties equal to the Effect to combatants on the Traveller’s side. Each penalty is equal to DM-1 and is applied in the same way as the bonuses for good leadership.

MINOR ACTIONS
Instead of performing a Significant Action, a Traveller may instead perform two Minor Actions in its place, giving them a total of three Minor Actions in that combat round (the two from the Significant Action, plus the one Minor Action they receive every round anyway).

A Traveller can normally perform a single Minor Action in a combat round, although they may perform up to three if they forego their Significant Action.

AIMING
A Traveller who spends a Minor Action aiming at a target will receive DM+1 to their next ranged attack on the target, so long as they do nothing else but aim. A Traveller may use consecutive Minor Actions to aim, gaining a maximum of DM+6 to an attack if they are able to spend six consecutive Minor Actions aiming at the same target while doing nothing else.

CHANGING STANCE
A Traveller may stand, crouch or lie prone as a Minor Action.

DRAWING/RELOADING
Most weapons require a Minor Action to draw or otherwise make ready for combat and a Minor Action to reload once they have run out of ammunition. If a weapon requires a longer time for either, this will be noted in its description.

MOVEMENT
The Traveller may move a number of metres up to their Movement score (for humans and most humanoid Travellers, this will be six metres) for each Minor Action. Difficult terrain, such as ruins or mud will halve a Traveller’s Movement. Being prone will quarter a Traveller’s Movement score.

Some aliens and animals have different Movement scores and this will be noted in their descriptions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:23, Sun 03 Sept 2023.