COMBAT

There are two types of combat in The Matrix: missile combat, and close combat.

DODGE THIS: MISSILE COMBAT

1. 1) Determine Reaction (see the section on Character Creation for how to do this).
2.  
3. 2) The combatant draws against the appropriate skill with the Target being: Point Blank – 5; Short – 8; Medium – 10; Long – 13; Extreme – 16. Visibility mods may apply.

1. Weapon Type	Range (Metres)
   	Short	Medium	Long	Extreme
   Thrown*	Size	Size×2	Size×3	Size×4
   Pull Bow	Size	Size×10	Size×20	Size×40
   Crossbow	Rating×5	Rating×20	Rating×40	Rating×60
   Pistol**	5	15	30	60
   Normal Rifle***	100	200	300	400
   Shotgun	10	30	60	120
   SMG	10	40	80	150
   Sniper Rifle	150	300	600	1000
   LMG	75	150	400	800
   MMG	80	250	500	1000
   HMG/ Minigun	100	300	600	1200
   Real-World Weapon Ranges
   Plasma	20	40	80	160
   Laser	150	300	600	1200
   Railgun	200	400	800	1600

   * - Includes Grenades

   ** - Includes under-barrel Grenade Launchers

   *** - Includes Grenade Launchers and Pistols

2. 3) Each success causes the amount of damage listed with the weapon. For example: three successes with a Browning High-Power (Damage 5) will cause 15 points of damage.
3.  
4. 4) If the shot hits, then the target’s armour takes over. Armour has two values: an Armour Value, and an Absorption Value. The Armour Value is how much damage the armour will stop cold; the Absorption Value is how much (in percentage) of the remaining damage the armour will absorb. Fractions are always rounded up. So, if a person wearing a leather jacket was shot for 20 points of damage, the jacket itself would stop 1 point of damage, and absorb 10%, or 2 points, of the remaining 19, leaving the wearer to take 17 points of damage.
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6. If the target takes a Physical Wound in one hit, then their armour receives 1 point of Wear for each Physical Wound received.

Rule of Three Ones

Burst Fire and Full Auto is handled differently: every three bullets (or part thereof) adds one card to the character’s draw for that shot, one to the base Damage done by the attack, and one to the Target. This last penalty can be nullified by recoil compensation, like a stock, gyromount, gas venting systems, or similar devices. For burst-fire shotguns and large machine guns, any uncompensated recoil is doubled; so a character firing a burst from a stripped-down H&K CAWS (Recoil Compensation 0) must add 2 to the target of the shot, not one.

Engel and Crunch are squared off against two Marines. Engel is using an Uzi (Damage 5), and Crunch has a Franchi SPAS-12 (Damage 10). The two Marines are packing Baretta SC70 assault rifles (Damage 6).Engel has Increased Reaction Level 4, so she draws two cards for reaction instead of one.

Engel: 23

Crunch: 14

Marine 1: 17

Marine 2: 16

Engel leaps into the fray and sprays the first Marine with a burst from her Uzi. She currently has Machine Guns: 5 in her Flash Memory, and the burst adds one card to the draw, for a total of 5 cards. Engel is at medium range, and she has a stock on her Uzi, so the Target remains at 8. Engel’s player draws an Ace, two eights, a nine and a Queen, for a total of 4 successes, or 24 points of damage. The Marine is wearing a kevlar vest (Ballistic 4/20), so only (24-4=20, 20×.8=)16 points of damage get through. However, this is enough to give the Marine a Physical Wound, as well as adding 1 point of Wear to the Marine’s armour.

The Marine returns fire on Engel with a burst with his assault rifle. He has Rifles: 4, and with the burst, he draws four cards. The rifle has a gas-vent system which compensates for the recoil, but the Marine has a Wound, which adds 1 to the Target, for a final Target of 9. The GM draws for the marine, and gets a six, a seven, two tens, and a King, for a total of 3 successes. This means that Engel takes 21 points of damage. Engel is wearing a tweaked Armoured Duster (Ballistic 5/30), so Engel only takes (21-5=16, 16×.7=)12 points of damage. This isn’t quite enough to give Engel a Physical Wound.

Marine 2 levels his rifle at Crunch and hoses him down with a burst. His target is 9, and he has 5 cards to draw: he draws a two, a four, a nine, and two tens, for three successes, or 21 points of damage. Crunch is wearing a duster similar to Engel’s, and he also has Armour Level 4, so his total Ballistic armour is 7/50. This means that Crunch only takes (21-7=14, 14×.5=)7 points of damage.

Crunch is justifiably upset about the new holes in his duster, so he unloads a burst from his shotgun into Marine 2. Crunch has Rifles at 5, so he draws 5 cards against a Target of 8. He draws a two, two nines, a ten, and a Jack, for four successes. Marine 2 is in trouble: even with his kevlar vest, he still receives (44-4=40, 40×.8=)32 points of damage. This gives him two Physical Wounds, and two points of Wear on his armour.

The first pass is over, so Engel starts the next round. She concentrates her fire on Marine 2, hoping to put him out of the fight. The statistics are the same as before: five cards against a Target of 8. Engel draws a four, two eights and two nines, for four successes. The Marine takes (24-4=20, 20×.8=)16 points of damage, and slumps to the ground, dead.

Marine 1 takes his partner’s death personally, and hoses Engel down on full auto – ten bullets. Unfortunately, the gas-vent on the rifle is only built to handle 2 points of recoil penalty, so the Target for the shot is 8 (medium range) plus 4 (for the recoil) plus 1 (for the Wound), or 13. On the upside, the Marine gets to draw 8 cards, so he’s bound to hit something… Or so he thinks. The cards come up ace, two twos, a three, two fours, an eight, and a nine, all falling short of the 15 needed to hit.

Crunch turns his attention to the remaining Marine and gives him a burst from his shotgun. He has the same stats as before, as well: five cards against a Target of 8. He draws a seven, a nine, two Queens and a King, for four successes. The 32 points of damage is more than enough to take out the last Marine.

STOP TRYING TO HIT ME AND HIT ME: CLOSE COMBAT

1. 1) Determine Reaction as per usual.
2.  
3. 2) The two combatants draw against the skill they are using (Brawling, Martial Arts, or Armed Combat), with the Target of 8 plus the opponent’s Armour Value against that type of attack (generally Impact or Blade). Open-Hand attacks are resisted with Impact armour.
4.  
5. 3) Whoever has the most amount of successes does the damage to the other person. A tie indicates a stand-off, and nothing happens.
6.  
7. 4) The processes of calculating and resisting damage are the same as missile combat. The only difference is that Armour only degrades every 2 Wounds in close combat, instead of every one.

Later, Crunch and Engel find themselves cornered by two policemen with night-sticks (Club: 4, Damage (Size+1)=5). Crunch is unarmed (Brawling: 7), but he has Level 3 Increased Damage, which will allow him to cause (7+6=)13 points of Stun damage, or 7 points of Physical damage. Engel has come prepared; she has a Combat Knife (Blade: 7, Damage (Size+2)=6) that she scavenged off one of the Marines.
Reaction goes as follows:

Engel: 23

Crunch: 17

Cop 1: 17

Cop 2: 16

As usual, Engel gets in first, and slashes at Cop 1. He is wearing a Security Uniform (Blade 1/10), which makes the Target 9; however, Engel’s high Blade skill reduces it back to 8. The Cop’s target is 8, modified by Engel’s Duster’s Impact Armour Value (2/20), for a total of 10. Engel draws three successes, the Cop draws one, giving Engel 2 net successes. Engel cuts the cop for (12-1=9, 11×.9=)10 points of damage.
Crunch and Cop number 1 have the same Reaction, but Crunch has the higher Speed, so he goes first. He brings his fists to bear on Cop 2; he has the same Target and draw as Engel, while poor Cop 2 has to contend with Crunch’s Armour ability, which raises his Target to 11. Crunch only gains one success, and to his great surprise, so does the Cop. This means that nobody gets hurt.
Cop 1, meanwhile, is attacking Engel again. The maths is the same, as no-one has taken a Wound yet: Engel gains 2 successes, the cop only one. He takes (6-1=5, 5×.9=)5 points of damage, enough to give him a Physical Wound.
Cop 2 attacks Crunch. Once again, the maths is the same: Crunch gains 1 success, while the Cop gains two! This means that Crunch takes (5-3=2, 2×.7=)2 points of damage.
Engel’s turn again: she attacks the first cop again. The stats have changed, with the cop receiving a Wound in the last exchange: Engel draws 5 cards against a Target of 8, while the cop draws three cards against an increased Target of 11. By a stroke of luck, Engel draws five successes, while the cop can only manage one. Engel’s knife deals (24-2=22, 22×.9=)20 points of damage, saddling the Cop with another two Wounds and adding 1 point of Wear to his uniform.
Crunch attacks his opponent again, this time faring a little better: Crunch gains three successes, while the policeman can’t manage any. Because Crunch wants to end this quickly, he decides to cause Physical damage with his attack, so the cop takes (21-1=20, 26×.9=)18 points of damage. This causes a Physical wound.
Cop 1 has had enough, and uses his action to make a break for it. Undaunted, Cop number 2 presses his attack. His Target has increased to 11 due to his injury, and surprisingly, he fails to gain any successes. Crunch, on the other hand, comes up with five. The poor policeman takes (35-1=34, 34×.9=)31 points of damage, which puts him down.
The third turn sees Engel as the only one left with a positive Reaction. She decides to nail the retreating cop by throwing her knife. The damage for the knife changes from Engel’s Size+2 to the average of her Size (4) and her Dexterity (8) – funnily enough, the knife will still do 6 damage for every success. The GM decides that the cop has made a good break for it, and has made it to Medium range; and Engel, with Thrown Weapon: 6, draws 5 cards against the Target of 8. She gets three successes, for a total of (18-2=16, 16×.9=)15 points of damage. The knife catches the retreating cop square in the back, and he pitches over.