It has come to my attention that some people may not have a copy of the rules. They can be purchased on DriveThruRPG, but some that we will use regularly will be summarized or posted here. Let me know if there is any specific rule/stat you want included.

Rather than post here, I added a Game Wiki to put easy reference to the rules. Click above in the right hand corner or here:

http://wiki.rpol.net/6687

SUMMARY OF BASIC RULES

All rolls are based on percentage basis.

ABILITIES and EXPERIENCE
Abilities are your score out of 100. Ability checks are made (minus modifiers) to see if you succeed at a particular attempt to do something.

Experience Points
When you receive experience points, you can use them to either (1) increase an ability score (1 per experience point, up to a maximum of 100 per ability), or (2) apply them to increase your skill levels at the cost shown in the table below.

Skills

Each character chooses one of three Primary Skill Areas (PSA), which essentially an area of expertise. The character then purchases skills in the PSA set and can then try any of the subskill actions under that skill.

SKILL COST TABLE

         Military PSA     Technological PSA       Biosocial PSA
Level 1  3(6)             4(8)                    5(10)
Level 2  6(12)            8(16)                  10(20)
Level 3  9(18)           12(24)                  15(30)
Level 4  12(24)          16(32)                  20(40)
Level 5  15(30)          20(40)                  25(50)
Level 6  18(36)          24(48)                  30(60)

For example, if you are a Biosocial PSA and choose Medic Skill, you pay the XP to increase the medic skill level (5 for level 1, 10 for level 2, etc.). If you want a beam weapons proficiency, it is not your PSA since it is a military PSA skill, so you will pay 6 XP for the beam weapons skill level 1 for laser weapons.

Example continued: If you then decide you want to have an Environmental Skill at level 1, in addition to the medic, you can do so at only a 5 XP cost, since it is still in your Biosocial PSA. If you want to have a melee skill at level 1, that would be 6 XP since it is not your PSA and is instead in Military.

Tip 1: Have at least some levels in the weapon type you use most to help in combat, even if your PSA is tech or biosocial. At +10% to hit per level, 2 or 3 levels will really help.

Tip 2: Remember that increasing dexterity by 2 points also increases your to hit by 1%, so you can use XP to affect your percentage to hit as well as anything else attributable to dexterity as another method of increasing.
NOTE: Remember melee is typically based on Strength, not dexterity.

COMBAT
Summary
CHANCE TO HIT:
For ranged weapons, your basic percentage to hit is 1/2 of your DEXTERITY plus 10% for each skill level you have with the type of weapon.

EXAMPLE: If your Dexterity is 70, you have a base percentage to hit of 35%. If you are using a laser pistol and have a Beam Weapons skill level of 2, then you add 20% for a total of 55% base chance to hit.

From there, you go to the modifier list which can lower or raise the percentages.

Melee weapons are similar but typically use the STRENGTH score as the base.

Summary
Summary of how the weapon table works: Weapon Stats

AMMO
Beam Weapons use SEU for ammo. Each SEU does 1d10 Damage with a hit. Some are adjustable. For example, a laser pistol can be set from 1 to 10 SEU, and it has a 20 SEU clip. So if set at the maximum of 10 SEU, the clip has to be changed out after only two shots. You can get 4 shots if set to 5 SEU...and so forth.

Reloading takes one combat turn to attach a clip or attach to a new backpack or other source.

RATE OF FIRE
Most weapons get 1 shot per combat turn.

Laser rifles and laser pistols get 2 shots.

Automatic weapons can be set to single shot or burst. 3 single shots per turn can be made or 1 burst. (See rules for details.)

DEFENSES
Each type of weapon has a counterpart in a defensive screen or suit.

You can only wear one screen and one suit at a time.

Albedo suits absorb up to 100 points of laser damage, and a screen uses SEU equal to 1/5 of the damage it absorbs.

Skeinsuits absorb half damage from projectile and gyrojet, frag grenades, explosives and melee weapons, up to 50 points.

Inertia Screens are the same as skeinsuits but use SEU: 2 SEU is used each time a hit is absorbed.

Gauss screen: Absorbs electricity damage such as electrostunners, shock gloves, etc. 2 SEU upon each hit.

Sonic Screen: Sound barriers, absorbing all sound that hits and related damage. Uses 2 SEU per hit and 1 SEU every  minute it is turned on.



ADDITIONAL COMBAT OPTIONS
-CAREFUL AIM: Don't forget to mention if you want to do careful aim. Doing so halves the Rate of Fire but adds +15 to hit.

-AVOIDANCE ROLLS: Don't forget that you may forgo your attack to try to avoid an attack. If successful, it may avoid any damage or half damage from grenades. (It uses STA or RS depending on the type of attack being avoided.) (Cannot use on all attacks. See chart.)

-DEFEND: Similarly, you may defend instead of attack and give the opponent -15% to hit.

-DISARM: you may try to disarm an opponent (-20 modifier)

-BATTLE RAGE: Yazirians may go into battle rage.

-MULTIPLE GUNS: You can fight with weapons in each hand for more attacks but a modifier will apply. (See combat chart.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:56, Sat 04 Apr 2020.

Very handy, thank you!

Please check the Wiki and let me know whatever you want to add, especially those who don't have quick access to rules.

I may include a section on Star Frontiersman and other interesting things to include as well.

For items you have easy access to and want added, if you PM me a copy of what you want added (especially if properly coded), even better.

I recommend everyone reread the Combat rules before the next fight: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=6687/COMBAT

This provides the various modifiers, such as careful aim, cover, distance, size, etc. When posting your combat move, it helps me for you to indicate which items and modifiers you think apply to the situation.

Also, stats for individual weapons can be found here: https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Weapons

Since that is an outside website, I plan to incorporate the most common weapons for easy reference when I have time. So if you have particular weapons you want included in a stat table, please let me know particulars.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:50, Sat 04 Apr 2020.

I added Weapon Stats Here:
http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=6687/WEAPON%20STATS

This comes from the Expanded Rules and does not include weapons that are not in there.

The Star Frontiersman Section would be a good addition!

Would the Frontier Explorer be an option?

Anything we can easily add for reference would be good, so long as it is something we would actually use in this game.

Also, just updated many of the rules in the Wiki for easy reference.

See updates at top post. I'm trying to add very short summaries and reminders of the basic rules since it can be hard to remember given the time delays on RPoL.

UPDATE:
Porter let me know of a rule on screens, and when I did a deep dive into the rules, I found three potentially conflicting rules in the rulebook.

THE RULES IN THE RULEBOOK:

Under defenses: "An albedo screen projects a silvery aura that absorbs laser damage. The aura completely surrounds the person wearing the screen. For every 5 points (or fraction of 5 points) absorbed, 1 SEU is drained from the power source. For example, absorbing 11 points of damage drains 3 SEU. The person wearing the screen will take no damage from lasers as long as the power holds out. A person can fire a laser weapon out of an albedo screen."

"Albedo Screen. Like an albedo suit, the screen absorbs laser beams. Absorbing a laser beam
uses a number of SEU equal to 1/5 the number of damage points caused by the beam,
rounded up. For example, absorbing a beam that caused 11 damage points would use 3 SEU."

Then under the table it says "1 SEU/min."

Then under laser weapons: "An albedo suit or screen halves the damage from lasers."


HOUSE RULE:
We will use the first rule above. I think the one about half damage may be a typo relating only to suits.

So a screen uses SEU equal to 1/5 the number of damage points caused by the laser, rounded up, and the user takes no damage.

Also, given the difficulty of determining the usage per minute, we will not use that rule. It only uses SEU when actually hit by lasers.

For suits, the general rule that it absorbs half damage remains.

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:44, Mon 27 July 2020.

I don't think battles usually last more than 10 combat rounds so deducting an extra SEU to cover the running cost of running the screen for a minute of combat is much of an issue, I am happy either way, your game your rules.

True. My thoughts were that I don't know how long people turn it on before or after battle as well, and I don't want people trying to remember that among all the other rules.

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 11):

I was operating on the basis that we flick the screens on at the start of an encounter, I thought you had posted something along those lines earlier but even so an extra SEU or 2 would probably cover any extra usage whenever anyone is unsure how long their screen was active.

I try to make that assumption so people don't feel cheated out of using them if they forgot to mention it. The down side is that I may then forget to incorporate them in the battle.

I think we do this:

1) You must mention turning on the screen before it will be deemed "on." This does not count as a "turn."
2) Sometimes, it may be turned on proactively in advance of anticipated battle, and we can't just assume they are on 24/7, so we subtract 1 SEU per estimated minute, which may mean some SEU is used unnecessarily if a battle does not actually happen or takes longer to start.

Please also mention in your initial post what SEU your screen has, and if you have a suit (and how much it has left too).