Armor comes in three varieties:  soft, hard, and hardened.

 

Soft armor consists of any armor without plates in it.  It resists damage as normal; reducing the power of an attack by it’s rating, to a minimum of two.

 

Hard armor consists of soft armor with added features, such as ceramic or steel plates to make it harder to penetrate.  Any attack made against hard armor is reduced by the armor’s rating, but if the power of the attack is reduced to one or less, the defending character receives an extra body die for every point below two the attack is reduced.

 

Example:  Franco fires his light pistol (6M) at Spazzamoni, who is wearing a hard suit with a ballistic rating of six.  This reduces the attack to 0M, or two points below two.  Spazzamoni, who normally would resist the 2M with three body, now has five thanks to his armor.

 

Hardened armor consists of military grade, vehicle-class, or gel packed armor.  Any attack reduced to less than two is completely negated.

 

Penetration rules apply no differently to any grade of armor.

 

Full automatic fire is no longer a singular TN all or nothing affair.  When a character fires a burst in full auto, they have several possible TNs.  The first is the minimum TN.  This is calculated by adding the range and non-RC modifiers together.  Achieving this TN enables all compensated bullets to hit.  The next TN is the maximum TN.  This is the range and all modifiers added together.  Achieving this TN enables all bullets to hit.  Finally, there is the variable TN.  If a character hits a TN higher than the minimum, but lower than the maximum, he has a partial success, and a number of uncompensated bullets equal to the difference between the achieved TN and the minimum TN hit.

 

Example:

 

Bruno fires his AK-98 at a stationary sentry from medium range in heavy rain.  Bruno is uninjured and lighting is currently not a problem.  He decides to fire a fifteen round burst, because he has watched far too many war movies. His gas-vent two and underbarrel weight contribute three points of recoil compensation, and the laser sight gives a –1 bonus. 

 

Calculating the TNs we get:

Minimum TN:  Medium Range (5) + Natural Vision in Heavy Rain (6) + Stationary Target (-1) + Laser Sight (-1) = 9

Maximum TN: Minimum TN (9) + Twelve Uncompensated Rounds (12) = 21

 

Bruno rolls his six assault rifles dice (he’s dumb, not incompetent) aided by four combat pool dice.  The results are:

1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13, and 19!

 

When firing in full automatic, damage cannot be staged up with skill, so we only take the highest result:  19.  We subtract the minimum TN from the highest achieved and then add in the compensated rounds to see the number of bullets that impacted.  Doing that we get:

TN Rolled (19) – Minimum TN (9) + Recoil Compensated Rounds (3) = 13 rounds hit.  Every bullet hitting is +1 power, and every three stage the damage level up one.  Calculating that we get a damage code of 7M -> 20M -> 20D++.  Nice shot Bruno.

 

Searching Fire:

Searching fire is “by the book”.

 

Suppressive Fire:

Suppressive fire is another application of fully automatic fire, this time to cover and screen movement in addition to preventing attacks from the enemy or movement through key junctions.  It consists wholly of spraying ammunition downrange into an area that the enemy must occupy if he wishes to remove himself from cover.  The game mechanic of suppressive fire is as follows: 

 

A character can choose to suppress a minimum of one square meter per range category (one square meter at shore, two at medium, and so on).  No character can simultaneously exist in more than one targeted square meter, for simplicity’s sake.  In some instances, however, a vehicle may be subject to more fire.

The character initiating the suppressive fire declares, on his action, the area which s/he is suppressing, how many rounds s/he is firing (subject to RoF rules, below.  Suppressive fire takes an entire combat turn, so if someone started firing on initiative 12, the fire would not let up until 12 of next turn.  Suppressive fire is considered an exclusive complex action.

 

Make note of how many rounds are going towards each square meter -- divide total rounds fired by the amount of squares. This is the initial amount of Potential Hits. Cover reduces PHs by its percentage (75% for 75% cover, etc.). A character that happens to be located in any such square, at any time during the time which the suppressive fire is in progress, can take a dodge test at TN 6 (plus wounds) to reduce the amount of Potential Hits by 20% or 3, whichever is less, after the cover modifier.

If there are any PHs left, the suppresser rolls to hit. No recoil, aiming device, target movement, visibility, multiple target or image magnification modifiers. The TN is reduced by 1 for every 3 PHs. The hitting burst size is increased by 1 for every 5 PHs. Consider the hit to be with 0 successes for soaking, so every 2 successes on the damage resistance test lower the damage level by one.

Ex:
Joe Average is firing a RoF 60 (1200rpm) LMG at a street corner 100 meters down range (Medium), expecting Bob Shadowrunner to come out soon. Joe decides to suppress the first 2 meters off the corner.  Suppressive fire lasts for an entire combat turn, meaning from Joe’s current 7 to the 7 next turn. 30 rounds will fly into each square meter in that time.

True enough, Bob rounds the corner soon afterwards on the second Init Pass. He runs right into the first square meter. There's no cover, so 30 PHs before Dodge. He rolls his 10 Combat Pool for 6 successes against 6, lowering PHs to 12 (30 - 6 x 3). The TN for Joe to hit is 5 (range) - 4 (12 PHs, -1 per 3) or 2. Bob is hit by a 3-round burst (always at least 1, +2 from 10-14 PHs) of LMG fire, but soaks it, the lucky bastard that he is.

He then runs into the next square meter. Still no cover, and no combat pool either. 30 PHs guarantee a TN of 2 and an easy hit, and the burst size is now up to 4. Doesn't look good for Bob...

No longer is ammunition classified by weapon type.  Please check the document “Caliberlist” for specific information concerning ammunition types and classifications.  “VC” indicates ammunition that is velocity-controlled, for use within silenced or suppressed weapon systems.

 

Ammunition’s power and penetration capabilities decrease at range.  For every range category beyond “short”, subtract one from an attack’s power and add one to its penetration value.

 

The following modifications to cyberstructure are to be noted:

 

Bone Lacing:  Bone lacing now costs 20% less in essence, due to lack of serious connectivity to the brain.

Obvious Cyberlimbs:  Standard obvious cyberlimbs (excluding Kid Stealth legs, tails, heads, torsos, etc.) cost 50% less in nuyen and 50% less in essence.  The reduced feedback of an obvious limb needs less neural connection with the brain, reducing essence more than the more neurally invasive synthetic model.  Due to this reduced sensitivity, increase touch perception tests by +2.

Synthetic Cyberlimbs:  Standard synthetic cyberlimbs cost 50% less in nuyen and 25% less in essence.  The increased (natural) sensory feedback of a synthetic limb makes it more neurally invasive compared to the obvious model.  A model equipped only with SynthSkin sheathing reduces essence loss by an additional 15%, but suffers the same +2 TN modifier as an obvious limb.  It is still considered more concealed than an obvious limb.

Headware Memory: Essence cost is now MP/500.  Cost remains the same.

 

A hit location system is in effect, described in full in the document “Hit Location”.

 

A modified armor coverage/rating system is in place, but is currently unavailable.  The file will be returned on 23 FEB 04, as soon as access to the file is returned.  Apologies for any inconvenience.

 

All ammunition, and consequently, firearms, now possess a “penetration rating”.  This integer comes after the standard damage code and is used for determining the effect a particular round has on armored targets.  Positive numbers “add” armor to a target, whereas negative numbers “subtract” armor from a target, to a minimum of zero.  A round striking an unarmored target does not factor in penetration.

 

Example:  Bruno fires his AK-98 at a guard wearing armored clothing (Ballistic rating 3).  The round has a damage code of 7M-2, meaning that guard has an effective ballistic rating of 1.  If Bruno had decided to fire his Browning Max-Power instead (damage code of 8M5), the guard would have resisted with an armor of 8.

Posture refers to the stance that a shooter is in.  There are three distinct postures, unsupported, crouching, and prone.  Each stance offers advantages and disadvantage in terms of speed, mobility, accuracy, and recoil compensation.

 

The unsupported (standing) position allows full mobility at the expense of accuracy and the ability to withstand recoil.  Characters in the unsupported position gain neither positive nor negative modifiers in terms of recoil or TN, and can move and maneuver at full speed.

 

The crouching position allows a significantly higher degree of accuracy and a fair degree of recoil compensation.  The downside is that the character travels half of his normal (walking) speed, and requires a simple action to turn more than ninety degrees in one phase.

 

The prone position allows unparalleled accuracy but hinders movement in a similar fashion.  A character in the prone position can only travel at one-fourth his normal (walking) speed, and requires a complex action to turn more than ninety degrees in one phase.

 

	TN Modifiers by Range					Movement Modifiers
Stance	Short	Medium	Long	Extreme	Recoil Comp	Speed	Turning >90 Deg
Unsupported	-	-	-	-	0	Full	Free Action
Crouching	-	-	-1	-1	+1	½ Walk	Simple Action
Prone	-	-1	-1	-2	+3	¼ Walk	Complex Action

 

 

Any weapon capable of fully-automatic fire possesses a new attribute; rate of fire.  The RoF is calculated by weapon class (assault rifle, submachine gun, minigun, etc.), with exceptional specimens possessing separate RoFs.  When firing in full auto, the RoF is to be divided by the number of passes possessed by the firer in that particular combat turn to determine the number of rounds available per pass.

 

Example:

 

Jackula is a cyberware whore.  He possesses, through some unholy union of Christ and Satan, Move-by-Wire 4, a Synaptic Accelerator 2, and Wired Reflexes 3.  Naturally, his gun is very large, and very capable of automatic fire.  In stark contrast, Franklin D. Average is a completely unaugmented man, but in possession of a similar model Big Gun. 

 

Jackula and Frank both roll initiative, Jack makes a 62, and Frank roles a 7.  Both of their weapons have an RoF of 42 (850rpm/20CTs per minute = 42.5).  Jackula, who can fire for seven passes, only fires six shots a pass, because no matter how fast he pulls his trigger, his gun still fires at the same rate.  Frank, who only has one pass, fires the full 42 rounds in his singular pass.

 

Choke has been eliminated.  The following rules now apply to shotguns firing shot, flechette, or heavy flechette ammunition:

 

-Base attack TN of 4 at all ranges, due to shotgun spread.  This does not stack with scopes, imaging devices, lasersights, or non-cyber Smartgun-Links.  Cybernetic SGLs deliver a -1 TN.

-Reduce the attack’s power by 3 for every range category beyond short (-3 at medium, -6 at long, etc.)

-Reduce the attack’s damage by 1 for every range category beyond medium (-1 at long, -2 at extreme).

-Increase dodging TNs vs. shot by two, plus one for every range category beyond medium (+3 at long, +4 at extreme).

 

Almost all weapons come with some form of sighting mechanism, generally iron sights, reactive sights, or less common, laser sights and smartlinks.  These are used to line up shots, and work naturally when the weapon is held correctly.  A character firing a non-sighted weapon receives a penalty to firing, which is exacerbated at range.  A character that does sight his weapon receives a number of benefits:

-The ability to use the simple action “Aim” to impart a –1 TN modifier

-The ability to use visual magnification

-The ability to use a weapon’s imaging systems, including lowlight and thermographic scopes

-A +1 Recoil Compensation Bonus

 

Non-sighting characters equipped with Smartgun-links or lasersights do not suffer a penalty, and still receive their appropriate bonuses.  Aiming, recoil compensation, magnification and scope usage still require a weapon to be sighted however.