Gates is a pitiless monomaniacal monster. However, I have seen more and more people share his view and become less human and more like machines. They become slaves of technology when they should be its masters. If the people we’re sworn to protect become the enemy, what are we to do?

—Cassandra Kastrouni, Gold Lynxes

This chapter is divided into two pages (this is the first). To access sections within either page, use the jump menu above or the buttons at the bottom of each page.

Piercing Armor

These rules are intended to cover combat from kevlar vests and guns to MechTitans and rail guns. One caveat: this chapter is rather experimental (especially the tables). If you have any questions or any suggestions for improvement, email me. There are two new terms: Armor Index (AR) and Piercing Rank (PR). The first is, naturally, assigned to armors, and the second is assigned to weapons—so now weapons will have both SR and PR. Note however that there is no 1 to 1 relation between SR and PR, so a weapon can have, say, SR 5 and PR of 2 (or no PR at all). To determine whether an armor was pierced or not, subtract the armor’s AR from the weapon’s PR result:

If the number is positive or zero, that means the armor dissipated the energy of the impact, so no damage is dealt to either the armor or the person. If the result is negative it means the armor was pierced (or that damage filtered through with a blunt object, such as a mace) and you need to assess the damage by subtracting the weapon’s SR from the armor’s AR:

The resulting number is the modified SR used to roll for damage. If the number is positive, the armor took some damage but managed to absorb the brunt of the impact, so no significant damage is dealt to the character. With a zero (0), the character rolls for STA loss only. If the number is negative, both Wounds and STA loss are dealt. Note that even if the result is zero, the armor was pierced and may have taken serious damage that can lower its rating permanently.

The guidelines shown above apply only to armored humans. With SiGoMechs, armored vehicles, and MechTitans do the following:

• Pierced armor—SR reduced AR units. A C roll downgrades the AR 1 unit.
• Unpierced armor- no damage

In addition, PR decreases with distance:

With some "area-of-effect" weapons, such as grenades or mines, the PR (if any) decreases with distance even more, so a Near would be PR/2, Far would be PR/4, and Extreme would be PR/8.

Damage to Armor
For every piercing roll of H or C (or C only for blunt weapons like maces), the AR of the armor is reduced by 1 or 2 respectively (or just 1 for both, CM's discretion). Every time the armor loses 25% of its armor index (AR/4, rounding up) one of the systems of the machine will malfunction (select randomly). Once the AR of the armor is reduced to zero, the armor is useless, no longer capable of soaking weapon hits.

Example of Armor Combat
Let’s say your character has a SmartSuit with AR of 7. Someone hits you with a weapon of SR 5 and PR 4, and rolls a C, which bumps the damage up to SR 9 and PR to 12 (see the PR table below). Then,

• Subtract the armor’s AR from the weapon’s PR result: AR - PR = 7-12 = -5, so the armor was pierced.
• AR - SR = 7 - 9 = -2, so SR 2 damage is dealt.
• Since the roll was a C and the armor was pierced, the armor receives damage, losing 2 units of AR, so it is now AR 5. The next time the armor gets hit, the players use this new AR index to assess the damage.
• Since the armor lost 25% of its original index (AR/4=7/4=1.75, which rounds up to 2), you now determine randomly which system malfunctions. First roll randomly for the general area (head, torso, or limbs), then for the exact spot. The equipment in that spot no longer works.

If the STA loss rolled was enough to knock your PC unconscious, the armor’s Vmed unit (if one is present) kicks in to restore your STA.

AR and PR Tables

Piercing Rank (Column determined by SR shift)

The following table is to be used as a guide to determine how much armor to give to a vehicle or Mech. It is adapted from a similar one found in the Dark Conspiracy game book:

Note: chemical and gaseous attacks may cause damage to the character, totally ignoring the AR, unless the armor has the Sealed Systems advantage.

The armor table is just a guideline, since there are artifacts that may be above or beneath normal specs. Use your common sense when assigning AR to armors and SR to weapons. A typical slug-throwing handgun should never have a PR greater than 5, and rifles should never have a PR greater than 6 or 7. PR of 7 or up should be reserved to high-powered weapons on tripods or bipods, or special weaponry such as railguns (guns that propel metal slugs at high velocities using a magnetic rail). What I did was to visualize an armor type and decide what kind or weapon would be useless against it. For instance, I decided that SmartSuits cannot be pierced by normal handguns, so I assigned AR and PR accordingly (or at least tried to, remember this is still experimental).

Blunt weapons, like bats, hammers, or maces, although incapable of physically piercing armor, can inflict STA loss and sometimes even Wounds, so they can be given PR as well. Actually, blunt weapons such as maces are very effective against armored individuals and could knock them out quicker than a laser beam. This effectiveness of maces against armor was true in the Middle Ages and it is still true in 2909. To reflect this, the PR of these objects could be as high as PR 8.

MechTitan Combat

I realized that the combat instructions detailed above are insufficient for MechTitan combat, so I decided to adapt Battletech’s hit diagrams to Chill. Mechs have nine basic hit areas: head, front torso, back torso, left torso, right torso, two arms, and two legs. Each area has different WB and Armor Ranks or AR. Power supplies are set deep inside the heavily armored torso. Other systems—weapons, computers, medical—are positioned by the players in any available hit area. There are four basic Mech models each one with a "male" and "female" version: Phoebe/Krios,

The diagram will be translated into Chiliad as follows: the external structure diagram represents the AR, while the internal structure represents the Wounds the Mech can take before going out of commission. Each area of the Mech has a particular AR and WB. When armor is pierced, damage is dealt immediately to the internal structure. When the WB of a particular internal structure reaches zero:

• the affected area ceases to function
• if there is a K roll, the part has been blown off
• if the area had live ammo within, the pilot rolls his/her current LCK. A failed roll indicates that the ammo exploded, doing SR 8/PR 7 damage to the internal structure of the Mech. If the head explodes and the pilot is not wearing a SmartSuit, death is instantaneous.
• to avoid death, i.e. to have enough time to eject from the Mech, the pilot rolls his/her current Luck. A failed roll means the ejection mechanism malfunctioned and the pilot dies, a successful roll means the pilot was ejected to relative safety. Nevertheless, even if the pilot wears a SmartSuit there is still the danger of being buried under the weight of the Mech. An armored pilot that has not ejected from a falling Mech must make an AGL check with a –30 penalty to jump out of the Mech. Unless the SmartSuit has its own Thrust Engines, the pilot takes damage from the fall.

Determine hit location with the following critical hit table (a simplified version of Battletech’s Critical Hit Table). Some sections contain vital components that must go there and nowhere else.

 Use a d10 to determine the hit location randomly. PCs wishing to make a called shot must roll a C. If they are moving while making the called shot, their Mech Piloting Skill (see below) suffers a –40. Called shots while standing still receive no penalty, however, adversaries can lock their weapons on the unmoving PCs, getting +20 to hit. Shots to the head are always Called Shots.

Mech Pilot Template and Mech Operations Narrow Skill

The following template is for a military Mech Pilot. Pilots with a more technical or scientific bent (like Astronauts) will have different Skills, but they all have in common the MILITARY SCIENCE Broad Skill and the new Mech Operations Narrow Skill ([DEX+PCN]/2, [DEX+PCN]/4 Unskilled use). Parenthesis indicate Mech Titan scientists or engineers. Master-level Mech Pilots (and those that sometimes even surpass the skills of Masters) are called MechWolfs.

Other PCs may buy the Mech Operations Narrow Skill independently, but they will never attain the level of expertise true Mech Pilots have. To reflect this, non-Mech Pilots can only attain S level at Mech Operations. And this is just to drive the Mech, since to use the weapons they need also the Heavy Weapons Narrow Skill. Non-Mech Pilots cannot attain M level with the Heavy Weapons skill when used with Mechs. Also, while the Mech Operations skill costs 1/2/4 to Mech Pilots, non-Mech Pilots must spend 3 CIPs to get the S level.

Mech Operations Skill of S allows the driver to do 2 actions, T level 3 actions, and M level 4 actions. Mech Pilots can do one additional action at T and M level. The following stunts are forbidden to non-Mech Pilots:

• Mech Pilots can make called shots while moving without penalty
• Mech Pilots can avoid damaged parts from blowing off by getting an H roll in their Mech Operations skill.
• Mech Pilots get +1 per skill level of Mech Operations on their initiative when facing non-Mech Pilots (i.e., those with just the narrow Mech Operation skill and not the Mech Pilot template).
• Mech Pilots can use their Mech Operation skill to avoid death on a Mech instead of LCK points, and do not have AGL penalties if forced to jump off the Mech.

Each one of these activities is considered an action for a Mech: walking, attacking, torso twist. Running and jumping take 2 action slots, so only Mech Pilots at T and M level can actually run (or jump) and attack in the same round. Running Mechs move twice as fast, and if they run for two consecutive rounds, they get a +1 in their initiative roll on the second round. Jumping in order to stomp another Mech takes 3 action slots, plus the Mech suffers a damage with a target # equal to that of its attack. Only Master Mech Pilots would be able to jump-stomp-fire at the same time. The following link contains a sheet for Mech creation, which is left generic enough so that it can be used also for SmartArmors.

Notes on Ordinary Combat

The following are optional rules you might want to use if you want to add “realism” to the game. These optional rules were adapted from those in Dark Conspiracy.

• To determine the SR of a diving blow divide the PCs STR by 20, rounding down. Know that the PC suffers damage (equal to his/her SR damage) if he/she hits an armored character.
• The recoil of a weapon is determined as follows: If (SRx8) > STR, then hitting probabilities are reduced by (SRx8) - STR.
• For using two weapons at the same time do the following: the off hand fires at skill/4. Effective STR for recoil calculation (see above) reduced by 10. However, the character can only fire one of those weapons per round. To fire with both in the same round the PC must be skilled enough to shoot more than once per round. If so, the dexterous hand fires at skill/4 and the offhand fires at skill/8 (or skill/4 if the PC is ambidextrous). The PC cannot do a Called Shot while firing both weapons at the same time.
• To resolve automatic fire burst do the following: first, roll to see if you hit the target. If you did, then at least one round hit the mark. To determine whether the other shots got there as well roll 1d10: 9-10 represents a hit.

Chill and the Chill logo are trademarks owned by Iron Crown Enterprises, Inc. Chiliad and the Chiliad: Dark Millennium logo are copyrights of Edwin Astacio ©1999-2000.