Attack Modifiers

# Attacking

Most attacks are similar: all of the bonuses are added up, the attacker rolls his skill, the defender attempts some defenses, and then the defender is either blown to bits, or fires back.

Swarm attacks simply attack every enemy that's in the weapon's firing arc, and in range.

### Blast Weapons

Blast weapons are different. The attacker requires an accuracy roll to place the shot near where he wanted it. The target number is the range, in tiles, from the attacker to the target. If the attacker doesn't tie or beat the target number, then the missile explodes elsewhere: the blast point is moved randomly, up to 3 tiles, in the north, south, east, and west directions. For what it's worth, you cannot miss if you fire directly adjacent to yourself.

Defending against a blast (or line attack) is also a bit different: if the defender beats the attacker, the damage of the explosion is cut in half. Then the defender's roll is divided by 2, and if it still beats the attacker, the damage is cut in half again. This process continues until the defender no longer beats the attacker. In other words, you *will* take damage from the nuke, but if you're lucky, it'll be low damage.

### Overload from Energy Weapons

Energy weapons cause your engine to overload, which will eventually cause MV and TR penalties. An energy weapon causes its DC + BV in overload points, per shot (or burst). This is modified in the following ways:

Triple for a HYPER weapon
Double for a BLAST weapon
Quartered for each scale the mecha is larger than the weapon
Halved if the mecha has a High Output engine
The size of the mecha is subtracted from the overload at this point
Each mecha has a capacity of its size \* 10 overload before it starts losing MV and TR. A large, high-output mecha can fire a Heavy Laser Cannon for quite some time, but a small mecha with a normal engine will start overheating after just a few shots of the same weapon. Each 10 points of overload over the mecha's capacity will cause a penalty of -1 to MV and TR, starting at 15 overload over capacity for a -1.

A mecha will lose 1 overload point for every 10 seconds of game-time that pass. Note that melee energy weapons will overload, too, so you'll only get a handful of swings with that energy scythe before your mecha starts boiling.

# Modifiers

If you're focusing on getting a hit, your best chance is to stand still, on a mountain, with no shield, at short range. Of course, this also makes you an excellent target. If you have Class 10 Sensors on your head, then missiles are much more accurate than any other weapon.

If you're trusting to your incredible skill to hit your opponent, and don't want to be shot full of holes, then your best bet is to fly (or be in deep cover), at long range, at high speed.

## Attacker's Modifiers

**Weapon Accuracy** and, possibly, any Add-Ons to the weapon
**Attacker's SE Value** if it's a missile attack
**Attacker's TR Value** for any other attack
**Attacker is making a BV attack:** half of the BV is a bonus to hit, to a maximum of +5
**Attacker is holding a shield on the same arm as the weapon:** -5 to hit, and -parry bonus to hit
If the weapon is mounted in the shield, it has no penalty. A bad shield will have a negative bonus to parry, and thus a smaller penalty for weapons on that arm.
**Martial Arts or Mecha Fighting attack:** -2 to hit
**Short Range:** +2 to hit
**Long Range:** -3 to hit
**Inside minimum range:** -1 per tile inside minimum range
If a weapon has a short range larger than 6 tiles, then its minimum range is half of the short range. Otherwise, it has no minimum range.
**Attacker is standing still:** +3 to hit
**Attacker is running:** -3 to hit
**Attacker is underwater:** -3 to hit
**Attacker is higher than the defender:** +1 to hit
**Attacker is making a called shot:** -10 for limbs, -5 for the torso. (the source code says "-5 per distance from root.")
**Attack is STRAIN or COMPLEX, but attacker lacks stamina or mental, respectively:** -10 to hit
## Defender's Modifiers

**Defender is immobilized:** +15 to hit (This is why you rip apart immobilized mecha.)
**Defender is standing still:** +3 to hit
**For each 20 clicks of the defender's speed (modified by terrain):** -1 to hit
**Defender is flying, attacker is not, and attacker's weapon is not ANTIAIR:** -3 to hit
**Defender is in cover, and weapon is not BLAST:** a to-hit penalty equal to the cover rating in a line from attacker to target
## Other Modifiers

**Attacker and defender are different scales:** +/- 4 per scale difference (larger targets are easier to hit)
**Overheating** may affect either the attacker or defender, reducing their MV and TR.
## Return to

* Attack Sequence
* Combat System -- hitting and missing, armor, weapon attributes, etc.
* Guides -- strategy tips and tricks, game mechanics, plot spoilers