This combat section covers only personal weapons fired from or at vehicles. Vehicle-mounted weapons are not covered in this set of rules.

Firing From Vehicles

A character who fires a weapon from a moving vehicle has a -10 modifier to hit. If the vehicle is moving faster than 150 meters/turn, the modifier is -20.

Shooting At Passengers

A character can shoot at a passenger inside a vehicle. There is a -20 modifier because the passenger has hard cover, and a -10 modifier if the vehicle is moving. Needlers can injure passengers only if the vehicle's windows or top are open.

Firing At Vehicles

If a character fires a weapon at a moving vehicle, he has a -10 modifier to hit. This modifier does not apply if the vehicle is moving directly toward or directly away from the firing character. Needlers and gas grenades have no effect on vehicles.

Damaging Vehicles. Whenever a vehicle is hit by gunfire, an exploding grenade or a thrown explosive, the attacking character must roll 2d10 on the Vehicle Damage Table. The number of dice of damage caused by the attack is added to the result. This number is modified by the type of vehicle. A separate roll is made for each successful attack.

VEHICLE DAMAGE TABLE

Die Roll + Damage	Effect
2-19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30+	No Effect Turn Speed -15 Acceleration -20 Top Speed -30 Steering Jammed Straight Steering Jammed Left Steering Jammed Right Speed -20/Turn Spin Vehicle Burning Roll Roll and Burn

Modifiers:

-- Target is ground or hover cycle -- Target is Explorer

+2 -2

Explanation Of Results

TURN SPEED -15/ACCELERATION -20/TOP SPEED -30. Thevehicle's turn speed, acceleration or top speed is reduced by the indicated number of meters/turn.

STEERING JAMMED STRAIGHT/LEFT/RIGHT. The vehicle's steering mechanism has been jammed. If straight, the vehicle can not turn. If right or left, the vehicle must turn 45 degrees in the indicated direction affer each 20 meters of travel. For example, a skimmer traveling at 80 meters/turn with its controls jammed in a right turn must turn 45 degreestothe right after/raveling 20, 40, 60and 80 meters during its next move. The skimmer can decelerate or accelerate, but can not change its direction.

SPEED -20/TURN. The vehicle must reduce its speed at least 20 meters/turn until it is stopped. It can decelerate more than this if the driver wants, but it can not accelerate. SPIN. See Control Table results.

VEHICLE BURNING. The vehicle has caught fire. Each passenger will suffer 1d10 points of damage at the start of every turn they are in the vehicle.

ROLL. See Control Table results.

ROLL AND BURN. See Control Table results.

Example: BliCluet the Dralasite is shooting its laser pistol at a street punk that has just stolen BliCluet's hover cycle. Its Dexterity is modified by -10 because the target is a moving vehicle, and by -20 because the cycle is at medium range. BliCluet has a modified Dexterity of 15 for this shot. One of its two shots hits the cycle. BliCluet had the laser set for 7d1O damage.The player rolls 2d10 and gets a 16. Adding 7 for the damage and 2 because the target was a cycle gives a modified result of 25; the cycle's steering is jammed to the right.

Characters can fly using glijets, jetcopters and aircars. The movement rules for these vehicles are different than those for ground vehicles.

Glijets

A glijet is a combination rocketpack and hang-glider. The rocketpack is used to get the wearer up into the air. The chemical fuel tank holds enough fuel to burn for 20 turns (two minutes). A character can climb 50 meters straight up every turn he burns fuel. The rocket can be turned off at any time. When it is shut off, the wearer can open the collapsible wings and glide. The rocket usually is shut off when gliding, but it can be left on to increase speed.

Speed and Distance. If there is no wind, the wearer can glide 5 meters horizontally for each meter he drops vertically. A gliding character drops 10 meters/turn, with or without using the rocket. If the rocket is used in level flight, the speed increases to 100 kph. Characters can travel much farther and stay a loh much longer if there is wind or if they are riding on rising air currents. This is subject to the referee's discretion, but favorable winds and a ir currents ca n m ultiply the distance traveled and the time spent aloft by as much as 10.

Landing. A character that does not use the rocket to land must pass a Dexterity check in order to land on target. If he fails the check, he misses his target square by 2d10 meters in a random direction.

Tactical Movement. A character that is gliding with the rocket off can make one 45 degree turn per game turn. Using the rocket allows the character to turn up to three times at any point in his move.

Jetcopters and Aircars

Tactical Movement. Jetcopters and aircars can make up to six 45 degree turns in one game turn. These turns can be made at any point in the vehicle's move. Aircars and jetcopters can accelerate or decelerate upto 100 meters/turn each turn. If theyare stopped, these vehicles can hover in place and turn to face any direction. They can increase or decrease their altitude by 20 meters/turn.

When scouting, jetcopters and aircars fly at or above the level of the treetops, 50 to 100 meters above the ground. To stay out of sight they can fly very close to the ground, following the contours of the hills and valleys. This is called Nap Of the Earth (NOE) flying. NOE flying limits a jetcopter to its cruising speed and an aircar to 100 kph (175 meters/turn).

Aerial Combat

The following modifiers should be used when flying vehicles are involved in combat.

Attacker is using glijet or riding in moving jetcopter or aircar	-20
Attacker is riding in jetcopter or aircar that is hovering	-10
Target is using glijet or riding in moving aircar or jetcopter	-10
Target is hovering jetcopter or aircar	0

Other modifiers are used when they apply. Jetcopter passengers can not shoot unless the side doors are open. Aircar passengers can not shoot unless the canopy is open. This exposes the passengers and the pilot to fire, and reduces the aircar's speed to 80 meters/turn.

Damaging Glijets. The only way to shoot down a glijet is to knockout or kill the user. Shooting at the wings has no effect.

Damaging Jetcopters and Aircars. When a shot hits a jetcopter or aircar, the attacker rolls 2d10 and adds the number of dice of damage caused by the attack. This number is found on the Flying Vehicle Damage table.

Die Roll + Damage	Effect
2-20 21 -24 25-28 29-31 32-34 35 +	No Effect Acceleration -30 Turns -2 Forced Landing Loss of Control Vehicle Burning

Explanation of Resuits

ACCELERATION -30. The vehicle's engines were damaged, reducing its acceleration by 30 meters/turn.

TURNS -2. The vehicle's control and steering equipment was damaged, reducing the number of turns it can make per game turn by two.

FORCED LANDING. The vehicle's fuel tank or parabattery was hit, leaving it with enough fuel to fly for 10 more minutes (100 turns). If the vehicle does not land within 10 minutes, it will crash.

LOSS OF CONTROL. The cockpit was damaged by the attack. The pilot must pass a Reaction Speed checkto keep the vehicle undercontrol. If he fails the check, the vehicle immediately loses d100 meters of altitude. If the vehicle loses more altitude than it had, it crashes.

VEHICLE BURNING. The vehicle is out of control and burning. It will crash in two turns. Characters can jump from the vehicle (see Movement: Jumping) or use a parawing. A parawing is a small, emergency glider, similar to a glijet with no rocket. A parawing will not work if the characterwas lessthan 10 meters above the groundwhen he jumped.

Crashing

Passengers in a vehicle that crashes suffer 1 d10 points of damage for every 10 meters the vehicle fell, plus 1 d10 points of damage for every 20 meters/turn it was traveling. This damage is doubled if the character is not strapped into a seat. When dividing the vehicle's altitude by 10 and speed by 20, round fractions down. If the vehicle is burning, the character suffers an additional 1d10 points of damage at thestartof every turn he is in the vehicle. The crashed vehicle will not fly again without extensive repairs.

EXAMPLE: A jetcopter is traveling 75 meters above the ground at 30 meters/turn when an attack damages the cockpit. The pilot fails his Reaction Speed check, so the copter drops d100 meters. The die roll is 83, meaning the vehicle drops 83 meters. This is more than its altitude, so it crashes. One passenger jumps using his parawing, but the pilot does not have one. When the copter hits the ground he suffers 7d10 damage because it fell 75 meters and another 1d10 because it was traveling 30 meters/turn.

Many other means of transportation besides those described above are available in STAR FRONTIERS games. The systems and vehicles listed belowwill not be used in combat very often, but players maytind ways to work them into their adventures.

Public Transportation

Monorails are the most common mass transit systems on Frontier worlds. Monorail cars can hold up to six passengers and travel at 70 to 100 meters/turn. Monorail passengers usually pay 1 CR per day for an unlimited number of rides. Occasionally, monorails are built underground and called subways.

Cabs of many types are common. Ground cars, skimmers and even cycles are used as cabs. Some are operated by drivers while others are piloted by robots or computers. A typical price is 2 Cr for the first km traveled and 1 Cr for each km after that.

Moving Walkways, also called peoplemovers or sliders, are sidewalks that are built likeconveyorbelts. A person simplystepsontothe slider and it carries him, her or it along at 10 meters/turn. Using a slider does not cost anything.

Flyers

Super-Sonic Transports, or SSTs, are large jet-powered aircrah capable of flying at very high altitudes at several times the speed of sound (sound travels 1,988 meters/turn). They are used as luxury passenger planes flying between large cities, as large cargo haulers supplying cities under construction, etc.

Orbital shuttles, often called orbiters, are a cross between an airplane and a space ship. They are powerful enough to fly into orbit around a planet, and sturdy enough to re-enter the atmosphere and land on the surface. They are commonly used to carry supplies and passengers to orbiting space stations and spaceports. An orbiter can reach an orbiting space station in one to two hours.

Water Vehicles

Ships of many varieties are found throughout the Frontier. Players can find anything from three-masted sailing ships to luxury liners and supertankers. Hovercraft are used commonly in areas where the sea is relatively calm. Skimmers can be used over water if the waves are not more than 40 cm high.

Submarines are used on worlds where the seas are very rough, covered with ice or otherwise unsuited to surface travel. They are common around underwater cities and sea-bottom mines.

Animals

Riding Animals and beasts of burden are used on many planets where the local technology is not advanced enough to build other vehicles. They also are used to get into areas that are too rough for ground vehicles, or where their natural abilities to sense water or danger are needed more than a vehicle's speed and reliability.