Explosives

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Explosives have their own specific rules and mechanics, all of which are described here.

Types of explosions

Two major types of explosions are differentiated: Standard explosions and Localized explosions.

• Standard explosions are the typical kind of explosions; big, loud, fiery, and deals a lot of damage. They cause two kinds of damage: Target damage and Splash damage. Unless an explosive weapon or ammunition type is specifically described otherwise, it will create a standard explosion.
• Localized explosions are produced only by special ammunition types (namely, FRAG-12 and XPL), which are not quite as powerful as standard ones. Localized explosions are small, so they only cause Target damage (no splash damage at all), being closer in function to regular attacks.

Explosives, like all other weapons, can deal both Pain and Limb damage. How much damage exactly, and under what circumstances, is where target damage and splash damage are differentiated. These differences influence the end result and why being targeted directly by a grenade has more consequences than merely being splashed collaterally by that grenade's blast.

Target damage

Target damage is simply the damage done to the intended target. This is where most of the damage an explosive weapon can deal is concentrated.

If a creature takes target damage from an explosion (in other words, they received a direct hit), it will deal the following:

• Pain
• Limb damage (which can, in turn, cause injuries)
• Any additional effects such as shrapnel, fire, etc.

Splash damage

Standard explosions have the ability to deal splash damage, through the blast and shockwave generated by the explosion.

Splash damage is dealt to all other creatures on the same Side as the intended target.

Statistically, splash damage deals an amount of Pain identical to what Target damage would have dealt, but deals no limb damage. Additional effects such as shrapnel, fire, etc. may still apply.

Damage calculation

Explosives are special for dealing damage in a different manner than most other weapons and attacks.

Pain

All explosive weapons have a singular Pain value, rather than one for each Armor Class.

The singular Pain value applies across all ACs, effectively making Armor Class irrelevant towards protection against explosive damage. Since Pain is part of the damage that can be dealt through both Target and Splash damage, a single well-aimed attack with an explosive can wipe out groups of enemies on Pain alone.

Limb damage

If Pain is not enough, Limb damage of explosive weapons is calculated in a particular manner, depending on the weapon type, according to these following steps:

• Calculate total limb damage value (1d8 + LDV) as normal, then check the result: this is referred to as Base Explosive Damage or BED.
• The target will sustain limb damage on multiple body parts, at different rates depending on the body parts.

If the explosive weapon is not a pressure mine:

• All limbs in the UPPER BODY and LOWER BODY groups each receive 1x BED in limb damage
• All limbs in the LIMB group each receive 0.5x (rounded) BED in limb damage
• All limbs in the HEAD and EXTREMITY groups each receive 0.25x (rounded) BED in limb damage

If the explosive weapon is a pressure mine:

• Any limbs that can be described as "legs", "feet" or equivalent each receive 1x BED in limb damage
• All other limbs each receive 0.25x (rounded) BED in limb damage

All explosive weapons ignore the protective value of Armor Class entirely. For example, an A3 AC usually provides a LDV-3 effect, but an explosive weapon will ignore it.

Injuries

(wip: review and simplify)

(wip text) Nominally, the injuries caused by an explosive weapon are wounds, however the amount and location of wounds caused by explosions is calculated differently, and depends on the total amount of Pain sustained after all relevant modifiers (Pain Sensitivity, etc.) have been applied. This means that injuries can be sustained both from Target and Splash damage, so beware.

A blast will cause one wound to a random body part per full 50% Pain sustained. So for instance, if an explosive deals a total of (/wip text)

Explosives versus Cover

Most cover will absorb target damage, but will not protect against splash damage. Creatures behind cover can therefore still be eliminated from the Pain damage or from shrapnel/fire of a standard explosion. Localized explosions do not cause splash damage, therefore they are sufficient to protect against those.

The only exception to this is if the cover in question has the blast-resistant trait; in which case, it will fully protect against both target and splash damage; effectively shielding all creatures in cover from explosive damage.

If an explosive weapon has the bouncing trait (VOG-25P grenades), then they have the ability to ignore cover entirely, acting as though there was no cover in the first place. There is no countermeasure for bouncing explosives!

Types of explosive weapons

Explosive weapons can be classified into the following groups:

• Thrown / Fired
• Planted explosives
  • Command detonation
  • Timed charges
  • Pressure mine
  • Directional mine

Thrown / Fired explosives

This is the most common type of explosive weapon. It covers hand grenades, grenade launcher and rocket launcher rounds, and the specialty localized explosion ammunition (FRAG-12 and XPL arrowheads).

They are subject to the same rules as any normal weapon; Accuracy, Skill requirements, and any applicable fire modes all apply as they normally would.

Attack roll results:

• Success and critical success: The explosive hits the intended target.
• Failure: The explosive misses the intended target, harming no-one, failing to explode or activate.
• Critical failure: Depends on the weapon type.
  • Hand grenades (except Molotov cocktail): Explosive misses and fails to detonate - it becomes a dud. Dud explosives can be repaired with a Gun Repair Kit (1 use).
  • Molotov cocktail: Same as a regular failure.
  • GL ammunition, RL ammunition: Depends on weapon's failure type.

Using planted explosives

Planted explosives are intended to be laid down manually (Planting) but most of them can also be thrown into place.

Throwing

Throwing a planted explosive can be performed with all types except directional mines.

The explosive is treated more or less like a hand grenade. As with a hand grenade, a target must be designated to throw the explosive at.

Thrown weapons skill must be used to successfully throw a planted explosive - and can thus affect the accuracy of the throw.

• Success: Explosive lands on the target's Side where intended and it will hurt targets if detonated.
  • Successfully killing a target with a planted explosive that has been thrown results in gaining Thrown weapon skill points instead of planted explosive skill points.
• Failure: Explosive still lands on the target's Side, but will deal no damage if detonated (bad angle, bad throw, etc.)

Unless you are throwing a timed explosive set to 0 turns, thrown planted explosives should not explode on the same turn it was thrown.

• Command detonation explosives: You can use your detonator at any point starting on the next turn.
• Timed explosives (timer set 1+ turn): Will explode on the turn the timer fell to 0.
• Pressure mines: You must wait until the mines are primed (2 turns). Once the timer falls to 0, the mine will only explode if there are any creatures on the Side it was thrown into

Planting

Planting is, as their name might suggest, the intended way to use a planted explosive. The procedure is very different from using most other weapons, and is detailed in this section.

The term planting refers to the procedure of priming the explosive then placing it either near, or on the target. The planting process is considered to be a combat action, and calls for Planted explosives skill.

Roll results:

• Success and critical success: The explosive is properly deployed and planted. Kills result in gaining Planted Explosives skill points.
• Failure: The explosive is not properly deployed, the Contestant must try again and spend another turn to attempt deploying it.
• Critical failure: The tripwire, fuze, or signal receiver device is broken, rendering the explosive a dud. Duds can never explode, and can be repaired with a Gun Repair Kit (1 use).

Like with other explosive weapons, a target can be designated. The explosive will then be placed on the floor, near the designated target.

• If planting is done during combat, especially if the intended target is on a different Side, then in a manner similar to melee weapons, this is treated as combat movement; the user will move into the target's Side to attempt planting the explosive.

Once an explosive has been properly planted, the user's turn ends. If the user has moved into another Side in the process, they will remain there (again, like with melee weapons) and will only be able to move or perform another action on their next turn, so exercise proper caution. What happens afterwards depends on the type (sometimes, specific model) of planted explosive used; see the section below for more details.

Types of planted explosives

There are four types of planted explosives: Command detonation, Timed charges, Pressure mines, and Directional mines.

• A command detonation (e.g. Mini C4 charge) explosive is an explosive that will only detonate on command, i.e. by using a detonator. When placing command detonation charges, they are "paired" with the user's detonator; only that detonator can detonate these explosives.
• A timed charge is an explosive that detonates when its internal timer falls down to zero turns.
  • A 0-turn timer will mean that it'll explode in the same turn it was primed (similarly to a hand grenade)
  • If the timer is set to 1 turn or longer, then it can be thrown or planted like a command detonation explosive. At the end of the combat turn, the timer will go down by 1. If the timer falls to 0 turns remaining at the start of the following turn, it will explode (treated as a non-combat action).
• A pressure mine (e.g. TS-50) is an explosive that detonates when it is primed and when a creature steps on its trigger, tripping the explosive charge it contains. In game terms, pressure mines provide area denial of one Side. Pressure mines are primed 2 turns after they are planted, leaving enough time for the planter to leave the mined Side without tripping the mines themselves. Once primed, a pressure mine will automatically detonate if there is any creature on the Side it is planted (treated as a non-combat action), and will deal Target damage to all creatures on that side. Pressure mines can also be deployed by throwing, but missing will result in the Mine falling in the intended Side, but never priming, allowing potential enemies to steal or dispose of it.
• A directional mine (e.g. M18A1 Claymore) is an explosive that protects against threats coming from a specific direction. A directional mine is intended to be planted on a Side the user wishes to protect (Protected Side), and pointed at another Side of the battlespace ; the direction from which a threat is expected (Target Side). Once setup, a directional mine is instantly primed. Directional mines detonate when any creature approaches from the Target Side and attempts moving into the Protected Side. Upon successfully exploding, the creature takes damage from the mine, and their turn ends prematurely (cancelling any attack they were about to perform, if any), leaving them open for further retaliation if they didn't die. Directional mines cannot be planted by throwing, nor can they be planted on an enemy target.

Certain explosives (e.g. SLAM) may be referred to as multipurpose; meaning that they have multiple modes that the user can set it to, each mode corresponding to one of the types listed above, thus allowing the weapon to be used in different ways.

Explosive ordnance disposal

On occasion, you may face the need to remove or dispose of already planted explosives. The procedure depends on the type:

• Command detonation: A primed command detonated charge can be defused by going on the Side it is planted, then perform a defusing action on it. Defusing is a non-combat action, and 2 defusing actions must be completed in order to successfully defuse the charge, during which the explosive can still be detonated if someone else is in control of the paired detonator. Successfully de-priming a command detonated charge turns it into a weapon that is safe to pick up and re-use.
• Timed charges: A primed timed charge can be defused by going on the Side it is planted, then perform a defusing action on it. Defusing is a non-combat action, and 2 defusing actions must be completed in order to successfully defuse the charge. If there is only 1 turn remaining on the timer, and only 1 remaining disabling action to perform, there is a 50% chance of successful defusal, and a 50% chance of detonation (as both are treated as non-combat actions, both have the same Initiative Speed of 0).
• Pressure mines: (revise?) Pressure mines detonate when they detect any creature on the Side they're planted into. They cannot be defused. The only way to safely dispose of a primed pressure mine is to set off another explosion on the mined Side; pressure mines detonate when other explosions (Standard or Localized) occur on their Side. The attack roll must be successful in order for the explosion to set a primed pressure mine off; otherwise the primed mine will remain unscathed.
• Directional mines: Directional mines detonate when they detect any creature coming from the Target Side (the direction they're pointing at) going towards the Protected Side (the position they're defending). In order to defuse a directional mine, simply come into the Protected Side from another Side than the Target, then perform a defusing action on it. Defusing is a non-combat action, and 2 defusing actions must be completed in order to successfully defuse the mine. Successfully defusing a directional mine turns it into a weapon that is safe to pick up and re-use.

Additional effects

Certain explosive weapons do more than simply producing a harmful explosion, with various terms to describe each effect:

• High Explosive (HE) refers to weapons that produce an explosion and nothing else.
• Fragmentation (Frag) refers to weapons that produce a number of shrapnel as an additional effect of splash damage.
• HE/Incendiary (HE-I) refers to weapons that produce both an explosion and an incendiary effect, as an additional effect of splash damage.
• Incendiary (I) refers to weapons that only produce an incendiary effect and do not technically explode.
• Gas cloud refers to weapons that produce a cloud of gas of some kind and do not technically explode.

(wip: detail each)