Combat

The final phase of each round is combat. This happens in initiative order, and characters can take the usual actions they can in combat, with the following adjustments. Pilots can also act during the combat phase, as long as they have any actions remaining to spend. Because of the motion involved in a chase, all attacks take the penalty listed in the vehicle’s Modifiers entry. However, because the vehicles are all moving at high speed, the differences in speed cancel out somewhat, so combatants take the normal penalty instead of the higher penalty for full speed.

Ranged Attacks

Passengers on and pilots of vehicles can attempt ranged attacks against other vehicles or their passengers in the same zone or one zone away. Unless otherwise specified, these ranged attacks follow the normal rules for attacking from vehicles (see page 281). To determine the range between two vehicles, see Relative Positioning on page 282.

As a passenger, you can attack with your ranged weapons or abilities. If you’re a gunner, you can attack with the vehicle’s mounted weapons, as described in Firing Vehicle Weapons on page 281. As a pilot, you can attack only if you have a standard action left and can make a full attack only if you left the vehicle uncontrolled in the pilot actions phase.

Passengers can attack an enemy vehicle directly, but targeting riders or pilots can be difficult. Vehicles (except for entirely open vehicles) usually grant their passengers some degree of cover (see page 228).

Due to high speeds, wind, and other factors that may or may not be part of the environment (see Chase Environments on page 285), some weapons might not work effectively during a chase. For example, it’s nearly impossible to throw a grenade from one vehicle to another while moving at high speeds. The GM has final say on what can and can’t be used during a chase and the penalties incurred for difficult attacks.

Melee Attacks

Anyone in a vehicle can make melee attacks against those on an enemy vehicle with which their own vehicle is engaged. You can make melee attacks against those in an enemy vehicle only with reach weapons, and such targets typically have some cover provided by their vehicle. Even when your vehicles are engaged and you’re using a reach weapon, you do not threaten any squares of the other vehicle.

Boarding

If two vehicles are engaged and you are a passenger, you can attempt to move from one vehicle to the other as a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. This is like boarding a vehicle in normal combat, but it also requires a successful Acrobatics or Athletics check with a DC equal to 5 + the KAC of the vehicle you’re boarding. Failure by less than 5 means that you are unable to board the other vehicle and remain on your vehicle. If you fail by 5 or more, you fall from the vehicle and land prone. You take double the normal falling damage for the distance of your fall or 1d6 falling damage if you fall less than 10 feet. Once you have boarded an enemy vehicle, you take the attack penalty from that vehicle, not your former one.

Collisions

When piloting a vehicle, you can attempt a Piloting check (DC = the enemy vehicle’s KAC) as a standard action to smash into another vehicle you’re engaged with. If you’re successful, your vehicle deals its collision damage to the enemy vehicle, and takes half that much damage itself. A vehicle’s collision damage is listed in the Attack (Collision) entry of its statistics (see page 228).