Combat Encounters

[Captain_Nibbz]

Could you maybe give a bit more detail on the scope and standard practices of how you run your combat? I'd like to give some advice for how I do things, but it might help to see what you're doing as well.

[Glistam]

Combat is a slog. The only way to move it along is to force short turns. Don't let them hash out options - if there's something they want to do, they find out if it's possible or not by trying to do it. If they want more information (either new info or repeated info), their turn is spent gaining that information. Remember too that this isn't a d20 system - move OR attack, and only with ranged weapons can they do both (typically as a wild shot, or reduced bonuses, dependant on character abilities).

Too much time in combat is lost with players needing a scene re-described to them, or trying to gauge if an action has a likelihood of success before attempting it. Encourage them to pay attention and just try things by making it clear that if they don't, they lose their action due to looking around or just inaction.

[Whiskeyjack]

A few options I use. Use descriptive combat. So instead of just saying I shoot or swing with my sword, describe the attack and the outcome.
If it's just the wear down of opponents, use more lower powered opponents that can be quickly taken out and have fewer of the high powered ones. Even if it takes a while, there should be some semblance that they are at least making progress.

[Nuristas]

Well our cyber knight is using a particle beam rifle doing 1d4*10+8 md. takes a long time to take down or do enough damage for a gargoyle to flee. Then multiply the encounter by 8 gargoyles maybe. Thats a lot of damage that needs to be done to kill or subdue 8 gargoyles. alternatively, I feel like all these large MDC total baddies all do garbage for damage. So you have situations of high MDC total beings with low md output against high mdc total characters with low md output. average for a gargoyle is 400 mdc so he has to hit 10 times and do almost max damage each time to kill that one gargoyle. gargoyles arent going to stand and let you kill them so they would make an attempt to flee before hitting 0 but i think my point still stands.

This scenario seems to be a frequent occurrence especially with the minion war. baalrogs are kind of the same deal but with a couple magic tricks that dont seem to really tip the advantage one way or another. Am I just using boring combat encounters and being unimaginative? Is combat slow and un-fun in Rifts purposeful to dissuade combat and stick to RP?

We are also playing through the minion war and combat in Rifts is in no way or shape quick and dirty.
I think it's a choice they made to make combat more involved (dodge/parry/attack) and indeed, taking down something takes a while.

However, equipment and gear play a huge role in that.
Attacking with WP Paired with two weapons that do 3-5d6 or with 2 weapons that do 1d6*10 each changes the scope of things drastically.
Fighting a guy with a 1d6*5 gun or fighting a Glitterboy with 3d6*10 or another PA which does missile bursts if needed for big guys, also changes combats.

In Rifts, choices beforehand and gear matter a lot and if they are all low-key or ignored, combat can, as we saw a few sessions back, take quite a while.

[foilfodder]

Low damage attacks with high MDC targets can be a real game-killer.

My old GM used a combination of optional & house rules to liven things up. At one point had some supernaturally strong D-Bees wrestle a Glitterboy to the ground rather than slug it out with MDC. As players, we'd also find ways to incapacitiate foes rather than just taking them down shot by shot.

The GM encouraged creativity, if you are strong enough to lift a APC or robot, don't punch it 20 times, just push it off a cliff....

It really depends on how much you want to allow as GM. The change from slug-it-out to house-rules combat meant:
1) combats could be resolved in few rounds
2) players may use the same tactics against their targets

[torjones]

Descriptive combat is certainly one way to make it more engrossing for the players.
Another thing you can do is "eliminate" your random encounters. They may still be randomly encountered, but tie them to the ongoing story, or even the occasional side story, somehow. A great many of my encounters are random, but you'd never know it sitting at the table because of how I tie everything into the theme of the campaign.

[ShadowLogan]

Palladium Combat can be a slow slog if you don't play the numbers game correctly.

Option 1:
Enemies do not need to be at full health (bio-regen can complicate it, but in general) or max health (on the die roll, remember there are likely to be some "low" rolls some "average" rolls and some "high" rolls). Perhaps these NPCs have already had a scuffle (or more) and not had time to repair/regen/restock or just did not do so well in the MDC lottery.

Option 2:
Party can group/concentrate fire on one target at a time. 400 might take a while for one attacker, but if the party concentrates fire they can whittle each attacker down faster.

Option 3:
Bursts and Volleys. Missile Volleys can be devastating (and expensive) but are also going to inflict a lot of damage quickly and can limit the targets defensive action (4 or more means no dodge), blast radius here can also be a positive factor if the targets are grouped together close enough that more than 1 target gets caught up in the blast. Bursts can also be devastating depending on weapon and if one uses the generic burst rules (RMB era, RUE doesn't really do this) with weapons that do not have predefined burst damage but are said to be burst capable (in ROF block).

Option 4:
The Critical Strike range by RAW (use as is or increase it via house rules). Some weapon/attacks by RAW can inflict a Critical Strike with a value other than rolling a 20 on a D20, and sometimes the critical modifier is more than x2. It also increases with HTH, but that might or might not apply outside of HTH situation (GM call).

Option 5:
Situational modifiers. I don't think I've seen this in Rifts rules (off hand) so you might have to house rule it, but in the old 1E RT RPG line (REF Field Guide specifically, though it might be in other lines) it discussed situational modifiers that altered damage that fall into that "common sense" thing over riding the mechanics (one example given amounts to: no matter how much SDC/HP or MDC one might have jumping on a grenade is an instant death).

EDIT:
Re: Op5, the text can be found in Rifts Conversion Book 1 Revised (pg20-23), optional rules for point-blank strikes (ranged/explosive) and pain and bloodloss (not sure how useful this one is for SN/CoM but its there).

[Whiskeyjack]

Another thing to remember, just because they are the bad guys, most of their opponenets aren't going to want to die. Surrender or running away are other options for wrapping up a combat session earlier. It also allows for alignment tests and roleplaying opportunities. What do they do with a balrog prisoner?