Space Combat

Controlled Explosions in Merciless Vacuum

“Rule one of a space fight: there’s no ‘behind cover.’ There’s ‘behind the hull.’ And the hull is three centimeters of recycled Monolith scrap. So when I say ‘brace,’ I mean pray.”
Captain Dex Okafor

Ship combat in GLOOM is not a dogfight. It is a slow, dreadful chess game played at insane distances, where every decision burns fuel, every hit can decompress a deck, and the most dangerous thing on your ship is your own Reaction Mass tanks. There are no roaring engines in vacuum. There is only the shudder of the hull, the clatter of shell casings, and the hiss of escaping atmosphere.

The Combat Round

Each Combat Round represents roughly 30 seconds of ship-time. Combat proceeds in structured phases to ensure every crew member has a job and a reason to sweat.

Phase Order

#	Phase	Who Acts	What Happens
1	SCAN	Netrunner	Detect targets, analyze threats, attempt electronic warfare.
2	HELM	Pilot	Set ship vector, evasive maneuvers, pursuit, or retreat.
3	FIRE	Soldier / Anyone on a turret	Weapons fire. PDC bursts, torpedo launches, mining laser.
4	DAMAGE	GM	Resolve hits. Roll on the Hit Location Table. Apply Hull Damage.
5	REPAIR	Engineer	Patch hull breaches, reroute power, fix damaged systems.
6	CRISIS	Medic / All Crew	Treat injuries. Fires. Decompression. The AI screaming.

Attack & Defense Rolls

To Hit: The gunner rolls their relevant Skill + Attribute vs. a Target Number set by range and the enemy Pilot’s evasion.

Range Band	Base DL to Hit	Flavor
Extreme (500+ km)	20	You’re shooting at math, not a ship.
Long (50–500 km)	16	Torpedoes and prayers.
Medium (1–50 km)	13	Standard engagement range.
Close (< 1 km)	10	You can see their hull rivets.

Evasion Modifier: The defending Pilot adds their Piloting Skill Bonus to the DL. A good pilot is worth more than armor.
Electronic Warfare: If the Netrunner successfully jams enemy sensors (INT + Hacking vs. enemy INT), the DL increases by +3. If the enemy Netrunner jams YOUR sensors, the DL decreases by −3.

Hit Location Table

When a weapon hits, the operator rolls 1d20 to determine where the shot lands. Not all hits are equal. A PDC burst into the cargo hold is bad. A PDC burst into the Reaction Mass tanks is extinction-level.