I'm currently running a mission involving smugglers and Yakuza escorts on racing bikes, and I suspect at some point my players will disable the semi they need to stop and wind up hopping out of their vehicle to commandeer it. One of the Yak escorts has a Katana and I was thinking he'd be more likely to try strafing runs on the bike with the sword as opposed to hopping off and engaging in normal melee. However, there aren't any rules I can see that apply properly to a situation like this. The only one I can think of, which has nothing to do with damage (what I'm most interested in), is the Vehicle Test that needs to be made if he doesn't spend a complex action controlling the bike.

Anyone have any ideas ? Charging attack seems appropriate, but you don't normally charge at 60mph... I was also thinking superior posion would apply (it's like horseback, and that was a big factor in mounted combat).

I would use the tactical combat rules in the Vehicle combat section if the runners are on their feet and the Yak is on the motorcycle. (SR4, p. 158-160. Basically the driver needs to spend one IP as a complex action to control the bike, any additional IPs can be spent hacking runners to pieces. (Obviously if the driver attempts to do something fancy, additional coplex actions can be used to pull off maneuvers.)

One option if it is viable, is to have a yak pilot the bike and a second yak riding on the back half of the bench with a sword. (Personally I'd shoot the runners, but choice of weapons is a personal one.)

After all the runners get the truck moving, if the Yak on a motorcycle is still a problem, switch to chase combat.

Oh, and to answer your question, if the driver does not spend the action to pilot the bike, then in the next Combat turn, there is resolution of a crash test. (SR4, p. 160, Actions)

This thread reminds me of FF7.

Gibe them both charging and superior position. Although it would never happen in our group. He would be shot down before he could try.

Edward

If the biker attacks straight on he can take a swipe with his sword and drive the bike as a single complex action.

pilot + unarmed -3 vs targets reaction + unarmed. Speed is irrelevant of a swinging weapon in SR.

On the other hand if you have the ganger stick out his foot and try to boot somebody it would be a normal ram combat situation.

Man a monowhip would have been way sweeter for the biker to use hehe.

Sounds interesting. Update us on how it turns out, I'd like to hear it.

Funny -- my latest character concept was actually a riff on the yak-bike-katana idea, with the character visualizing himself as a sort of reborn samurai.

-S

So what, he uses a pilot drone to pilot the bike while he's standing on the back swinging a naginata around like a jackass?

Isn't the SR4 Katana an exclusively two-handed weapon per the description in the BBB?

I'd make him use the bike's Pilot for control. Hopefully he took the time to build/buy the bike with a good Pilot...

He could always use DNI to control it, via datajack, headcommlink, or trode net...

Add the damage code from the vehicle's collision damage value (if any) that he's using and add that to the weapon. The speed of the vehicle would affect the impact of the weapon.