I don't have the time to read 12 pages of the Combat & Gear thread, so this may already have been answered...

Is melee combat still an opposed test? From what I've read it doesn't appear to be - if the attacker scores equal to or less than the number of hits the defender scores, he inflicts no damage, end of story. The defender has no opportunity to inflict damage if he scores more hits than the attacker.

Correct?

'Cause I don't like that. The rules clearly state that melee combat is an exchange of blows, so it should be possible for the defender to cause damage.

Least that stops the super slow SR3 melee guy from suddenly moving like lightning when put up against a fast guy. Before if he only had 1 action but his opponent had 3, suddenly he could get 4 good punches in but if he went up against an opponent who only had 1 action the same slow guy could only get 2 shots in. That's just strange for one and not really mechanically sound for two.

You are correct, Melee combat is no longer an "all or nothing" system.

THANK GOD

Those systems are horrible. Now its actually possible to go up against a slightly superior opponent and at least have a chance to do some damage before they kill you, as opposed to simply walking up and letting them hit you untill you die. Before, unless you were absolutely twinked out for melee, you stayed out of it, because if you werent a god at it, you were dead. Now you can at least try.

And there are now wonderful rules for subduing combat and knockdowns. And the rules for charges gives the defender a bonus too if he has a delayed action. And there´s intercepts.

With the options available in melee now, you can be clever and battles will be varied and exciting, Im sure. Compaired to the old system it seems like heaven.

You can choose to attack with the intent to knock down, and then your net hits on the attack is added to your strength, if that result is higher than the defenders body he falls down. Same procedure if you make a subduing attack. When you´ve grappled somebody they have to succeed with strength+unarmed combat against a threshold equal to the net hits on the initial attack. And you can get a better grip by making the test again, this time with the "superior possition" modification. If you decide to twist an arm or strangle your opponent the DV is equal to strength (twice what a punch would make) without even making a test. Strong characters are adviced to wrestle instead of letting the quick buggers dance around them. This all seems very natural to me.

Intercepts are like the attacks of opportunity in D&D but require that you have a free action available.