A combat scenario is any situation involving violence which is resolved via mediation or mechanics. This resolution can take place between players without a [[Facilitators|facilitator]] present, or can involve a facilitator if necessary. Combat scenarios are not intended to describe [[War]], [[Invasion]], [[Blockade]], or other large-scale conflicts directly. These are managed by way of the appropriate Liens (though the Liens may include one or more combat scenarios). Combat scenarios are designed to quickly and easily resolve discrete conflicts in a way which generates interesting narrative and enables more complex, large-scale conflict without allowing it to dominate a play session. In other words, combat scenarios are battles, not wars. > [!Note]+ A Note on Time and Distance An important point to remember is that most Myriad game sessions take place light-years, sometimes hundreds of light-years, away from the players' home worlds. The orders given (that is, the [[Assets]] and [[Liens]] used) are communicated by the [[Imperial Bureaucracy]] over the course of years, sometimes decades or centuries, and the results of those battles are communicated out over yet further years. The characters present at the game know each order, and its outcome, long before those orders are actually received and obeyed. This is made possible (in-universe) by what is generally considered the Imperial Bureaucracy's most important and powerful function. The [[Prescience Directorate]], the smallest but most influential of all the Bureaucracy's many departments, provides all Bureaucrats across the galaxy with the results of any order as soon as it is logged and processed. ## Universal Combat Scenario Rules At the beginning of a combat scenario, players indicate their win condition. Win conditions may be as simple and inconsequential as "I punch your character in the face" or as complex as "I shoot the engine of your dogfighter before you can get out of orbit and kill you in the explosion". Win conditions are assigned a rough score out of five, based on the scenario type and the win condition's effects on other players. ## Achieving Win Conditions Win conditions are rated on a scale from 1 to 5. There are two methods of achieving a win condition. ### Mediated Win The player may simply talk to the other players (and the facilitator) involved and discuss why they want to accomplish their win condition, how they are willing to compromise, and what they're willing to lose in exchange. If the parties involved are able to reach an agreement, then the agreed-upon narrative takes place. If the parties are struggling to determine the appropriate scale of the outcome, they are encouraged to calculate available advantages (see below) and use the mechanical system below to guide their mediation. If the players involved are unable to reach an agreement in a reasonable timeframe, the scenario should be resolved mechanically. ### Advantage Based on various effects, a character may accumulate *advantages*. For example, the Asset [[Close Quarters Chaos]] grants an advantage to [[Auxiliary|Auxiliaries]] who are fighting in a [[#Local]] combat scenario. In order to inflict a win condition without negotiation, the character must have a number of advantages **greater** than that of their opponent(s) equal to the score of their chosen condition. In other words, if Character A wants to slap Character B in the face, and the player of Character B is not willing to agree to that negotiation, then Character A must have a total number of advantages equal to Character B's advantages plus 1 (the rating of the win condition). If Character A wanted to kill Character B, Character A would need a number equal to Character B's advantages plus 4. If multiple characters are attempting to achieve (or prevent) the same win condition, they pool advantages. For example, if three characters group up to mug a fourth, those three characters add all of their advantages together and compare them against the fourth character's advantages as a single pool to determine their available win conditions. Likewise, if two groups of four characters each were to engage in a shoot-out on the street, each group would add their advantages together in order to determine the winning side. ## Local Local Combat Scenarios take place within a building, or a compound, or city. These scenarios rarely involve superweapons or other planet-altering factors (though rarely does not mean never), and are typically fistfights or gunfights. The majority of Local Combat Scenarios involve a small number of participants, and are unlikely to become galactic news. ### Local Combat Scenario Win Conditions 0 - Narrative violence (a scuffle without a clear winner) 1 - Minor violence (a scuffle with a clear winner but no permanent harm, a slap across the face without response, etc.) or theft of a poorly-secured (e.g., kept in a pocket) item 2 - Significant violence (a character beaten or restrained) theft of a prized possession 3 - Permanent harm (a fight ending in lost limbs or permanent injury) or a character captured 4 - Critical harm (without intervention the loser will die) or the capture of multiple characters 5 - Death of a single character or critical harm to many ## Regional Regional Combat Scenarios take place across a large swathe of a planet or other celestial body's surface. These scenarios often involve mixed-unit battalions, heavy artillery, and other markers of advanced warfare. Regional Combat Scenarios are often a critical component of civil wars and invasions. Characters cannot participate in a Regional Combat Scenario without the use of an appropriate Asset. ### Regional Combat Scenario Win Conditions 0 - Probing (No result, no losses or even losses, information gained by both parties) 1 - Testing (No significant losses to either side, winner gains information) 2 - Minor victory (significant losses to one side) 3 - Major victory (one side loses critical materiel or personnel) 4 - Decisive victory (loser loses the war or pulls out of this theater and gains any related Liens) 5 - Total victory (all participants on the losing side can be killed or captured) ## Global Global Combat Scenarios are fought across an entire terrestrial surface. These battles involve nuclear weapons and other instruments of apocalypse, and often leave the worlds on which they occur scarred and broken. Characters cannot participate in a Global Combat Scenario without the use of an appropriate Asset. ### Global Combat Scenario Win Conditions 0 - Discovery (No result, no losses or even losses, information gained by both parties) 1 - Interference (daily life faces challenges, minimal civilian casualties, information gained by one party) 2 - Disruption (daily life is significantly altered, low civilian casualties) 3 - Bombardment (daily life is at a complete halt, notable civilian casualties, loser gains a [[Lien]]) 4 - Collapse (all activity is done at significant risk, high civilian casualties, loser can be made a [[Fief]] against their will) 5 - Apocalypse (planet can be destroyed, permanently occupied, or depopulated outright) ## Fleet Fleet Combat Scenarios are fought in the void between worlds. Starships as vast as moons dueling in the blackness of interstellar space, hordes of droneships billions strong, the sort of battles which make entire star systems into howling ruins. Characters cannot participate in a Fleet Combat Scenario without the use of an appropriate Asset. ### Fleet Combat Scenario Win Conditions 0 - Scout engagements (Drone losses or even losses, information gained by both parties) 1 - Rangefinding (fighter losses, information gained by one party) 2 - Dogfighting (significant ship or pilot losses, loser gains a Lien) 3 - Fleet engagement (entire fighter wings or single mid-tier ships lost, loser gains a significant Lien) 4 - Three-dimensional dominance (capital ships lost or the fleet is forced to flee into deep space) 5 - Silent void (losing fleet can be destroyed, or capital ships captured) > [!Note]+ Simulationism and Negotiation > Myriad uses Assets and Liens to simulate a great many things, but is not fundamentally a simulationist game. That is not to say that combat cannot or should not be complex when warranted, but to say that, wherever possible, players and facilitators should use mechanics as the outline of the narrative, rather than attempting to build a narrative from the mechanics. Assets and Liens are used to give a general sense of what happened (e.g., "I destroyed your supply lines") but it's up to the players involved to give the narrative weight and meaning (e.g., "You bombed our main asteroid-mining operation, and now that chunk of space is too full of dangerous shrapnel to navigate"). > > If a player wants to do something not perfectly represented on any of these lists, then they should default to mediating with the other party. If that mediation is untenable, then they should attempt to reach an agreement on the rating of their proposed win condition. If that agreement cannot be reached, a facilitator should provide guidance by giving the win condition a set rating, or ruling it impossible if appropriate. If a mediation is becoming tense or outright hostile, all parties should withdraw and work with a facilitator to reach a resolution.