Take cover
Thanks Stelpher for reminding me!

As I said in the sub, thanks Stelpher. Your comment on ambpop collateral damage post reminded me of this.

Anyway, I've played some combat chars. Who in the event of a brawl are probably gonna step in or get the frick frack out depending on who. Now, I've also played some non-combats who would either run, or if there's no time or way out to run, hit the deck. However, hitting the deck isn't mechanically feasable (Save pose/tp which don't save your ass)

It's already been confirmed a take cover command has been suggested and the staff have thought about it. But here's how I see it working if we were to get it.

Dense/undense surfaces. If ya hide behind a couch, you're not blocking bullets. HIde behind a chrome bar? Maybe a bit safer. Bullet caliber/shrapnel size determines penetration of surface (This should be another suggestion ik)

A basic take cover command, where you'll 'run' into the nearest cover in your room. However, you could also specify a cover, cover would put you behind a specific item in that room. Increasing your chance of being hit while you shift to the cover that isn't nearest to you, since you gotta look for it, but adding the guarded+ bonus against ranged of taking cover.

From a code perspective, it's gonna be huge and painful to do. Sure, a lotta big new features are. But, it's one that breathes that sense of reality and nitty gritty into Sindome life. Seeing corpies cram behind a desk in fear as a buncha mixers shoot up their bars, or a mano get tagged in the back as he hops over the bar to take cover and shoot. I really like the idea of firearms/ranged combat having a Friday Night Firefight (Cyberpunk 2020) feel to em, which in my opinion they already do. Cover being one of the few things we're truly missing.

Oh Cerb you're teasing. If this is gonna be a feature already and I wasted a post imma cry! But, it might bring me back to bruiser characters one day!

One concern I have with using objects in the room for cover is that there are often many things in a room that are in the description but are not interactive objects. Imagine a room bare of interactive objects but who's description is full of things that could be logically used for cover!'

If you ask me, having a cover command rely on interactive objects would mean that a LOT more of these objects would need to be added to the game. All over. Or you'd have to have a default, generic, cover available in all rooms in addition to the interactive objects. But then, if you were determined to have levels of quality for various forms of cover you's find yourself once again having to consider a rooms description.

Just my first thoughts on the matter!

This is one of those things where people go looking for a bunch of minutiae in a system that already accounts for it in broad strokes.

The game doesn't tell you you're jumping behind a couch or the bar because it can't possibly know what's in every room. What it does know is what your skills and stats are and how good your shooter is, and calculates hits based on that. It's up to you to emote taking cover, but even if you don't type anything, you are already doing it.

There are already lots of options in place and I just don't see the need for another one that's redundant given what the dice are already doing.

I'm pretty much of the same mind as Cerb here.

Keep it ambiguous, people can write their own poses and emotes on how and where they're taking cover in the room. Let them role-play it. I just wanted a command that, again as Cerb mentioned, adds a flat defensive bonus with some form of mobility or combat penalty.

Think of that Cyborg Corpie Ninja Assassin that's shooting you from the rooftop of the opposing building. If you cannot or will not leave the room, I feel it would only make sense that you have some method of hunkering down, to either give you a chance of returning fire (if you have a firearm of your own and can find them) or to simply attempt to weather the hail of bullets until the shooter runs out of bullets or help arrives.

Even if you're not the intended target, and you simply happen to be in the room when a firefight breaks out, your character may not seeing fleeing as the safest or most viable option, this would allow them to do something other than stand like a fish out of water surrounded by wolves.

While the main intention was a defensive measure against ranged combat, I'm sure there could also be applications in situations involving explosives as well. Never know if you have enough time to expose yourself in an attempt to run away before tick-tick-boom, right?

And Vera, while I understand that combat mechanics already incorporate defense based off your own stats, but to my knowledge you can't dodge explosions or hidden snipers all that easily, and I doubt the Immies or non-combat orientated characters who may occasionally find themselves victims of the previously mentioned would just stand around, despite their lack of stats.

That all wound up a little longer than I intended, but yeah, I hope you'll all keep it in mind.

(P.S. Plus, don't you want to have old fashioned shoot-outs on the streets? Come on, you know you do.)