C.A.T.S.Crunchy Automated Tactical System

Hit Location

Location is rolled on an exploding d6. Critical systems are unreachable without an explosion.

This page is the depth axis only

A hit is resolved along three axes, and they are separate questions:

QuestionAnswered by
FacingWhich side is exposed?Position — it selects the table
LateralWhich part?d100 from presented area — see Hit Location by Body
DepthHow far in?Explosions — this page

So a hit resolves as front facing, left forearm, tier 2: through the armour and into the structure beneath. One roll answers the last two.

You have to explode to hit something vital

A single exploding d6 partitions itself into exact tiers of five, separated by the unreachable multiples of six. Reaching tier n requires n−1 explosions. No table design was involved — the die does this on its own.

Hit location by depth: reaching a deeper layer requires that many explosions.Tier 1: 83.33% of hits, needs 0 explosionsTier 2: 13.89% of hits, needs 1 explosionTier 3: 2.31% of hits, needs 2 explosionsExternal structure — limbs, hull83.33% of hitsInternal systems13.89% of hitsCritical systems2.31% of hitsno explosion1 explosionExplosion punches through layer 12 explosionsExplosion punches through layer 1Explosion punches through layer 2Layer sizes drawn for legibility; the percentages are exact.

A shot that never explodes stops at the outer structure. Each explosion punches through one more layer. Depth is not something a gunner aims for — it is something the dice grant, which is why armour and depth are the same idea.

Share of hits by tier

Tier 10 explosionsTier 1: results 1-5, 83.33% of hits83.33%External structure — limbs, hullTier 21 explosionTier 2: results 7-11, 13.89% of hits13.89%Internal systemsTier 32 explosionsTier 3: results 13-17, 2.31% of hits2.31%Critical systemsTier 43 explosionsTier 4: results 19-23, 0.39% of hits0.39%Catastrophic
TierResultsExplosions neededShare of hits
11–5083.333%
27–11113.889%
313–1722.315%
419–2330.386%
525–2940.064%

Tier shares form an exact geometric series summing to 1: 5/6, 5/36, 5/216, 5/1296.

Why this is the right mechanic

Design goalHow depth tiers serve it
Layered protectionArmour, then structure, then components. The die now models that directly
Playable damageA unit takes many outer hits before anything vital is touched, so it degrades progressively
Critical means criticalAn explosion is already the critical mechanic. Now a critical result literally finds something critical
Bounded bookkeepingFive entries per tier, and most hits never leave tier 1

Known risk

Tier 1 absorbs 83.3% of all hits, so armour has to be sized for saturation rather than an even spread — which is exactly how armour capacity is allocated. And at 2.31%, a critical hit lands roughly once every 43 hits: dramatic, but possibly too scarce to shape tactics. Buying depth with Margin is the obvious lever.

What the depth actually reaches

Tier is not a damage multiplier. It selects which layer of the location the hit lands in, and each layer is a different thing to break:

TierLayerWhat is lost
1Armour capacityAblative covering. Costs nothing but the armour itself
2StructureThe part itself. This is what steps it down the damage ladder
3CriticalStraight past both, into whatever the part contains

Once armour on a location is gone, tier 1 hits reach structure too — so a stripped location degrades fast. See Armour and Damage for the ladder and what each location's failure actually does.