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I was going over my old Rifts books trying to figure out how to explain it to my group in a way that won't require a lot of notes to be taken. While this wasn't completel doable I started hammering out a system for miniature based combat in Rifts to smooth out some of the issues the combat system has and to allow the use of miniatures. It's still a rough draft and I don't expect anyone to like this but I thought I should post it to see what everyone's opinion was so I can refine it for when I finally do make a campaign for it.
Also there is no room for "Rift's sucks!" or other such comments, I don't care what you think of the Rifts RPG in general, I know it's a headache to get working has tons of power creep, really uneve classes, and has tons of issues from both the creator and the system itself, but I'm here looking for opinions on my system for tabletop miniature combat, not the RPG it's being made for.
Size
Most humans, D-Bees and RCCs are medium size. Due to lack of size bonuses/penalties the small size does not exist.
Power Armor is Large
Giant Robots are at least Huge
Dragon Hatchlings are Large by default but may adjust their size up to Huge or down to medium for half their total melee actions rounded up (if you have three you use one). After 2d4 in game weeks default size goes up to huge and maximum goes up to gargantuan.
Movement
Speed x 5 = yards per round
Speed x 15 = feet per round
Speed x 3 = squares per round
Speed = squares of movement per action
Maximum of three moves per melee
Diagonal movement 1.5 squares per move (1 then 2, 1 then 2 and so on)
Combat
Initiative: Rolled once (not per melee), creatures using sneak attacks or long range weapons get a +10 on Initiative rolls
Melee Attack Rolls 1-4 miss, 5-20 hit (apply modifiers)
1 on a d20 is an automatic miss
20 is an automatic hit and allows for a critical threat (reroll attack to determine critical damage)
All critical threats require confirmation roll with the same rules for hitting and dodging
Defender may dodge (using an action) or parry automatically in melee if their weapon is appropriate; if their defense roll is higher than the attack roll it misses.
20 on a defense automatically avoids
If both the attack and dodge are natural 20s then neither is a critical and the dodge is calculated normally (add modifiers and compare) but the critical threat is neutralized
Failed dodges or parries may attempt to roll with a punch from blunt or unarmed attacks to reduce damage by half (same rules as dodging or parrying but bonuses are different)
Characters are able to avoid all attacks, no line of vision is checked
If flanked, a PC must choose one of the flankers for parries and dodges each round and the other cannot be avoided unless the OCC or RCC allows it (such as the Juicer)
Appropriate Parries: unarmed combat where the defender is equal or greater than the defender (SDC defends against SDC, MDC defends against SDC and MDC, SDC cannot defend against MDC), SDC melee weapons and shields against SDC melee weapons, MDC melee weapons and shields against MDC melee weapons, SDC melee weapons and shields cannot defend against MDC melee weapons (Psi-swords and Psi-shields count as MDC melee weapons for the purposes of parrying), and MDC materiel shields can parry ranged attacks but the shield takes damage when doing so.
Ranged attack rolls 1-7 miss, 8-20 hit. Rules for critical hits and dodges apply as normal
Dodging ranged attacks is at -5 if attacker is 15-50 feet away (3-10 squares), -10 if less than 10 feet away (0-2 squares between attacker and defender)
Normal attacks take 1 attack action
Burst attacks take 1 attack action W.P. bonuses reduced by half (round down ie +3 becomes +1); if not proficient at -3 to hit
Aimed attacks take 2 attack actions and have +2 to hit
Called attacks may target specific body parts and takes 2 attack actions; a target’s head, giant robot’s eye or any other small and hard to hit target is made at a -4 to hit
A called attack may be made as an aimed attack for three attack actions with a+@ to hit (stacks with called shot penalties against small targets)
Rapid-Fire pulses take one attack action but aimed and called shots reduce all bonuses (from WP or aimed) by half rounded down
Shooting a moving target is -1 plus an extra -1 for each 50 mph (80 kph) of the target’s speed
Shooting Blind (without looking) -10 to hit
Shooting wild is -6 to hit. Shooting wild occurs in the following scenarios: character is emotionally distressed (scared, enraged, distressed, Crazy Frenzy), drunk, shooting from a moving vehicle, shooting during movement, or while hanging upside down
Shooting up to 30% beyond normal range is -5 to hit
Attacking with two one-handed weapons (melee or ranged) and WP Paired Weapons counts as one attack but cannot used the aimed attack action with ranged weapons. Characters without WP paired weapons can only make one attack at a time even if dual wielding.
Cover, Concealment and spotting
Medium and smaller characters out of power armor are assumed to be crouching behind chest high or higher cover when not attacking, provides improved cover (-8 to enemy attacks) at the start of combat; if a character attacks or spots during a round they only have normal cover (-4 to attacks) for the rest of the round. If a character does not attack or fires blindly (-10 to hit) they have total cover (cannot be directly targeted) except for their weapons (called shots at -4).
Spotting ally reduces blind firing penalty by half (-5)
SDC cover provides total concealment from MDC ranged attacks if aimed at the right square instead of trying to overcome cover (50% miss chance). MDC cover cannot be shot through and must be destroyed. SDC cover takes 1/10th the damage from non-plasma, non-explosive weapons (10 per point of MDC, SDC damage below 10 does nothing).
Typical cover has 100 SDC per square or 100 MDC per square, half a square has half the SDC or MDC
I'd like to hear your opinions on this system I've hashed out over the course of a couple days
Quick addition I didn't think of until just now
Ranged attackers can flank; two ranged attackers are considered flanking if they are within their weapon's range and a line drawn between them passes through opposite sides of their target