﻿GOLLOPS STAR LASER SQUAD
Soldier skills and rank progression
Draft 0.1 | 26 October 2026

AGREED CHANGES
Turning is free during a soldier's own activation, between actions. No mid-attack turns. Outside the activation, facing stays fixed unless a skill says otherwise. Turning does not cancel brace. Voss can brace for free during his activation, including after moving. Brace grants +2 ranged accuracy and ends on movement, being downed or the next squad refresh. No extra bracing rolls or stacking.
The MG gains Cover Penetration 1: subtract one from the target's applicable cover level, minimum zero, before applying that cover penalty to accuracy. Soft becomes none, hard becomes soft, full becomes hard. This affects cover only, never armour or line of sight. Every MG shot benefits.

XP AND RANK PROPOSAL
A mission begins at XP0 and Recruit rank. All soldiers have their starting skill immediately. Track XP individually on the character card. A soldier gets 1 XP for killing a worker or other standard enemy, 2 for a warrior or other elite. Future enemy cards print their XP award; bosses require an explicit award. Only the soldier dealing the killing damage gets kill XP; never award XP twice for the same enemy. No assists in this first draft.
When the squad completes a printed primary objective, every soldier gains 1 XP, including downed soldiers, once per objective. Mission1 awards this for securing the log and for clearing all hostiles, each once. Recollecting or passing the log gives no XP. Mission designers must mark XP-bearing objectives; routine interactions do not award it. Objective XP helps support characters advance without competing for kills.
The XP track runs 0-18, with milestone marks at0,4,10,18. Cap XP at18 for this prototype. A large reward can cross more than one milestone. Mark the new rank immediately, but apply newly unlocked abilities at the start of the next round; they cannot alter an attack already being resolved or refresh AP. A downed soldier keeps XP and unlocks and can use them once revived and eligible to act.
All unlocked skills are cumulative and mandatory; no branching selections in the introductory set. Higher-rank accuracy increases add to the printed starting stat. Rank does not automatically increase AP, HP or damage; only the listed unlocks do so.
Ranks: Recruit0; Trooper4; Veteran10; Specialist18. These are original tabletop thresholds, proposed for testing. XP resets each mission so the free base missions have a stable starting difficulty. Persistent campaign advancement requires separate encounter balance; do not carry XP between missions by default.
Mission1's five workers and one warrior yield7 kill XP; its two objective awards yield10 total distributed objective XP. That is17 XP across the squad, not17 each. This introductory mission should showcase a first unlock, not reach the top of the track. Longer basic missions need explicit enemy/objective budgets if later ranks are to be reachable.

REYES  -  RECON
Starting accuracy+1; proposed HP8; Ceraweave reduction1.
Recruit0: Quick Step. Once per activation move one orthogonal square for0 AP. Obey occupancy and terrain rules; this move cancels brace.
Trooper4: Spotter. Once per activation, mark one visible enemy for0 AP. The next ranged attack by a different soldier against it gains+1 accuracy on every shot, then removes the mark. One squad mark maximum; a new mark replaces it. It expires at next squad refresh. Cannot mark during a reaction.
Veteran10: Steady Hand. Permanently gain+1 accuracy (base becomes+2).
Specialist18: Pathfinder. Quick Step grants up to two consecutive free squares instead of one. Both occur as one movement action; stop after the first if desired. No attacks between them.

CHEN  -  ASSAULT
Starting accuracy+1; proposed HP10; Combat Plate reduction2.
Recruit0: Breach Lead. Once per activation, opening an adjacent unlocked door costs0 AP. Closing doors still costs1. It reveals contacts normally.
Trooper4: Close Assault. Once per activation, reroll one failed accuracy die from a shotgun shot at an orthogonally adjacent target. Reroll it once; keep the new result. With Blind Luck, this can reroll the failed attack die only, never a luck die. After a successful attack die, resolve all required luck dice normally. No use during reactions.
Veteran10: Steady Hand. Permanently gain+1 accuracy (base becomes+2).
Specialist18: Breach and Advance. Immediately after using Breach Lead, move one legal square for0 AP. This move cancels brace; cannot interrupt it with another action.

VOSS  -  HEAVY
Starting accuracy+0; proposed HP12; Exo-Plate reduction3.
Recruit0: Weapons Platform. Brace for0 AP during your activation. Moving removes brace, but you may brace again before your next attack. Turning is free and does not remove brace. Brace never stacks.
Trooper4: Controlled Burst. Once per activation, reroll one failed accuracy die from one MG shot. Keep the reroll; it cannot be rerolled again. With Blind Luck, this can reroll the failed attack die only, never a luck die. After a successful attack die, resolve all required luck dice normally. No reaction use.
Veteran10: Fire Discipline. Permanently gain+1 accuracy (base becomes+1).
Specialist18: Sustained Fire. Once per activation, one MG attack fires4 shots instead of3 for its normal AP cost. Declare before rolling. All shots target the same enemy. No reaction use.
MG Cover Penetration1 is a weapon effect, not a Voss skill; another soldier using the MG also gets it.

OKAFOR  -  MARKSMAN
Starting accuracy+2; proposed HP8; Ceraweave reduction1.
Recruit0: Precision. Once per activation, reroll the damage die of one sniper hit before armour is applied. Keep the second result. This does not reroll accuracy or alter the number of shots. No reaction use.
Trooper4: Watchful. Once per alien phase, when an alien triggers overwatch, turn freely before checking whether that alien is in the new forward sight arc. It must still have an unblocked sight line; no seeing through walls. Sufficient sniper firing AP must already be reserved. Other overwatch rules apply.
Veteran10: Deadeye. Permanently gain+1 accuracy (base becomes+3; starting+2 is not a permanent cap).
Specialist18: Armour Hunter. Sniper hits gain Armour Penetration1: reduce combined natural and equipped damage reduction by1, minimum zero. This affects damage, not cover or accuracy.

PARK  -  MEDIC AND SYSTEMS
Starting accuracy+1; proposed HP9; Ceraweave reduction1; two medkits.
Recruit0: Field Care. Once per activation spend1 AP to heal herself or an adjacent conscious soldier by2 HP, capped at maximum. No item consumed. Cannot revive; only medkits revive in the introductory rules.
Trooper4: Efficient Treatment. Using a medkit costs1 AP instead of2; still discard it. Healing and revival amounts do not change.
Veteran10: Steady Hand. Permanently gain+1 accuracy (base becomes+2).
Specialist18: Trauma Specialist. Field Care heals3 HP instead of2. Medkits used to revive restore3 HP instead of2. Medkit use still consumes an item.

CARD LAYOUT SPECIFICATION
Front: portrait, name, role; starting accuracy, current accuracy marker, max/current HP, natural armour; one equipped-armour slot; weapon and carried-item references. Print four rank skill rows with threshold, name, concise effect and an unlock box. Show current base accuracy separately from temporary brace/spotter bonuses so they are not double-counted.
Bottom: XP track0 through18, with prominent rank milestones0/4/10/18. Use numbers and rank names, not colour alone. Add a small Pending unlock marker area for thresholds crossed mid-round. Once-per-activation skills get a used token space, cleared at the start of that soldier's next activation. Watchful gets a once-per-alien-phase token space instead.
Rank unlocks must not require flipping away from core character stats. If four full effects do not fit legibly, keep a concise skill summary on the front and full text on the reverse/reference sheet. No card artwork has been authored by this specification.

UPDATED VOSS BENCHMARK
Before rank upgrades, Voss's free brace and MG-1 give total accuracy+1 before cover. With Cover Penetration1:
Exposed: accuracy+1; per-shot hit16.67%; at least one hit in3 shots42.13%.
Soft: same as exposed.
Hard: accuracy0; per-shot hit8.33%; at least one hit in3 shots22.97%.
Full: accuracy-1; per-shot hit4.17%; at least one hit in3 shots11.99%.
This excludes Controlled Burst and later unlocks. Free brace allows two2-AP MG attacks in a4-AP activation. A turn using move1 + overwatch setup1 leaves2 reserved AP for one full MG attack; free brace may be applied before entering overwatch.
At Veteran, braced base accuracy is+2 before cover: exposed/soft30.56% per shot, hard16.67%, full8.33%. These are exact dice probabilities, not evidence of encounter balance.

BOUNDARIES AND TESTS
No rule here introduces ranged distance checks. Shotgun adjacency remains the only distance-based ranged effect. At most one hit per shot; all shots of one attack target one enemy. Cover and armour penetration have distinct names and icons. Wall blocking overrides both.
Test Voss's two braced volleys per activation, Park's repeat healing between fights, and XP distribution to ensure support characters gain a first unlock. Skills are original proposals rather than copied rules text. Updated numerical values supersede historical benchmark interpretations. D4/D5 map correction and printable card production remain outstanding.
