I'm considering Intelligence to be the second attribute to give quick-thinking / perceptive civilians some edge. Although I don't want to do this if Int is already stronger than other attributes (this I don't know).
My thinking...
Average stats:
- Soldier (or e.g. marauder): CUF C, INT C
- Veteran soldier: CUF B, INT C
- Elite solder: CUF B, INT B
If a civilian meets a civilian, they should have a ~50% chance of acting before or after the other civilian --> with D/C stats this is an unmodifed roll (49%).
If a soldier meets a soldier... 49% is achieved with a -1 modifier.
Veteran soldier: -2.
Elite soldier: -3.
So, the rule would be:
When a player character meets a group of people and combat begins, she gets a modifier (0..-3) to the CUF+INT roll based on the average level of the group. The odds for the PC to act before the NPCs would be:
The PC's NPCs' average level:
level: Civilian Soldier Veteran Elite
D/C 49% 31% 17% 17%
C/C 61% 49% 31% 17%
B/C 69% 61% 49% 31%
B/B 75% 69% 61% 49%
B/A 82% 75% 69% 61%
The NPCs can be divided into multiple groups in which case multiple rolls are required. This might make sense in some situations.
Things I have yet to think through:
- Player characters' order. E.g., let's say the of 5 player characters 3 are acting before and 2 after NPCs. Is the order of PCs random? Would PCs with more successes act first?
- How are combatants entering an ongoing combat handled?
- Does this make high CUF (and high INT) characters too strong?
- Is pushing allowed?
- In which situations is this roll made? E.g., if PCs are succesfully ambushed/surprised, they don't get to roll. How about "social ambushes" (e.g., the other party decides to attack in the midlle of a negotiation) or stanf-off situations?