Movement and action economy in CthulhuTech

Question

I am confused about the way movement works in CthulhuTech, in terms of action economy.

First of all, let's assume my character is on foot. Does it cost him an Action to move ? The book would seem to imply so on page 118, when it says that a Normal Action can be used for "Moving in any variety of ways".

Ok, now let's say my character gets into his mech, and accelerates to half his top speed. During his next turn, is he compelled to use one of his Actions to move (while possibly accelerating/deccelerating) ? Or does it only cost an Action to accelerate/deccelerate ?

Answer 1

Movement does not cost an action

Movement is done as part of your Actions, you can move the full available distance in a single action, or split your movement between your actions (up to 3 times) however you want.

The full rules for movement can be found on page 125 of the core rulebook:

1. First, determine if you are maintaining speed, accelerating, or decelerating. Every thing that moves has a maximum speed, so you know how fast it can go if it does nothing else. Living things can accelerate up to or decelerate down from their maximum speed in one turn. However, if you are moving faster than half your maximum speed, you’ll take penalties attacking that turn (see p. 123).

2. Once you’ve figured out your speed for the turn, determine how many yards you get to move. You can then translate this to inches or squares.

3. You may move any time you take an Action during a turn. You may move all of it on your first Action, all on your last Action, or spread it out over the turn. Any unused movement must be used by the end of your last (or only) Action. If you’re moving slower than half your top speed, you may choose to move less or even stop in the heat of the turn, but if you’re moving faster than that you can only slow down by half (it takes a full turn, not just an Action to stop).

4. In addition to simply moving, you can do two of the following options each turn: jump (horizontally or vertically), climb a surface at your climbing speed, take off at the same speed (if capable of flight), or land and maintain speed (if flying). Obviously if you’re swimming, these options are out.

The penalties mentioned (Run & Gun, core rulebook, page 123) are -2 on your attacks when moving faster than half of your maximum speed.