Macross Mekton

[Cruel Angel's Thesis]

Okay busy with reality to do this, but now i shall. With some new info leaked from the Gundam Senki RPG i will only drop what i can since i have some stuff to redo. Now in the interest of saving me typing time, most of this will be cut-and-paste from my Mekton erratta document i'm working on so bear with me.

Hardpoints

Given the parameters within which MTS operates, here’s a reasonable method of generating semi-realistic equipment and weapon hardpoints which allow you to easily mix external equipment loads on your Mecha:

1) Define a Hardpoint as a Weapon Mount with a Quick-Change Mount (ie., for 2 Spaces and 3 CP you can carry an interchangeable load of as many spaces as the spaces of the servo that the Hardpoint is fitted to).

Idea A: Make sure all Hardpoints hold 5 Spaces of equipment, thru kinda “reverse efficiency.”

Idea B: Torso Hardpoints are broken up by Half-Mount and considered

individual; a torso can have four mounts, each capable of holding ½ the spaces of the Torso (1 Space, 2 CP).

2) Design your Mecha with Hardpoints, but don’t fill them.

3) Calculate your Mecha’s weight, MAs and MV.

4) Build whatever equipment you like, as long as it can fit into the Hardpoints (efficiency time).

5) Equip your Mecha with whatever load of mixed Hardpoint equipment you like; to determine the effects of that load, add up all kills of all Hardpoint equipment and divide by 20 – the result is the B-Mod of the hardpoint equipment load (see Z+ p.64 of a definition of B-Mod).

Enhanced Sensors

This is a modification to the sensors in respect to helping the pilot in battle or recon, this is a mult. to the sensor system. These modifications what they may be, give the pilot a bonus to Awareness/Notice with the sensor rolls. The bonus granted can have no limit. GM’s should be alert to put a cap on this. Up to +4 has been shown; it does show the progression for each level of bonus.

Bonus Mult.

+1 x1.5

+2 x2.0

+3 x2.5

+4 x3.0

RULES BY TSUNEO TATENO

Turn Value

Tsuneo Tateno writer of the Gundam Senki game created a option to spending MA to turn. Taking a cue from the Mekton Z rules Tateno formed Turn Value. Turn Value took the spending MA to turn and made it into TV. Instead of spending MA to turn the mech could spend TV points to turn. Each TV point means the mech could make a 60 degree turn (one hex side). TV is depended upon the mech design. The TV values closely mirror those in the Mekton Z core where MA was used to turn.

TV=3 to the most adaptable mecha (usually humanoid in most Anime), then give TV=2 for usual mecha (starfighters or tanks), finally TV=1 to big clumsy mecha. More advanced futuristic mecha can have TV’s of 4-5. Yikes! Now your Ace Points can increase your TV to represent your skills as a pilot. How much you can raise it is based on your TV. A TV=3 gives conversions on a 1-1, TV=2 is 1-2 or ½ and TV=1 is 1-3 or 1/3 point conversion.

Another way to increase TV is Ace Custom. It increases your base MP and is added to the vehicles base TV. It is bought with the ACE cost mult it comes in two versions. First is bought with the 67% increase, the base MP is increased by x1.5, this is for TV only. The second is with 100% and it doubles the base MP. The 67% costs x.13 (that paying for the ACE 67% and the cost for the Ace Custom), and 100% costs x.25

To give you a better understanding, we will look at the mecha of Choo Jikuu Yoosai Macross (Super Dimensional Fortress Macross). The SDF-1 and all Zentradi Starships would all have a TV=1. The Destroids would have a TV=2, ‘cept for the Monster, due to its size and weight (285t at combat load) would have a TV=1 and the Spartan would have a TV=3. The Esbeliben Reguld and the Roiquonmi Glaug would have a TV=2. The Nousjadeul-Ger and the Queadlunn-Rau would have TV=3. The Valkyries themselves would have a TV=3 in Battroid and a TV=2 in GERWALK and Fighter.

Ace Custom 100% would be given to the Valkyries, Roiquonmi Gluag, Nousjadeul-Ger and the Queadlunn-Rau.

Minimum Speed Rule

This applies to mech that can transform into or are fighters. This rule states if a fighter mech travels under 8 MA, it will suffer a -2 MV. This applies in atmosphere as well in space. This is included upon landing and take-off. This does include if the fighter is designed for V/STOL or STVOL and is attempting the take off or land. Sitting on the tarmac or being moved into catapult launch may incur a higher penalty. The -2 MV for a fighter in space can be avoided if it has gravitics.

Now if the fighter is atmosphere and drops below 8 MA (for 2 turns) it is assumed the engine has stalled, but the mech will not drop unless it’s not designed to glide (the F-117A is a example, it drops like a rock). So the pilot can attempt to keep the plane under control as it glides, but the longer the plane is in the air the harder it is (a Harrier had to do it to land safely, a scary 2 minutes). So the pilot needs to make a Piloting check every turn to keep the plane gliding, the diff begins at 10 and goes up one diff level every turn after with 30 being the highest. If the roll is failed the plane goes into a dive, the pilot needs to make a Piloting roll at diff 20 to recover. He can attempt this roll until he recovers, ejects or is a greasy stain on the object that stopped the plane.

HOME RULES BY CRUEL ANGEL’S THESIS

G-SUITS

G-Suits are suits for pilots that fly fighter and/or recon jets. Since these jets fly at incredible speeds and can perform tight turns. This creates a force known as g’s. G’s are a measure of acceleration due to gravity. Humans live in a 1g environment. When you travel at high speeds and make a tight turn, you exert a percentage of centrifugal force. This in turn creates a measure of g. This is calculated by A=v^2/r. This is Acceleration equals velocity squared divided by the radius of the turn. That result is then divided by acceleration due to gravity and that gives the g forces felt. Now acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s^2 (read as meters per second per second) or 32.2 ft/s^2. In Mekton it is cheated, every 8 MA is a g, so when a jet makes a turn at 17 MA it is 2g’s. When g forces are felt two things happen, first you feel heavy (at 2g’s you feel twice as heavy). The second is the condition known as “eyeballs in”. The pull forces blood to pool in your legs, taking blood from your head and cause you to pass out from lack of blood in your head. You do get a warning, first you experience grey out, where your vision starts to get fuzzy, then blackout, you can’t see anything. Finally you will pass out. This is like getting incredibly dizzy. The human body can take up to 9g’s before passing out and the human body can take up to 14-15g’s before the spinal column is crushed, at this time you’re dead.

Another version of g’s is known as negative g’s. These are felt when you stop fast or do a sharp downward dive. Known as “eyeballs out” since the blood is being forced into your head. The human body cannot take negative g’s as well as positive g’s. Around negative 2-3g’s something called “red-out” occurs. This is when the blood vessels in the eye burst and the world is now seen through a shade of light red, you get a warning by pink-out first, when you notice the world has a pink haze to it, this is due to increased blood, but just before the blood vessels burst. Experience high enough negative g’s and you eyes will be forced out of their sockets, usually pilots will change the rotation of the plane to cause positive g forces since the body can handle positive g’s better.

To combat these problems the G-Suit was developed. It uses liquid-filled bladders to keep the blood where it should be. This only helps prevent black-out. The character makes Endurance rolls to pass out at one difficulty level less. Also the G-Suit will only work on positive g forces, since negative g’s will push the liquid in the bladders up and away form the body.

CANARD WING

A canard wing is two small wings near the front of jets to give them better maneuverability in an atmosphere, but keeps the jet from reaching top speed due to drag forces involved. There is no system needed to buy this, it grants no true bonuses, but the system can be attacked and that can cause problems.

If a jet with a canard wing is attacked in a atmosphere and one of the canard wings is hit, the jet then has a -2 MV due to how the air is flowing around the jet fighter. A canard wing can be hit by a called shot at -4 or as a Other on the random (roll another D10, canard hit on 8-10) or special (Gm decides) hit chart. The canard wing only gets armor protection. Now if the other wing is destroyed (Valkyries can go to GERWALK to rip the other canard off) then the jet only has -1 MV since the maneuverability was lost. This is only in an ATMOSPHERE, if done in space then it don’t matter.

G FORCES

We all know what g forces are and what effect they can have on a pilot, but Mekton Z never covers the rules for these. So here are some basic rules. The human body can take up to 2-3 g's (the Space Shuttle lifts-off at max is 3 g's and most roller coasters pull this, but not as long as the Space Shuttle. 5-6 are the max for the average human, and 8-9 is about the limit you can take w/o a g-suit (due to how g-suits work, the Blue Angel's do not use them in air shows and reguraly pull 8 g manueuvers, g-force suits make feats of aeroacrobatics hard to pull, they were built for combat not show-boating). So how are this handles if you want to play with realism or just want to make hero sweat as he rolls? Well when you pulls a turn what you feel is tough (even pull a tough turns change the force you feel, a bank can change a few degrees and that makes a big change in the g's), you can eithier take a few minutes to bust the math to see how much force he takes or you can do this. Every 8 MA is a g, so use that for a base then figure the turn, every hex facing is 1 g (at higher speeds this might change, but hey we want effect). Next is a BOD+Endurance roll (Resist Torture/Drugs can be used as well) to see if the player sucessfully turns and remains awake.

g forces Diff

4-6 15

5-7 20

8-9 25

10+ 30

15+ you are dead

If you think having a diff. for 10+ is dumb since at 9 you pass out, remember g-suits and g-compensators allow you to take more g's then you normally could.

A G-suit will lower the Diff by one level as will anytype of g-compensator (like those in the Meltran Power Armor, the YF-21 and VF-22). Keep in mind you need to pull 15 g's for a few seconds to actually die, but you get the idea. Sudden stops incur incredible g forces and can kill, but a well enough pilot can survive (although you might have a crushed vertabea or two and thats for starters, it gets worse (pinpoint hemmoraging in the eyes, broken ribs for example), but thats something for the GM can decide on).

Well i guess that does it for some of the changes, there are others i will post them when i have the time to find them, any questions don't hestitate to ask.

Cruel Angel's Thesis

Edited April 1, 2004 by Cruel Angel's Thesis

[MAXXxxx]

hey, long time no hear from you

when will th eGUndam book come out? It's been promised for ages.

also some comments:

home rules -G : nice, but we used a VERY similar system

TV : still a little confusing, but looks good now

Ench. sensors: nice

HP : altough at first unofficially, later official, but not in any makton book it was always like this (except the half-mount, that is a little new twist)

[Cruel Angel's Thesis]

Gundam Senki is in the layout stage, last we heard, back in Feb, before DunDraCon (west coast gaming con in San Ramon). TV is a it difficult to figure out, but once you get it, it becomes easy.

The hardpoint rules those are the ones written by Benjamin Wright and they are official as well as enhanced sensors, written during the BGC RPG, i used them for the recon Valkyries (VE-1 and VEFR-1).

There is going to be more, i'll put it up when i can.

Cruel Angel's Thesis

[Zetaplus]

I dunno, I decided not to go with all those fancy custom rules when I made my campaign. Seemed like it'd bog down play, and I never bought into the whole 'custom VF' thing. I figured it'd be much simpler to explain the feats of OMG INSANE seen in Macross as more due to the pilot than the machine.

Anyway, as an example, here's the Q-Rau, everyone's favorite enemy mecha. Before my MZ books got packed, I ran a quick playtest game where one Q-Rau with an uber-ized Meltran went up against two Nousjadeul-Ger with standard pilots, ala DYRL. The Q-Rau decimated both Zentran before the seond round was over.

Name: Queadlunn-Rau High-Maneuverability Battlesuit

Cost: 761.2 CP

Weight: 32.5 tons

Scale: x1

Configuration MV Land MA Flight MA

Battlesuit -0 9 21

Servos: Armor:

Location Class Kills Space/Left Cost | Class Type SP Absorp DC Cost

Torso MS 8 8 / 0 8 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

L. Arm MS 5 5 / 0 5 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

R. Arm MS 5 5 / 0 5 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

L. Leg HS 6 6 / 0 6 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

R. Leg HS 6 6 / 0 6 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

Backpack MS 0 8 / 0 4 | STR std. 3 0 1 3

Cost: 52 CP

Weight: 24 tons

Sensors:

Sensor Type Range Comm Kills Location Cost Space

Main MW 15km 1500km 2 Torso 9 1

Cost: 9 CP

Weight: 1 ton

Weapons:

Name WA Rng Dmg Sht Kills BV CP Space Loc Notes

Impact Gun +0 6 5 * 4 4 18.5 1 T Cross-Linked

Impact Gun +0 6 5 * 4 4 18.5 1 T Cross-Linked

Ammo - - - 20 4 - 5.2 1 T Feeds both guns

Pulse Guns +0 8 4 = 4 6 48.5 5 LA Linked, Var. AM

Pulse Guns +0 8 4 = 4 6 48.5 5 RA Linked, Var. AM

HM Missiles +2 8 5 21 7 na 24.3 2 LL Linked

HM Missiles +2 8 5 21 7 na 24.3 2 RL Linked

HM Missiles +2 8 5 84 28 na 98.7 4 Back. Linked

Cost: 286.5 CP

Weight: 31 tons

Movement Systems:

System MA Location Kills Space Cost

Thrusters 21 Back. 0 4 36.4

Cost: 36.4 CP

Powerplant

Source: Fusion

XS: 5

MV: +2

MA: +2

M-Pool: +67%

Cost: x0.3

Control System

Type: Slave

M-Pool: +50%

Other: na

Cost: x0.07

Hydraulics

Space: 0

+Melee Dmg: +0

Lift: x1

Cost: x0.0

P+C+H Cost Multiplier: x0.37

P+C+H M-Pool Bonus(+%): +117%

P+C+H Other Notes: na

Cost Multiplier Systems:

System Cost Space Special

Leg Booster x0.2 0 +2 Ground MA

Environments x0.15 0 Desert, Arctic, Space

Verniers x0.1 4 +1 MV; 2/Leg

Total Multiplier: x0.45

Total M-Pool Bonus(+%): na

Subassemblies:

System Loc Space Cost Notes

Cockpit All 8 0 Max. BOD 8; 4 in Torso, 2 per Leg.

Cross-Link T 0 2 for Impact Guns

IS Link LA/RA 0 2 for Pulse Guns

IS Link LL/RL/Back. 0 4 for High-Maneuver Missiles.

Efficiency LL/RL -1 0.5 for Verniers

Cost: 8.5 CP

Weight: 0 tons

Final costs:

Base Weight: 56 tons

Fuel Weight: na

New Weight: 32.5 tons

Base Cost: 392.4 CP

Cost (after Multipliers): 714.2 CP

Efficency (-23.5 tons): 47 CP

Cost (w/Efficency, links): 761.2 CP

Final Weight: 32.5 tons

Scale: x1

Scaled Cost: 761.2 CP

Scaled Weight: 32.5 tons

(w/Command Armour):