Re: Future Sphere Mechwarrior
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:36 pm
Sorry for the delayed reply. I tend to get busy with work and go AWOL from the forums for swaths of time. I'm glad you have Sabersonic to bounce ideas off of!
I love the idea of individual quirks defining what makes one pilot's Marauder different from another. This is actually touched on in an old Battletech supplement—I think it was the Tales of the Black Widow Company. Being a ragtag bunch of ne'er-do-wells and misfits, the book gave several of the mechs quirks showing off their pieced together nature. I THINK they were mostly negative—but it nonetheless gave so much character I adored as a kid.
As for Life Support—if it's something all mechs have, I wouldn't pay the points for it. It's needless book-keeping and robs you of a few points you can spend on "cooler" things.
Of course, using Vehicle at all isn't really necessary. In Battletech-y type scenarios, the mech is often a very separate entity from the pilot (to the point that each pilot is likely to command countless mecha in their life). Vehicle, as written, is more to make vehicle characters play nice with non-vehicle characters. It's less "Marauder" and more "Batmobile."
Instead, you can just use any of the character creation rules and create them as separate "characters." That way, they can be assigned to different pilots at will and also break free of Vehicle's limitations.
Your idea for ECM sounds good to me.
Ferrofibrous armor, you might could consider outright adding Evasive to its block. Either as an abstract representation of stuff bouncing off or because lighter armor means the Mech is subtly more nimble in dodging things. Of course Armor that reduces damage AND increases Defense Rolls needs some big drawbacks somewhere.
Explosive sounds like a fun flaw, but it's also one that's at odds with anime's tendency to make death a dramatic proposition. People don't just die, they die blocking super death rays from capital starships. Just a random explosion because you got tapped too hard is...not very conducive to that.
Instead, perhaps you could have the engine plain SHUT DOWN. It's still disastrous for the pilot and the tide of the battle, and something expensive to repair (perhaps the engine turns into a useless hyper-dense block of fusion material) but not a risk punishable with death at least.
I love the idea of individual quirks defining what makes one pilot's Marauder different from another. This is actually touched on in an old Battletech supplement—I think it was the Tales of the Black Widow Company. Being a ragtag bunch of ne'er-do-wells and misfits, the book gave several of the mechs quirks showing off their pieced together nature. I THINK they were mostly negative—but it nonetheless gave so much character I adored as a kid.
As for Life Support—if it's something all mechs have, I wouldn't pay the points for it. It's needless book-keeping and robs you of a few points you can spend on "cooler" things.
Of course, using Vehicle at all isn't really necessary. In Battletech-y type scenarios, the mech is often a very separate entity from the pilot (to the point that each pilot is likely to command countless mecha in their life). Vehicle, as written, is more to make vehicle characters play nice with non-vehicle characters. It's less "Marauder" and more "Batmobile."
Instead, you can just use any of the character creation rules and create them as separate "characters." That way, they can be assigned to different pilots at will and also break free of Vehicle's limitations.
Your idea for ECM sounds good to me.
Ferrofibrous armor, you might could consider outright adding Evasive to its block. Either as an abstract representation of stuff bouncing off or because lighter armor means the Mech is subtly more nimble in dodging things. Of course Armor that reduces damage AND increases Defense Rolls needs some big drawbacks somewhere.
Explosive sounds like a fun flaw, but it's also one that's at odds with anime's tendency to make death a dramatic proposition. People don't just die, they die blocking super death rays from capital starships. Just a random explosion because you got tapped too hard is...not very conducive to that.
Instead, perhaps you could have the engine plain SHUT DOWN. It's still disastrous for the pilot and the tide of the battle, and something expensive to repair (perhaps the engine turns into a useless hyper-dense block of fusion material) but not a risk punishable with death at least.