Mecha is part of the Vehicle Combat rules and an expansion of Personal Combat rules – AKA – it’s how I plan to add value and Sales to Mneme Variant Combat.
So my Airsoft Team, Combat Team Omega (CTO), are regular players of Mechwarrior Online (despite the server issues this Nov and Dec). We have a Channel Tier5 Mech Warrior Player and its a way my team and I can play together with our degraded reflexes and the terrible ping (250-300ms) as we are in ETC and GMT+8 (12 hours difference).
I get frustrated by some problems with Mechwarrior mecha – like the
1) slots in a mech regardless of Size,
2) That smaller weapons have the same penetration than larger weapons. That a group of small lasers do better than a Large Lasers. 3 small lasers is 11.25dmg at 160m 1.5 tons vs 1 large laser at 5Tons and 9dmg at 480m
3) there is no Melee and Physical Actions – like stomping, kicking, bull-rushing, etc… only recently they added Shields to the Onyx which was pretty cool and fun.
4) The game system punishes support mechs like Tagger, NARCer etc..
5) the ranges can ruin immersion as engagements are up to 1km.
Why Mech Combat will be fun in a Scifi Game:
1) much heavier power armors and vehicles. And they overcome terrain problems with legs and arms – able to climb, jump and scale.
2) An increase of Scale and Stakes – In Cepheus Engine, spending 1DT a power armor and 4 to 20DT for mecha. All terrain, environmentally enhanced combat armor. If I raise the realism of how leathal space is and how much hardware is needed to keep a Vehicle operator alive – then Combat Space Suit become much bigger – and that Mechs will be the scale of some of the combat.
How it will work:
There will be Mech Frames- these frames are the bodies and the power rating of the Engine. A bigger, more massive engine – a higher engine to frame ratio – the heavier the frame. In Mech Warrior – this is kind of out of whack.
its like Equipping a human – you add stuff to it: Armor, Weapons, and equipment.
You can buy frames with better Performance from standard. Frames come in Bipedial, there are Carcinisation options as well. the biomechanics of different frame designs will have some strengths and weaknesses.
As a design goal – is a lot of Armor for the Pilot or Pilots, and the ability to take a lot of damage as compared to a vehicle. Also that its basically a vehicle that doesnt require Reaction mass.
Motivations.
I really believe in my Proto-Pathfinder (because I didnt learn pathfinder yet when I realized the convergent evolution of the systems) take on the 3 Action economy of Mneme Variant Combat. I’ll improve on it from my lessons learned with Pathfinder 2e. The mecha combat and the scenarios will be great in a Toy and Minis since i can 3d print them and buyers can 3d print the mechs and modelled soldiers for 25mm/1inch scale.
Travelers with MECHA, and space combat like the Expanse/Nebulous Fleet Command. You have point defense, reactive armor (armor that EXPLODES to stop shaped charges), and various other real world inspiration. Players and the Referee may like how we make these harder scifi combat more accessible and can draw inspiration in technical read outs of current military hardware.
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