Post by Carlos on Jun 7, 2014 19:14:13 GMT -6
So Hector is considering doing a Galactic Civs style of RP, but with mecha. And he was saying he wanted it to be more like Battletech and less like Gundam. And since I've been reading BT books and playing Mechwarrior Online. I'm feeling like trying to come up with something. So I'm using the mechlab they have in the video game for a mech development system.
So far I got Ed to figure out a formula for determining speed based on Engine Rating and mech Tonnage.
And I have the basic structure of the mechs
Mech Structure Components
Life Support - 2 slots
Sensors - 2 slots
Cockpit - 1 slot
Gyro - 4 slots
Shoulder - 1 slot
Upper Arm Actuator - 1 slot
Lower Arm Actuator - 1 slot
Hand Actuator - 1 slot
Hip - 1 slot
Upper Leg Actuator - 1 slot
Lower Leg Actuator - 1 slot
Foot Actuator - 1 slot
Initially I was thinking of using the hard point system from MWO. But that level of easily swapped weapons makes each mech design seem trivial. So instead I'd rather that weapons be hard wired into the mechs. Battletech has stats for the weapons. So I can just copy them down.
Hand held weapons on the other hand. Some of the BT books have mechs using hand held weapons. But I get the feeling after being sued by Harmony Goldshitheads they no longer wanted to use such things. Either way. I'm gonna make some stats for hand held weapons. In this case they'll obviously be swappable. But the downside will be they're just a tad heavier. Large weapons like AC10-20 will probably be two handed. As well they'll require reload. The energy based ones I'm thinking will produce slightly more heat.
Shoulder and Upper Arm Actuator will essentially be the equivalent of the arms you see on a Blackjack or Jagermech. Essentially they're not arms, they mount weapons as arms for the most part.
If you add a lower arm actuator you get proper arms, but the weapons are mounted in the place of the hands.
And of course hand actuators give you hands. You can still mount weapons along the arms.
For legs you need all of the actuators including the hip.
Bare in mind this is per limb.
OKAY. Now that's just for making up some arbitrary layout of a mech. Nothing terribly interesting. But what I'm really interested in is a Mech research and development system.
The idea being you spend research points to create the mech. Based on what all is going into the design. Like each actuator is 3 points. Perhaps a medium laser is 6 points. And you have to spend research to add slots to the mech. So you can accommodate the different requirements of other weapons or equipment. So you're spending research points to develop a specific design.
What I was thinking that would make this even more interesting though. They have design quirks in Battletech. So I thought I would use some of those as well as some other ideas to give designs the chance to have interesting advantages or disadvantages. As well as the option to "rush development" reducing the total points required. But you have to do a role to see if it gets a negative quirk.
So that's pretty much what I have in mind. It'll just be a written out like normal at first. I may consider a spreadsheet if I get really into it.
So far I got Ed to figure out a formula for determining speed based on Engine Rating and mech Tonnage.
And I have the basic structure of the mechs
Mech Structure Components
Life Support - 2 slots
Sensors - 2 slots
Cockpit - 1 slot
Gyro - 4 slots
Shoulder - 1 slot
Upper Arm Actuator - 1 slot
Lower Arm Actuator - 1 slot
Hand Actuator - 1 slot
Hip - 1 slot
Upper Leg Actuator - 1 slot
Lower Leg Actuator - 1 slot
Foot Actuator - 1 slot
Initially I was thinking of using the hard point system from MWO. But that level of easily swapped weapons makes each mech design seem trivial. So instead I'd rather that weapons be hard wired into the mechs. Battletech has stats for the weapons. So I can just copy them down.
Hand held weapons on the other hand. Some of the BT books have mechs using hand held weapons. But I get the feeling after being sued by Harmony Goldshitheads they no longer wanted to use such things. Either way. I'm gonna make some stats for hand held weapons. In this case they'll obviously be swappable. But the downside will be they're just a tad heavier. Large weapons like AC10-20 will probably be two handed. As well they'll require reload. The energy based ones I'm thinking will produce slightly more heat.
Shoulder and Upper Arm Actuator will essentially be the equivalent of the arms you see on a Blackjack or Jagermech. Essentially they're not arms, they mount weapons as arms for the most part.
If you add a lower arm actuator you get proper arms, but the weapons are mounted in the place of the hands.
And of course hand actuators give you hands. You can still mount weapons along the arms.
For legs you need all of the actuators including the hip.
Bare in mind this is per limb.
OKAY. Now that's just for making up some arbitrary layout of a mech. Nothing terribly interesting. But what I'm really interested in is a Mech research and development system.
The idea being you spend research points to create the mech. Based on what all is going into the design. Like each actuator is 3 points. Perhaps a medium laser is 6 points. And you have to spend research to add slots to the mech. So you can accommodate the different requirements of other weapons or equipment. So you're spending research points to develop a specific design.
What I was thinking that would make this even more interesting though. They have design quirks in Battletech. So I thought I would use some of those as well as some other ideas to give designs the chance to have interesting advantages or disadvantages. As well as the option to "rush development" reducing the total points required. But you have to do a role to see if it gets a negative quirk.
So that's pretty much what I have in mind. It'll just be a written out like normal at first. I may consider a spreadsheet if I get really into it.