Prev: Re: (North) American games... Next: Re: First Hack at Mecha fighter rules... (long)

First Hack at Mecha fighter rules... (long)

From: lojeck <lojeck@b...>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 21:49:49 -0500
Subject: First Hack at Mecha fighter rules... (long)


(note, as these are unfinished, I do not release my rights to this
material to GZG)

ok, I seem to have misplaced my rules, so I'll do point costs and stuff
later on, consider this brainstorming.

The method of moving craft in FT seems to imply that only large engines
(or only LONG engines) can attain the thrust needed for rapid motion.
ships can turn, obviously, but the majority of their acceleration is
along
the length of the craft.

as mecha are not as long as ships, they must attain acceleration using
what are normally termed as "retro" or "manuvering" thrusters (small,
efficient bursts from small jets) they should be able to rotate about
their lengthwise axis as rapidly as fighter can its, but their axis goes
perpendicular to most crafts' (they are tall, most craft are long,
geddit?)

so, I propose the following rough rules:

mecha are deployed as fighters, in groups of 6, they must be launched,
recovered, etc.. (I'll work out that stuff later)

Mecha have 8 thrust. they can move 1 inch in any direction or turn one
clockface by paying one thrust. they maintain no inertia from turn to
turn, so may never move more then 8 inches (they're method of
propulsion,
as well as the constant and many quick "jukes" the mecha suits are
constantly making, insure that any attempt at movement in a straight
line
is nearly impossible, negating any inertial movement)

due to the extra ordinary flexibility of the mecha suits, they have one
fire arc through which they may fire. it is the frontal 180 degrees of
the
flight stand. within that arc, engagement is handled just as for fighter
weapons. legal targets are ships, fighters, missles, and other mecha
(perhaps not missles, dunno)

(I need to figure out how to handle dog-fighting, pdaf, adaf, and
missles)

BOARDING ACTIONS:

if a mech squadron ends within 2 inches of a spacecraft (I need to check
the rules for ramming, but the idea is that the requirements are the
same
as ramming) they may board. if boarding is successful, the mecha stand
is
removed from the board temporarily. every round they remain on the ship,
they must attempt to force a threshold check against up to one system
per
mecha left alive (6 mechs can cause between 1-6 checks per round) each
check failed kills one mech. if the ship is destroyed, or the mechs get
tired of dying, they may leave the ship, and the stand is replaced
withing
ramming range of the ship they were just aboard

umm... oh yeah, since I'm having a hard time getting my hands on a copy
of
more thrust, I'm making these mecha more-thrust-less at the moment. once
I
get those rules, I'll be able to more fully integrate them.

for mass and points, I'm thinking they should be slightly more massive
(like 8 mass) and slightly more points

feel free to respond to either the list or private email

Brian Lojeck
lojeck@mizar.usc.edu

"This is the .sig that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends.
Some people started reading it, not knowing what it was; but now that
they've
been reading it, they notice it because... This is the .sig that never
ends..."

Prev: Re: (North) American games... Next: Re: First Hack at Mecha fighter rules... (long)