AS Special Abilities & Design Quirks

Unit Special Abilities reflect specific features related to a unit's equipment or type. While most provide additional benefits, some reflect handicaps or restrictions. Although Alpha Strike is more limited in detailed customization than Classic Battletech, these abilities provide additional methods to ensure all units feel unique as well as providing additional "flavor".

UNIT SPECIAL ABILITIES​

Advanced Fire Control (AFC)
This ability represents advanced targeting systems not typically found on IndustrialMechs, non-combat support vehicles, and civilian vehicles. Units with this ability do not suffer the normal +1 to-hit penalty when making weapon attacks. (More advanced units like combat vehicles and Battlemechs don’t need this special ability.)

Amphibious (AMP)
This let’s a non-naval unit move across water. They spend 4 inches of regular movement to cross an inch of water, but they travel on the surface of the water. They can enter and leave water areas freely.

Angel ECM (AECM)
The Angel is an upgraded ECM system that provides the benefits of two standard ECM systems.

Anti-Mech (AM)
Infantry units with this special ability can make a special physical attack against ground units, grounded VToLS, WiGEs, and aerospace units they are in base to base contact with.

Anti-MIssiles System (AMS)
The AMS intercepts incoming missiles and shoots them down. In game terms, any unit targeted by IF, LRM, or SRM special attacks reduce their damage by 1 against an AMS equipped unit, as long as the shots are fired from the front.

Armored Components (ARM)
Armored Components are harder to damage than their unarmored counterparts. The first time the unit with Armored Components suffers a critical hit, this ability is marked off, and the critical hit is ignored.

Armored Motive System (ARS)
Units with this special ability have protective equipment for their motive systems. When rolling for motive critical hits, these units apply a -1 modifier to the die roll.

Barrier Armor Rating (BAR)
This is a lower grade armor than most military grade units would expect to be armored with. Any successful hit against a unit with BAR automatically trigger a critical hit check. (normally, units only check for critical hits when they take structure damage)

Basic Fire Control (BFC)
This special ability is indicative of very simple controls for firing weapons. Units with this SA apply a +1 penalty to hit when making weapon attacks.

Battlemech Harjel (BHJ)
Harjel is a reactive sealant that plugs holes and gaps caused by damage. In Alpha Strike, this allows the unit to ignore “Hull Breach” critical hit checks. Normal critical hits are checked for as normal.

Battlemech Shield (SHLD)
Some units actually carry shields into battle that allow them to sacrifice accuracy for protection. Units equipped with Shields reduce the damage from most attacks by 1 point (to a minimum of 0). Heat causing attacks, indirect attacks, and area effect attacks are not reduced by this ability. The downside is that all weapon attacks incur a +2 penalty to weapon attack rolls.

Bomb (Bomb#)
Conventional and Aerospace aircraft, fixed wing support vehicles, and some battle armor units are capable of mounting ordnance on external hardpoints. Units can mount a number of bombs equal to their Bomb value (so Bomb6 can carry six bombs). Units mounting bombs reduce their thrust value by 1 per bomb carried, except for Battle armor units.

Cargo (CAR#)
Infantry units with this special ability can be carried into battle by other units with the Infantry Transport special ability (noted as IT#). The number listed is the amount of space that a given unit takes up, and the minimum capacity that a unit will have to have to carry a unit into battle. For Example: A Unit of Jump Infantry has a CAR# of CAR5, meaning that the unit transporting them has to have an IT# of IT5 to be able to carry them.

Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment (CASE)
CASE helps protect a unit from ammunition explosions. Units suffering an Ammo critical hit are not instantly destroyed, but will suffer additional damage (possibly triggering an additional critical hit).

Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment II (CASEII)
CASEII is an improvement of standard CASE, and completely protects a unit from Ammo critical hits.

Electronic Countermeasures (ECM)
Units with ECM systems project a bubble of electromagnetic interference that jams a host of other systems. This is a 12 inch bubble centered on the unit in question and has a couple of key effects.
ECM vs. Active Probes, Drones, Narc, and INarc systems are covered under the advanced options rules, (but the basic gist is that these advanced electronics don’t work inside the bubble).
ECM vs. C3 systems are generally not good interactions, because the ECM field disrupts the network links for the C3 systems. They break connections between C3s and C3M networks, and isolate C3i equipped units from their networks.

Elementary Engine or Fuel Cell Engine (EE or FC)
Units with this Special Ability represent primitive engines or engines that otherwise aren’t fusion powered. They’re incapable of operating underwater areas at all without the SEAL special ability. EE units are incapable of operating in a vacuum, but FC units with the SEAL ability can. Heat tracking units with these special abilities don’t generate additional heat from an engine critical hit, but the controlling player must roll 2D6 at the end of every end phase. A roll of 12 indicates that the engine has exploded in spectacular fashion.

Energy (ENE)
Units with this Special ability are equipped primarily with energy weapons and don’t have explosive ammunition. These units are immune to the Ammo critical hits.

 

UNIT SPECIAL ABILITIES (CONT.)​

Extended Mechanized (XMEC)
Battle Armor with this ability can be transported on the battlefield by any type of unit as mechanized battle armor (see page 32 for details on transporting infantry.) Normally, only Units with the Omni tag can carry mechanized Battle Armor.

Fire Resistant (FR)
Units with this special ability are not affected by weapons with the Heat (HT#) Special Ability. They generate heat normally.

Indirect Fire (IF#)
The Indirect Fire Special Ability allows a unit to attack another unit that it doesn’t have a valid LOS to. Using primarily missiles fired in parabolic arcs, the IF# allows a unit to engage units that it normally can’t see. The # indicated in IF is the damage value caused by the Indirect Fire attack. (This topic is covered on page 35).

Industrial Triple Strength Myomer (I-TSM)
Units with I-TSM have special musculature that powers up when activated. The Industrial version is always on and provides the following benefits. Units equipped with I-TSM do an additional point of damage with physical attacks, but suffer a +2 penalty on physical attacks because of a lack of fine motor control.

Infantry Transport (IT#)
Units with this special ability can transport infantry units with the CAR# special ability. The transport must have a higher or equal IT# to the CAR# of the unit being carried.

Light ECM (LECM)
Light ECM works the same way that regular ECM does, except it only creates a 2 inch bubble.

Mechanized (MEC)
Battle Armor with this special ability can be carried into battle as mechanized battle armor by units with the OMNI special ability.

Melee( MEL)
Units with this special ability are equipped with a physical attack weapon (ex. Hatchetman). They cause an additional point of damage when successfully completing a physical weapon attack.

Mimetic Armor System/Light Mimetic Armor System (MAS/LMAS)
The MAS/LMAS special abilities are a special armor system that makes units harder to hit depending on unit type, and the distance the unit moved in the current turn’s movement phase. Attacks made against non-infantry targets that moved 0 inches, apply a +3 penalty to hit. Apply a +2 penalty against shots made at a unit that moved up 5 inches. Apply a +1 penalty to a unit that moved up to 12 inches, and the benefit is lost if the unit moves more than 12 inches. Battle Armor units with this ability apply a +3 penalty if they moved 0 inches. This drops to a +2 penalty in the unit moved 2 inches, and a +1 penalty if the unit moved up to 5 inches. A unit moving more than five inches loses this benefit completely. LMAS works similarly to MAS, except it only applies a +2 penalty if the unit moved 0 inches and a +1 penalty if it moved up to 2 inches.

Off-Road (ORO)
Vehicle Units with this special ability ignore the movement penalty for traveling through non-paved terrain. This ability is only required on Support Vehicles with the Wheeled (w) movement type.

Omni (OMNI)
Ground Based units with the OMNI special ability can transport a unit of battle armor as mechanized battle armor. (Check out the Transporting Infantry section on page 32)

Overheat Long (OVL)
This Special ability allows a unit to increase it’s damage using the Overheat rules at Long Range. (The Overheat rules typically only apply at short and medium range)

Stealth (STL)
This special ability represents an advanced armor type that confuses targeting systems and makes a unit harder to hit at a distance. Non-infantry units with this ability apply an additional +1 penalty to hit at medium range and a +2 penalty to hit at Long (or further) range. Infantry units with this ability apply a +1 penalty to hit at short and medium range, and a +2 penalty at long (or further) ranges.

Torpedo (TOR#)
Torpedoes are special missiles that are especially potent against units on water or underneath it. The Torpedo ability has range brackets like a standard weapon attack and can be combined with the standard attack profile. Torpedoes ignore the underwater range and damage rules that affect other weapons.

Triple Strength Myomer (TSM)
Enhanced myomer technology uses heat to push the myomers to higher performance. This has two effects.When a mech with TSM has a heat scale level of 1 or higher, it gains two additional movement points. When at Heat Scale 1, it also ignores the movement reduction for high heat. Higher heat scales reduce movement normally. When an overheating unit deals damage from a physical attack, increase that damage by 1.

Turret (TUR#)
A unit with a Turret (TUR#) mounts at least some of its weapons with a 360 degree firing arc. If the unit chooses to fire outside of its front firing arc, it uses the value listed as the # in the TURdescription, (a unit with the TUR4 ability wishes to shoot at an enemy in its side arc. It uses the 4 as its damage value instead of the 7 it normally has)

Underwater Maneuvering Units UMU)
Basically underwater jets, the UMUs allow a unit to ignore the movement penalties for travelling underwater.

Watchdog (WAT)
The Watchdog combines the qualities of the ECM suite and the active probe technology. A unit with a WAT is treated as if it has the LECM and LPRB special abilities.

 

There are actually many more than what is listed here, but this is just to get people started.

 

In addition to special abilities for specific units, there are also special abilities for CREWS & PILOTS! Although your average soldier will not have these skills, crews and pilots that have more experience may have some of these. The more experience, the more abilities they might have. You can use these to further define and develop Player Characters (PCs) as well as more special Non-PCs.

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