Modifying your mech

please only submit designs you are ACTUALLY USING CURRENTLY. We don't need 50+ uber-designs that have no chance of seeing play in the campaign.

 

skwi, add this to the first post:

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Technologies that are off limits to us (but not the SLDF):

Endo Steel (cannot be salvaged)
XL engines (may be salvaged)
Double Heat Sinks (may be salvaged)

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Technologies not available to us at the beginning of the campaign:

Ferro-Fibrous
CASE

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anything that i'm missing skwi?

 

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

The "Armor Swap" upgrade on the TP Chart has changed to be a little cheaper to implement (sort of).

Changing Armor types will still cost you 1 TP, but if you are only adding, subtracting, or rearranging armor points (again, not changing the type of armor), it is now a free service. This should give many players a lot more flexibility in the customization of their mechs. However, please keep in mind that the GMs have to still implement any changes made no matter how small they are. We ask you to please not abuse this free service. Also, remember that ALL upgrades still take time in-game to implement.

 

skeleton/internal structure = STRUCTURAL Upgrades

engine = ENGINE Swap Upgrade

Neither is covered under Adv. Equipment Upgrade. Adv. Equipment Upgrade works the exact same as the Basic Equipment Upgrade except now you can swap out equipment (ie weapons, double heat sinks, etc.) that take up multiple slots (remember that to switch from one heat sink type to another you still have to pay for the Heat Sink Upgrade separately). Apologies for the Upgrade Sheet being a bit vague. I was trying to not get too wordy and fit it all on one sheet of paper. I will be sure to update the tech Point sheet to be more explicit about what is and is not covered under the various upgrades. Check back in 24 hrs.

 

Oh sry... when you said "strip it down to bare bones of skeleton and engine" i thought you meant strip it down of skeleton and engine to bare bones. You are correct; 2 TP will let you swap out ALL weapons, heat sinks and JJs. Adjustment of armor points is free so go nuts with it. However, if switching from say... primitive armor to standard, that will cost you 1 TP. But yeah, looks like you are solid. Funny enough, Val is doing the same thing; PPC + 3 medium lasers + flamer for infantry + 13 or so heat sinks + max armor. It is a good setup. I would likely do the exact same thing

 

I highly recommend using a flamer instead of machine guns; no ammo explosion + better damage against infantry + set shit on fire FTW. Machine guns are better used on vehicles because the machine guns can use rapid fire with wild abandonment with no heat concerns. Even a small hovercraft with 4 machine guns on rapid fire is brutal (rapid fire mode causes a lot of excess heat; makes it harder to use with mechs).

My point is, MGs work differently on mechs than what you are used to with the VTOLs. They create heat on rapid fire mode. A LOT of it. More than a flamer... and as much as 6 heat per MG (damage and heat w/rapid fire is 1d6). When you consider that flamers do more damage to infantry (at least comparing with standard fire rate... not sure about rapid), there is honestly no good reason to take an MG on a mech over a flamer. Even the heat that a flamer creates is negligible because most non-antiinfantry weapons do tiny amounts of damage. If you are shooting at infantry, you are better off just not firing most of your other weapons... hence... the heat is not an issue.

Val's build just fyi:

Icarus II
ICR-1S "Val-Refit"

Config:Biped
TechBase:Inner Sphere
Era:2500
Source:Star League
Rules Level:2

Mass:40
Engine:160 Fusion Engine(IS)
Structure:Standard
Myomer:Standard

Heat Sinks:13 Single
Walk MP:4
Jump MP:4

Armor:Standard(Inner Sphere)
LA Armor:12
RA Armor:12
LT Armor:15
RT Armor:15
CT Armor:18
HD Armor:9
LL Armor:20
RL Armor:20
RTL Armor:5
RTR Armor:5
RTC Armor:6

Weapons:5
Medium Laser, Right Torso
Medium Laser, Center Torso
PPC, Left Arm
Flamer, Right Arm
Medium Laser, Left Torso

EDIT: straight from the source just to set things straight:

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Rapid-fire Mode
A machine gun may be modifi ed to fi re at a much higher rate
than normal, chewing up huge amounts of ammunition but
significantly increasing the weapon’s damage potential. The
controlling player must mark any machine guns to be used in
rapid-fi re mode on the record sheet at the beginning of the game,
and the weapons must be rapid-fi red for the entire game.
Each time the weapon is rapid-fi red, roll 1D6 to determine the
heat generated. This number also becomes the damage infl icted
by the weapon if it hits (it is possible for a burst to infl ict only 1
point of damage). Each rapid-fi re burst uses a number of rounds
equal to the damage it infl icted x 3.
Rapid-fi re machine guns do not infl ict increased damage on
conventional infantry. Conventional infantry may not use Rapid
Fire mode. Battle Armor may use this rule, and roll for each active
trooper fi ring an MG separately.
light and Heavy Machine Guns: For light machine guns, the
damage and heat is 1D6 –1 (to a minimum of 1); for heavy machine
guns the damage and heat is 1D6 +1.

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In summary:

So basically, when choosing a anti-infantry weapon for a mech, reach for a flamer. There is just no good reason not to. I should add that inferno SRMs are actually fairly effective too (deal 3 damage per missile) and they obviously have much better range. Infernos also have a bit more flexibility as they are far more effective against vehicles than a flamer. The drawback, however, is their damage doesn't come anywhere near as effective as a single flamer's 4d6 damage in the anti-infantry role. I would pick one or the other, but you don't really need both infernos AND a flamer, especially if you have help.

P.S. Not trying to be a negative nancy about your build, Hordac. Please forgive me if it sounds like that. Just wanted to give you all the info so you can see for yourself

 

Hey, no problems there. You are talking to the GM who let another player take a spot welder into combat. Like I said, just wanted to give you the full picture. I guess another way of looking at it is your MG on rapid fire can pull double duty against harder targets like mechs; it will deal a little more damage than a flamer would.

Just don't feel too bad about min/maxing when you need to. I have already accounted for that in the game mechanics. I don't like to pull punches. It takes all the "fun" out of an RPG.

(that may or may not be a dwarf fortress reference)

 

Yep, that's a Valmech.

 

no it's not... needs moar medium lazors and claws with TSM

 

Well, I didn't want to piss you off and call it a Magnusmech