MongoosePaul
First Post
For the developer’s diary this week, I thought I’d show off some of the rules, which then caused a quandary as to what to reveal – Mek design, personal combat, WarMek and vehicle combat, mercenary company creation, nukes – there’s so much packed in that it was tricky picking one thing to stand out. In the end, we decided to use an example for the example. Below is an excerpt from the electronic warfare chapter, an extended example of play that draws together all of the EW tricks and combat rules of the game. I’ve cut it short before it breaks down round by round and goes into combat to just concentrate on some of the things that can happen before shots are fired in a game of Armageddon 2089. Following that, given the topic, is a sneak peak at the Ultralite Spyglass Scout/Comms Mek. The Ultralite is lightly armed and armoured but comes complete with a host of scanners and jammers, wrapped in an attractive price that makes it popular with many newly formed mercenary companies desiring an edge in battlefield awareness.
Scanning: Example of Play
This detailed example of play shows the correct use of several of the rules from this chapter, as demonstrated by two hostile WarMek squads, a European Federation six-Mek squad and a United States four-Mek squad. The EF squad consists of an Ipex Rec4, an Ipex Assassin, an Ipex-Tak ORB 8-L, a Tak Industries Commander and two Werner LSM 1As. The smaller US squad consists of an Ultralite Spyglass, a Violator Heavy Support Mek (modified to carry slightly less armour but with the addition of a Countermeasures Launcher in the leg) and two Bushi Assault Meks.
Note that this example deliberately uses a terrain type with a very wide field of view (tundra) so as to maximise Scan and Spot examples but many WarMek combats will begin at far closer ranges due to use of cover and concealment.
The US Meks are in a defensive formation for the night, spread out from one another by several hundred metres and alert for an attack. This unscheduled stop has been prompted by one of the Bushis, which has been somewhat unreliable for months and is now powered down while its cold-weather-suited pilot attempts to repair its faulty leg actuator.
Martin Rickman, the pilot of the US squad’s Violator class WarMek, is attempting to spot anything he can off to the north. He has a Visual Scanner mounted on the Mek, giving him a +2 circumstance bonus to any Spot checks he makes and granting him low-light vision out to 1,500m. Snow is falling, and it is a clear, starlit night. An enemy Rec4 Scout WarMek, the scout for the European Federation Mek squad, is running towards him at a speed of 60m. The Meks are in a great expanse of snowy tundra to the north of Canada, one of the coldest places on the planet outside of Antarctica – and one of the most difficult to hide in, for it offers almost no cover.
A Gargantuan Mek pilot could potentially see out to 17,000m but the clear starlit night reduces this to 4,250m. The snow further reduces visibility to 2,125m. The Games Master begins to keep track of movement and action on a round-by-round basis as soon as the Rec4 comes within 2,125m of the Violator, though it may well be several rounds before one sides detects the other and he needs to call for initiative checks.
At 2,125m, Rickman’s Spot DC is 52, a base of 50 with +2 for the Rec4’s Tiny size. His Spot skill is very good, +15. His skill check will be further modified as follows: +2 for the Visual Scanner; -4 for the snow; -4 for the dim light; and +20 for the Rec4’s speed, for a total of +14. Even with a total of +29 to the roll, it is not possible for him to roll a 52, so he gets no chance to see the Rec4 until it comes within 1,750m (14,000 x 1/4 x 1/2). When it does so, he will need a 42 and have the same bonuses and penalties. He rolls a 12; +29 is 41, almost but not quite enough!
That same round the Rec4 pilot makes a Scan check, using its ground surveillance radar. The Violator is 1,750m away, and the radar has a range increment of 200m, giving the pilot a -16 on his Scan check. The base DC for the Scan is 14, identical to the Violator’s Radar Signature, and the Rec4 pilot, Milton Greene, is very lucky with a roll of 18 (+14 for his Scan skill, -16 for range, for a total of 16, higher than the DC of 14 ) and detects the Violator with his ground surveillance radar. The Games Master decides there is no need to declare a surprise round as yet, since it is quite possible that Greene will have several rounds’ worth of activity before he is detected in turn.
The Rec 4 drops its speed down to 10m per round to reduce its chance of being spotted – this brings Rickman’s Spot modifiers to +19 (+15 skill, +2 Scanner, -4 snow, -4 lighting, +10 target speed), again making the Rec4 impossible to Spot, since the DC is still 42.
(Had Greene not detected the Violator, he would soon have come within 1,500m of Rickman, at which point the latter’s low-light vision from the visual scanner would have altered matters. The penalty for the lighting conditions would have been removed, so Rickman’s DC to Spot the WarMek would have been a mere 12, including the Rec4’s +2 Size Modifier. This is because the maximum visibility for a Spot check of DC 10 in a Gargantuan Mech is 3,000m, halved to 1,500m by the snow but with no further penalty for the moonless night.)
Greene communicates with his squad’s Comms Mek and discovers that Rickman’s Mek is definitely hostile – there is no record of another friendly unit in the area. Having three attacks per round, he launches both his Lancer missiles at the Violator. The Games Master rules that the first round of Lancer fire is a surprise round, and calls for all potential combatants, not just Rickman and Greene, to make initiative checks for the following round.
http://home.clara.net/vita/spyglass.jpg
So, what would you like to see for next week, more rules, more background, more WarMeks?
Scanning: Example of Play
This detailed example of play shows the correct use of several of the rules from this chapter, as demonstrated by two hostile WarMek squads, a European Federation six-Mek squad and a United States four-Mek squad. The EF squad consists of an Ipex Rec4, an Ipex Assassin, an Ipex-Tak ORB 8-L, a Tak Industries Commander and two Werner LSM 1As. The smaller US squad consists of an Ultralite Spyglass, a Violator Heavy Support Mek (modified to carry slightly less armour but with the addition of a Countermeasures Launcher in the leg) and two Bushi Assault Meks.
Note that this example deliberately uses a terrain type with a very wide field of view (tundra) so as to maximise Scan and Spot examples but many WarMek combats will begin at far closer ranges due to use of cover and concealment.
The US Meks are in a defensive formation for the night, spread out from one another by several hundred metres and alert for an attack. This unscheduled stop has been prompted by one of the Bushis, which has been somewhat unreliable for months and is now powered down while its cold-weather-suited pilot attempts to repair its faulty leg actuator.
Martin Rickman, the pilot of the US squad’s Violator class WarMek, is attempting to spot anything he can off to the north. He has a Visual Scanner mounted on the Mek, giving him a +2 circumstance bonus to any Spot checks he makes and granting him low-light vision out to 1,500m. Snow is falling, and it is a clear, starlit night. An enemy Rec4 Scout WarMek, the scout for the European Federation Mek squad, is running towards him at a speed of 60m. The Meks are in a great expanse of snowy tundra to the north of Canada, one of the coldest places on the planet outside of Antarctica – and one of the most difficult to hide in, for it offers almost no cover.
A Gargantuan Mek pilot could potentially see out to 17,000m but the clear starlit night reduces this to 4,250m. The snow further reduces visibility to 2,125m. The Games Master begins to keep track of movement and action on a round-by-round basis as soon as the Rec4 comes within 2,125m of the Violator, though it may well be several rounds before one sides detects the other and he needs to call for initiative checks.
At 2,125m, Rickman’s Spot DC is 52, a base of 50 with +2 for the Rec4’s Tiny size. His Spot skill is very good, +15. His skill check will be further modified as follows: +2 for the Visual Scanner; -4 for the snow; -4 for the dim light; and +20 for the Rec4’s speed, for a total of +14. Even with a total of +29 to the roll, it is not possible for him to roll a 52, so he gets no chance to see the Rec4 until it comes within 1,750m (14,000 x 1/4 x 1/2). When it does so, he will need a 42 and have the same bonuses and penalties. He rolls a 12; +29 is 41, almost but not quite enough!
That same round the Rec4 pilot makes a Scan check, using its ground surveillance radar. The Violator is 1,750m away, and the radar has a range increment of 200m, giving the pilot a -16 on his Scan check. The base DC for the Scan is 14, identical to the Violator’s Radar Signature, and the Rec4 pilot, Milton Greene, is very lucky with a roll of 18 (+14 for his Scan skill, -16 for range, for a total of 16, higher than the DC of 14 ) and detects the Violator with his ground surveillance radar. The Games Master decides there is no need to declare a surprise round as yet, since it is quite possible that Greene will have several rounds’ worth of activity before he is detected in turn.
The Rec 4 drops its speed down to 10m per round to reduce its chance of being spotted – this brings Rickman’s Spot modifiers to +19 (+15 skill, +2 Scanner, -4 snow, -4 lighting, +10 target speed), again making the Rec4 impossible to Spot, since the DC is still 42.
(Had Greene not detected the Violator, he would soon have come within 1,500m of Rickman, at which point the latter’s low-light vision from the visual scanner would have altered matters. The penalty for the lighting conditions would have been removed, so Rickman’s DC to Spot the WarMek would have been a mere 12, including the Rec4’s +2 Size Modifier. This is because the maximum visibility for a Spot check of DC 10 in a Gargantuan Mech is 3,000m, halved to 1,500m by the snow but with no further penalty for the moonless night.)
Greene communicates with his squad’s Comms Mek and discovers that Rickman’s Mek is definitely hostile – there is no record of another friendly unit in the area. Having three attacks per round, he launches both his Lancer missiles at the Violator. The Games Master rules that the first round of Lancer fire is a surprise round, and calls for all potential combatants, not just Rickman and Greene, to make initiative checks for the following round.
http://home.clara.net/vita/spyglass.jpg
So, what would you like to see for next week, more rules, more background, more WarMeks?
