Big Stompy Robots and Attrition

[paladin2019]

I've been thinking about the games with big stompy robots that aren't as concerned with instant kills as attritting capabilities and destroying components.

Thoughts:

• On a hit, determine location as normal for the inspiring system.
• Each location has its own Wounds and components (and, possibly, Toughness.) The main body location has the normal Wounds of a thing of its size. Limbs and head have -1 or -2 Wounds, depending on if there are other body/torso locations which would themselves have one less Wound than the main body. Depletion of a location's Wounds causes the location to fall off the big stompy robot.
• Each Wound scored against a location can or does destroy a component within. (What is the "can" mechanic?)
• Component loss special effects are adapted from the original system (ammo exploding, loss of an attack bonus, etc.)

[Deskepticon]

I remember a conversation like this back on the old forums. It was before SWADE, so before multiple actions and additional Wounds were an official thing. IIRC, the idea was to make a giant mech operate as if it were multiple Extras, giving it three or four actions per round.

Similar ideas to those you just put forward were suggested: destroy the left arm to disable its ranged weapon, destroy the right arm to prevent melee attacks; target the head to disrupt sensors (Notice penalty), hinder its mobility by targeting the legs, etc.

Adventure Edition pretty much made the idea obsolete, I think, since multiple actions are now possible. But I suppose if you want to expand upon Called Shots in regards to actually destroying limbs instead of just being "attack with a something extra," then it's not a bad way to go.

[ValhallaGH]

I've been thinking about the games with big stompy robots that aren't as concerned with instant kills as attritting capabilities and destroying components.

Fair, those games can be kind of fun. If you could blend them with Savage Worlds, they could be very fun.

[*]On a hit, determine location as normal for the inspiring system.

Fair enough. But, most of those settings use humanoid robots, so the locations of the Injury Table could be used just as readily.

[*]Each location has its own Wounds and components (and, possibly, Toughness.) The main body location has the normal Wounds of a thing of its size. Limbs and head have -1 or -2 Wounds, depending on if there are other body/torso locations which would themselves have one less Wound than the main body. Depletion of a location's Wounds causes the location to fall off the big stompy robot.

Effectively making each location an independent vehicle (or creature). I can see that appeal, especially with extreme compartmentalization and great damage control systems to provide the in-universe reason for vehicle survival.
I tried to put something similar together while I was getting into (and then out of) Monster Hunter: World video game. (Link) I found the results to be lacking and I'm not sure if the idea can be salvaged.

[*]Each Wound scored against a location can or does destroy a component within. (What is the "can" mechanic?)

Why not just use a random determinant, like the Vehicular Critical Hits table? Heck, you could reduce it to a d6 roll (similar to flammability), with 6 guaranteed to break something, 1 guaranteed to just be damage, and 2-5 possibly breaking something depending upon how densely packed the location is.

[*]Component loss special effects are adapted from the original system (ammo exploding, loss of an attack bonus, etc.)

Why? The Vehicular Critical Hits table has most of the same results - except for catastrophic explosions (I am actually quite glad that is no longer on the table - it came up way too often in my experience).

[paladin2019]

The Vehicle Critical Hit table is still linked to the idea of the thing as a unified whole. How does locomotion damage apply to an arm hit, for example? But a similar table of components X, Y, and Z are in the arm hit, so is a Wound damage to one of those systems or a chance to damage one of those systems? I'm not sure which is the better answer, but linking component damage to wounding the location is definitely something I want. EDIT: Basically, I want to be able to take one game's big stompy robot component diagram/location notes and use it directly with SWADE stats for Toughness(Armor).

Would be so much easier if Palladium had embraced random hit locations for big stompy robots and we got the adaptation for Rifts....

[ValhallaGH]

I was not suggesting that you use the Critical Hit table as written, but it can be a good guideline to creating your own table.
Alternatively, there is my fire-inspired suggestion.