Savage Mechwarrior?

[Gojira54]

Has any one used SW for a mech setting of any kind? Was thinking of using SW for a Mechwarrior style game.

[ValhallaGH]

Not that I'm aware of, but it should work pretty well.
You'll need the SFC, obviously.
Generally the weapons in there should be fine, but you may want to adjust the Mass Driver / Rail Gun - I think the damage is fine, but it needs a bit of AP to be a proper threat. Probably AP 1 per level would do it - a dual-linked Level 4 (the biggest rail guns you can put on a Size 8 walker) rail gun would deal 4d12+2, AP 4, raising the effective average damage from 30.4 to 34.4 - enough to reliably Shake an assault walker but not a heavy walker. For comparison, dual-linked small Cannon deals 3d10+2, AP 10 for the same mods - averaging 23.3, AP 10, or an effective 33.3, again reliably causing Shaken.
You could increase the AP to 2 per level, to make rail guns the best guns for their mods, second only to missiles. I would strongly advise against AP 3 or higher, as it quickly turns into "rocket tag."

[Gojira54]

Much appreciated. I was flipping through the SFC and read the section on "walkers". Seems pretty good but I had never heard of anyone using it in a game.

[ValhallaGH]

My friends and I have used the walker rules on many occasions, to good effect. They're even the basis for the robot armors in Savage Rifts, where they mostly work well (though the upgraded vehicular weapons make robot combat very dangerous). The vehicular weapons are generally a bit weaker than the walkers, so you tend to have to hit them a lot to cause serious damage - but that fits the BattleTech setting, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

The reliable exception is missiles. Missiles are flipping scary - you can carry 8 or 12 per Mod of ammunition, and the launchers are only 1 Mod. So a Vulture-style 'Mech could mount two LRM-20 for a measly seven Mods (two launchers, each spitting out two missiles per action, and forty spares) - you could do it with just six mods, but then it's a bit too vulnerable to Critical Hits. That's two or four damage rolls per round, Range 200/400/800, average 33.6, AP 15 per hit, (effectively 48.6 damage against most targets) and it's always shooting at an area, making it easier to hit really far targets and fast targets. That's enough to smack around the default Heavy Walker - and still leaves plenty of room for the dual-linked Medium and Heavy lasers, speed increases, and additional armor plating.

I'd recommend mocking up a few 'Mechs and hammering out a few battles. You can even through some Clan elementals in the mix to see if they can properly open those cans.

[ValhallaGH]

Damage for each missile. They're like autofire attacks that way.

[Gojira54]

Thank you.

[Gojira54]

Does "linking" have any benefit to missiles? Also, do you roll damage for each linked weapon(as if it were 2 attacks in the case of dual linked weapons) or does it simply add a modifier to the attack and damage roll?

[Thewightman]

If it's a mecha system you want, you could also look at Lancer. It's a mecha rpg system currently still being designed, but speaking as someone who helped with the beta test, it's already playable and pretty good at giving a good mecha experience.

[ValhallaGH]

"Weapons of the same type may be dual or quad linked and fired as one (triple linked is ineffective). Dual linked weapons add +1 to hit and +2 damage; quad linked weapons add +2 to hit and +4 damage."
For missiles, that would still work as written. For dual linked, you'd fire two missiles with +1 to Shooting and +2 on a single damage roll. For quad linked it would be four missiles, +2 Shooting, and +4 to a single damage roll.
If you're using linked light missile launchers then you could launch up to four barrages per round; two per round from heavy missile launchers.

Linked missile launchers aren't very efficient - you'll go through ammunition absurdly quickly, and each of those missiles is kind of expensive - but when you want a system that is going to hit the target, will probably hurt a lot, and you don't care about the monetary costs then they'll do really well.

[Jebbou]

David Scott published something on the Google Plus community about a Mechwarrior Hack he was working on https://plus.google.com/u/1/+DavidSc...ts/KQ5BHt2yCt8

I don't recall having seen anything after that post on the topic, but it generated a good discussion on the subject (heat, weapons, etc)

[zorgon60]

Can you link missile launchers though? I mean, a single launcher can already launch 4 missiles...

That and a missile launcher is a modification, not a weapon if that makes sense. I'm looking, and none of the stock ships or mechs link their launchers.

[zorgon60]

Also. I think the missiles in BattleTech work more like rocket pods on an attack helicopter...where they have a rate of fire (Real world example). I don't think I've seen rules for a rocket pod in savage worlds, but I am more than likely mistaken.

[Gojira54]

Ive heard tell that a setting is going to be released for SW that focuses on giant monsters and robots. I think its being written by Alan Bahr.

[ValhallaGH]

Can you link missile launchers though? I mean, a single launcher can already launch 4 missiles...

That and a missile launcher is a modification, not a weapon if that makes sense. I'm looking, and none of the stock ships or mechs link their launchers.

It is a modification, not a weapon system, but I don't see why you couldn't. Spend two Mods for Launchers, then apply the Linked adjustment, and you've got a dual linked missile launcher for one Mod slot. And, like anything, it is subject to GM approval.

As you noted, a single launcher can launch 4 missiles as one action. If that's not similar to a helicopter rocket pod then I have no idea what mechanics you'd expect to see from such a weapon.

[zorgon60]

As you noted, a single launcher can launch 4 missiles as one action. If that's not similar to a helicopter rocket pod then I have no idea what mechanics you'd expect to see from such a weapon.

A LAU-61 can fire off all its rockets (20 I think, but I could be wrong) in about 1 second.

[ValhallaGH]

That doesn't answer my question.

[zorgon60]

I guess I'm thinking there needs to be a different weapon all together for the LRMs and SRMs in battletech as there isn't anything that "matches up" in Savage Worlds.

Also, the rockets fired from those pods aren't armor piercing. I don't think the ones in battletech were (or should be) either. I just think they should have an upped explosive damage.

[zorgon60]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think this one needs a little more tenderizing. I think I'd propose this for testing (i.e. all numbers are just made up in my head).

For the missiles in LRMs and SRMs, Use the full auto rules from SWD. So for an LRM 5, you'd roll 5 attack die -2 unless the mech is a steady platform. For each hit, you roll damage for the missile. LRM20, roll 20 shooting die...Ugh...Archers would SUCK.

For damage we have to remember that the missiles in Battletech stunk...like bad. LRMs do 1 point per missile! Also, I do not think they were armor piercing (i.e. shaped charges).
That being said, I think damage should be rather low, or lack AP.

Since the missiles in SFC are all AP, we could just strip that and use the damage for light missiles for LRMs and heavy missiles for SRMs.

This also "fixes" the linked discusion by making it one weapon with a ROF as apposed to a modification.

Lastly, because of the autoloader times, I think these should be slow to reload (i.e. only fire every other round).

[Gojira54]

I like the idea of using "light missile" damage for LRM's and "heavy missile" damage for SRM's. What Im wondering is whether or not players would be put off by all of the damage dice they have to roll for weapons in general.

[zorgon60]

You could always say for each missile that hits after the first adds +2 damage, or stacks like dynamite in DLR.

[Gojira54]

I like your original idea of rolling 5 attack die and then damage for each, makes more sense to me.

[Erolat]

You also need to look at general effectiveness of LRM/SRM weapons against Battletech targets. An LRM 20, average of 11-12 damage in five point groups, against most light mechs is going to knock it around a decent amount. Against an assault mech it would not be much more than a scratch. In almost any case an LRM 5 is not much more than a harassment attack with its 2-3 damage. And all of this is dependent on how much armor is left on the mech. (2-3 points on a stripped light mech is an easy death sentance, on an stripped assault it would depend on how much ammo is left.)

It will take some work to create that same "damage over time" feeling and the need to avoid taking damage on one side or the other. Until that is worked out, or glossed over, any discussion on how to do missels, or any weapon honestly, is not much more than a thought exercise.

So in keeping with the thought exercise I would do the following:
All LRM weapon systems have a range of 100/200/400 and a rate of fire of 1. (They can also be fired indirectly if there is a spotter of some type.)

• LRM 5 - Damage: 4d6, AP 6, HW, SBT, 1 Mod slot; Ammo is 15 shots per Mod.

• LRM 10 - Damage: 4d6+2, AP 7, HW, SBT, 1 Mod slot; Ammo is 12 shots per Mod.

• LRM 15 - Damage 5d6, AP 8, HW, MBT, 2 Mod slots; Ammo is 9 shots per Mod.

• LRM 20 - Damage 6d6, AP 10, HW MBT, 2 Mod slots; Ammo is 6 shots per Mod.

Now all of this is just a first run through and open to changes but, IMO, sets a decent ground work. The reason for the S/MBT is to simulate the effectiveness against infantry units, HW is to make them effective against all combat vehicles (the same ones that would shrug off small arms fire), Ammo per Mod is an approximation of the ammo crits needed. Not real sure how to simulate the heat for each so that will need to be worked out.

[zorgon60]

I like it, but I think the SBT for LRM 5 and 10 is too small. Firing 5 rockets, 500 meters away, you'd get a little spread. How about LBTs for all of them to cover the spread and overlapping explosions

[Gojira54]

What about dividing the mechs into 8 compartments like in the mechwarrior settings and using a d8 to determine which part of the mech(1-head,2-center torso and so on) takes damage?