[Seven Systems Legacy] mechanics (penetration) for damage

[Chris Lekas]

Here's a thought on the damage issue (which changed as I was writing them...):

1) Have every system in a location have a given number of "redundancy points." List the systems in some pleasing order under each location. (E.g. #1 = interior structure; #2 = chain gun; #3 = servos, or whatever). At least one slot in each location is BLANK.

2) When damage penetrates, roll a die -- just one die -- to randomly determine which system takes damage first (e.g. I roll a 2, I start with the chain gun). If the BLANK comes up, the damage just blows through, harmlessly.

3) Weapon power minus armor equals damage dealt. (E.g. my Megacannon has power 6, your armor is level 2, I do 4 damage).

4) Apply damage to the randomly selected system from step (2); anything left over goes to the next system on the list. (E.g. the chain gun had 3 damage points, so it's destroyed and I do 1 point to the servos too).

As long as a system has any redundancy points left, it's fine.

I really like this idea, but I have a couple suggestions. First, I think that certain systems should become less efficient when damaged: i.e. your movement is reduced if the engine goes below half. Also I think that certain weapons should modify this structure. Missiles for example could do a certain amount of damage equally spread amongst the components (They arent likely to just go through as they explode) this could in fact be one of their strong points. And certain weapons may be limited to only damaging a single component (any excess is lost). This structure would give you a great opertunity to give weapons signifigant advantages and disadvantages, making it more fun and complicated to chose the specific loadout for a machine. "Hmmm, do I want to be a sniper and rip out a couple key components, or do I want to be more gauranteed to do widespread damage?". This would really alow the choice and design of a character's SSM to refect their characters outlook, strengthening the RPG element even when entrenched in combat.

[pilot602]

What if I drop the "rolling for location" and just make all shots "called" .. i.e. I fire at the left arm. Then roll for penetration and then come up with a simplified roll for redundancy somehow

Dunno just one idea to streamline things.


(idea)

Ok as I was writing this I had this idea. You hit a location (somehow .. either roll or call), you roll for penetration check (12 beats 10 etc.) Then you roll once for redundancy. The number that is rolled is the number of systems affected. Anything over 10 is a miss but rolls of 1 -10 dictate the number of systems affected.

Not quite as random as before but it certainly lowers the rolls to a maximum of three (if you're rolling for location).

Don't know if I like it or not but it's one idea.

[greedo1379]

How about levels of Evolution Control.  Level 1 would let you modify the evo result by +/- 1, Level 2 would be +/- 2 (including +/- 1), etc.  The more you focus into Evolution Control the better you would be at it.

But I think you also have to tie this into the robot / rider connection better or why wouldn't there just be one evolution master that would meditate whenever a robot was about to evolve before handing off the evolved robot to some other driver.  Know what I mean?

[btrc]

I'll second the comments that you've got way too many rolls going on there.

1) It seems that your armor/protection numbers always seem to add together, so there ought to be a way to make it just one number. If you make 'armor' a system that can be damaged, this gives the possibility that the protection of the armor can be decreased by hits, but does not make it mandatory.

2) The multiple system damage thing seems both cumbersome and to some degree unrealistic, much as battletech hits migrating up your mech's arm and into their torso did. You could probably get most of the effect you want by having one roll for location, which absorbs a certain amount of damage, and the rest of the damage is applied to a generalized "hits" the SSM has. In human terms, if I shoot you in the arm, I incapacitate the arm, -and- do some overall impairment to your functioning. On an SSM, I might blow a hole in a manipulator, but also compromise certain data or power pathways or cause general system interference from short-circuits, etc.

I hope this babbling is useful in some way.

Greg Porter
BTRC