As we’ve been tweaking certain rules we also like to examine the interactions between units to verify there’s still a healthy balance for the different models released. While MechaStellar uses a d10 system which has more variance than a d6, we always strive to keep units from being to extreme where they can dodge on 2+ for instance, or never be hurt in Melee since that wouldn’t be very fun from a gameplay perspective. In this post we’ll go a bit more in depth on the rationale for the forthcoming changes.
To start we are giving all units an across the board Melee +1d10. This makes attacking more reliable for the rank and file grunts, and giving some more variability on defense.
As for Evade, one of the recent equipment tweaks we’re happy with is allowing for a high level of Speed to give a bonus to Evade but at a penalty to Shooting. A fun and lore accurate rule, it does push the boundaries too much on the Shooting Accuracy vs Evade balance. We now have three units in the OYW era that have a +5 Evade, meaning they dodge many of the common suits on a 2+, one of them is extremely brittle with only 300 HP but the other two are very impressive Mobile Suit from 0080 that are hard to take down. As we progress into the 0083 and Zeta Gundam era the gulf between Shooting and Evade is going to increase. So we’re looking to shorten the gap there in two ways, adjusting Combat Roles (Battler, Raid, Gunner, etc.) and adjusting how Frame affects combat stats.
Combat Role Update
Here is the current stat bonuses for each role.
Gunner: +1 Action, +2 Shooting Accuracy, -1 Evade, -1 Movement
Battler: +1 Shooting Accuracy, +2d10 Melee
Interceptor: +1 Shooting Accuracy, +1d10 Melee, +1 Evade
Raid: +1d10 Melee, +1 Evade, +4 Movement
In the past Raid used to be the same as Interceptor but trading the Evade bonus for a Movement bonus, since one of our most iconic Raid units is the Dom we wanted to give them a Raid bonus. To keep things fair if we gave Raid +1 Evade then we’d have to remove on their current bonuses, we decided to go with Shooting after testing out the mechanic where a high Speed (Thrusters) gave +1 Evade and -1 Shooting. While the Evade has been greatly appreciated, Raid units are typically the first to suffer from problems when we’re comparing accuracy hit percentages. The Dom in particular despite having a very powerful bazooka had an incredibly hard time hitting with it, and the few hits it does land can be negated by Momentum, making an iconic unit very lackluster. So we decided to split Raid into two roles, Raid & Attacker. Raid would have the Shooting & Evade boost, while Attacker would have the Melee & Evade boost.
While this solves the problem for Raid types, we still need to shorten the gap between Shooting & Evade, ideally only the extreme units will be Evading on a 3+ against common units. To do that we are improving all roles with +1 Shooting. The new roles bonuses will be as follows:
Gunner: +1 Action, +3 Shooting Accuracy, -1 Evade
Battler: +2 Shooting Accuracy, +2d10 Melee
Interceptor: +2 Shooting Accuracy, +1d10 Melee, +1 Evade
Raid: +2 Shooting Accuracy, +1 Evade, +4 Movement
Attacker: +1 Shooting Accuracy, +1d10 Melee, +1 Evade, +4 Movement
Formula Update
We noticed comparing two units with very similar roles and stat lines that the gulf between Frame 1 & Frame 2 was a bit too large even though it’s a relatively small change in points (30pt delta). Since Frame 2 also gives 2 more equipment slots which could in turn be changed into 2 more Low Cost slots, essentially there is only a 10pt delta between Frame 1 & Frame 2.
This means for 10 points you gain 500HP, and essentially a +1 to Performance which makes it a no brainer to shift from Frame 1 to Frame 2. As a result we are increasing the cost for Frame 2 by +10pts and we are removing the performance adjustment for Frame 2 instead keeping it at Frame 3.
Since the intent of the Frame bonus to stats was that units with cutting edge technology such as a Gundam would have a slight edge, its more than reasonable that the Frame bonus start at Frame 3+ since we treat Frame 1-2 as Grunt suits. Frame 4 will also get a +10pt cost boost to make it equidistant between Frame 3 & Frame 5 in points.
-Units affected: Any units Frame 2+
-Stat Adjustment: These units will have either their Shooting Accuracy & Melee or Evade & Movement lowered by 1 point
-Units affected: Frame 2 & 4 units
-Cost Adjustment: A few units are now have a cost +10pts higher, the other units have modified either their Reinforce, Speed or Equipment slots in order to stay the same price.
MechaStellar 