A lot of our folks will be on travel for December so we’re pushing the roster update out early this month. The major update for this month is the new “Supreme Robot Warfare” module that is intended for smaller games of say 2vs2 or 3vs3 which many of our players have been gravitating towards. Since this is a major update to the core rules we’re updating the VER to 8.6. The Design Goal for this module was to enhance the mobility of Real Robots (MS) and enhance the durability and knockout power of Super Robots (Titans).
Since we’ve been prototyping and playtesting Super Robot type units the last few months we’ve had a lot of discussions and good feedback on how to improve these models to make them feel more like their representative Super Robot shows. One item that came up pretty often is that Super Robot shows rarely get behind cover, naturally a super heroic robot doesn’t take cover behind the buildings they are trying to protect. In the Defend the City gametype there’s a good reason not to use cover, but for general gameplay we didn’t have that so we wanted to address that in this module. As a result we came up with Boldness.
Boldness – Gain [M+1] when you activate a Frame 3+ unit that is not behind Cover.
Initially this was planned for a Super Robot only module, but since MechaStellar has always shot for cross universe compatability that module expanded to include Real Robot modifications as well. We realized there was no reason to keep Boldness just to Super Robots and so expanded it to all units, but since we didn’t want to let Momentum get out of hand with one player bringing 15 Zaku IIs, it was narrowed down to Frame 3+ heroic units.
Along a similar line we have Armor Saves. We wanted to have high penetration weapons be more dangerous in this game mode, that way high pen low damage weapons could still take out Super Robots as we often see in Mazinger Z or Getter Robo. In this game mode Real Robots use the same Armor Save system as a Super Robot (1000 DMG instead of instant destruction) however, both units not roll one Armor Save per Hit to a maximm of 3 Armor Saves per system. Now Getter Beam or the Buster Rifle can potentially dish out a bonus 3000 DMG.
Lastly for Universal changes we replaced the Ace Evasion skill with a more randomized one. Flawless Evasion was perfect for wargaming, where you are dealing with large number of units. For small games though it gets anticlimactic where early on shooting attacks can easily be waived. We replaced it with a skill that instead provides Blocks equal to a d10 roll, adding some variance and some tension to Evasion.
Real Robot Rumble
For our Real Robot modifications we kept the Shield breaking rule from Gritty MS Battles. We also added in two rules to account to improve their Mobility and Movement.
For Evasion a MS can reroll their Evade Dice if they are being attacked outside 32″ or if their base Movement stat exceeds the attacker’s shooting accuracy by 5+ points. For Movement a MS may not move back 5″ after making a shooting attack, or move forward 5″ after destroying a target in melee.
Super Robot Scramble
For Super Robots we wanted to improve durability but were hesitant to double HP. Instead we came up with the Rally idea to represent Super Robot shows where the hero’s Mecha gets back on its feet after remarkable damage, something very common the Braves (Yusha) series for instance. Rally lets a Titan regain HP equal to an Armor Save x100 on each of its turns. This adds a bit of tactical depth now too since you’re more inclinded to take small amounts of damage rather than burn Momentum. Secondly we added the Down but not out mechanic which allows a Super Robot to get back on their feet if defeated.
Lastly, to have more movement and battlefield control we added a Knockback factor for Super Robots, a staple of the genre. For this when attacking with powerful weapons like giant hammers, bazookas, boomerangs and of course they’re fists they knock back their opponent upon dealing damage a d10 distance. Should they strike terrain or another unit they take damage as well. While it seems rather modest, it has has a large impact in our test games when it comes to using the whole table even in a small 2v2 game.
Stellar Warship Showdown
In the future when we add more Heroic Warships both for Gundam and other series such as Captain Harlock we wanted to give a few rules for players who want to bring those ships into battle. The first is Flagship which gives bonus Momentum as long as your Flagship is alive. The second is to reward ship to ship combat where you gain bonus Momentum if all of the ships weapons are targeting another ship.
Those are the major points of the new Supreme Robot Warfare. Below is a summary of other smaller changes.
Core Rule Updates
-Adjusted Starting Momentum to be 3/5/7/9. Also adjusted Resourceful Commander trait.
-Updated Full Throttle to let Super Robots (Titans) spend up to 5 Power for up to +5 Movement
Mecha Unit Profile Updates
-Updated layout and removed “Heavy Payload” and “Flight Mode”.
-Raid & Attacker roles get Move+1
-Beam Cannons are 400DMG. Updated Antiship Missiles and Railguns
-Update Ye Not Guilty (CC Weapon only) to close a loophole
-Update Genius Pilot text to close loophole with 2x Make it Count. Units affected: Big O and Eva Unit 02.
-Update Merciless Melee, Combat Instructor, Deadeye and Furious Fusillade skills
-Fixed error on GP03, Neue Ziel and Val Varo who were short 1 EQ slot
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